You're procrastinating, from the Latin (pro - for and cras - tomorrow). You face the dreaded summer reading.
Director Werner Herzog summarizes, "Read. Read. Read. Read. Read." Readers are leaders. Readers achieve more.
I recently finished Making Decisions by Cambridge alum, former British cricket selector Ed Smith. Currently, I'm nearing the end of The Contact, book seven of the spy thriller series from Saul Herzog. And I'm a big fan of Dan Coyle (The Talent Code), although I wish his blog had more posts.
If you read two hours a day, in 90 days you have 180 more hours of knowledge and nuance than the non-reader (25 percent of Americans). Billionaire Steve Forbes reads 50 pages a day. Influencer and Author Dan Pink (Drive) suggests "do five more." Five more reps, five more pages, five more minutes help separate you from the crowd.
Lagniappe. Trust the process.
The number one key to performing well under pressure is keeping your focus on the process instead of the outcome.
Seek balance. Life rewards balance. Courage balances recklessness and fear. Confidence balances arrogance and doubt.
Legend says that John Lennon said this,
"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." It's not confirmed but still good.
An elite girls' coach told me, "Girls tend to have more of an "imposter syndrome" where they don't know how good they are." You can only play as well as your self-belief.
UNC women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance believes in only showing positive video clips to support players' self-belief.
Trader Todd Harrison reminds us, "Never confuse self-worth with net worth." More resources don't make one a better person.
People may adopt teachings about their value. Every player on the team has value.
Parents can inflict withering disapproval. Sherri Coale discussed the player whom the team thought was selfish. "You're not happy unless you're scoring." In a team meeting, the young woman cried, "my father won't talk to me if I'm not scoring."
Award yourself value for what you can control - honesty, effort, teamwork. Never allow anyone to dismiss your self-respect.
Coaches can support or damage a player's self-worth. Nothing beats "I believe in you" and nothing beats down more than abusive coaches telling players they're worthless.
Lagniappe. Acceleration footwork/arm position.
Lagniappe 2. Repost. You know this. You can watch the steps in slow motion using the YouTube "gear" function.
Regular readers know the lesson, "how you play reflects how you live." Team players live teamwork. Selfish players see the world through self-indulgent lenses.
Reflect on Clark's principles:
LOVE CONDITIONALLY. “On the other hand, if you get the wrong guy on your team, he’ll beat you every day.”
BE THOROUGHLY ACCOUNTABLE. We open every meeting with what we did well. Spend so much more time on your strengths."
SHARED VOCABULARY. Have a common language.
PRACTICE RESILIENCY. In other words, culture, to be successful must be intentionally thought out, planned and executed by all those involved.
EXPECT EVERYONE TO LEAD. This is a form of shared ownership where everyone is contributing to successful elements of a culture. Successful people work at making the right decisions within their priorities and strive to properly manage those decisions daily. The first and most important person that you lead is yourself.
IMPROVE RELENTLESSLY. "We believe in constant performance improvement. We say it’s not just enough to win."
GET A GREAT COACH teaching must be a key ingredient in successful/teams and organizations.
VALUE TEAM. "We celebrate team, talk about it and build on it."
What are your "volleyball values?" Distill them to one word to reflect your ethos, your volleyball character.
You want to succeed, to contribute, to have a meaningful role and be recognized. Understood.
Integrity. Means being 'professional' - on time, ready to go physically and mentally, playing hard on every drill, every play.
Teamwork. Put the team first. Put leadership ahead of being the team MVP.
Improvement. "Every day is player development day." Wake up asking yourself, "how can I be a better person, a better student, a better player?"
Sharing. Be a sharer. Share vision, experience, knowledge. "Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence."
Inspiration. Energize yourself and your teammates. Do you know the Ration sisters. There are the little sisters, Aspi and Inspi Ration. And there are the big sisters, Prepa and Perspi Ration.
Humility. "Thinking about yourself less doesn't mean thinking less of yourself."
Lagniappe. From my basketball blog, study great leaders. Maybe you don't agree with their policies. Fine. Learn from their processes.
Lagniappe 2. Defense and setting exercise, attacking from a box.
Adam Grant's book Give and Takeshares that people have 'styles' of interaction - givers, matchers, and takers.
The most and least successful are givers, the most are 'ambitious givers' and the least are givers who give too much time and energy away.
Here's your assignment - 'gift' appreciation to a former teammate. Thank her for making you a better person, better student or better volleyball player.
While you're at it, think about gifting a teammate the same. It doesn't have to cost anything. Praise them for their consistent work, positive attitude, or for sharing an idea with you.
Learn to use analogies. Clouds don't always mean rain any more than you should believe everything you hear. "Lightning never strikes twice in the same place." That's wrong as the Empire State Building gets hit 25 to 100 times annually.
Toughness and effort are skills. Listening is a skill. Failure to listen helped lose a championship game. It happened. Don't suffer regret.
"Paying attention pays for excellence." Concentration leads to anticipation, reaction, and execution. CARE.
Listening involves eye contact. Doug Lemov, teacher extraordinaire reminds students, "eyes on me." Even a computer, so-called multitasking, does so only by focusing on each task and by executing faster.
Bobby Knight called a timeout in practice and diagrammed a play. Then he handed out paper and pencils and asked players to reproduce the play. Pay attention or else.
Be fully engaged. Talking, we only speak what we know. Listeners process and absorb new information.
Coach Kiraly shares tips for better listening.
To be a good learner be a good listener.
A good listener makes a better teammate.
Give full attention to the speaker. Turn off distractions.
Ask questions. "Tell me more."
Avoid interruptions.
Why is listening important in the team setting?
How can you tell when someone isn't listening?
Catch yourself not listening.
Catch yourself thinking of what you plan to say instead of listening.
Lagniappe. Challenge players to raise performance.
HC assignment. Before season begins, write down your vision for each player by end of year. Now hand it to player, he/she gets to be your editor, adding or subtracting. HC rewrites, role declaration included, meet again before season, discuss, go forward.
All stars are different and the same. The largest known star, UY Scuti has a radius about 1700 times of ours!
Know your Melrose volleyball history. Jennifer Cain. Great teams have three dynamic hitters. On the 2012 State Championship team, they were Sarah McGowan, Cain, and Rachel Johnson. Exceptional teams have defenders who 'keep the ball up' and passers who put the ball in the right place. Cain did all that.
She wasn't the 'third wheel' of a champion, she was the transmission, a part without whom the team could never have achieved what they did.
Observers of Melrose volleyball over the past twenty plus years know that she was one of the best all-around volleyball players ever to come out of Melrose. She played college ball at Merrimack.
Communication drives relationships. Communication includes both verbal and nonverbal communication.
Great nonverbal communication includes eye contact and a firm handshake. Smiling communicates. Don't roll your eyes or scowl at the game officials. That won't get you more calls.
In his MasterClass, media personality George Stephanopoulos stresses "the Four C's" of communication. Work on them.
Clarity. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Master teacher Richard Feynman preached NAME, EXPLAIN, RESEARCH, and RESTATE. Be specific. If I say, "fully engage," it's not the same as "during a timeout, sprint to the bench, eyes on Coach, stand up straight, and lean in to the conversation."
Concision. "Brevity is the soul of wit." Your coaches put you in the best position to win. "Be professional." Show up on time, mentally and physically ready to go.
Curiosity. Identity. Who are we? Performance. How do we operate? Are we executing at the highest level or can we improve defending the outside hitter, winning serve receive with first attacks, and getting more aces without major risk of service errors?
Candor. Be honest. Coach Lane, after wins would often say, "I'm pleased but I'm not satisfied." Exceptional teams have, in the words of UNC Soccer Coach Anson Dorrance, "continual ascension." They improve during the season. Consider last season. Was the team that beat Dartmouth the same team that lost to Peabody? Of course not. When Coach says, "we must improve _______," he's not communicating to hear his voice.
Think for yourself and communicate better using higher order tools.
Use analogies, challenge ourselves to think more clearly, more broadly, with more imagination.
Imagine sitting in your dining room after dinner. Look around. Generate ideas. Go.
1. The chandelier overhead goes on. "The light goes on." We have an idea or a series of them, the brain magically activated.
2. A place setting decorates the table. "You have a lot on your plate," maybe a job, offseason volleyball, summer reading.
3. A knife sits to the right of your plate. A knife might symbolize potential for violence, slicing a task into more digestible pieces, or friendship? Oscar Wilde said, "your friends stab you in the front."
4. A glass of water is half consumed. "Is the glass half full or half empty?" Do we see the world through rose-colored glasses or jaded eyes?
5. There's garlic bread on the table. Garlic wards off vampires. Battle metaphorical energy vampires and opponents to be vanquished. Where is your garlic?
6. Most chairs around the table are empty. Influence expert Dan Pink says to remember the 'empty chair' at a meeting. If you don't have one, get one.
The chair represents someone with a vested interest in the meeting, but not physically present. That could include a customer or consumer, the fans, or a parent. Just because someone isn't present doesn't mean they don't care.
7. Cannolis for desert. Think about the backstory.
Cannolis conjure the spirit of The Godfather. There's no mystery as to the identity of the Godfather of Melrose volleyball.
8. Dark night cloaks the windows. What mysteries will evolve this season? "It's always darkest before the dawn." Visualize the role you want to fill and how to make that happen.
Lagniappe. A legendary coach talks relaxes position, platform, and adjusting to the ball.
Lagniappe 2. "Cornhole" profits by scoring on your first attack off serve receive.
All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own. They don't represent those of the City of Melrose, the School Department, Melrose High School, or the Melrose Athletic Department.
Tryouts are just around the corner. Be physically and mentally prepared.
Hit the ground running. Tryouts aren't for conditioning. Don't get ready. Be ready. Conditioning is your responsibility.
Be a great teammate. Choose collaboration.
"Leave the jersey in a better place." - James Kerr, in Legacy "Culture beats strategy for breakfast." Fight for your culture every day.
"Cross the red line." When you cross the red line onto the court, be stretched out, fired up, and ready to go.
"Keep the ball up." The ball doesn't hit the ground when defenders talk. Talk intimidates. "Silent teams lose."
Mentor younger teammates. "Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence."
Everyone leads. Be on time. Never be a distraction. Excel in your role, regardless of the amount of playing time.
"Don't cheat the drill." Be fully engaged and go full-tilt, full time. You earn your paycheck - minutes, role, and recognition.
"Have a growth mindset." You can be as good as you work. Learn every day. Pick the brains of your coaches and experienced teammates.
Lagniappe. "Form begets function." Study the video and study video of your serve - your routine, toss, and swing.
Someone asked me last night, "how can you write over 3,500 basketball pieces?" "Be open to inspiration from the world around you."
Maybe you never see "The Bear" because you don't watch television or don't have access to the channel. The summary (spoiler alert) speaks for itself. Apply the lessons. Leave out the expletives.
1. Maintain a growth mindset. You're either staying the same or pushing forward. It's your choice.
2. Imagine the possibilities. See yourself being in the big moment.
3. Stay focused on the biggest priority - your family.
4. The greatest achievements come from being part of a team.
5. Looking at Luca's skill and Marcus's creation reminds me of a basketball truth, "great offense comes from multiple actions." That should conjure, "dig, set, spike."
Be part of 'special' as you fulfill John Wooden's father's advice, "Make every day your masterpiece."
All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own.
"Every day here is the freaking Super Bowl." - The Bear (language)
Her former employer, Abercrombie, gave a young leader a poster showing fifty sweaters and asked her to pick the top two sellers. She picked them. They asked how she knew. "Those were the best ones." Sometimes, we know the best when we see it.
Prioritize program values. List top to bottom however you like. Get something down. Add more if you want. Some overlap in varying degrees.
Teamwork
Excellence
Growth (mindset)
Discipline
Purpose
Athleticism
Skill
Leadership
Effort
Toughness
Culture
Energy
Intensity
Communication
Accountability
Focus
Competitiveness
Inspiration
Urgency
Tradition
Legacy
Resilience
Edit your list to five. That doesn't mean the others don't count. Remember the saying, "if you're going to put all your eggs in one basket, watch the basket carefully."
My five won't always be yours.
1. Teamwork. Volleyball is a team sport. Individual actions count, but the sport rewards "dig, set, spike" collaboration with points.
2. Excellence. Remind yourself of the sign in the locker room of the greatest college women's soccer team ever, North Carolina.
Excellence Is our Only Agenda
The sign doesn't say "winning" is our only agenda, "becoming All-America" is our only agenda, "Getting NIL money" is our only agenda, or "Envy is our only agenda." Slogans only matter when embraced and lived.
3. Growth. Target improvement at every opportunity. Ask how can you impact team success and make everyone around you better.
4. Leadership. Leaders make others better. Leaders make leaders. Leaders see what needs to be done and do what it takes. Player leadership matters.
5. Resilience. Staying power. Have the will to stay in the fight even when the battle is going against you. Work to close out games when ahead. Other qualities like focus, toughness, energy, and competitiveness roll into it. Do not quit.
You might argue that one word from the list encompasses all these - culture. You are the culture. Protect your culture.
Lagniappe. Learn to read the ball quicker and more accurately. Faster recognition allows faster reaction.
Some called Seinfeld "a show about nothing." We can learn a lot from nothing.
1. I know a Physicians Assistant who asks people for a tip or core value. Mine was "share something great." That might include Coach Phil Jackson's quote, "Basketball is sharing" or knowing the best experiences are shared joy.
2. Starbucks has a service principle called "LATTE," an acronym.
L = listen to the customer A = acknowledge the problem T = thank the customer for bringing the problem to our attention T = take care of the problem E = explain to colleagues so they don't have the same problem This works in coaching and in playing. Every correction applies to all.
3. Get more from practice through efficiency. Watching the UCONN women's basketball team practice, we saw a model of efficiency.
Increase efficiency. - Operate at a higher tempo. - Make it competitive. - Condition within drills. - Limit lines, laps, and lectures. - Include special situations. In close games, any possession can be the answer.
4. Newer isn't necessarily better. In Jim Bouton's irreverent Ball Four, he used the line, "Consider the source." Everything we hear or read doesn't add value. "Consider the source."
5. 'Common sense' comes in limited supply, but its opposite, nonsense comes unbounded.
6. In school, we recited 'The Pledge of Allegiance' thousands of times. It ends, 'with liberty and justice for all'. Have you thought about what that means and applied it to your relationships?
7. To get respect, give respect. Respect your coaches, teammates, opponents, and officials.
8. If you read even an hour a day for the next month, you'll have thirty more hours of possible knowledge than those who don't. "Little things make big things happen."
9. Coach Billy Donovan says, "Study every guy that you may be expected to guard." Who are the players you need to contain to win? What's your plan?
10.The best players impact winning by making everyone around them better. Be that guy.
Lagniappe. Serve receive is critical. How does a system decide who covers the seams?
Always communicate and follow the system of your coach.
Mines are 'low-tech', demoralizing weapons of war. Designed as much to maim as kill, anti-personnel mines are outlawed under the Geneva Convention. They're still being used in regional war today.
Coaches have numerous minefields to navigate.
Attitude
Bias
Confidence (including overconfidence)
Conflicts
Energy
Expectations
Parents
Playing time
Politics
Scheduling
Excellent teams usually have collaborative, learning cultures with great teamwork. They don't have the dreaded S's of selfishness, sloth, and softness. "Fight for your culture every day."
I'm not talking about race or ethnicity bias. We can be biased based toward experience, youth, or balance, or toward size, athleticism, offense, or defense.
Confidence cuts both ways. Teams underachieve lacking confidence or when overconfident headed into "trap games." If a team doesn't show up physically or mentally, an inferior team can beat them.
Coaches, setters, and top players must bring energy and energize teammates every day.
Some coaches downplay expectations. The 'perennial loser' Boston Red Sox turned their franchise around in 1967 hiring Dick Williams as manager. Williams said, "we'll win more than we lose," guiding the Red Sox to the World Series where they lost in seven games to the mighty Cardinals. Lowering the bar only wins in limbo.
Parents can present challenges, judging the coach through the prism of their children's status. Chuck Daly's triad of minutes, role, and recognition (48 minutes, 48 shots, 48 million) applies the same for middle schoolers as for pros.
Playing time represents a constant issue. There's an old joke about the coach sending out ten players to start, for which the officials assess her a technical foul. She turns to parents saying, "I told you that they can't all start." Coach Sonny Lane emphasized to us, "it's not who starts, it's who finishes."
Every parent should read Carl Pierson's The Politics of Coaching. Players, coaches, administrators, and others seek to undermine the coach for their own ends.
Scheduling can work for or against coaches. Schedule some 'cupcakes' to pick up cheap wins? Your team won't be prepared to face quality teams or to win in the postseason. In Massachusetts, a power rating formula rewards teams for playing better schedules.
Nothing could be more wrong than "any idiot with a whistle can coach." Negotiating the pitfalls above is a constant. No matter your effort, you will never make everyone happy.
Lagniappe. Defensively, "keep the ball in the air." Always follow the system of Coach Celli or your coach of the moment.
All opinions expressed on the blog are solely my own.
Thomas Edison said three keys to invention were imagination, perseverance, and analogies. Here are a few volleyball analogies:
Countdown to liftoff. NASA has a countdown to the liftoff of its Saturn V solid rocket booster. Tryouts are just around the corner.
Cut corners. Cutting corners means giving less than full effort, to take shortcuts. When Ralph Labella and I watched the future four-time consecutive NCAA champion UCONN women practice, they began practice with two laps (after stretching) at Gampel Pavillion. Nobody cut a corner. "Champions don't cut corners."
Cannonballs. Some players hit the ball so hard that it makes a different sound.
Pancake. The 'pancake dig' is one of the exciting plays in volleyball, keeping the ball alive.
Pogo stick. Some girls seem to have big vertical jumps, as though on a pogo stick. A few who come to mind included Gia Vlajkovic, Elena Soukos, Sarah McGowan, and Paula Sen.
Great wall. Rachel Johnson and Kayla Wyland earned the blocking reputation of 'the Great Wall'. The legend is that the Great Wall of China is visible from space. False.
Cheddar biscuit. A great set that allows for an easy kill is a 'cheddar biscuit'. If you've ever eaten at Red Lobster, you know the real deal.
Setting machine. Be so consistent that you function like a machine.
Floor cleaner. I heard of a coach who gave out the "floor cleaner of the week" award, a floor tile on string. Dive on the floor and you're a floor cleaner.
Campfire. "A ball that falls to the floor in an area that’s surrounded by two, three, four or more players. At the instant after the ball hits the floor, it appears as if the players are encircling and staring at a campfire."
Trash talking. If you're going to do it, you better back it up.
Lagniappe. Coaches like to vary drills. Competitive serving and passing drill
All opinions expressed in this blog are solely my own.
What are your 'tasks' in adolescence? You navigate the choices to become a 'functional adult'. The better you choose, the better you become.
From your 60,000 or so daily thoughts, filter the ones that advance your story. Run into a minefield, you will hit a mine.
A few passages from J.A. Baker's The Peregrine, scaffold the advice.
The best advice comes from your parents. Nobody loves you more or wants more for you. Your first task is taking care of business at home.
Academic excellence follows. "There is no ability without eligibility." Melrose volleyball has a great tradition of scholarship and leadership. "You own your paycheck." The only place success precedes work is in the dictionary.
You make your choices and your choices make you. Sometimes you can't see progress. That doesn't prove its absence. Running stadium stairs, lifting, or platform 'wall drills' don't register in a newspaper column or a friend's text. All they do is build champions.
Extracurriculars are the third leg of your development stool. They deserve your full attention in the moment. "Do more to become more and become more to do more." The coaches don't assign the minutes and the roles. The players do. The coaches put players in the position to succeed.
The players write a narrative of hope, joy, and prosperity. The coaches' task is advancing and editing that story.
Lagniappe. A lot can interrupt the progress of the story.
You choose whether to invest your time or spend it.
"You lie down with dogs, you get fleas."
You tune out the director, you get no lines in the play.
I was talking with a college professor. She said the level of entitlement boggles the mind. Students don't turn in assignments; they want an 'A'. Student do poorly on a test. They want a retake. Students party and they expect a good job will drop like manna from heaven. That is not how life works.
Add to your metaphorical toolbox every day. That's analogy. For example, you have smashes, cut shots, tips, roll shots, and more.
Diacope... "A, B, A"
Language is power. As communicators, add more arrows to your quiver. Historically, elite schools taught rhetoric to the children of patricians. The Forsyth video shares a few cookies, particularly diacope and chiasmus.
Years ago after a match where an opponent hammered the team, Ralph Labella was understandably frustrated to give the post-game talk. He asked me. The team had lacked physical and mental toughness. I subconsciously chose a variant of progression. I said two lines. "How you play reflects how you live. You respond to challenges or you don't."
Six months later, Kiki Kiernan came up to me and said, "that 'how you play reflects how you live' really got to me." She went on to study at The College of the Holy Cross, a highly competitive school.
Here are a couple more rhetorical tools:
Tricolon employs a series of three. Julius Caesar wrote, "I came. I saw. I conquered. Superman fought for "truth, justice, and the American Way." General Douglas MacArthur famously delivered commencement at West Point, preaching "duty, honor, country." Volleyball performance follows "bump, set, spike." The honors ensue, "MVP, All-Scholastic, All-State."
Anaphora uses the same beginnings to each line. Legendary coach Vince Lombardi said, "Winning isn't everything. Winning is the only thing." Melrose volleyball sustains a learning culture. Melrose volleyball flourishes with teamwork. Melrose volleyball succeeds with a commitment to excellence.
Summary (your new rhetorical tools):
Diacope
Chiasmus
Progression
Tricolon
Anaphora
Lagniappe. For more on rhetoric:
Lagniappe 2. Getting more touches with demands on concentration and accuracy builds skill.
"The magic is in the work." Players tire of hearing a "broken record" about achieving success.
Great players wake up hungry to improve. They ask, "what must I do to become elite?"
Gia Vlajkovic had total commitment to the transformation from setter to hitter before last season. That explains how like Elena Soukos the year before and many other Melrose players she earned the "Triple Crown" of league MVP, All-Scholastic, and All-State.
Success is a choice. Become elite and recognition takes care of itself.
Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez's college coach read passages from Ryan Holiday's book, Discipline is Destiny. After the meeting, Gonzalez asked his coach, "Can I borrow that book?"
"Champions do extra." Extra means weight training, jump training, and repetitions to perfect their attack runup, block footwork, platform or setting skills.
Here are quotes from Discipline Is Destiny:
"Name someone truly great without self-discipline."
"Resources without self-control lead to distraction." Are you investing your time or spending it?
"Being self-disciplined about your body means building up your patience and investing in your health in the long run so that you can be healthier in the long run." Leave your comfort zone.
"Bad conditions cannot be fixed through negative responses;" create space to improve after a negative impulse
"We cannot always be who we are." - Socrates We must work to improve ourselves because we won't be naturally great at anything.
Think about your friend; if you find yourself in this situation, would you tell them what they did wrong? Have you taken action? Or take better steps to improve the situation. Don't give advice that you couldn't take.
Improve your brand, how others perceive your program and you. Here are exemplars from valued brands.
Set your Standard of Performance high and work to live up to it every day. Accountability is setting your standards high. Encourage that standard to everyone in the organization. Bill Walsh's The Score Takes Care of Itself belongs on your desk.
"Make it. Sell it. Build brand awareness." - Sara Blakely CEO and owner of Spanx, Blakely turned an idea into a five billion dollar empire. She was on an 'Outward Bound' type retreat where she had to jump, wearing a bungee cord, to a 'catcher' suspended by a crane. She made it successfully, unlike most. She jumped to a spot 'three feet above' the catcher. Her advice, "aim high."
"Do one thing every day for your craft and one for your business." - David Mamet, playwright, author, and director. Improve your skills, athleticism, and brand.
"The director's job is to advance the story." - Ron Howard, actor and director You become your own life coach. Your job is to advance your narrative using the tools you acquire from mentors, study, and experience.
"Bring the best version of yourself to work every day." - Samuel L. Jackson This echoes the fourth agreement in The Four Agreements. Think about your communication in interviews. If you're a high performer, you'll get credit. Share credit by praising teammates and coaches.
Lagniappe. Every player benefits from better platform skills. "Every day is player development day."
Priyanka Chopra explains her passion for women's opportunity.
You've recently learned how Title IX (1972) changed the landscape for women's education and women's sports. NIL legislation may change that. NCAA football and Men's basketball may change to independent entities which would remove equal funds from women's sports.
Care because it will affect you. You are not second class athletes.
Appreciate equal facilities.
Appreciate equal practice time.
Appreciate equal access to high quality coaching.
If you don't fight for your rights, you will lose them. Change the world.
Lagniappe. Try this. Play a set without looking at the score.
"Coaches see everything." We don't. Never have, never will. Coaches don't read minds.
Within the framework of skill, strategy, physicality, and psychology, we speculate on maturity.
Sometimes, coaches mentally 'coin flip' on A versus B, Annie versus Barbie, based on our perception of maturity and its impact on attitude, choices, and effort.
Read this short article. Maybe you'll see how it applies. Highlights:
"The brain finishes developing and maturing in the mid-to-late 20s. The part of the brain behind the forehead, called the prefrontal cortex, is one of the last parts to mature. This area is responsible for skills like planning, prioritizing, and making good decisions.
The emphasis on peer relationships, along with ongoing prefrontal cortex development, might lead teens to take more risks because the social benefits outweigh the possible consequences of a decision. These risks could be negative or dangerous, or they could be positive, such as talking to a new classmate or joining a new club or sport.
Most teens do not get enough sleep. Research shows that the sleep hormone melatonin works differently in teens. Melatonin levels stay high later at night and drop later in the morning, which may explain why teens may stay up late and struggle with waking up early."
1) Human development won't excuse bad judgment. Rule following can help.
2) Reflective (versus reflexive) thinking helps weigh risks and benefits.
3) Get more sleep.
Lagniappe. Match arm speed to ball speed.
Lagniappe 2. Regular ball skill must follow weighted ball training.
