Volleyball Toolbox

How to Win the Locker Room

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By Dr. Rob Bell

Dr. Bell is a Mental Toughness Coach and Certified Consultant of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.  He consults with hundreds of athletes, coaches, and teams and has served as the mental coach for PGA tour winners, USTA Champion, and Olympic Medalists.  He is also the author of several mental toughness books. For more information about Dr. Bell and his services visit https://drrobbell.com/

A team locker room is a sacred place.

Basically, what is said there, when you leave there, leave it there.

Sorry, but here’s the wrong way to win the locker room.

New Buffalo Bills Head Coach Sean McDermott felt that setting the tone of the locker room was important.

Agreed

Coach Sean McDermott is all about “culture” and leading by example. He’s a 3:30AM fitness guy.

Agreed

He is a driven, hard-nosed, accountability coach whose locker room culture begins with him.

Agreed

Coach stated that “this is a business”, so he removed the pool table and video games from the locker room.

Disagree    

Players don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

Hall of Fame coach, Bill Walsh, set up a fishing tournament amongst his players during pre-season. He stated, a “team that can laugh together, can get serious together.”

Hard nosed, two time Super-Bowl winning coach, Tom Coughlin, spent the very first day of a training camp by having a bowling tournament. He changed his tyrant approach because  he “wanted his players to see him as his grandchildren did.” 

Super Bowl Winning coach, Dick Vermeil was known for his “boot camp” practices and discipline, but only after he started to develop a relationship with his players did he finally reach the pinnacle.

Look, there is nothing sexier than discipline, accountability, hard-work, grit, perseverance, and a culture of excellence.

However, in order to win, coaches have to win their hearts as well. In order to do that, they need to win the locker room.

Here’s 5 ways to win the locker room

Develop a TEAM culture- 

Every coach would agree that when you have players willing to fight for one another, there is nothing more powerful. Practices should be difficult and demanding, but developing team chemistry also takes place in between practices and games. You hang out so much together, that either bonds or cliques get formed in various ways.

Developing a locker room where players can unwind, relax, be themselves, and hang-out is crucial. Who wants a locker room where players simply dash out after showering and changing?

A pool table or ping-pong table encourages players an outlet to bond over a competitive activity that is not directly related to their own sport. The Cornell basketball team that made the sweet sixteen and finished 29-5 all lived together and touted their Super Mario bros. and table-tennis competitions. 

Allow the players to take ownership-

Jeff Van Gundy allowed all minor decisions like where to eat, which music and movie to play on the bus up to the players. He granted them a voice in their own culture.

Have a leadership council-

In all pick-up games, kids self-govern themselves. You can’t break the written and unwritten rules of the court and expect to be welcomed back. A leadership council of players should make decisions on certain disciplines that coach doesn’t have to. That creates more ownership among players and takes more off of the coach.

Orchestrate the cohesion-

Teams become cohesive over the task at hand (winning), or socially (togetherness). Ultimately, task-cohesion is king. However, these task-cohesive teams are only fostered through extremely strong peer-leadership.

Social cohesion is queen. Teams full of mutual respect for one another have more trust and uphold standards within the team. Usually, the best teams have BOTH task and social cohesion. These bonds can be enhanced through scheduled sessions intended to do so.

Foster organic cohesion-  

Yes, it is a business. Winning is a habit. But, allow play to be a part of the culture. Allowing athletes to express themselves through free-play is as old as the cave-man days. We thrive on working hard toward a goal and also having fun along the journey. 

I’ve been in the team locker room at the end of a season with such tears of joy from winning, because they all knew of the effort and sacrifice and bond. I’ve been in the other locker room as well, that tears flowed because the loss was so heartbreaking because of the sacrifice and bond.

If you’re in the game long enough, these moments will happen. That’s life.

The way to a winning team locker room begins way before these moments of joy or heartbreak. It begins with the culture of the team and finding ways to win the locker room.


How to Prepare for Pressure in Volleyball

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This article is republished with permission. The original article appears at How to Prepare for Pressure in Volleyball.

Using Visualization to Overcome Pressures in Games

How well do you perform during a volleyball match when the game is on the line?

Are you able to focus when under pressure or does your performance fall off dramatically?

Have you ever watched in awe of how elite players are able to rise to the occasion and play their “A” game when pressure mounts?

Many volleyball players choke under pressure because they are unprepared mentally for pressure.

For sure, some volleyball players are more nervous than other players, but nerves are a part of the game for every player.

It’s true… EVERY volleyball player experiences some degree of nerves during critical moments of a match.

Being down 2-0 generates nerves fora EVERY volleyball player…

Serving for the match increases a sense of nerves for EVERY volleyball player.

Facing a powerful team makes EVERY volleyball player a bit more nervous.

The difference is that elite volleyball players have learned to harness those nerves so they don’t become overwhelmed by the moment and are able to focus and play at their peak.

You learn to harness nerves by training your mind to do so.

There are two ways to train your mind to harness nerves:

1. Create pressure in practice – It is impossible to rise to the occasion if you are not experienced enough to manage those situations. The more you recreate pressure situations in practice, the more prepared you will be to handle those situations in games.

2. Use visualization – Visualization is a strategy where you create vivid images of competitive scenarios, using all your senses to add to the imaged experience and see yourself being successful in those scenarios.

The more you engage in visualization, the more you develop that mental skill and increase your mental toughness.

Visualization is a highly effective method to prepare yourself to rise to the occasion when the pressure is on.

Handling pressure is exactly how the University of Nebraska Women’s volleyball team advanced to the NCAA championship game.

Nebraska was trailing the University of Illinois 0-2 and was on the brink of elimination.

Instead of folding, Nebraska relied on its training, maintained a laser-like focus and fought back to win the next 3 sets, 25-23, 25-20 and 15-1.

Nebraska’s comeback afforded them the opportunity to defend their NCAA title from the previous year.

Nebraska sophomore Lauren Stivrins credits the team’s training for their success playing under pressure.

STIVRINS: “We have high-stress and high-pressure drills every day. I think those drills help us come out on top and be cool in those big moments. With Nebraska volleyball, coming here, you have to have that mindset. You have to be able to face anyone at any time.”

Nebraska was able to perform under pressure because they practice playing under pressure.

Practicing under pressure trains your mind to stay poised and focused under pressure.

Tip for Playing Your “A” Game Under Pressure:

Visualize pressure moments.

Take 10 minutes a day to visualize playing successfully in your position.

If you have never visualized, write out a script describing the pressure situation and how you want to play in that scenario.

Being mentally prepared for pressure moments will take that edge off and help you focus when you need a win.

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Your volleyball mental game experts Dr. Patrick Cohn and

Dr. Megan Melchiorre want to share powerful mental strategies

to help you (or your team) perform your best in practice and more consistently

at your peak in volleyball games…


Athletes Who Are Self-Critical

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This article is republished with permission. The original article appears at Athletes Who Are Self-Critical.

How to Grow Your Confidence Without Excessive Self-Criticism

 

Are you happy with where you are with your game?

Most athletes would answer “no” because they want to achieve more.

After all, the goal of every athlete is to achieve as much of their athletic potential as possible.

Some athletes think the best way to improve is to never be satisfied with a performance.

These athletes engage in constant self-criticism to try to up their game.

This is a tricky area for many athletes to navigate.

Self-criticism rarely leads to self-improvement.

Yes, you want to learn from your failures, but self-criticism leads to lower confidence and less productivity.

A good case example of the self-criticism and self-improvement is Ivana Jeremic, who is in her third year on Arizona State University’s volleyball team.

The ASU squad is off to one of its best starts and much of the credit goes Jeremic who is one of the statistical leaders on the team.

Yet, Jeremic’s quest to uncover her potential and drive for self-improvement can be a bit excessive at times.

JEREMIC: “I am really self-critical. I always think I can do better. Even if I had an awesome night, I come out and think ‘I can do this better.’ I will never say I am doing good; I will always say I can do better.”

That statement makes sense to some degree. Why would any athlete settle for their current level of play?

If you want to be your best, shouldn’t you always try to be better?

There is one problem with the “good is never good enough” mindset.

This belief often underlies perfectionism where performance is either perfect or failure… And since perfection is impossible, the athlete always feels like they failed.

Perfectionism undermines your confidence because you might not accept credit for the things you do well.

The bad always outweighs the good parts of performance.

Self-criticism becomes a destructive habit that eventually blocks an athlete from her potential.

Self-criticism becomes the most damaging when it takes place in the middle of competition.

Self-criticism in the middle of a competition makes mistakes live on in an athlete’s mind and takes away their focus on the next play.

ASU volleyball head coach, Sanja Tomasevic, understands how the pursuit of perfection can be the greatest enemy, not just for Jeremic, but any athlete.

TOMASEVIC: “[Jeremic] is her biggest critic and that’s why it took her this long [to play as well as she is playing]. She is a really good player. She gets in her own head and when she starts criticizing herself, (and) she doesn’t know how to get out of it … You got to move on and stop beating yourself up.”

Excessive self-criticism will hold you back from stepping your game up to the next level.

To grow your confidence, you want to let go of striving for perfection and look to be at your best each and every game.

This “be-your-best” mindset encompasses both self-improvement and giving yourself credit for your successes.

With your confidence intact, you will be in the best position to improve and take your game to the next level.

Improvement Without Excessive Self-Criticism:

1. There is a time and place for everything. During a competition, you should focus on your game strategy to stay in the present moment.

Move forward after a mistake. Avoid judging your game moment to moment.

2. Use objective feedback rather than negative criticism. Being objective requires that you look at your measurable stats, and deciding what to emphasize during the next practice.

Be more objective and focus on improvement, not failures. Maintain a balance between improving your game and being kinder to yourself.

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Confidence-Boosting Techniques! 

The Confident Athlete CD and workbook program is a 14-day plan for ultimate self-confidence. This program is ideal for any athlete or coach that wants to discover proven confidence-boosting techniques guaranteed to drastically build self-confidence and improve sports performance.


Approach for Success

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This article is republished with permission. The original article was written by Björn Galjaardt Approach for Success.

The golden egg? Shortcut in becoming successful? A proven model everyone can use? Actually, a little bit of all. The skeptics will stop reading now, however I have to elaborate on the above. It’s an approach that is applied by successful coaches and businessmen in various ways, perhaps some without knowing. It’s called the 4Cs approach.

COMPETENCE in sport can be seen as a high level of achievement, performance or athletic ability. One could break this down in 3 domains, namely; technical, tactical and physical skills. Each skill has its own definition. In that way a model can be created and adapted to each sport specifically. To define skills under each domain it is advisable to create a soundboard to test the understanding of each skill. This is important to certain age groups, further developed drills and most important a rating system. In the sport water polo, what does ‘eggbeater kick mean’ and how does a really good ‘eggbeater’ kick look like? Working with a rating system (known as RPE), it could develop a clear understanding that not every ‘eggbeater kick’ is a good kick. For younger age groups, a poor technique could be compared with a beginning athlete, new to the sport, while a perfect technique could be compared with, for them, a well-known athlete. In summary; define skills and make the athlete understand how the execute them. Here lies the basis in how to teach the specific skill and later on combine this skill to move into game based drills. “Any fool can know. The point is to understand” – Albert Einstein

CONFIDENCE in sport could be ‘the degree of certainty individuals possess about their ability to be successful’. Although there is still ongoing research about the measurements of confidence and performance, many measuring tools are commonly used daily. Evaluation forms, one-on-one conversations and self-reflection. A research in 2012 amongst professional athletes, showed an increase of confidence that was equivalent with the increase of their performance. Arguably process and product (in results) could improve through various methods like coach relationship, team mates, competition, feedback from externals, etc. The 4Cs could be connected to one and another and perhaps a balance would see improvement in confidence as it could do in competence. A coach should be aware of the athletes confidence and their strengths or weaknesses during training. Mistakes in a game are actually made in training and can affect the confidence of the athlete. “When you have confidence, you have fun. When you have fun, you can do amazing things” – Joe Namath

CONNECTION in sport is the quality of interaction with peers and staff to promote and engage meaningful and positive relationships. In a coach-athlete relationship you could ask the following question: do you trust the coach and what does trust mean? Instead of specific interaction styles or behaviors, the coach and athlete could target the perceived quality of coach-athlete relationships. Is there room for emotions, cognition’s like commitment and behaviors in sport context? In a peer-to-peer relationship what is the social impact and social preference. Passing the ball to a peer because of a strong connection between the two athletes, instead of passing to someone else. Some data shows that a positive social environment with an effective coach would lead to an increase of positive engagement in the entire team. Meaning that there are more or stronger connections between athletes. Even in individual sports, an athlete interacts with their support group (e.g. trainer, coach, strength and conditioning coach, peer-training-partners, etc.). Coaches play a vital role in getting the ‘person beyond the player’. “A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life” – John Wooden

CHARACTER in sport can be defined by moral development and sportspersonship. It’s the engagement in pro-social behaviors and avoidance of antisocial behaviors. Mostly voluntary positive actions in order to help, add value or benefit others. There actually is a tool to measure character, called the ‘Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour in Sport Scale’. A famous coach had to announce the team for the Olympics. With the last spot available it was character over ability that helped making the final decision. For all athletes there is a certain expectation, even in business we see leaders instead of managers. It doesn’t mean they cannot manage, but we expect more positive shaped characteristics together with traits of (working towards) excellence in ability. Even though we all have formed a certain character, game-based practice situations will show a true persons’ self. “Sports do not build character, they reveal it”. – John Wooden and Heywood Hale Broun.

SUMMARY

The using the 4Cs is a suggestion for high performance frameworks that can lead to success. It’s used to optimize coach and athlete development in defining ‘effective’ coaching and performance. Interdisciplinary frameworks using the 4Cs have led to many international successes. Nevertheless, it’s up to the coach, athlete and the support staff to deal with implementing the aspects of competence, confidence, connection and character. Tailoring to the needs of the training cycle, culture, level and performance goals. By starting with the 4Cs, no matter what age, gender or influence (e.g. equipment, financial blackening, etc.) by making a start and creating clear lines of communication in expectation and interaction, it will change your and the athletes’ performances.

PS I highly recommend reading ‘Coaching better every season’ and ‘Routledge Handbook of Sports Coaching’.


How to Develop a Champion Mindset in Volleyball

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This article is republished with permission. The original article appears at Peak Performance Sports.

By Patrick Cohn

What exactly is the champion mindset?

A champion mindset is the firm belief that you can compete at a high level and develop the skills to accomplish what you have set out to achieve.

The champion mindset is the embodiment of mental toughness or knowing you can overcome mistakesand obstacles and rise to the level of your competition.

The champion mindset is committed to excellence and is not deterred when the going gets tough.

How can a volleyball player develop a champion mindset?

The answer is quite simple… mental preparation.

Champion mindset is a habit that requires daily attention.

The champion mindset is not a once in a while proposition but something that requires a steadfast focus in all you do (training, practicing, drills, scrimmages and against all opponents no matter their ranking).

Team USA Women’s volleyball team is working to develop their champion mindset as the team prepares for the 2020 Olympics.

Even though the US squad did not make it to the semi-finals at the 2018 FIVB Women’s World Championships, the team realizes that solidifying a champion mindset is key as they continue to prepare to compete for championships in international competition.

Team USA setter Micha Hancock talked about the importance of approaching every match with the same focus and the same mindset no matter the level of competition.

Hancock stated that mindset is not just something you work to develop in competition.

Developing a champion mindset requires full effort and focus in everything you do including every scrimmage, every practice and every drill.

HANCOCK: “I think the good thing for this team is nothing really needs to change, it’s always the same focus. We have this thing called ‘gold-medal match day’ where even if it’s a scrimmage on a Friday that counts as gold-medal match day. We try to keep that standard no matter who, when or what we’re playing and I think it helps at times like this.”

A champion mindset is not just something available to elite athletes.

You also can develop champion mindset.

A champion mindset requires your daily attention. So you need to decide whether to devote your time to developing the champion mindset or not.

As you work on this champion mindset, you will see your level of play improve…

You will feel more confident… You will have those competitive juices flowing and feel physically ready and mentally prepared to take on the challenges in front of you.

The champion mindset is within you… you just need to unleash it.

Tip for Developing a Champion Mindset:

A champion mindset requires practice, so that’s where you need to work on it… in PRACTICE!

View drills and scrimmages as a way to get stronger mentally.

Remind yourself that this is an opportunity to develop a champion mindset.

One effective way to work on your mindset is to support your teammates with positive communication.

At the beginning of each drill and scrimmage focus on being a great teammate and create a scenario in your mind that mirrors a similar situation you will face in a match.