There's a new sheriff in town for ASU volleyball, and he's bringing along a new outlook to the game.
Head coach Brad Saindon has big shoes to replace following Patti Snyder-Park, ASU's former head coach of 14 years who retired last season. The change of coaches was a fairly large ordeal for a program that made it to the NCAA Tournament three of the past four years.
The two have known each other for some time and still speak regularly, which made the transition smoother.
"When I first got here, I was a little concerned, especially with all these seniors," Saindon said of the six returning seniors. "Here's all these players that are approaching their last year, probably their last year in their volleyball lives and here comes some guy that wants to change everything that they've been doing."
An experienced coach on both the college and international level, Saindon hopes to bring a more athletic, faster- paced style of play to ASU.
All of the players on the team now jump serve, as well as swing block. The team also has taken to hitting out of the back row, a new trait for a group that is slowly fitting into the new style of play.
"Real volleyball aficionados will be able to pinpoint [the changes]," Saindon said.
The biggest step for Saindon was to get the returning players to buy into his completely different system.
At first, the players were reluctant to change, but now they have seen the benefits of the fast-paced game. The team, by college standards, is physically small. The best way for it to combat its lack of size is with increased team speed, one of the keys to Saindon's system.
"There was a moment in time where they all saw where it was leading and what we were trying to do, and they really liked it," Saindon said.
Saindon was an assistant coach with the USA Volleyball men's team and also the head coach of the Team Australia women. He was offered the chance to be head coach of USA Volleyball in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, but decided to coach ASU, from where he graduated in 1976.
"I have learned so much, it's hard to put into words," Saindon said. "I'm a way better coach [than] before I left for Australia [in 1997]."
Without the rules and restrictions the NCAA places on college teams, Saindon was able to play nearly 80 matches a year at the international level, the equivalent of three collegiate seasons. From there, he elevated Australia from near the bottom of the world rankings to a ninth place finish in the 2000 Olympics.
The girls had their first dose of Saindon during the preseason when the coach instilled a new approach to the season's preparation. Unlike with Snyder-Park, the team now focuses more on actual game-like play under Saindon, instead of running sprints and bleachers.
Saindon went with a more game-based approach to teach his new system faster, especially to the freshmen who weren't around during spring practice.
"I think he's pretty intense," said freshman outside hitter Nicole Morton. "It was a good thing for him to do because with a new system, we need to learn it as quick as possible.
"You can't just learn it over a couple of days."
The Sun Devils play in their first tournament this Friday and have traveling tournaments the following two weekends.
"I think we can train them hard enough when they're getting the conditioning effect just by playing," Saindon said. "You can beat them up as much as you want just by playing volleyball."
Reach the reporter at jeffrey.hoodzow@asu.edu.
