A Program with Purpose: Thoughts on building a successful volleyball program

Insightful and forthright…a bit of a different approach from the standard coach-penned book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

My daughter is on Coach Dulfer's volleyball team. I thought it would be helpful to read his book to gain a little insight into my daughter's experiences as a team member throughout her college years. Wow - was I surprised! I thoroughly enjoyed the book even though I have no involvement whatsoever in volleyball coaching. As a parent it has given me a new perspective on the kind of training environment the girls are involved in and how my daughter fits in with the overall objectives of the program.I also find that Coach Dulfer's philosophy has a certain relevance to the business world and to life in general. I will be applying some of these lessons in those areas.The book is an easy read and moves along at a good pace. The message is simple yet profound and succintly presented. Even so, the book is not one to read and then forget. The concepts introduced here are worthy of further consideration and creative application in sports, in business, and in life.

I am a Division III women's volleyball coach and this book has answered a lot of questions about what we go through on a daily basis. Most of the book however is relevant to any sport coach at any level.My big takeaways after two read-throughs:- Dealing effectively with team conflict- Ways to make practice more thoughtful and purposeful- Team composition and recruiting strategiesLots to think about for years to come. Thanks Johan!

Really enjoyed this book. Helped to affirm my own coaching philosophy and give me better direction for where I want to be as a coach and where I want my team to go.

It's a good little book. I expected it to be a little more, but it's a fine start. Maybe it will expand on the future. The stories help explain a lot of his concepts.

A nice addition to my other volleyball coaching books.

A Program with Purpose is a volleyball turnaround story, sort of. The author was, when he wrote the book, in the middle of his 10 years at the helm of Clarkson University volleyball, an NCAA Division III program in upstate New York. The text speaks to how he took that program from nothing to become a team that eventually made seven straight trips to the NCAA tournament and reached the Elite 8 four straight times.I say this is sort of a turnaround story because it's not a narrative text. The author doesn't start at the beginning and walk you through a sequence of events. Think of it more as a manual for program development with some historical examples interspersed.There are seven primary chapters to the book. 1 Program Vision 2 Communication 3 Confidence Building and Goal Setting 4 Building a Support Structure 5 Tactical Choices within the Game 6 Recruiting and Team CompositionTheir titles pretty much tell you what they're about. Each shares the author's thoughts, experience, and views on that subject, and it's good material. You may or may not agree with everything he says, but at least it will get you thinking about things. Even if you have experience running your own program, it's worth going through this book. It can be a good reminder of things to focus on, and we all need that from time to time.It is noteworthy that the author spent some time working under legendary coach Mike Hebert, who wrote  Thinking Volleyball . You can see a bit of his influence in Dulfur's philosophy, though you also get a big dose of his Dutch heritage as well.Interestingly, Sally Kus who wrote  Coaching Volleyball Successfully (Coaching Successfully Series) , which I also recommend, gained her reputation coaching in Upstate New York. Her book focuses more on high school volleyball, while this one is obviously from a college perspective. Still, they share much in common.At only a bit over 130 pages, A Program with a Purpose is a quick read. It's made even quicker by a number of large visuals. You can read it in a couple of hours. It's definitely worth that small time investment. The book could have used some editing in places, but not so much that it was overly distracting.