Game Model (Developmental Model) Development

ONES has initiated a project to develop a Game Model (hereafter referred to as the Developmental Model) for the youth categories of volleyball, starting in the 2020 fiscal year.

In this article, we’ll introduce the process involved in developing this Developmental Model and share examples of its application within ONES. It’s crucial to state upfront that the defining characteristic of this article is that the “final conclusion is not yet visible.”

We are aiming for a model that can fundamentally support youth volleyball in Japan, and we are documenting the trial-and-error process as we go, exploring:

• What, if anything, is the timeless, universal principle of a developmental model?
• What elements change with the times, and how do we integrate them into the model?
• What emerges when we implement a hypothetical model in actual coaching practice?

We intend to share the resulting thoughts, practices, and the experience and knowledge gained throughout this journey of Developmental Model development.

Before diving into the main content, please understand that much of this article is based on hypotheses and represents an evolving process of thought and practice.

We sincerely hope that this modest effort from a small town club—in a town of less than 4,000 people—can contribute to the future development of the volleyball world.

1. ONES’s Mission, Values, and Vision

Before discussing the Developmental Model, let’s briefly introduce the goals that guide ONES’s activities.

Mission: See the world. Expand your world.

The mission of ONES, as stated above, is a singular focus. All our endeavors, including but not limited to running a volleyball club, are defined as means to fulfill this core mission.

Vision: Come to Love / Confidence / New World

ONES’s efforts are always guided by the three visions listed above. To prevent becoming shortsighted in our daily activities, these three concepts are ingrained as key principles.

Value: Fun / Challenge / New Meet

Finally, the three values listed above represent what ONES seeks to deliver through its projects. These values are strongly linked to our visions:

• To love something, one needs fun time.
• To gain confidence, one must take on challenges.
• To open up a new world, one requires new meet.

Based on these ideas, we define the value of ONES’s existence. Having understood what drives ONES, let’s proceed to the development of a Game Model (Developmental Model) for youth volleyball.

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2. Why is a Developmental Model Necessary?

While we’re eager to delve into the specifics, this section will first clarify why a Developmental Model is needed now.

ONES’s answer to this question is that a long-term perspective on developmental principles and models is not widely shared across the entire Japanese volleyball landscape.

We believe that developing a universal developmental principle and model could help solve many of the systemic challenges facing youth categories. This approach is central to modern Volleyball Coaching and Youth Development philosophies.

3. Unpacking the Current State and Challenges of Youth Volleyball

To grasp the necessity of developing a principle-based model, we must first understand the unique current status and challenges of Japan’s youth categories, which are somewhat rare globally. We’ll organize these challenges below.

3-1. Volunteerism in ‘Sports Shonendan’ and ‘Club Activities’

Historically, youth volleyball development in Japan has been largely supported by the Sports Shonendan (Sports Youth Group) and Bukatsu (School Club Activities):

(Note: While the definition of youth categories varies, this article defines them as up to high school age, or 18 and under.)

The Sports Shonendan—Japan’s largest sports organization—is primarily run by community volunteers, such as local sports enthusiasts or elementary school teachers acting as coaches, and players’ parents managing operations.

The Bukatsu system, which underpins the middle and high school categories, is characterized by its integration into school education. Teachers serve as advisors/coaches, with sports activities framed as a means to achieve educational objectives, not the end itself.

A common feature across all categories is that consistent participation and instruction are fundamentally unpaid. This creates a remarkably privileged environment where participation is easily accessible, supported by the dedicated volunteer spirit of countless individuals.

However, this reliance on a volunteer base presents challenges, particularly regarding the quality of coaching—a critical factor strongly influencing young athletes.

For the elementary level, coaches often instruct outside of their main job, limiting the time and financial resources available for coach training and self-study. Consequently, experienced players often rely on their past experience, while non-playing coaches lack a grounding framework.

In the secondary school level, the situation is varied. Some teachers are assigned advisory roles with little playing experience or knowledge, while others are former corporate-league players. Some educators have little time for coaching due to teaching and college counseling loads, while others are pressured by their school to achieve results and dedicate significant time to instruction.

While the environment allows for easy participation, there’s a systemic issue with ensuring a consistent, high Coaching Quality level nationwide. Achieving a more robust Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) environment necessitates a structure that guarantees a minimum standard of coaching quality regardless of location.

3-2. The System of Tournament Format, Competition Management, and Sports-Based University Recommendation

In discussing the Japanese youth environment, three inseparable elements are the competition format, the tournament management, and the decisive role that wins and losses play in an athlete’s academic and career path.

Competition Format

Contests can broadly be divided into Tournament Play (knockout format) and League Play (round-robin format).

For those who played sports during their student years, it’s clear that Tournament Play is the prevailing format in Japanese youth categories. While major events might include an initial pool play followed by a knockout stage, the core is the elimination-style tournament.

As its etymology suggests, a tournament is a duel. A single loss is fatal, leading to an undeniable overemphasis on the importance of winning—a side effect that risks a tendency towards Victory-Oriented Extremism.

However, experiencing tournaments also has positive aspects, such as developing the players’ clutch performance abilities and their capacity for planned, targeted effort.

League Play, in contrast, is a marathon that tests a team’s overall strength. While a tournament allows for an upset against a stronger team through a specific strategy or reliance on a few star players, league play demands that the entire squad contribute over a long season. This is beneficial for Developmental Coaching as it provides more players with valuable Game Experience and fosters holistic growth. The fact that a loss in a league isn’t fatal means all teams get a similar amount of playing time, promoting widespread player development.

Which format is a better fit for the youth category?

The answer is clear: the league format should be the base of the competition structure, although a mix is likely ideal.

Competition Management

Japan hosts national championships—massive events, or “festivals,”—at every level, sometimes multiple times a year. These events aim to determine the “Japan Champion.”

From a personal perspective, perhaps due to Japan’s insular geography and homogeneous culture, Japanese people tend to place an extremely high value on being the “Japan Champion.” This high-stakes nature of the national championship, or even qualifying for it, further heightens the importance of winning, potentially accelerating the aforementioned Victory-Oriented Extremism.

Yet, we cannot overlook the fact that this pursuit of the national title drives teams to passionately compete and improve their technical and tactical abilities.

The tension between the acceleration of excessive Victory-Oriented Extremism and the enhancement of competitive ability through rivalry suggests a potential trade-off.

However, it is time to question the fundamental purpose of national tournaments in youth categories. The cancellation of the 2020 National High School Athletic Meet due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though painful for current players, provides a critical moment to re-evaluate its necessity and structure.

Sports-Based University Recommendation

Finally, let’s address the link between results and future paths. Success in major tournaments is often the decisive factor for a student’s advancement (higher education or employment). This system further accelerates the shift toward Victory-Oriented Extremism.

This mentality can lead to focusing only on competition results, neglecting academic work and other activities. More concerning from a Long-Term Development perspective is that the club’s purpose can shift to prioritizing immediate results, leading to coaching that entirely lacks a view of the player’s future growth.

For example, a middle school player’s competition window is about two years and a few months. The content of coaching aimed at winning in that short window will significantly differ from coaching that envisions the player’s development five or ten years down the line.

The system where performance in club activities directly impacts an athlete’s career path presents a problem for long-term player development. While we don’t entirely dismiss a system that rewards effort and results, this linkage demands careful re-evaluation.

4. Developing a Game Model for Developmental Categories

Having organized the complex and multifaceted challenges facing youth development, I considered what even a single coach at a small town club could do. This reflection led to one conclusion: to develop a cross-category, long-term Developmental Model and principles.

“What utter nonsense! A single coach at a small club can’t possibly do that!”

I can hear the voices, and those who think this are correct; I agree.

However, I have no intention of saying: “Here are the principles. Here is the model. It’s finished! Go use it!” My desire is simply to change the current state of youth volleyball in Japan by offering and openly sharing my own thoughts on how the developmental category should function.

Furthermore, I am in the fortunate position of being actively involved in the grassroots environment. This allows me to establish a hypothetical model, implement it in practice, and enter a constant feedback loop of refinement—a systemic approach to Coaching Technique development. I anticipate gaining numerous new insights through repeated practice based on the current best-available Developmental Model.

5. Conceptualizing the Game (Developmental) Model through Layer Analysis

It’s taken a while, but we are finally ready to discuss the Developmental Model. However, the term “Developmental Model” can be interpreted widely, so I need to clarify my own conception of it.

▶︎ Inspiration from ‘Tactical Periodization’ and ‘Game Model’

The concept of a Developmental Model was largely inspired by the football (soccer) magazine footballista. Before encountering this publication, I had a vague sense that a guiding principle for youth development was needed.

Meeting the concepts of ‘Tactical Periodization’ and the resulting ‘Game Model’ often featured in the magazine solidified my desire to create a Developmental Model for the volleyball world.

To help readers understand the concepts from which I drew inspiration, here is a relevant excerpt from footballista‘s online article(in Japanese):

This citation should offer some insight into Tactical Periodization and the Game Model.

▶︎ Organizing the Layer Differences Between Game Models

Readers may be wondering: Is the Game Model in Tactical Periodization the same as the Game (Developmental) Model for youth categories?

This question can be resolved by organizing the differences in layers (hierarchy).

Let’s examine the layers from the bottom up:

Layer 1: Volleyball Rules

The foundation of the hierarchy is the Volleyball Rules.

According to one academic paper, “The essence of a ball game lies in enjoying the ‘ingenuity of winning’ by organically linking the ‘technique’ and ‘tactics’ defined by the ‘rules’.”

This suggests that to return to the essence of volleyball, one must start with the rules.

Layers 2 & 3: Absolute Game Model and Absolute Playing Principles

Following Layer 1 are the Absolute Game Model and Absolute Playing Principles. The term ‘Absolute’ is used to convey that these principles remain constant unless the rules change.

Revisiting the academic quote, the phrase “organically linking technique and tactics” can be rephrased as “organically linking the Absolute Playing Principles and the Absolute Game Model.”

We posit that the Absolute Playing Principles and Absolute Game Model are defined (or emerge) based on the foundation of the Volleyball Rules. Crucially, the phrase “organically linking” is key: treating Playing Principles and the Game Model as separate, disconnected entities will cause them to fail; they become inert. We must avoid falling into a reductionist approach.

Therefore, the Absolute Game Model (Layer 2) and Absolute Playing Principles (Layer 3) must be considered as a set, inseparable entities. While we currently place them sequentially in the diagram for convenience, further deliberation is needed, as these two are complexly intertwined.

Layers 4 & 5: Variable Game Model and Variable Playing Principles

The top layer consists of the Variable Game Model (Layer 4) and Variable Playing Principles (Layer 5). The term ‘Variable’ signifies that these are subject to change based on the Team Concept (team culture, players, coaches, goals, budget, training environment, etc.).

Layers 4 and 5 are predicated on the existence of Layers 2 and 3. Because the elements determining the Team Concept are fluid and constantly changing, the Variable Game Model and Variable Playing Principles are, in essence, living, evolving systems.

It is this Layer 4/5 concept that likely aligns with the Game Model and Playing Principles acknowledged within the football world’s Tactical Periodization theory.

▶︎ The Game (Developmental) Model for Youth Categories

By analyzing these layers, we hope the Developmental Model I am working on is becoming clearer. The next section will focus on the Volleyball Rules that form the foundation of this model.

6. Extracting the Essence of Volleyball

The foundation for developing the Game (Developmental) Model is the Volleyball Rules. While the official rulebook provides all the details, the sheer volume of specific rules is vast.

Therefore, a critical step is the editorial process of objectively defining and extracting the essence of the Volleyball Rules, while ensuring that the core of the sport is not diminished.

So, what is Volleyball?

Here is a working definition:

Let’s unpack this definition.

Means

First, let’s focus on ‘no more than three team contacts.’ While sports like soccer, rugby, and basketball allow passing among teammates, volleyball has the strict—even harsh—rule of a three-contact limit. We must be conscious of this limitation when approaching the essence of volleyball.

Next is the term ‘volley.’ Many people don’t accurately grasp the meaning of this term. Consulting Wikipedia, we find:

We are one step closer to the essence of volleyball. As the quote mentions, a volley is a direct hit on an airborne ball. In the context of the sport, every single contact, including the attack, is a volley.

This means that a team not only has a three-contact limit but also cannot let the ball touch the ground. Furthermore, the ball must always be volleyed; in other words, the ball cannot be held, even for an instant—an extremely severe restriction. Volleyball is, indeed, stoic.

Now, let’s look at the objective achieved by employing the means of ‘a team volley of no more than three contacts.’

Objective

The objective is to ground the ball in the opponent’s court (goal) and prevent it from grounding in one’s own court (goal). Let’s focus on the net.

The presence of the net is an indispensable element in grasping the essence of volleyball. Its characteristics stand out when compared to non-net-based team sports like soccer, rugby, and basketball.

These features are:
1) The complete absence of physical contact with the opposing team
2) An extremely clear transition between offense and defense.

First, the absence of physical contact means that the opposing team cannot directly interfere with the attack. Conversely, it means the attacking team is never directly interfered with by the defense. This is a fundamental difference from sports like soccer or rugby, where the offense must always operate under the premise of active, physical interference (defense). Compared to these sports, the team in the offensive phase holds an overwhelming superiority over the defensive team.

Next, let’s address the extremely clear transition between offense and defense.

—To Be Continued—