Scouting out the competition is the practice of coaches watching, observing and taking notes on opposing teams in order to best target their weaknesses and scope out their strengths. After scouting, coaches will adapt their blocking and defensive system to best beat the team.

Things coaches commonly watch for during scouting:

• Attacker and setter tendencies: Where they like to attack on the court, who the best attackers are, how the setter moves the ball around.
• Serve receive statistics: Serve the majority of serves to the worst passer.
• Defensive systems: What type of defense do they use, and how could our team attack the holes in the defense?