Reflection and Decision-Making

At about 2:12 of "Just Older," Bon Jovi sings, "You can't win until you're not afraid to lose."

You can only be as good as you believe you are. Draw from experience. What were the key points in yesterday's game? There was no quit, no “soft serve.” MVB was decisive and mostly resilient, points that Coach Scott Celli emphasizes at practice. Sometimes a team just needs to make a few more plays.

Former chess World Champion Garry Kasparov says about chess that good players know what to do when there's something to do and what not to do when there's nothing to do. An attack on the run off the net is a low percentage ball. Better to accept a roll shot or just bump it over than have a bad contact into the net. 

"Wait for your pitch." Good decision-making avoids errors and experienced teams make fewer errors because of both skill and decision making. 

Ted Williams' iconic strike zone diagram from The Science of Hitting makes the point better. 

Williams was the last player to hit .400. This season only SEVEN players in all of baseball hit .300 (three hits in ten at bats). 

You know that nobody gets a perfect set every time. So you can't take the same swing each time. Sometimes players get an "emergency swing" to keep their at bat alive. 

Decision-making arises every day. Here are just a few:

• Saving versus spending
• Investing your time versus spending it 
• Trade selection for investors 
• Shot selection in basketball 
• "Pitch selection" in baseball or softball 
• Club selection in golf
• Play selection in football 
• Course selection in high school or college
• Lineup selection 

MVB has a lot of young players contributing both in games and in practice. The combination of youth club experience and the reality that girls mature physically earlier than boys levels the playing field for young players. 

Compete every day. Practice hard, smart, and together and you make everyone better. 

Coaches see everything - the player that gives maximum effort during practice even when she may not play in a game. The player who is blocking at the pins in practice that may trigger an opportunity in games. The player who works on serving zone 1 to one, to the seams, or to the weaker defender. Everybody counts. Everything matters. 

The 2010 team won a sectional title with six sophomores and a freshman. Three players (Athena Ziavras, Brooke Bell, Sarah Mcgowan) eventually became All-State and Jennifer Cain was one of the best MVB all-around players ever. Young players can win big with talent and belief.