Melrose scrimmages AC today at 4:00 at home.
Coach Scheyer on Duke’s team identity. It’s built around 3 concepts:
— Blue Devil Voices (@DukeEchoes) October 27, 2025
1. Connection
(Building trust, being honest, active listening, communicating on the court)
2. Kaizen mentality (改善=Japanese word Kai 改 meaning change 善 for good & better) Focusing on each day being your… pic.twitter.com/mlgggZPB0P
"Every day is player development day." - Coach Dave Smart
"It starts when you 'cross the red line'." - Coach Urban Meyer
"Every day is showtime."
Lagniappe. Build your highlight reel. You become your belief...edits from ChatGPT Plus:
🏐 The Volleyball Highlight Reel
In Ten Minute Toughness, performance psychologist Jason Selk encourages athletes to build a “highlight reel”—a short mental movie they play daily to strengthen confidence and focus. It’s simple, but it works, because it teaches the mind what right feels like.
🎬 What It Is
The highlight reel combines visualization and identity. It has three key parts:
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Past Successes – Picture two or three moments when you played your best. Maybe it was a clean block, a perfect serve-receive, or a match-saving dig. Feel it—the sound of the gym, your teammates’ reaction, your composure.
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Future Ideal Performance – See yourself executing today’s goals: calm in serve-receive, communicating on every play, swinging aggressively, celebrating together after long rallies.
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Identity Statement – A brief phrase that defines who you are when you compete at your best:
“I am a calm, confident, relentless teammate.”
“I bring energy, precision, and trust to every point.”
Run this “film” in your head for three to five minutes before practice, before matches, or as part of your nighttime routine.
🧠 Why It Works
The brain doesn’t perfectly distinguish between vivid imagination and lived experience. When you see yourself succeed—feeling the rhythm of your approach or the steadiness of your platform—you’re building neural reps of success. Over time, this:
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Strengthens confidence through repeated success imagery.
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Improves focus by rehearsing process, not outcome.
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Builds emotional control, grounding players before competition.
It’s the same mental wiring elite athletes use to prepare under pressure.
🏐 Practical Application
Encourage players to build personal highlight reels around their role:
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Setter: visualize smooth tempo, quiet hands, precise decisions.
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Libero: picture serve-receive angles, controlled digs, leadership.
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Hitter: see yourself calling for the ball, reading the block, attacking fearlessly.
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Server: feel your breath, your toss, and the ball’s path to the deep corner.
Each repetition reinforces not just what they do—but who they are when they do it well.
💡 Coaching Perspective
You can frame it as mental conditioning: “We train our bodies daily. Let’s train our minds the same way.”
Teams can also create a shared highlight reel—video clips set to music showing great teamwork, defense, and celebration—to anchor the team’s collective identity.
🪞Final Thought
The highlight reel is not fantasy—it’s direction. Instead of replaying mistakes, players practice mastery.
“Confidence is remembering your strengths louder than your doubts.”
When athletes learn to visualize their best selves, they don’t just imagine greatness—they become it.
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