Post by @bechampionmindedView on Threads
A few points to ponder:
UNC Women's Locker Room: "Excellence is our only agenda."
Aristotle: "We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."
"If you don't have time to do it right, now, when will you have time to do it right?"
"We make our habits and our habits make us."
If you can learn excellence in sport, you can learn History, English, and Mathematics.
Lagniappe. Above the border, they aim high.
In his MasterClass, Mark Cuban asks about ideas or organizations, "Could I do better?" That catalyzed his purchase of the Dallas Mavericks. He paid $285 million dollars for Dallas in 2000. The team is now estimated to be worth $3.5 billion.
Great players, coaches, and entrepreneurs regularly ask, "how can I do better?"
"How good do you want to be?" What are you doing today, tomorrow, and next week to fulfill that vision?
1. Find mentors. Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence. Ask your mentors what specifically needs to be done.
2. Tune your 'hardware'. Commit to getting eight hours sleep and eating better.
3. Become more explosive. Name some of the physical training drills and videos you've seen here such as weighted squats, forward and reverse lunges, serial jumps, rear foot elevation squats, pogos, jump rope exercises, single leg bounds, box jumps, etc. Then do them.
4. Do mental repetitions. Work on visualization, affirmation, positive body language, mindfulness. I read Search Inside Yourself three times. Here's a summary.
5. Learn more about volleyball. Watch Karch Kiraly videos, and many other YouTube videos from Elevate Yourself, Volley Country, Coach Artie, Jump Volleyball, and more.
6. Study great players. Over a decade ago, Jeff Mate' composed a series of highlight videos of some of Melrose's top players. You can find other similar videos from that era.
Brooke Bell and Sarah McGowan were Boston Herald "Players of the Decade." Study their videos in detail, such as setter dumps, two-handed push shots to the deep corner, attack footwork, arm swing, et cetera.
Jill MacInnes was among Melrose's greatest defenders as libero.
7. Work out with teammates for camaraderie and competition.
8. Leave your comfort zone. That might mean playing against better competition or working out harder and longer than you're used to.
You decide how much it means for you and how much commitment to make. The right answer is the right answer for you.
Lagniappe. "Neutral drawback."
From my basketball blog:
1) True joke from President Ronald Reagan
2) Truths about positivity
3) Great video repost on plyometrics
If you want to be an elite athlete, train with that specific goal.
What else could it be?
Plyometrics theory.
Warmup for your plyometrics.
1. Bigger calf or bigger jump (pogos)?
𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄
— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) February 27, 2024
Confidence comes from within.
“Don’t give me the power to affect your self esteem and who you are as a person.”
“Don’t let me control whether you’re going to have a good day or not.”
(🎥 via @DukeWBB)pic.twitter.com/yQXqrhp1zv
Coaches have numerous goals - to put players in a position to succeed, to add value in your personal and sport-specific development, and to get 'buy-in' to the program.
Coach Lawson sends a message that her coaching should never devalue you. Coaching isn't bullying. No coach should call players 'worthless' or 'useless'.
Players have ups and downs. So do coaches. Coaches ask ourselves whether we're doing everything to encourage success. And players, do an inventory of your skills and trajectory to confirm that you're headed upwards.
Lagniappe. Video study. Watch the arm position, swing, and core and the coaches addresses the off-arm.
The New York Times has a word game 'CONNECTIONS' where players are presented with a four by four word matrix and solve for four groups of related items.
Your time will come. It arrives because of ascending play in practice or through chance - injury, illness, inconsistent play of others.
Tom Brady said, "I thought I would never get a chance to play, until one time I did, because I was prepared and the opportunity presented itself."
— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) February 25, 2024
Opportunity favors those who are ready for them.
• Are you prepared?
• Are you confident in yourself?
• Have you done the work?… pic.twitter.com/HjIuNRUO58
Don't get ready. Be ready.
Compete.
"Play so hard the coach has to take you out." - Jay Bilas in Toughness
Be relentless. The 2012 MVB edition never quit, anywhere, anytime. Ralph Labella on the call.
A collection of players is not the same as a team. Most of us have played with a "collection of individuals" and on a team.
You choose to mesh with the whole or to stand apart with your agenda and your ego.
I've mentioned the sign in the UNC Women's Soccer locker room, "EXCELLENCE IS OUR ONLY AGENDA." Most of you are not old enough to remember the quote about the Red Sox, "25 players, 25 cabs."
Great teams fight together not with each other. Consider the legendary Ben Franklin quote, "we must all hang together or we will all hang separately."
Read this article and decide for yourselves.
Here's an excerpt:
"Walsh didn’t want his team to love him as the leader, he wanted them to love one another, to connect with each other on a personal level. He believed the greatness of any team was their ability to execute perfectly under pressure. For Walsh, unless a team was connected to one another, nothing else mattered. Often, we hear the term “team chemistry,” but Walsh preferred team connectivity."
The majority of our communication is non-verbal. Convey a strong, positive message by standing tall with your head up.
When you walk onto the floor, posture signals your attitude and confidence. That goes for entering a classroom or a job interview. Show that you're a serious person.
Negative body language is not an option.
NEGATIVE BODY LANGUAGE LETS
— Coach the Coaches (@WinningCoaches) February 25, 2024
• Your opponents know they have the upper hand
• Your teammates know your selfish
• Recruiters know you can't handle adversity
• Random spectators form opinions about you
Nothing good comes from negative BL.
KEEP YOUR CALM
~ via @DanCevette
Lagniappe.
Chess has broad use. "Control the middle of the board" and "avoid tactical errors" and "consider options with common alignments."
First, an easy puzzle from the "Chess Tactics" app, White to play.
This basketball piece from 2015 informs common sport 'situations'. It's a flawed analogy because in chess, each player begins with the same pieces and position. Volleyball matches seldom are evenly arranged.
How might it apply for MVB?
1. Every piece moves differently and has differing value. A queen or castle plus king can enforce checkmate while other individual pieces cannot.
2. Experienced players "chunk" information. They see clusters of pieces and learn how to attack them. When the outside hitter sees the double block coming, they assemble mental options - beat the blockers, wipe off the outside blocker, tip, or cut shot across and short.
3. Sacrifice. Sometimes a chess player sacrifices a piece to improve their position. Every front row hitter won't get the same number of attacks, nor should they.
4. Grandmaster Garry Kasparov teaches players to know what to do when there's nothing to do and to "attack when there's something to do."
5. Avoid unforced errors. Unforced errors hurt chances of winning in every sport.
6. Control the center of the field/court/board. Melrose has traditionally had dominant middles although the 'balance of power' has shifted outside in more recent years. In 2002, Melrose lost in the State Semis as Marlboro had an exceptional libero who controlled the match.
7. "Utilize strengths, attack weaknesses." - Sun Tzu Coaches and teams decide whom and where to attack.
White has multiple pieces attacking the d5 pawn in the center of the board. Black has an equal number of defenders. Black to move. Can Black strengthen its defense while simultaneously attacking? (answer at end)
8. Become a queen. The most limited pieces on the board, pawns, can become any piece, including a queen, with an advance to the back row. Grow your game and become a queen.
Lagniappe. Training your life.
🎥 Brad Stevens said, “You got a choice - you either come in & let your circumstances control your attitude - or you let your attitude control your circumstances.”
— Greg Berge (@gb1121) February 24, 2024
- Attitude matters.
- Mindset Matters.
- Your choices matter.
Be a Master of Your Mind. pic.twitter.com/WTRzTP9hib
Melrose had nine juniors on the 2023 edition of MVB. No coaching wizard can create nine starters on a six-person game.
That leaves returning players with limited options, grow their athleticism, skill, and 'game' or accept a limited role while enjoying the MVB experience and their teammates.
ACE. We control our attitude, choices, and effort. Choose wisely.
Lagniappe. Challenge yourself to maintain technique while improving vision.
All opinions in the blog are solely my own.
Strong culture forms the foundation for MVB. Culture flows from coaching. Culture is the environment, the milieu, the "mother sauce" of the dish.
The core 4
— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) January 29, 2024
pic.twitter.com/gd98bCOzgl
Steve Kerr discusses "values based coaching." Every coach and player in every sport can benefit from understanding these three minutes.
However much Kerr's resonate (competitiveness, mindset, compassion, joy), ours will differ. Everyone needs authenticity.
My mantra was TIA - teamwork, improvement, accountability. Other values for your program surround and flow from core values. Be specific.
Teamwork. Teamwork means working together for the good of the team, putting team before self. Remember Jay Bilas's bytes from Toughness, "It's not your shot, it's our shot." It means everyone plays defense, everyone blocks out. Teamwork implies shared vision, shared sacrifice, shared results. As Bella Federico said, "we win together and we lose together." Teamwork abhors finger-pointing. Teamwork implies verbal and nonverbal communication.
"Help your teammate" means on and off the court. Are they in a funk because of school or family or a relationship problem? Be there for them.
Improvement. Improvement served as a category for home improvement, scholastic achievement, volleyball growth. Take care of business at home, at school, and work on skill, strategy, physicality, and psychology (resilience). Create better habits. Invest our time don't spend it. "Win the morning" with your success routine.
Accountability. Hold yourself to high standards at all times. "How you do anything is how you do everything." Be punctual, focused, positive, and committed to making everyone around you better.
In the new documentary Dynasty about the Patriots, the defense, led by stars like Willie McGinest, Richard Seymour, Ty Law, Teddy Bruschi, and Lawyer Milloy knew they had to stand tall while young quarterback Tom Brady was finding his way.
Standing for your values is your choice.
Lagniappe. Excellent coaches share an obligation to the long-term success of their graduates.
“My win/loss record will not be on my tombstone, but I will be accountable for the impact I have on our players”
— Coach Mac 🏀 (@BballCoachMac) February 17, 2024
- Brittney Ezell
Lagniappe 2. Are you calling the ball, focused, moving the feet when necessary? Experienced players get reminders from young ones.
Don't worry about body fat or muscle size. Play with functional strength, capable of attack, block, jousting, moving with power and quickness. Play with the strength of a lioness.
Strength of a lioness v 3 men
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) February 24, 2024
pic.twitter.com/sTQgBCbYMi
Improve daily. Readers have an immense strategic advantage over non-readers. Learn to read more efficiency. Here is an excerpt from a thread about James Clear's reading tips. Clear wrote Atomic Habits.
Post by @alexandbooks_View on Threads
All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own.
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Post by @whyzaykerView on Threads
"Tell it; live it; take it." This summarizes Kevin Eastman's longer quote.
Some think MVB renewal launches next fall during tryouts at the Middle School. Nothing extends farther from the truth.
The process renews daily when you roll out of bed. Ask "how do I improve today?"
Your process today defines what happens in August. Your performance TODAY defines what the coaches see. Players choose the lineups. You read that right. Players. Choose.
Force your way into the lineup tomorrow through your commitment, focus, and process TODAY.
Years ago in another community, a disgruntled parent tried to force a young coach out who had the temerity to 'cut' his son from a basketball team. The parent, a local politician, tried to make the program about playing time and his son. He came to games with a legal pad and recorded who played and how much. He held meetings trying to rally the community against the coach. A community that had sent its football team to Bermuda after winning a state title three years earlier, suddenly became one where participation not winning counted.
Meanwhile the team kept winning, kept silencing the critic. Thirteen consecutive wins, the last in Boston Garden.
Late in the season, The Wakefield Daily Item editor Robert Dolbeare postulated, "If victory is not the goal, then why put forth the effort?" Winning mattered. The coach stayed, eventually winning a state championship and entering the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
Your today becomes your tomorrow.
"Success increases our self-assurance. Faith in ourselves is a good thing, of course, but too much of it can make us believe we don’t need to change anything." - Bob Knight, The Power of Negative Thinking
Rule 1. "Learn by studying the masters." They won't have all the answers but they do a lot right.
Rule 2. "Our heroes are less than perfect." - Stan Lee We don't need perfection to get excellent results.
Successful coaches ask many questions. Unsuccessful coaches have all the answers. Successful coaches usually ask how can I do this better? Unsuccessful coaches often refuse input.
Melrose experienced three runs of Sectional Titles, 2003-2005, 2009-2012, and 2021-2022. Winning is hard; repeating is harder.
Here's another quote from Knight's Power of Negative Thinking:
"Success actually can be one of the biggest problems a coach or any leader has to deal with."
In the article, Gino and Pisano listed “overconfidence bias” as the second of three impediments that success can put in front of any enterprise."
Lagniappe. Winners manage success.
"Mismanaged success is the leading cause of failure.
But, well managed failure is the leading cause of success.
If you don't know how to work through winning, you are not going to keep winning.
If you don't know how to manage failure and get back up, you're not gonna win."… pic.twitter.com/uI6wkRhTac
Lagniappe 2. "The wind always blows hardest at the top of the mountain."
Lagniappe 3. Watch this in two parts. Take notes. Coach Donnie reviews matchups, strategy, and tips for better setting choices.
Coaches don't need to excel at small talk but must excel at "big talk." It's as easy to make a friend as an enemy.
What counts as big talk? Big talk makes a difference.
Be specific. Jargon doesn't help. Platitudes don't help. Cliches don't help. Give players drills, exercises, video critiques. When we get the special player, take care of her. Be an anteambulo. Find canvas for her to paint.
“Great men have almost always shown themselves as ready to obey as they afterwards proved able to command.” –Lord Mahon
Be positive. Encourage players to work hard, to choose growth. Compete for varsity spots when hope and possibility exist. That doesn't mean to pump flat tires with holes in them. Don't throw a player under the bus. If one player is a better fit for a seat, do the right thing for the program.
Help shape dreams. Offer aid. That might mean teaching, shagging balls, extra instruction, adding value in a thousand ways or sometimes just one.
Add perspective. Perspective should be truth. 'The truth needs three things: number one, you got to live it. Number two, you got to be able to tell it. And number three, you got to be able to take it.' - Kevin Eastman That can mean speaking truth to power or empowering a player with the truth about her game.
Network. Part of adding value is providing shoulders to stand on. Many aren't high so don't provide much visibility or lift. Mine don't. But when players earned a chance to follow their dream, do our best to help them.
Lagniappe.
— Coach the Coaches (@WinningCoaches) February 21, 2024Lagniappe 2. Make time to read.
"That which we are, we are, and if we are to be any better, now is the time to begin." - Alfred Lord Tennyson
You have six months to prepare for the upcoming volleyball season. Coaches see right away who has done the work to grow their skill, game experience, and physical and mental resilience.
Ask yourself questions?
How elite learners think about skill building!
— Reid Ouse (@reidouse) February 21, 2024
So good! pic.twitter.com/TLE2BAnJSt
There's a balance between "sweating the small stuff" and "majoring in the minors," spending too much time on what doesn't matter. Exceptional teams don't give points away.
Communication. "Campfires" and collisions where players fail to communicate give points away. Talk. ELO - early, loud, and often. Be confident to speak.
Focus and Refocus. Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski reminded players, "next play." Don't allow a mishit, shanked ball, or other error bleed into the next play.
"Be a goldfish." Top players have short memories after a mistake (language).
"Good artists borrow; great artists steal." - Picasso
Be open to the world around you. Find ideas to consider, revise, and make yours.
For example, physical training includes conditioning, leg, upper body, and core work. No 'one way' exists.
Create 'functional strength' - vertical jump for attack and block, lateral quickness to close the block and for digs, and upper body strength for attack, serve, and jousts at the net.
Train to maintain flexibility while gaining strength as well.
Use Internet resources:
YouTube.com example
Post by @hansenathleticsView on Threads
Growing up, I looked for constraints to improve performance. Tape on glasses stopped looking down while dribbling. Nails driven into a baseball added weight. Winter gloves took away "feel" while shooting, requiring more concentration and targeting.
Your training is your responsibility. Your coachability is your responsibility. Own your skill building, video study, and your physical development.
1. Do single leg squats propping your back foot onto steps.
2. Jump over a stack of newspapers or a few pillows.
3. Jump against a wall trying to set your personal best 'spike touch'
4. Do a variety of squats while holding something heavy like reference books.
5. Broad jump for distance and do power skips for distance.
What limits us is not our will but our imagination.
Post by @swain_performanceView on Threads
“The fight is won or lost,” says Muhammad Ali, “far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, well before I dance under the lights.” - from Legacy by James Kerr
What messages are embedded?
You don't need special equipment. You could use stairs.
Players can't choose how tall they are. They can't choose the percentage 'fast twitch' fibers or 'slow twitch' muscle fibers they're gifted. But they control attitude, choices, and effort.
Post by @quietstrengthfitnessView on Threads