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91. Practice videos: John Cook - Nebraska (Part 2)

What is happening in the training gyms around the world? Today we have John Cook breaking down part 2 of a Nebraska pre-season practice session.

🔍 Intro

We've already featured 20 practice video articles with pro and college coaches, and today it's time for our 21th Practice session article here on volleybrains.com.

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

💡

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)

Two weeks 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 2 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 part 1, coach Cook focused on setter sequences, serve sequences, block work, and fundamental concepts that build the foundation for a high-level volleyball team.

This 2nd part will explore hitting progressions, game-like training, and competitive drills to enhance player decision-making, execution, and adaptability.

Inside of today's 27 minute video Coach Cook will go into detail on:

Step-Close Mechanics: Focus on explosive last two steps for better timing and power in attacks.
Game-Like Situations: Training incorporates realistic block setups, hitting angles, and pressure drills to simulate match conditions.
Medium System Play: Players adjust to imperfect passes and make quick shot selections based on defensive setups.
Rotational Inclusion Philosophy: All players rotate through drills to ensure depth, game readiness, and injury prevention.
Serving & Passing Under Pressure: Competitive drills enforce low-error play, tactical serving, and in-game adjustments.
Competitive Finishing Drills: High-intensity games like "Trash Can" and "22-22" push players to execute under pressure.
Corner Up Communication: Ensuring focused, eye-contact communication during coaching moments.
End-of-Practice Conditioning & Cool Down: Players finish with high-intensity serve-pass battles before transitioning into recovery
and so much more...

Enjoy!

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