Short term results come from intensity.
— Tom Crean (@TomCrean) December 15, 2024
Long term results come from consistency. @ShaneAParrish
Seek school-life balance. Yes, when you're studying or practice give it full attention. Then "the score takes care of itself."
Rest and relaxation matter. Physical and mental recovery matter.
Lagniappe. Wisdom arises by processing experience.
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Bill Cowher said, "Trust is something as a coach you have to earn. Trust is unconditional, but trust can be powerful."
— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) November 9, 2024
• Trust is what strengthens a team.
• Trust is unconditional.
• Trust is earned. pic.twitter.com/YvKAFdfpqH
Players underestimate the value of trust. Players earn trust with their skill, their work, and their will.
You get on the floor in the big game, in the big moment by earning the coach's trust. He wants you on the court. He needs you on the court.
If you need to be on the court in the moment, earn your coach's trust. Remember the achievement equation:
ACHIEVEMENT = PERFORMANCE x TIME
ChatGPT answer on earning trust:
Earning a coach's trust comes down to consistency, effort, and selflessness. Here are some key ways players can build that trust:
Commitment to Practice
Show up on time, listen actively, and give full effort every day. Coaches trust players who are reliable and don't need reminders to put in the work.
Consistency
Do the little things right every time. This builds a reputation for reliability. Consistent players give their best effort and bring a positive attitude, regardless of how tired or frustrated they might be.
Play Unselfishly
Coaches notice players who prioritize the team’s success over their individual stats. Set your teammates up for success, celebrate others’ achievements, and communicate on and off the court.
Adaptability
Be willing to play any role. If the coach needs you to try a new position or technique, do it with enthusiasm and without complaint. Showing you're open to learning and evolving will make you more valuable to the team.
Game IQ and Self-Reflection
Demonstrate an understanding of the game plan and make smart decisions on the court. Between games, ask questions, review your performance, and show you're working on areas for improvement.
Stay Composed Under Pressure
Coaches need players who can handle pressure and respond to challenges. When things go wrong, stay calm, reset quickly, and encourage teammates to stay focused.
Accept and Act on Feedback
Embrace feedback as a tool for growth. Listen carefully, make adjustments, and then follow up with improvement. Coaches are more likely to trust players who are coachable and responsive to guidance.
Building trust is about actions over time, and the players who practice these principles daily become invaluable to any team.
Lagniappe. Set the middle and backset.
"The magic is in the work." Players and families sacrifice time and treasure to travel, compete, and improve.
Twenty years ago a minority of players played offseason volleyball. That created a mismatch for MVB. Fast forward to 2024 and offseason play is widespread among athletes.
MVB 25 will have numerous "holes" to fill - setter (Leah), "Swiss Army Knife" all-around player (Carol), back row defense and servers (Maggie, Gg, Alex).
Let me know about offseason accomplishments. "Gas up" your game.
Here's a summary of avocado nutrition facts.
Average calories in an avocado - about 300 (depends on size)
Recipe:
2 slices whole wheat toast (unsalted butter if desired) @ 160 cals
1 avocado @300 calories
Garlic salt
Halve and peel avocado (easier to slice)
Toast bread
Apply and spread sliced avocado
Sprinkle (rain) garlic salt
Principal benefits:
1) Filling with high fiber, may promote ideal weight
2) Low glycemic index (the avocado, not the toast)
3) Healthier monounsaturated fat
Caloric intake depends on both the size and volume of the avocado spread, number of pieces of toast, and use of unsalted butter. If more protein is desired, topping with a fried egg is an option.
Steal ideas wherever you can. Tara Sullivan profiles the Bill Belichick to North Carolina story in Sunday's Boston Globe.
Her observations play across a variety of sports. Here are excerpts:
▪ Do your job, a mantra he lived by, reminds players to focus on their own responsibility and not be caught up with what others are doing.
▪ Put the team above yourself.
▪ Collaborate. Teamwork comes first.
▪ Pay attention to details and be prepared in everything.
▪ Find and attack your opponents’ weaknesses, something Belichick made a career out of in the NFL.
▪ Be flexible in your game-planning.
▪ Impact young men by teaching discipline and structure.
These principle work across sports from high school to pro sports. Certainly these elements apply to Coach Scott Celli's goals creating players and teams with competence and character.
Lagniappe. The coach shows a technique to engage the pec major to improve "length-tension relationships" to improve hitting velocity.
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What kind of player do you want to become? To become exceptional, embrace coaching.
That means sometimes accept hard conversations. Those include skills that need development, decisions to improve, self-care including training, rest, nutrition, and recovery.
The most important question, "what can I do to become my best?"
The sooner we read and write better, the longer our chance to share quality. Prioritize excellence. Try these pearls from Gary Provost including his first chapter outline and a paragraph about vocabulary.
Hi – I'm reading "100 Ways to Improve Your Writing (Updated): Proven Professional Techniques for Writing with Style and Power" by Gary Provost and wanted to share this quote with you.
NINE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING WHEN YOU’RE NOT WRITING
1. Get Some Reference Books
2. Expand Your Vocabulary
3. Improve Your Spelling
4. Read
5. Take a Class
6. Eavesdrop
7. Research
8. Write in Your Head
9. Choose a Time and Place
"The only way to make your vocabulary more accessible is to use it. If you want all those short but interesting words waiting at the front of your brain when you need them, you must move them to the front of your brain before you need them." - from 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing
You're all in on better volleyball. Fantastic! Pledge to invest time and effort in communication - written, verbal, and nonverbal.
Want more ideas?
Fall in love with the mental side of the game. Exceptional play demands exceptional game knowledge. Volleyball is a thinking person's sport.
Jared McCain on the mental side of his preparation:
— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) December 13, 2024
“Watching film, meditation, visualization, recovery, reading, it all helps me become a better basketball player. I’ve been in love with the mental side.”
(Via @KyleNeubeck 🎥)
pic.twitter.com/z6EwWztiJp
Graduation creates opportunities. Make the open job your job. Volleyball is a thinking person's sport. Skill includes decision-making and execution. The setter is the quarterback of the offense and an important defender.
Leah "isn't walking through that door." Someone will emerge as the next excellent MVB setter. But it's not just the setter, it's the coordination among the setter and the attackers with different types and different timing of attack.
Kara Lawson said, "If you want to be great, you have to start somewhere."
— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) November 30, 2024
"You develop into your greatness...To me, it starts with competence."
Greatness doesn't happen overnight.
It's built on hard work, consistency, and resilience.
Here are 5 Essentials for Greatness:🧵 pic.twitter.com/E9rtz5u2ki
Society needs more voices from strong women.
Excellence is hard. Grueling. Your parents work hard every day to create opportunities for you. There's no guarantee. And you have no 'manual' for excellence.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich says, "you can't skip steps." Keep grinding day after day and eventually results come.
Be process-focused. Student-athletes do what they don't want to do today to achieve so they can do what they want in the future.
Some of you work out with a teammate. You don't need a gym to work on your footwork, your athleticism, your resilience.
Coach Lawson preaches competence. Moreover, great student-athletes thrive on competence and character. Character shows up as attitude, commitment, determination, energy, persistence, teamwork.
"Greatness stays with a man." The foundation you build today stays with you.
There's a saying that the biggest jump players make is between the first and the second year.
MVB 25 will rely on skilled vets and talented youth seeking to make the jump.
When players return in the fall, they're not freshmen or sophomores, they're sophomores and juniors. Step up and make a difference. There will be JV players who become players in '25.Bill Belichick on player development:
— Savage (@SavageSports_) December 12, 2024
🎥: @CBSSportsCFB
"Tom Brady was a 4th string QB his rookie year ...Gronkowski didn't do too much his rookie year ...Edelman played QB in college ... developing players is something we believe strongly in"
👀
pic.twitter.com/SS5BxWwVvW
This might be the most important volleyball article you'll read.
Watch upper level soccer and commentators like Ian Darke say things like, "that was an ambitious try." That means "low reward" as in, they can't score from there. How about ambitious do?
Here's another set of quotes from the article about Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's sidekick.
"Professionals win points. Amateurs lose them.
Professionals play a winner’s game – they win by being better than their opponent. The outcome is mostly within their control.
In a professional game, each player, nearly equal in skill, plays a nearly perfect game rallying back and forth until one player hits the ball just beyond the reach of his opponent. This is about positioning, control, and spin. It’s a game of inches and sometimes centimeters. This is not how amateurs play."
Exceptional teams win the points. They can't rely on the opposition giving them points. In the developmental settings of practice, scrimmages, and offseason play, craft ways to score more points.
Return to first principles of 'scoring points'.
1. Service, completely under your control.
2. Blocking. The great Melrose teams always had "blocking power" that not only denied outside hitters points, but translated into points. Obviously, Sabine has been an impact blocker with athleticism and size. If you want a big role on MVB 25, become the next impact blocker.
3. Attacking. Every season, 300 plus kills have to be replaced, this year mostly from Carol Higonenq and Sofia Papatsoris. Shockingly, only one MVB team ever had three players with 200 plus kills, 2005. Another way to earn the job is to "be that guy." The kills can come from the middle, the pin hitters, and sometimes from "pipe attacks." If I had to project who could become a back row attacker, I'd speculate on Elise Marchais, purely a guess.
Nothing in the blog comes down on stone tablets.
To become an exceptional team, become exceptional at winning points.
Lagniappe. Pipe attack...
Skill, timing, athleticism.
Leah Fowke, one of the elite setters in MVB history, earned selection as a Boston Herald All-Scholastic.
During her career she amassed more than 1,000 assists, played on four Middlesex League champions, was twice ML12 All-Conference, played on two sectional champions, and earned MAVCA All-State selection.
Congratulations, Leah!
Dan Campbell said, "It starts over with the work. There is no complacency. There is no entitlement. We go back to work, and that is the focus. Because, if you don't work, it doesn't matter."
— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) December 10, 2024
It means doing the work.
It means competing every day.
How The Best Compete:
1. They… pic.twitter.com/l08eH5DnPf
The best teams distill their approach to this.
All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own. Caution (language in video)
What does a championship mindset look like?
— Greg Berge (@gb1121) December 10, 2024
Listen to Joe Mazzulla 👇
The reporter says, "But words have power?"
"If you allow words to take your personal power, then yes." - Joe Mazzulla
The only person who can put pressure on you is yourself.
Pressure is man-made. pic.twitter.com/u4ApYfDhC2
As a child you heard, "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Principles change slowly over millennia.
Among The Four Agreements is, "Do not take anything personally."
The ancient philosopher Epictetus said it another way.
Warren Buffett's investment partner Charlie Munger shared their secret.
It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.
Yes, teams need skill, strategy, physicality, and resilience. But they need to limit mistakes.
This reminds me of James Kerr's book, Legacy, about the New Zealand All-Blacks rugby team. Have a "blue head under control, focused, all-in. The "red head" is angry, emotional, and prone to lose control.
Having coached for 31 seasons, I’ve come to see that high school football teams typically fall into one of two categories.
— Jim Shapiro (@jimshapiro) November 12, 2024
First, there are the teams led by coaches and fueled by players who have been taught to pursue and play the game the right way. These teams are built on a…
Love and respect for the game and teammates create sustainable competitive advantage. It also 'plays' at home, school, work, and elsewhere forging value for your leadership and character.
Being "built to last" is no small thing. Attention to detail serves you well for a lifetime.
AI Take:
Being a good teammate is rooted in fostering trust, collaboration, and shared success. The top three factors include:
Accountability and Dependability
Communication and Support
Unselfishness and Commitment to the Team
THIS is the difference between playing hard and competing… pic.twitter.com/dMURzYDBEM
— PGC Basketball (@PGCbasketball) December 9, 2024
Coaches love competitors. Be that guy.
