Stay basic with Sun Tzu's "Utilize strengths, attack weaknesses."
Elevating your game this fall means confirming your strengths (ball control, back row defense, middle blocking) and working to diminish 'need areas'.
Your coaches will share their ideas on both. Never set the expectations bar low. Don't settle for "B" performance when "A" execution is possible.
Many of you know Tom Brady's frustration at being a sixth round (#199) NFL draft choice, because he believed in himself. That 'insult' fueled his drive to elite status, the most impactful offensive player in history.
This Radius Athletics piece focuses on gains via self-scouting.
1) Who are we?
This means identity. Here's an excerpt:
More tough questions to ask yourself during a self scout:
- How do we want to win?
- How are we willing to lose?
- Am I comfortable and are we as a staff comfortable with the trade-offs inherent in the decisions we make about our identity?
- What do we devote more time to, enhancing our strengths or addressing our weaknesses?
- Do our practice plans and everything in them address these pillars?
- If we were being scouted by an opposing coach, would he/she easily pick out these three items as our strengths?
- If my grandmother watched us play could she pick out these three items as our strengths?
Years ago I had a conversation with Winnacunnet coach Ed Beattie whose teams won five consecutive state titles in New Hampshire. His teams had nine High School All-Americans. NH differed from Massachusetts in that offseason practice and coaching was allowed. He said that everything was "between the girls and me." He meant that competition defined playing time, not politics or parenting.
2) Inside the numbers.
Coach Scott Celli is a 'math guy'. Volleyball metrics are available to study performance in serve, serve receive, attack efficiency, etc. Good teams win more points and give away fewer points via mediocre decision-making or execution.
To compete against top teams, MVB has to contain better serving teams, including more efficient passing to allow transition from defense to offense. MVB also has to limit the outside attacks of top teams. Nobody stops the elite players anymore than opponents stop MVB stars.
In basketball, I say "turnovers kill dreams." In volleyball, that's most often poor passing (one bad pass leads to another), service errors, and violations (stay out of the net).
After offseason games and practices, write down three things you did well and one area you need to continue to work on. Stay focused on skill, strategy, physical, and psychological development.
3) "Subtract don't add."
Time is our most precious resource. Every activity, every drill and scrimmage has to impact winning. Director Ron Howard says, "the film is made in the editing room."
I'm not a volleyball coach, not qualified at all. Coach Brian McCormick has efficiency rules - no laps, no lines, no lectures.
Your coaches ask themselves "what can I do better to help us do better?" Edit your life. Coach Sonny Lane taught priorities - family, school, basketball. Work-life balance always matters.
What tradeoffs can boost your game? I remember the Berenstain Bears book the kids read, "Too Much TV." Is there too much texting or too much social media and "Too Little Development?"
Remember AIR, "analytics, identity, revision."
Lagniappe. Can you run this at multiple nets or both sides simultaneously for more efficiency? Is the intensity level high enough? Is the talk loud enough?
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