Episode 1 is here! Join Essex Rebels Women's Head Coach Alex Chinery as he takes you on a journey to becoming a more ecologically minded volleyball coach. In Episode 1 Alex discusses the idea that context is key to developing athletes that are comfortable performing in game scenarios. Alex uses two examples from the current season, firstly with the Eastern Region Junior Performance Programme for which he is the director of coaching and then his own National Championship winning Essex Rebels side. See how adding context to your tasks can help your athletes turbo charge their development!

Building Confident, Autonomous Athletes with Maria Farsund | Coaching Culture & Motivation in Volleyball

In this episode of VolleyTribe, host Alex sits down with Maria Farsund, Head Coach of Norway’s U22 Women’s National Team and coach at the elite Swedish Volleyball Academy RIG Falköping. 🎙️

Together, they explore the art of relationship-based coaching — how understanding your athletes and what drives them can lead to greater autonomy, confidence, and performance on the court. Maria shares insights from her work with the Norwegian national program, revealing how they’ve built a team culture that balances enjoyment and elite performance.

Whether you’re a volleyball coach, athlete, or just passionate about team development, this episode is packed with practical takeaways on coaching philosophy, motivation, and creating a high-performance yet positive environment.

🔍 Topics covered:

• Coaching female athletes in high-performance settings

• Building trust and motivation through strong coach-athlete relationships

• Fostering autonomy and confidence in young players

• Blending fun and performance in team culture

• Insights from coaching at the international level

📌 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if you enjoy the episode!

In this Monday special, Alex dives into the importance of coaching through principles of play — and why understanding your athletes' needs should shape how you start.

Drawing from a recent East Talent Squad session, Alex shares how a young coach chose to focus on mental performance before introducing tactics — a bold, athlete-centred move that paid off. He then connects this to his own experience with the Essex Rebels, where layered principles of play helped build a team capable of becoming national champions.

If you’re interested in practical ways to design your coaching around what matters most — this episode is for you.

🎙️ Tune in now to learn how foundational principles can drive performance at every level.

In this episode Alex breaks down Representative Learning Design (RLD)—a key concept in skill acquisition—and explains how it shapes the way he trains and prepares teams for Super League matches. He also dives into how RLD works hand-in-hand with the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) to create more game-representative, effective training sessions. A must-listen for coaches looking to bridge theory and practice at the top level.

A day late but worth the wait—Alex is back to break down the weekend's Inter-Regional Championships.
From spotlighting adaptable athletes to celebrating a new wave of young female coaches using their elite playing experience to build empowering environments, this episode dives deep into what’s driving growth in the game.
Alex also unpacks the importance of grassroots competitions and shares a powerful message: coaches should collaborate to compete, not compete to survive. Because when everyone levels up, the whole experience gets better—for players and coaches alike.

Hot on the heels of coaching at the first ever England U22 Women's practice, Alex is back and talking about how to make things interesting for athletes. You can get creative, competitive and challenging to make your sessions more interesting! Got any other ways, be sure to leave a comment!

Description:
In this episode, I’m joined by Loren Anderson—club director, high school coach, and author of the influential blog No More Drills. We dive deep into his latest post, The Ecological Coach’s Manifesto, a heartfelt, thought-provoking exploration of what coaching can become when we let go of control and trust the process.

Topics include:
• Why drills aren’t the answer
• The messy beauty of the Constraints-Led Approach
• Loren’s NAC framework (Notice, Adapt, Commit)
• ACT and the mental side of learning
• Motivational Interviewing and athlete ownership

This one is for coaches ready to trade perfection for presence—and let learning breathe.

Alex is back with another episode. He recaps BUCS Beach Volleyball Championships and the first weekend of All Nations. Listen on to hear why he thinks All Nations is the proving ground for young volleyball coaches and how the mixture of styles will make you uncomfortable and turbo charge your development as an in game coach!

AC is back with another top guest, this time he's back across the pond but with a Brit rather than an American. Joining the show is Baylor Bears technical co-ordinator Will McDonald, a London native who has made his way in the NCAA. Will talks about working with the premier athletes of NCAA teams, how to survive in a high performance environment and what the role of a technical co-ordinator entails.

Will also talks about his impact on the culture at Baylor and the impact it has had on him. Showing that being an Analyst isn't all about crunching numbers and confirming that coaching is a person first profession! This is an episode not to miss!

After a summer of travelling, coaching and learning. Essex Rebels Head Coach Alex Chinery is back to discuss his experience at the FIVB Level 2 Coaching Course in Limerick, Ireland last week. Alex explains the importance of interconnected training at the highest level and recounts some of his top learnings from the week learning from Gordon Mayforth, long time professional coach and FIVB tutor.

After a stunning weekend of volleyball, Alex is back to break down everything he learned from watching the world best go at it! After Italy and Brazil put on a classic on Saturday, the medal matches on Sunday lived up to the excitement. Alex provides a thematic analysis of what is going on at the top end of the sport, with practical examples to help you when coaching your teams!

As the new season approaches, Alex sits down with George Frazer the new Head Coach of the DHV Odense Women's team in Denmark. Their conversation touches on how to prepare a team for the season ahead, planning principles of play and the differences between elite level men's and women's volleyball. This is one not to be missed.

After some time away dealing with a hectic start to the season, Essex Rebels Head Women's Volleyball Coach Alex Chinery is back to discuss how the Constraints Led Approach has helped develop the Rebels Women into a powerhouse team in both BUCS and the Volleyball England Super League!

Alex is joined by Ryan Murphy, the new England U18 Men's Head Coach and Head of PE at Croxley Danes School in North London. Ryan and Alex go deep into the Ecological Dynamics approach to sports coaching, touching on work both of them have produced. In the second half of the episode, they break down their plans for the England Junior National Team programmes they are now heading up, including how they plan to empower the volleyball players in their squads to become elite athletes!

Alex is joined by Volleyball England's Beach Performance Director and Coach of the worlds #8 Beach Volleyball team Kirk Pitman! Together they discuss Kirk's 4A's framework for developing elite athletes, how Kirk's Moari upbringing helped shape him as a coach and where he sees the sport of Beach Volleyball going in the near future!