"Take an active role, whether you are defending or attacking. Attack your enemy's weak spots to optimize your strength/achieve a numerical edge in those spots. Strive to make the enemy defend itself. Concentrate your force at its weakest point, where its troops can least resist. Adjust your plans as you go; adapt to changes on both sides." - The Art of War
An old joke says that if "DAD" looks in the mirror, he sees DAD. But if DOG looks in the mirror, he sees GOD.
Mastery requires us to see the truth in the mirror. What is our footwork, strength and conditioning, game understanding? What strengths should be leveraged? What weaknesses must be attacked?
Progressing in sport, become your own coach. Video is the truth machine, which is why opponents and college coaches watch your video.
REALITY OR DELUSION
Asking a player for their assessment of their own game, what’s important to them, etc. and then going back to see what the FILM/STATS/FEEDBACK says allows you to understand if the player actually has clarity on their game.
Don't be a victim. When Clippers' owner Donald Sterling was shown to have made racist statements, Coach Doc Rivers said, "my parents taught us not to be a victim."
Own our preparation, practice, and results.
You're writing the 2024 season every day through your habits that will translate your goals into results.
"Control what you can control." You control:
Offseason play
Studying the game
Physicality - strength and conditioning
Resilience - visualization and mindfulness
Coaches worry about factors beyond their control - character and behavior.
Take control of your self-care.
Sleep - seek a minimum of eight hours nightly
Hydration - adequate hydration minimizes fatigue
Nutrition - adequate calories, fruits and vegetables
High performance training includes a comprehensive approach to self-care. The MVB blog addresses multiple training areas.
Britain became a cycling powerhouse under the training of Dave Brailsford using "marginal gains" theory.
Marginal Gains Theory (from Brave AI)
Brailsford is credited with developing the concept of “marginal gains,” which involves making small improvements in various areas to achieve significant overall gains. This approach has been widely adopted in various sports and industries.
This translated to 14 Olympic medals and seven Tour de France wins.
Nutrition is one component of high performance training. In the "Brain Health" MasterClass (subscription), they share this recipe for roasted cauliflower with jerk sauce.
The recipe contains numerous nutrients not for us directly but for gut bacteria regulating the "enteric nervous system." We have hundreds of millions of neurons that interact with our brain. They contribute to our emotions of happiness, anxiety, and depression. Feeding them matters.
Here's the recipe (the cauliflower is literally in the oven).
For the cauliflower
1 large head cauliflower (about 3 pounds), leaves removed
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp kosher salt
For the jerk sauce
¼ cup avocado oil
¼ cup coconut aminos
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, or ½ tbsp dried
½ tsp black peppercorns
½ tsp allspice berries
2 dried or fresh bay leaves
1 moderately spicy fresh red chile, such as Fresno, stemmed
1 scallion, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 large garlic clove, peeled
1 small shallot, roughly chopped
½ Scotch bonnet or habanero chile, stemmed
1-inch knob ginger, peeled and thinly sliced against the grain
¼ whole nutmeg, grated, or ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp kosher salt
Zest and juice of 1 lime
Instructions
Roast the cauliflower
1. Set an oven rack 10 inches or so from the broiler. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Trim the base of the cauliflower so it can sit flat. Flip the cauliflower base-side up and cut a deep “X” into the base, stopping when you reach the stems or the florets. This helps the core and base cook at the same rate as the rest of the head.
3. Rub the cauliflower all over with the olive oil, then season the cauliflower all over with the salt. Set the cauliflower in a large, heavy ovenproof skillet (11- to 13-inch works best). Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast to soften up the cauliflower (it’ll go from white to cream in color), 30 to 35 minutes. Pour ½ cup of water directly into the skillet and keep roasting until the water has evaporated and the cauliflower has patches of light golden brown and is just tender enough to easily be pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, 20 to 25 minutes more.
Make the jerk sauce
1. While the cauliflower is roasting, combine the sauce ingredients, including the finely grated zest and the juice of the lime, in a blender and blend on high speed until completely smooth, about 1 minute.
Make the dish
1. When the cauliflower is tender, remove it from the oven and heat the broiler. Use a flexible spatula to rub the top and sides of the cauliflower (don’t neglect those lower sides!) with the blended mixture.
2. Broil the cauliflower—basting it after 5 minutes with the juices that have accumulated in the skillet and trying your best to get that flavorful liquid in all its nooks and crannies—until the top has spots of black char, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve hot or warm.
Learn across domains. Legendary basketball coach Pete Newell taught "footwork, balance, maneuvering speed." You play 100 percent of the game on your feet. Almost.
Wake up and ask, "how am I getting better today?"
Art imitates life in this training montage from Academy Awards Best Picture Million Dollar Baby. Footwork, balance, timing, armswing.
Metaphorically, you are going to get hit. How do you intend to 'hit back' to respond? "How to fight back so the other guy doesn't want to come after ya."
Lagniappe.
Have you studied your video?
Form begets function. Focus on Sadie Jaggers pre-positioning and three step footwork into attack. "Better form, better results."
All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own. I am not a volleyball expert.
Keywords: Conversion, Containment, Passing
Fundamental excellence never exceeds "too good." Although Emerson said, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds," he didn't mean in volleyball.
Consistency, aggressiveness, and execution drive results. Building great habits links goals and results.
Always get your "marching orders" from your coaches. In my opinion, MVB can approach its goals with 'deliberate practice' focused on three areas.
Serving
Serve receive
Double blocking the outside
That doesn't mean ignoring setting, digging, or attacking. Based on observations of the top area teams, better performance in "conversion" and at the "scoring moment" offers statistical edges. "Positive" scoring arises from attack, serve, and block.
Serve/serve receive result in conversion from offense to defense and defense to offense. The double block offers a chance to neutralize or contain the key driver of most offenses.
Coach Jiri Popelka suggests techniques and drills for improved passing. His advice as a former elite international player has merit.
The greater your skill and consistency, the greater your confidence will follow.
A high ratio of service aces to service errors fosters winning volleyball.
First, a definition from OpenAI:
"A volleyball service ace occurs when a player serves the ball over the net and it lands in the opponent's court untouched or is touched but cannot be kept in play by the receiving team. Essentially, it's a serve that results directly in a point for the serving team without the opponent being able to return the ball effectively. This is a desirable outcome for the serving team as it immediately scores a point and puts pressure on the receiving team."
Furthermore, "A good ratio of volleyball service aces to service errors can vary depending on the level of play and strategy of the team. However, a commonly cited benchmark for a strong serving performance is aiming for a 2:1 ratio of aces to errors. This means for every service error committed, a player should ideally achieve two service aces.
Achieving this ratio indicates effective serving that puts pressure on the opposing team while minimizing the number of points gifted through errors. It's important to note that this ratio can be influenced by various factors such as the skill level of the players, the strategy of the team, and the level of competition."
All players are not equal in their 'reading' serves, perception of "late specifying information" or agility and quickness allowing adjustments. I am told that Gigi Albuja has a deceptive serve with late movement.
Lagniappe (repost). Video worth study from 2011. Note Alyssa DiRaffaele's devastating serves in one of the dominant service performances in MVB history. The serves had both topspin and sidespin helping find the floor and the alleys.
Once Melrose and others generated the lions' share of points from the middle. It's possible that a larger percentage of the offense will come from the middle with the size, athleticism, and skill of Sabine Wenzel and Sofia Papatsoris.
Last season the duo combined for over 360 kills. The number could easily have exceeded 400 if not for injuries.
— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) June 16, 2024
Some players avoid leadership posts, not wanting to be labeled "bossy" or worse. Embrace the chance to lead. Brad Stevens shares advice, summarized as:
Authenticity. "Be yourself."
Improvement. Grow.
Accountability. Don't lower your standards.
Leadership is more than a title, a resume' builder, or a suite of privileges. It's a responsibility to care for your team as you care for yourself. The leadership beliefs, attitudes, and values you demonstrate now will propel you through your entire life.
Arguably, she is the best player in the WNBA, by objective standards. In addition, she cares...a lot.
You probably have never heard of her. Why is that?
Commit to the standard of A'ja Wilson.
"I love my teammates so much... I want to be the best person. I want to be the best teammate. Because that's how I get the best out of my team. When it comes to wins and losses... I don't want to be great for you guys. I want to be great for my team." @_ajawilson22pic.twitter.com/Uf6mDQfDOw
— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) June 16, 2024
Lagniappe. Perhaps the best objective standard of performance is the PIE - player impact estimate which looks at your contribution to the team. The top players in professional basketball clock in at almost 17 over years. Those were LeBron James and Tamika Catchings. Wilson is at 23!
Visions of programs depend on the tools applied. Seeing "under the microscope" differs from using other tools.
Birds have the aerial view of landscapes and frogs see their world up close. Both have advantages and limitations.
Perception also depends on perspective. Years ago in another community, a politician sought to have a coach removed because the coach had the temerity to cut his son.
That didn't make the politician 'evil' or the coach incompetent. It was an extreme version of "The Prime Directive" of putting our children ahead of other concerns.
Coaching has "layers" visible with deeper examination beyond wins, losses, strategy, and "what was my child's experience?"
If everyone likes a coach, then she isn't doing her job. Hard decisions breed hard conversations that leave marks. "Seniors get preference" works fine when that correlates with talent and experience. Sport as meritocracy ("prove it") runs up against politics and bias.
I digress. For example, see the clamor about Caitlin Clark, a gifted, diligent college player finding her way in the WNBA. When she was not named to the US Olympic team, furor arose. The "layers" include limited international experience, leading the WNBA in turnovers, and ranking 92nd in the WNBA in shooting percentage and over 50th in a productivity metric, PIE (player impact estimate). That doesn't include defensive limitations either. Some see "conspiracy" against the rookie. Others see real, fixable problems. Some want to blame a UCONN cabal led by Jennifer Rizzotti. It's about transition from amateur to pro sports.
When studying an athletic program consider the 'layers' and the perspective to build an informed opinion. Consider mental models (e.g. sample size of observations, circle of competence, inversion, Occam's Razor) and cognitive biases (anchoring, confirmation bias, endowment effect, fundamental attribution bias, etc.)
And think about both the big picture (screenshot at top) and the attention to detail. Everybody loves a parfait; everybody won't love the coaching. Truth.
Coach Sonny Lane, former Melrose AD, took over a basketball program in disrepair having gone 3-17 the previous season. One of his first acts was getting players to clean and repaint the Woodville School outdoor court. A small sign was erected, "Tech Tourney 1973," a program mission for three years later. At the time, that seemed wildly optimistic. In 1973, Wakefield won the only D1 sectional championship in school history beating superpowers Andover, St. John's Prep, and Lexington along the way.
Fast forward to 2003. Melrose the heaviest of underdogs, faced the AC Cougars, 22-0. AC had not lost a set, steamrolling every opponent with their 6'2" twin towers. When the smoke cleared in Andover, Melrose emerged with a 3-0 victory, clinched with a Denise Applegate spike.
Great things happen at the intersection of teamwork, talent, and belief. Only you can supply the attitude, choices, and effort to reach for destiny.
1. Stay motivated. Superstar Kevin Durant wakes and asks himself, "he can I get better today?"
2. "Repetitions make reputations."
3. Influence expert Dan Pink (Drive) says, "do five more." Read five more minutes. Lift five more reps. Invest five more sprints.
4. "Champions do extra." It's easier to push when you push by doing a workout with a teammate.
5. Remember, it's not only about time, but about focus. Whether you call it deliberate practice or deep work, it's the quality of work that matters.
What matters most is bringing the best version of yourself to home, school, work, and extracurricular activites every day. Attention to detail separates the best.
The vision distills to, "bring the best version of yourself every day." Always doing our best doesn't translate to your best ever or the best ever.
Develop more features and fewer bugs. Grow the "Core Four" of skill, strategy, physicality, and psychology to raise performance.
Self-care gives you a chance at high performance. Sleep, nutrition, hydration, and post-training recovery are essentials not options.
Prioritize investing time above spending time. Leverage time. Remember the achievement equation:
ACHIEVEMENT = PERFORMANCE x TIME
Think again. Am I doing it right? Am I doing it well? How can I do that better next time? Professor Adam Grant advises us to keep a "rethinking scorecard" of where we revisited complex problems.
"It takes what it takes." Habits bridge our goals and our results. Commit to improving habits as "votes for the person you want to become."
Use the mirror test. When you first hear your voice on tape, you realize other people don't hear the same thing you hear. The same applies for the mirror. Look in the mirror and see reality. MVB ranks up in the pack but not at the top of the pack. That's lofty territory mostly occupied by Barnstable, Newton North, Westborough. To be the best, beat the best.
Be a learn-it-all not a know-it-all.
Lagniappe. The rationale for specific training approaches.
Follow these simple principles to build better athleticism:
1) Sprint to build speed
2) Jump to build power
3) Lift to build force
4) Condition to improve capacity
Train sprints, jumps & lifts 3x/week on your high CNS days.
Develop the aerobic energy system on low CNS days.…
— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) June 14, 2024
Find ways to 'speak greatness'. Communication is coach to player, player to player, coach to coach. Don't 'throw away' opportunities to make a difference.
1) "You can do this."
2) "I believe in you."
3) "Thank you."
4) "We're in this together."
5) "Next play." Don't let a drop of blood become a gusher.
Lagniappe. I can't teach anyone about volleyball. But Coach Artie shares some ideas about setting.
The willingness to be coached is an underrated skill. Coach Joe Mazzulla explains.
“A coach’s greatest gift is a group of guys that want to be coached- that want to be led. We have an environment where learning and coaching are important and where getting better and developing is important. You can’t be a good coach if your players don’t let you.” -Joe… pic.twitter.com/mVt9qkD4Tt
— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) June 14, 2024
Many years ago I coached a player who pushed back against everything. She didn't go to MHS. She ultimately became an All-League player in multiple sports and played a sport in college.
Her mother wrote me a note, informing me that her daughter finally "got it," realizing that coaching wasn't criticism but help to be her best self. The sooner players understand that, the better they become.
