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90. Practice videos: John Cook - Nebraska

What is happening in the training gyms around the world? Today we have John Cook breaking down a Nebraska pre-season practice session.

🔍 Intro

We've already featured 19 practice video articles with pro and college coaches, and today it's time for our 20th Practice session article here on volleybrains.com.

At VolleyBrains, we bring you inside practice gyms worldwide to see how top coaches develop their teams.

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Navigate to our practice videos page for an overview of all the featured practice videos. Be sure to leverage this unique resource.

👊 The coach who's guiding us today

In this practice video session, we feature John Cook, the former head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

John served as the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers women's volleyball team from 2000 until his (recent) retirement in January 2025. During his tenure, he led Nebraska to four national championships - 2000, 2006, 2015, 2017 - numerous conference titles, and a list of accolades that seemingly have no end, cementing his legacy in collegiate volleyball.

In December of 2020, when I reached out to John with a rough idea for what would eventually become Volleybrains.com, he was immediately on board.

His enthusiasm and support from the very beginning played a crucial role in shaping VolleyBrains into what it is today. (Thank you, John)

Just a few days ago, in a testament to his dedication to our game, coach Cook spent the final hours of his last day in his Nebraska office recording the video session you're about to watch.

His passion for advancing volleyball knowledge and education remains as strong as ever.

⚡ What's inside the practice video clips?

In this article, we'll dive into part 1 of a 2 part series on how Nebraska's pre-season workouts have been intentionally build.

We'll break down a 3 hour pre-season training session and go over every single exercise.

In this first part, coach Cook will focus on setter sequences, serve sequences, block work, and fundamental concepts that build the foundation for a high-level volleyball team.

Part 2 will explore attacking, team play, and group dynamics, bringing everything together into competitive game scenarios. (coming up as our next VolleyBrains article)

Inside of today's 40 minute video Coach Cook will go into detail on:

Maximizing Reps: Every drill is designed to increase touches and optimize learning time.
Structured Progression: Training builds from fundamentals to complex scenarios, ensuring gradual improvement.
Live Transition Drills: Practicing out-of-system sets, setter decision-making, and maximizing offensive efficiency.
Precision & Adaptability: Emphasis on ball control, and in-game adjustments.
Setter Training: Themed drills emphasizing precise ball placement, adaptability, and real-time feedback from hitters.
Serving progressions and block fundamentals.
and so much more...

Enjoy!

And a big thanks to coach Cook for creating this together.