Leverage: Turning What You Have Into What You Want

Clint Hurdle wrote, “According to Wikipedia, leverage is defined as using something you already have to achieve something new or better.”

Archimedes went further: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”

The best teams understand that leverage isn’t luck. It’s awareness—knowing your strengths and applying them.

People have said it many ways:

• “Make hay while the sun shines.”

• “The best time to fix the roof is while the sun is shining.” – John F. Kennedy

• “Utilize strengths, attack weaknesses.” – Sun Tzu

In volleyball, leverage lives everywhere.

Where MVB Finds Leverage

Use what you’ve got.
As Dr. Fergus Connolly said, “Never bring a gun to a gunfight; bring a tank.” When you have one of the top offensive forces in the state, feed her. When you have skill and size, use it to own the net.

Leverage your leadership.
You have a MAVCA Hall of Fame coach. Listen. Learn. Absorb. Every word is a lever that can move your game forward.

Leverage your youth.
Youth means energy, resilience, and time. The success equation applies:
Achievement = Performance × Time.

Time compounds if you invest it wisely—rep by rep, practice by practice.

Leverage your gifts.
Sadie Smith makes an abundance of special plays through concentration and coordination. That’s no accident. Hand-eye coordination is a lever, sharpened by focus and repetition.

Leverage communication.
Talk is oxygen. Great teams breathe through sound—calling, warning, celebrating. Superior communication turns chaos into control.

Leverage the chip on your shoulder.
“They’re too young.” “Too inexperienced.” “Their time will come.”
Perfect. Let doubt be the lever that drives effort.

The Edge

Leverage multiplies effort through awareness. It’s the small hinge that swings a big door—the right serve, the perfect read, the well-timed block.

Leverage what you have. Build what you don’t. And as Roy Kent told Rebecca Welton:

“Don’t you dare settle for fine.”

via GIPHY

Word for the Day: Ostentatious (meaning "showy")

Origin: The word “ostentatious” comes from Latin roots through Old French and Middle English pathways.

• Latin: ostentāre — meaning “to show, display, exhibit,” which is a frequentative form of ostendere (“to show”).

  • os- = “in front of” or “toward”

  • tendere = “to stretch”
    → literally, “to stretch out before” or “to put forward for display.”

• Old French: ostentacion — “vain display, showiness.”