After coaching for almost 50 years and winning 18 NCAA
championships, you learn a thing or two about how to motivate your
players.
That said, no one knows how to get the most out of players and
teams like UCLA men’s volleyball coach Al Scates.
Scates has seen a lot during his time as a head coach in
Westwood ““ rules getting altered, programs getting dropped,
and the number of scholarships dwindling, to name a few.
But one thing has remained constant ““ winning.
Scates will do whatever it takes to win and get his players to
play at their best toward the end of the season, when the games are
at their biggest and the pressure is at its highest.
Scates isn’t afraid to bench a player ““ any
player.
He’s not afraid to juggle his starting lineup, even when
his team is playing well.
He’s not afraid to have a talented player change
positions.
He’s not afraid to give anyone a chance to play.
The legendary coach’s latest drastic move came just last
week.
Brennan Prahler, who hadn’t played a match in nearly two
years, got to start in the team’s latest match against UC San
Diego on Friday.
Prahler had been used to being on the wrong side of the blue
curtain, a barrier that separates the first team from the rest of
the players at practice.
While the curtain’s practical purpose is to stop balls
flying between the courts at practice, the players strongly believe
their coach is sending a little psychological message along with
it.
“You can hear what’s going on and you see the other
guys at water breaks,” said Prahler, a long-time resident of
the wrong side.
“Not being able to see the other guys makes us practice at
a higher intensity level. Getting back up here on the other side of
the blue curtain has been great.”
And when the play of some of the regular starters falters,
Scates isn’t afraid to put his better players on the wrong
side of the blue curtain. A week into practice at the start of this
season, starting libero Tony Ker was demoted to the other side.
“It motivated me a lot. It forced me to work harder to get
back on the good side,” Ker said. “It made me mad. It
got the adrenaline going. It definitely made me a better
player.”
Not every player has to be sent to other side of the curtain to
be sent a message though.
Steve Klosterman, who was one of the team’s top players a
year ago and is one of the top players in the country when
he’s on his game, was benched before Friday’s match
against UCSD and will not start tonight against Stanford.
Klosterman’s hitting percentage has dropped to a lowly
.211 this season (compared to .293 last year ““ for those of
you who don’t know volleyball stats, think baseball batting
averages) and has dropped from 3.9 kills per game to 2.6.
While traditional wisdom suggests to let Klosterman work his way
out of his slump, Scates isn’t subscribing to that theory,
just as long as Klosterman’s absence won’t hinder the
team.
Though he may not admit it, Scates appears to be looking at the
bigger picture in his coaching maneuvers. He doesn’t need
Klosterman to beat UC San Diego or Stanford (neither team is
exactly a volleyball power). But he will likely need his star
player, who Scates has said has been improving in practice, to be
at his best when it comes time for the postseason.
Despite keeping him on the bench, Scates is keeping Klosterman
on the good side of the blue curtain ““ and while the coach
still claims there’s nothing psychological about the curtain,
he did talk a little about the effects that moving players back and
forth has on some players.
“It’s tough for players who have been on the first
court for a while,” Scates said of starters who eventually
get sent behind the curtain.
“Some players can’t handle it. But if they keep the
right attitude, they’ll have the chance to come
back.”
There have been many players over the years who have spent most
of their careers on the wrong side of the curtain but went on to
make huge contributions. One of the classic examples Scates always
lists is John Speraw, who didn’t start until his fifth year
and led the Bruins to the NCAA Championship. Speraw is now the head
coach at UC Irvine.
“If you do your thing, he’ll give you a shot,”
Prahler said.
Scates has to be flexible and work hard to get his players to be
at their best. He can’t go out and recruit 12 top-level
volleyball players like he did in the old days. With only
four-and-a-half scholarships, Scates, and every other coach, has to
develop players.
“The blue-chip athletes will get a full-ride
somewhere,” Scates said.
Scates has excelled at getting his players to compete. He is a
volleyball mastermind. You have to be to have the success
he’s had over multiple decades. Things change over time, but
one thing stays the same ““ Scates’ teams keep on
winning.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.