Greatness

Few of us achieve greatness. Perhaps some were born to be great, but most worked to achieve special status.

Geoff Colvin's book, "Talent Is Overrated" investigates the processes needed to achieve superior results. He writes in depth, for example, about the methods young Benjamin Franklin developed to improve his writing skills. He overcame both inadequate vocabulary and prose skills through deliberate practice and modeling superior writing using innovative techniques like rewriting in verse and in his language.

Later Colvin discusses approaches to develop superior performance, including the music model, case studies, and sports model. I won't become a spoiler for Colvin's work, but within the sports model we can extract John Wooden's conditioning and skill building approaches.

With volleyball season close at hand, has time evaporated? For individual players, inquire whether time is better spent on conditioning or position-specific skills?

If you don't serve and spend most of your time blocking and attacking, then 'deliberate practice' focused on power and plyometrics is more productive than hours spent serving and digging. If your serve needs more consistency and giddyup, then working on jumping isn't the ticket. If quickness and reaction training need work for defense, then both aerobic conditioning and quickness/balance exercises are for you.

Your time is short. Choose wisely.