Six Military Principles That Make Volleyball Teams Better*

*Some AI editing assist from Microsoft Copilot

Sport is not warfare and volleyball is not combat. High‑performing organizations - military units, elite athletic teams, scientific expeditions - share common DNA: discipline, preparation, leadership, adaptability, and the relentless pursuit of mastery.

When athletes learn across domains, they think better and expand their toolkit. The goal isn’t to glorify conflict; borrow the best ideas from organizations that operate under pressure and depend on teamwork for success.

Below are six military concepts that translate directly to volleyball that can make any team tougher, smarter, and more resilient.

1. Red Teaming: Stress‑Testing Our Plan

In the military, Red Teams exist to challenge assumptions and expose vulnerabilities. They simulate an intelligent, adaptive opponent whose job is to break your plan before the real enemy can.

One of the most famous examples is the Millennium Challenge (2002), where retired Marine Corps General Paul Van Riper - commanding the Red Team - used speed, surprise, and unconventional tactics to overwhelm a technologically superior Blue Force. His success forced the exercise to be reset with new rules.

Volleyball Application:

• Scout teams mimic the tendencies of upcoming opponents.

• Film study becomes “enemy analysis.”

• Coaches run scenarios that stress‑test serve‑receive, transition, and end‑game decision‑making.

• The goal is not comfort—it’s exposure.

A team that challenges itself honestly becomes harder to defeat.

2. Force Readiness: Stay Ready 

Military readiness is holistic: training, logistics, equipment, health, immunization, mental resilience, and the ability to deploy on short notice. It’s not one thing - it’s everything.

Volleyball has its own version of readiness:

• Skill building and maintenance

• Strength, conditioning, and recovery

• Nutrition and hydration

• Mental health and emotional regulation

• Injury prevention and rehab

• Understanding fatigue—your own and your teammates’

Readiness is built daily, not defined on game day.

3. Preparedness: Winning Before the Match Begins

Over 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote that “every battle is won before it is fought.” Preparation shapes outcomes long before the whistle blows.

You can’t choose your schedule. You can only choose your response to it. That means:

• Preparing physically and mentally for every opponent

• Controlling what you can control

• Using After Action Reviews to extract lessons from wins and losses

• Treating losses as data, not identity

Prepared teams don’t fear opponents - they respect the process.

4. Force Multipliers: Making the Whole Greater Than the Parts

A force multiplier is anything that makes a unit more effective than its numbers suggest. Colin Powell famously said, “Optimism is a force multiplier.” Earned belief is powerful.

MVB’s Force Multipliers:

• Coaching: A MAVCA Hall of Fame coach (Scott Celli) and All‑Scholastic assistants (Ryan Celli, Gia Vlajkovic). Being coachable is itself a multiplier.

• Education: Learn from everyone - AD, coaches, seniors, and parents with deep volleyball experience.

• Tradition: A proud history of excellence. "Leave the jersey better than you found it."

• Technology: Video, analytics, and specialized equipment that accelerate improvement.

Multipliers turn good teams into dangerous ones.

5. Always Forward: A Culture of Relentless Improvement

General Alexander Suvorov, “the general who never lost,” trained relentlessly, cared for his soldiers, and lived by the principle “Always Forward.”

Applied to volleyball, “Always Forward” means:

• A growth mindset

• Distributed leadership - everyone can lead

• A learning culture where mistakes are fuel

• Mentorship between classes

• Focusing on how you play, not who you play

Coach Don Meyer captured it perfectly: “It’s not whom you play, it’s how.”

6. Chop Wood, Carry Water: Mastery Through the Mundane

Samurai archers spent years mastering fundamentals before ever touching elite techniques. Their apprenticeship began with simple, repetitive tasks -self‑care, discipline, attention to detail.

“Chop wood, carry water” means:

• Doing the right things, the right way, every time

• Owning setup, cleanup, and everything in between

• Taking pride in the unglamorous work

• Understanding that mastery is built on repetition, not inspiration

Championship habits are built in the mundane moments.

Conclusion: Learning Across Domains Makes Teams Stronger

Volleyball isn’t war. But the military’s best ideas about rigorous preparation, critical self‑assessment, discipline, and a culture of continuous improvement, translate powerfully to sport.

Teams that embrace these principles become more resilient, more adaptable, and more capable of performing under pressure. And they compete with a sense of purpose that goes beyond the scoreboard.

Always forward.

Lagniappe. Hitting solid downballs is an underrated skill. In my opinion, Sadie Jaggers was one of best MVB players to hit downballs.