Chicken or Egg Story? Happiness and Success

Most of us are familiar with nature's mystery, "which comes first, the chicken or the egg?" Shawn Achor answers another question, "what is the relationship between happiness and success?"

Ask yourself what do the best coaches that you've had share? That often distills to a combination of competence and character. But look inside those qualities and you find positive coaching.

Coaching is a relationship business. Developing trust to believe in what coaches are 'selling' requires belief that coaches care and add value. Negative coaches may struggle to get "buy-in" because players get 'worn down' by constant criticism.

The ability to "speak greatness" matters. Some coaches use the 'sandwich technique' of inserting a teaching point between praise. Nick Saban describes the difference between being an "and" guy (great skills, great character AND) versus a "but" guy (great skills but failed a drug test, got into a bar fight, was in a domestic violence incident).

Shawn Achor wrote The Happiness Advantage discussing the role of positivity and the reality that happiness produces results more than results produce happiness. Here's a summary from DeepSeek AI:

Shawn Achor's *The Happiness Advantage* explores the connection between happiness and success, emphasizing that happiness fuels success rather than the other way around. Here are some key points from the book:

1. **The Happiness Advantage**: Happiness improves productivity, creativity, and performance. Positive emotions broaden our thinking and help us build skills and resources that lead to greater success.

2. **The Fulcrum and the Lever**: Our mindset (fulcrum) determines our potential (lever). By shifting our mindset to focus on positivity, we can achieve greater outcomes. 

3. **The Tetris Effect**: Repeated patterns of thought shape our perception. Training our brains to spot positive patterns can help us see opportunities instead of obstacles.

4. **Falling Up**: Adversity can be a stepping stone to growth. Resilient individuals use challenges as opportunities to learn and improve. Use adversity as fuel to work harder. 

5. **The Zorro Circle**: Start small by focusing on manageable goals to regain control and build confidence. Gradually expand your efforts to tackle larger challenges. Build on small successes. 

6. **The 20-Second Rule**: Reduce barriers to positive habits by making them easier to start (e.g., placing a guitar in a visible spot). Conversely, increase barriers to negative habits. Make great habits easier...bring your workout gear with you, arrange workouts with a friend.

7. **Social Investment**: Strong social connections are a key predictor of happiness and success. Investing in relationships during tough times pays long-term dividends. Teammates make each other stronger. 

8. **The Ripple Effect**: Happiness is contagious. A positive attitude can influence teams, organizations, and communities, creating a culture of success. Be stronger together. Henry Ford had a quote, "whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right." 

Achor’s work underscores that cultivating happiness and positivity is a strategic advantage in achieving personal and professional success.

Lagniappe. MVB has to excel at S-R. "Be good at what you do a lot." 

 

Coaching News

Assistant Varsity Coach Ryan Celli snags Boys Varsity head coach position with Essex Tech.

Celli has an accomplished volleyball resume including All-Scholastic players at St. John's Prep and previous Varsity Head Coach at Swampscott.

In addition to his head coaching jobs, Coach Celli had important player development roles including player development of Melrose All-State and All-Scholastic players Gia Vlajkovic. 

Congratulations. 

Think and Grow (Metaphorically) Rich

Napoleon Hill wrote the timeless classic, Think and Grow Rich. Think about it metaphorically. He outlines steps to achieving your goal. Apply his wisdom to volleyball. 

Replace "money" in his book with success.

First. "Fix in your mind the exact amount of success you desire." 

For example, I will (or I intend to) become the best setter in the Middlesex League. 

Second. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the success you desire. (There is no reality as "something for nothing.") 

I will invest at least a minimum of an hour a day to build skill, game knowledge, physical development, and resilience. 

Third. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the success you desire. 

I will build these skills by the first of September, 2025, in preparation for the next volleyball season. 

Fourth. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you are ready or not to put this plan into action. 

These are my strategies to transform DESIRE into REALITY. They include offseason volleyball play, film study (e.g. YouTube videos such as The Art of Coaching Volleyball), strength and conditioning, and mindfulness for a minimum of five minutes a day. Here's a mindfulness script to prepare. 

Fifth. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of success you intend to acquire, state what you intend to give in return, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it. 

This is my written plan. After completion, print it out so you see it every day as a reminder of your commitment. Track your investment. 

Sixth. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night and once after arising in the morning. AS YOUR READ - SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE SUCCESS. 

Believe in yourself, your process, and your investment in transforming the plan into success. 

"DREAMS ARE THE SEEDLINGS OF REALITY."

Lagniappe. Disguising backsets. 

Great quick set video. 

Becoming the Best Version of Ourselves (Physical Training)

Commit to become the best version of yourself as a person and a student-athlete.

1) Sport rewards athletic explosion.

2) "You don't have to be great to train, but you have to train to be great."

3) The four elements that grow players: 

• Skill (technique)
• Strategy (tactics)
• Physicality (strength, quickness, conditioning)
• Psychology (resilience, mental toughness)

Becoming a better athlete improves your confidence and your ability. The elite players in MVB history have been trained, exceptional athletes.

A lot of components go into physical development. Here are a few: 

• Squats
• Lunges
• Planks (examples)
• High knee running in place
• Plyometrics

Here's a site where a woman athletic trainer gives tips: 

View on Threads

Standards

Coach K said,
"We're going to tell each other the truth.
We're going to have each other's back.
We're going to show strong faces.
We're never going to be late.
We're going to be enthusiastic.
We're going to win and lose together."

Great teams live by their standards. pic.twitter.com/Dk3V7m5p9G

— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) January 24, 2025

Treasure the privilege of having one, high standard. Don't be deceived thinking that the community, the school, your family, or even your coaches set the standard.

The players set and commit to the standard. That's what makes the standard matter.  

Make Moments

Sport helps us to write great narratives. Here are tips shared from Sam Davies' review of The Power of Moments. 

"Boosting sensory appeal is about “turning up the volume” on reality."

"To raise the stakes is to add an element of productive pressure: a competition, a game, a performance, a deadline, a public commitment."

"One simple diagnostic to gauge whether you’ve transcended the ordinary is if people feel the need to pull out their cameras."                

"Our instinct to capture a moment says: I want to remember this. That’s a moment of elevation."

Great players and great teams don't wait for moments. They earn moments. They make moments. 

Feel the energy.   

               

Simplicity

Value simplicity. 

• Win more points. 
• Be consistent. 
• A good pass is better than trying for a great pass (that traps the setter at the net). 
• Train technique, tactics, physicality, psychology. 

Don't return to simplicity. Never leave it. 

Lagniappe. 

The Talent Code - Free the Statue

Apply key lessons from "The Talent Code," by Daniel Coyle. Use the stepwise process of chunking, repetition, and recognition. You cannot cheat greatness. 

Deep practice demands total focus. That's a big challenge for adolescents. Remember that mindfulness or 'mindful meditation' increases focus.

Chunking breaks down a process into steps. Consider serving. Players have a pre-shot routine, coordinated footwork and toss, and then their swing. Think of 'chunking' on the chessboard or Scrabble. Excellent players see the board in 'chunks' which triggers thought. Imagine a Scrabble board with D-E-S-A-I-O-T. At first glance, think, "a whole lot of nothing." But big words come from smaller ones. Could a word have I-E-D at the end or be a plural. What's a small word there? TOAD. Aha! Toadies... 

Repetition recalls the John Wooden acronym EDIRx5. Explanation, demonstration, imitation, and repetition times five. 

• Explanation- make it clear. 
• Demonstration - experience, "this is how do it"
• Imitation - your initial attempts
• Repetitions - "Repetitions make reputations" there is no shortcut to excellence. 

Recognition comes from investing time in deep practice. Skill takes time. Coach Wooden said of Bill Walton that "he never tired of doing the hard work of fundamentals." Deep practice converts untrained movements into "automatic" ones as the pin hitter gets a runway from behind the 10-foot line and the middle blocker reads and reacts to close the double block.  

Lagniappe. A great summary of "The Talent Code." Learn about flight training simulation, music mastery, futsal and more. Multiple players in the system have potential greatness within them. Michelangelo observed a block of marble and noted that it was his job to free the statue within. 

Offseason Highlights

Content is king. HUDL with some Sabine Wenzel video.  

The Foxhole Test

Don Meyer’s Foxhole Test:
“If you were in a tough, high-pressure situation—a “foxhole”—who would you want in there with you?
Who do you trust to stand by your side when things get hard?
This test isn’t about talent or skill; it’s about trust, loyalty, and grit.”
Via @gb1121 pic.twitter.com/JZAQ2c2pR6

— JIM BOONE 🏀 (@CoachJimBoone) January 23, 2025

Everything matters. Every day. But when you're up against it in the biggest game of your career, be the 'foxhole guy', the player that everyone wants on the court next to them. 

"The Power of Regret"

Literally, 99 percent of people live with regret about something. They regret choices made or not made, relationships pursued or not, investments or passes.

Dan Pink wrote, "The Power of Regret." Alfred Nobel saw his accidental obituary in 1888. The piece roasted him as a merchant of destruction for his invention of dynamite and other explosives. Nobel could have retreated in shame, but chose to fund the eponymous prize for work in Chemistry, Literature, Medicine, Physiology, Peace, and Economics. The world knows him for the Nobel Prize, not for dynamite. 

The introduction of The Leadership Moment by Michael Useem asks four questions about events:

• What went well?
• What went poorly?
• What can we do differently next time? 
• What are the enduring lessons? 

The last two power preventing regret. 

Pink offers three suggestions:

• Undo regret with apology or amends. Turn regret to refocus. 
• Think of "at least it" outcomes. 
• Analyze and strategize.

I asked ChatGPT to assist on these: 

1. Undoing Regret

• Concept: If possible, take steps to reverse the regrettable outcome.
• In Volleyball:
  • Example: After a poorly executed play, such as a missed serve, a player can "undo" the regret by focusing on nailing the next serve or contributing positively in another way (like delivering a great dig or cheer).
  • Coaching Tip: Encourage players to view every point as a fresh opportunity. Mistakes in volleyball are transient; focusing on the present helps players mentally "undo" the impact of prior errors.

---

2. "At Least It" Approach

• Concept: Reframe the situation by focusing on what could have been worse.
• In Volleyball:
  • Example: A hitter who gets blocked might think, "At least it wasn’t match point," or "At least I challenged the block and didn’t hit into the net."
  • Coaching Tip: Teach players to find silver linings in setbacks to maintain confidence. For instance, a team losing a match could focus on having pushed a higher-ranked opponent to five sets, identifying areas of improvement without dwelling on the loss.

---

3. Analyze and Strategize

• Concept: Reflect on what went wrong to avoid future regret.
• In Volleyball:
  • Example: If a team loses because they struggled with serve-receive, use post-match analysis to strategize better formations, train in pressure scenarios, or identify specific areas for improvement.
  • Coaching Tip: Encourage players to approach regrets with a growth mindset. For instance, if an outside hitter regrets not reading the block effectively, incorporate more "reading the game" drills into practice to boost awareness and decision-making.

---

Broader Applications

• Team Dynamics:
  • After a tough loss, use regret to galvanize effort and focus. Highlight what the team can "undo" (like a negative attitude), what they can reframe ("We gained valuable experience"), and how they can strategize to improve ("Let’s work on XYZ this week").
• Leadership Development:
  • Encourage captains to model these regret solutions. A captain who openly analyzes a personal regret and strategizes a fix sets an example of accountability and resilience.

---

Integrating these regret solutions into volleyball fosters a culture of self-awareness and growth, helping players learn from mistakes, stay present, and improve future performance.

The search for excellence implies using tools and resources. Mentoring, video analysis, self-analysis, and artificial intelligence all add potential springboards for future success and regret prevention. 

Lagniappe. Alex Mathers shared twenty-one sentences to better our lives. Here's one: 

"The stiller your mind, the more connected to life force, and therefore creatively joyful you will be." Internalizing regret does the opposite. Get regret on our side. 

Lagniappe 2. Train to be great. 

On Special

“Normal is do what you have to do to get by. Special is doing everything you can do to be the best that you can be,” Nick Saban

You can do what’s normal and be an average competitor or you can be special and be relentless in your pursuit of success. pic.twitter.com/cN4YaC9H2l

— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) January 21, 2025

What's challenging? Purpose. Telling yourself to bring your best version every day at home, school, working out, practice, and games. Special is 'available' but it's never on sale. 

Accept These Truths and Flourish

In "A Most Beautiful Thing," a teacher asks the aspiring oarsmen, "what made you think it was going to be easy?" One of Nick Saban's favorite expressions is, "Life is hard." 

Winning is hard. Excellence is hard. Training is hard, especially after absence, injury, or illness.  

Nobody owes us anything. The coach doesn't owe us minutes, an expansive role, or praise. Earn everything. 

The past has passed. Yesterday doesn't carry over. Hard work has to be every day. Teamwork is daily. Communication means today. 

Sport rewards athleticism. A few people have physical gifts above and beyond. Most athletes have to find sweat equity in the weight room. 

Make the most of your opportunities. Take advantage of coaching, teamwork, and practice time. Jim Rohn was right, that we "suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of regret." 

Most athletic careers are short. Leave an impression with hard work, sportsmanship, teamwork, and unselfishness. 

Lagniappe. Serve to lead. 

True leadership isn’t about power. It’s about impact.

Serve. Empower. Inspire.

"Leadership is serving other people. It's helping other people accomplish what they want to accomplish. It's make a difference in their lives."

John Harbaugh GOLD 🥇pic.twitter.com/VWKJO2Qs9Q

— Greg Berge (@gb1121) January 18, 2025

Lagniappe 2. Shared vision, shared sacrifice, shared effort. Is it about winning or your numbers? 

Selfishness
Nick Saban said, "What's happening in the game is more important than any of their individual deals."

Great teams create a culture of selflessness, togetherness, and shared responsibility.

It comes from their goals, their standards, and their spirit. pic.twitter.com/LUOoJqF1vc

— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) January 18, 2025

Lagniappe 3. What you do. How you do it. Do it every day. 

HOW TO BECOME A LEADER BY EXAMPLE
✅ Be the hardest worker.
✅ Compete relentlessly with confidence.
✅ Maintain your poise under pressure.
✅ Exemplify your team's standards.
✅ Do the right thing.
🔁 Be this way every day.
= Earn your team's trust/respect to lead them.

— Jeff Janssen (@janssenleader) January 15, 2025

 

Point by Point

Time-tested. Information that holds true for over a decade can be considered wisdom. Here’s something Brad Stevens said 10 years ago:

What Drives Winning Conversations, Episode 1 available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify pic.twitter.com/bBFI99koeF

— What Drives Winning (@WDWconvo) January 22, 2025

Success comes point by point. Bring the best version of yourself moment by moment.

Remember Kara Lawson's quote, "the easy bus is not coming around." Building your platform skills, footwork, setting is hard. Watching video and SEEING what you can do better is hard. Strength and condition is hard. Resilience training with mindfuness or sport psychology is hard. 

Winning is hard. Think "right now" day by day.  

A True Commitment Story

Ole Miss Head Baseball Coach, Mike Bianco, gives his team a pregame motivational speech.

🎥 Ed Hardy on YouTube: “Ole Miss Baseball Coach Motivational Pre-Game Speech”#baseball #collegebaseball #motivation #commitment #MondayMotivation #RoadToOmaha #CollegeWorldSeries #OleMiss pic.twitter.com/HN9njPAvZX

— Baseball Coach™️ (@baseball_coach) June 29, 2020

What's the story about? Elite commitment. In volleyball that means play by play commitment. Attention. Focus. Playing present.

Coach Scott Celli takes a lot of pride in YOUR commitment. MVB has enjoyed both exceptional volleyball players and special athletes over the past three decades. There are too many to name. 

During the offseason:

• Build skills (you're doing that). 
• Grow your volleyball knowledge and instincts. 
• Become a better athlete. 
• Raise your mental toughness. 

What exercises can boost your speed, strength, power? 

Jump rope as part of your warmup. As high school basketball players, we had five-minutes jumping rope as part of daily training. 

Here are ChatGPT Recommendations:

A well-rounded lower-body workout program for volleyball should combine strength, power, and explosive movement training. Here are key elements to incorporate. Warmups are important. 

1. Dynamic Warm-Up

• Goals: Improve mobility, activate key muscle groups, and reduce injury risk.
• Examples: Leg swings, walking lunges, lateral band walks, and high knees.

2. Plyometric Training

• Goals: Develop explosive power and fast-twitch muscle fibers.
• Examples:
  • Box jumps (focus on soft landings and explosive takeoff).
  • Depth jumps (step off a box and immediately jump vertically).
  • Broad jumps (horizontal power and quick transitions).
  • Skater jumps (lateral explosiveness).

3. Strength Training

• Goals: Build a foundation of strength for power and stability.
• Examples:
  • Squats: Back squats, front squats, or goblet squats for quads, glutes, and core.
  • Deadlifts: Conventional or Romanian for hamstrings and glutes.
  • Lunges: Forward, reverse, and lateral lunges for single-leg stability.
  • Step-Ups: Weighted or explosive step-ups to simulate volleyball movements.

4. Power Lifting

• Goals: Generate force quickly.
• Examples:
  • Power cleans or hang cleans.
  • Push presses (integrate upper and lower body power).

5. Core Strength

• Goals: Stabilize the body during explosive movements.
• Examples:
  • Plank variations (side, forearm, and dynamic planks).
  • Medicine ball rotational throws.
  • Hanging leg raises.

6. Mobility and Flexibility

• Goals: Maintain range of motion and prevent tightness.
• Examples: Foam rolling, yoga poses (like pigeon stretch), and dynamic hip stretches.

7. Speed and Agility Drills

• Goals: Enhance quickness and reaction time.
• Examples:
  • Ladder drills (e.g., in-and-out, Ickey shuffle).
  • Cone drills (e.g., T-drill or figure-8 drill).
  • Sprint-to-shuffle transitions.

8. Recovery and Rest

• Incorporate adequate rest days and recovery techniques (stretching, ice baths, and massage) to prevent overtraining and maximize performance.

Sample Weekly Program Outline

• Day 1: Strength (squats, deadlifts) + core.
• Day 2: Plyometrics + speed drills.
• Day 3: Mobility + light strength (step-ups, lunges).
• Day 4: Power lifts (cleans, push presses) + core.
• Day 5: Plyometrics + agility.
• Day 6: Rest or active recovery.
• Day 7: Optional light workout or yoga.

Take a Minute for Gratitude

“Everybody sees the 2,000 points. Nobody sees the 2,000 days of hard work.” – Paige Bueckers

Greatness is earned, never given.

What are you willing to do today to build your tomorrow?

pic.twitter.com/FRtjgiQd4i

— Greg Berge (@gb1121) January 20, 2025

Success has a tendency to distort what's important. "Dot b" means to "stop and take a breath" and take a moment for gratitude. 

Thank your families for their support and sacrifice. 

Thank your teammates for having your back.

Thank your coaches for enhancing your strengths and reducing your weaknesses. 

Staying Power

"The wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain."

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." - Mike Tyson

Apply analogy between life and sport to enhance long-term performance. Morgan Housel wrote a financial classic, "The Psychology of Money." He shares a wealth of valuable money and life advice. A world of difference separates knowing what to do and doing it. 

Here are a few quotes from Chapter 5 in which Housel explains the difference between earning and maintaining wealth. They apply to sport. 

Every season is a separate journey. Luck and risk intersect in unpredictable ways. No matter what, never traffic in excuses. 

Strong programs work to become antifragile, to perform as well or even better under stress. Depth is one solution. MVB 24 had multiple young players step up in the postseason. Even more must step up in 2025.  

You want to be the hunted - optimistic and paranoid. 

Lagniappe. Back setting. Neutrality is critical to avoid 'telegraphing' the action. 

Cross-Posted - Do the Right Things and Training Videos

This shares from my basketball blog. 

1) Find good, simple advice and take it

2) "You don't have to be great to train, but you have to train to be great." Choose to be great. 

Leadership Is Every Day

Great leaders set the tone. #DailyWisdom pic.twitter.com/BEGigctyD8

— Ball is Psych (@BallisPsych) January 19, 2025

Leadership is an everyday matter not a sometime matter. Leaders demand focus, excellence, and accountability. 

- Everyone can lead. Young players can be team leaders. Victoria Crovo was a team leader as a freshman. Nobody should be a distraction. 

- The best teams have player-led leadership. Team leaders set an example with commitment, communication, energy, sacrifice, and work ethic. 

- Be a good follower, too. Without followers, there is no team. 

Every Season Is a New Deal

Nobody rings a bell saying, "now is your time." 

"Tradition never dies." Last season's results don't go into the win (or loss) column; graduating seniors aren't "walking back in that door."

Never underestimate the value in building or sustaining a program.

First, a digression into Gary Washburn's Boston Globe column on new Connecticut Sun coach Rachid Meziane, the Belgian national coach. 

"My philosophy is built on three key pillars - hard work because I don't believe in only relying on talent, discipline, in understanding what we are doing and how we carry ourselves, and communications, how we talk to and how we learn from others." 

“Using these pillars, I am [going] to build a culture of respect, hard work, and unity.

“My experience has taught me that the success doesn’t come just from the on-court strategy, but also, I’m caring about people and trusting the players to execute.”

“I believe that for our team to succeed, every player has to feel valued and aligned with our shared goal,” he said. “If everyone feels involved in the project, we can be better, we can be more committed, and we can give the best of ourselves.

“I’m thinking about your player development process. For example, take care of the ball and make our offense more efficient to help them advance further next season. I think that I am here for bringing my skills. And I think that the European style demands more IQ basketball and maybe better ball movements.”  

Excellent teams revel in the process. MVB 2012 didn't land on a spaceship from a distant planet. MVB 2010 mixed youth and veteran leadership with enough kernels popping to win a sectional title. MVB 2011 expanded on that to get to the State Finals. And MVB 2012 leveraged talent, teamwork, and experience to roll to a title. 

Foundations of success align from youth through professional sports. Culture, buy-in (belief), and execution are an elusive but powerful recipe.

Take care of the ball. Coach Scott Celli will find a consistent defense to "keep the ball up." Extreme consistency and occasional exceptional plays take care of the ball. 

Make our offense more efficient. Efficiency means executing the higher percentage play more of the time. Nature abhors a vacuum and a critical mass of players who want to fill available roles will emerge like 'cream rising to the top'. It starts with Sabine. "You know the sun is going to shine. You don't know how hot it's going to get." The setting is going to take care of itself. Others will step up the hitting. Only one team has ever had three 200 kill attackers, the long-departed 2005 team. A diverse offense is the best offense.

Melrose had players competing in Ohio, New Orleans, Hartford, and Providence recently. "The kids are alright." 

Lagniappe. A highly underrated defender...Amanda Commito...great focus, great feet, great consistency. Study her defense and passing. 

Compete and Sacrifice

"I compete with them [teammates] like my future depends on it, but I sacrifice for them like their future depends on it.
Because I understand when I give my best to them, and they give their best to me, we both get better." @MackeySpeaks pic.twitter.com/VslK2FhtWl

— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) January 17, 2025

Do this and flourish. 

Do you know the "Ration sisters?" The little sisters are Inspi Ration and Aspi Ration. The big sisters are Perspi Ration and Prepa Ration... 

 

The Essence of Team Sports - Simplicity (Print and Save)

Learn from everywhere, across domains, from everyone.

What is the essence of sport? 

• Know and pay attention to the details.
• Work to be great at fundamental skills...as you play "higher" the game speeds up. You must, too. 
• Simplify. "Keep the ball up" and "put the ball down." 
• Strategy works to maximize those two concepts. 
• CARE - concentrate-->anticipate-->react-->execute
• Do well what you do a lot. 
• Do more of what works and less of what doesn't. 
• Athleticism plays. No great players are mediocre athletes. 
• "You don't have to be great to train but you must train to be great."
• Choose to be a great teammate. 
• Excel at scoring - service, blocking, attacking.
• "The quality of the pass determines the quality of the attack." 
• "We are going for it." (What am I adding to the equation?)

 What are your key responsibilities as a player?

• Be a great teammate. Never be a distraction.
• Make everyone around you better. 
• Impact winning. 

Nobody is perfect. Coach Kara Lawson says, "chase perfection." Great players add more value to the team. It's "chase perfection" not "chase numbers." 

Lagniappe. Affirmations from Alan Stein... 

Please share this with every youth athlete you know!

This is my son Jack in the picture, but I've encouraged all 3 of my kids to read these 28 mindsets, approaches, and affirmations as often as possible:

1. I strive to play well, not to avoid mistakes.

2. I focus on the… pic.twitter.com/D8SH7T2P9r

— Alan Stein, Jr. (@AlanSteinJr) January 18, 2025

Here is the full list (if you want, pick your top five)

1. I strive to play well, not to avoid mistakes. 2. I focus on the process (footwork & form), not the outcome (makes & misses). 3. I work on my game during The Unseen Hours. 4. I Play Present and focus on the play right in front me (the one that just happened). 5. I display confident body language, even when I don’t feel confident. 6. I quickly move to the Next Play after a turnover, missed shot, or a bad call. 7. I use encouraging self-talk to coach myself through challenging situations. 8. I focus on what I can control and let everything else go. 9. I trust my abilities, talents, and preparation. 10. I embrace adverse conditions. 11. I am not afraid to fail… it’s part of the process. 12. I acknowledge that how I think affects how I feel and how I perform. 13. I visualize myself playing well before every practice and game. 14. I listen to (and trust) my coaches. 15. I am the teammate I want to play with. 16. I welcome pressure situations because I know I am prepared. 17. I practice (and work out) with the intensity and focus of a game. 18. I am calm when things feel chaotic. 19. I don’t let physical fatigue cause mental fatigue. 20. I am comfortable being uncomfortable. 21. I think like a champion daily. A consistent mind creates consistent performance. 22. I visualize success: I see it, I feel it, and I believe it. 23. I have a consistent pre-practice and pre-game routine. 24. I embrace challenges and obstacles as opportunities. 25. I compete every play and I compete every day. 26. I learn from every mistake and every loss. 27. I work on my mental and physical skills every day. 28. I love hard work and I take pride in doing difficult things well.

 

Win This Battle

Repost. Fundamentals of reception. Good point...wrist extension (bending the wrists down) helps make a better platform.

At home serve receive practice... 

Serve/serve-receive drill  

Books that I Believe Every High Schooler Should Read

All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own. 

I read Anna Karenina by Tolstoy because it was on a list of a hundred books everyone should read. 1205 pages later, I don't recommend it as a  great time investment. The first sentence tells you all you need to know, "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." The rest of the book expounds on this misery.

Here are a few that are worth your valuable time: 

On Writing by Stephen King. King shares his career development in the first half of the book and ideas about writing in the second half. For example, who regrets limiting adverbs by using stronger verbs? 

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. "History doesn't repeat, man does." Frankl chronicles life in a Nazi death camp (he was a prisioner for over three years) and extends Freud's observations about life being about relationships and work. Frankl adds suffering as the third element none of us escapes during life. 

The Positive Dog by Jon Gordon. On his website, Gordon shares, "Being positive doesn't just make you better. It makes everyone around you better." Positivity applies to both our attitude and to our 'culture', everything in our ecosystem. Nobody crafts a positive life from a negative attitude. 

MVB has always taught more than volleyball. Commitment, discipline, effort, sacrifice, and teamwork create the MVB experience. 

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. Housel shares commonsense information about our attitudes and behaviors around money. For example, the poorest Americans spend about $412 dollars a year on lottery tickets. Forty percent of Americans don't have $400 to meet an emergency. The groups overlap as people chase dreams. That's meant as an effort to understand behavior. The earlier you learn about money (currency being a relatively new creation since 600 B.C.) the more effective you are likely to become at managing it. 

A separate issue is what books are the best ever written by women. The best three I've read were:

1) Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The book is a shortened version of her biographies of Lincoln, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. She delves into the events and character that formed their Presidential leadership. 

2) In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle by Madeleine Blais. The UMASS journalism professor explains how a basketball team that always fell short comes together through a remarkable healing of a fractured relationship between their two star players. Beautifully written, it captures the complexity of team and the culture surrounding the Amherst Hurricanes. 

3) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This is a controversial book in contemporary America as our country seeks to navigate societal polarization. Although not banned statewide, the novel has been banned in multiple school districts over concerns about language and racial content among other issues. 

Here is a separate list of The Greatest Books of All Time Written by Women. 

Lagniappe. Short video on passing, especially serve receive. 

Lagniappe 2. Report. Serve receive means finding solutions for all serves. 

Training

You don’t have to be great to train, but you have to train to be great.

An Important Volleyball Exercise

Goblet squats 

Bequests to Young Coaches (and Players)

What "best advice" have mentors given you throughout your life? If you could bequeath coaching advice to a young coach, what would it be? 

1. Build relationships. Establish trust with coaches and players. Help the players build trust with each other. Small player rivalries can grow to unfathomable proportions. 

2. Never stop learning. Nobody has the franchise on continuing education. Everyone can learn from Coach Don Meyer's "three notebook" policy. One was for basketball, another was for general information, and a third was a gratitude notebook that he gave to his wife at the end of the year. MasterClass and Blinkist are additional resources I use. 

3. Be a problem solver not just a critic. Most of us have no issues solving other people's problems when we struggle with our own. Solutions require listening, openness, and nonjudgmental attitudes. 

4. Find mentors. Mentoring lineages go back thousands of years. Socrates taught Plato, who taught Aristotle, who mentored Alexander the Great. Among the worst mistakes any coach can make is believing they know-it-all. Kevin Eastman advises coaches to become a "learn-it-all" not a "know-it-all." 

5. Share. My favorite basketball quote is Phil Jackson's "basketball is sharing." Sport is "open source." There is no secret sauce. Share. 

6. Learn player development. Even if you're literally the "Recruiting King" (think Nick Saban), you still need to develop players. "Every day is player development day." Consider adding "every day is role development day." Teach players to know and to embrace their roles. For example, if you don't serve reliably, it will bite you on your backside eventually. 

7. Fundamentals beat strategy. Coach Popovich says, "technique beats tactics." Lesson one from Sahil Bloom is, "you'll achieve much more by being consistently reliable than by being occasionally extraordinary." 

8. Keep a rethinking scorecard. Professor Adam Grant wrote, "Think Again." The ability to change our mind is strength not weakness. The "arrogant jerk" you can't stand could become a trusted confidant. 

9. "Read. Read. Read. Read. Read." - Werner Herzog  "The differences between the person we are today and whom we become in five years are  the people we meet and the books we read." Read widely and find elements from other domains to bring into our lives. 

10.Seek work-life balance. Life is about finding balance. Courage balances recklessness and doubt. Without balance, many careers have the potential to lead to self-destruction. Avoid that path.

Lagniappe. Highlight videos have merit. Jen Cain was terrific and I think there are talents in the system that remind me of her. She gets on top of the ball, has excellent hitting power, and strong instincts that translated to playing college volleyball. 

TEAM First

WE NEED PASSES THAT DON’T MATTER

My college coach used to say this all the time. We need passes that connect our offense, and build rhythm. If every player tries to make a play on every catch, the momentum of the ball stops.
A simple way every player can help their offense is… pic.twitter.com/VV7nonm659

— Steve Dagostino (@DagsBasketball) January 14, 2025

Some messages resonate across sports. Find ways to contribute to "keep the line moving." 

Everybody doesn't get the same number of attacks (shots). Get married to the scoreboard not the scoresheet. 

Coaches have priority messages to share:

"Care about your teammates. Be a great teammate."

"Put the team first." 

"Pay attention. Do what we're teaching. Communicate." 

"Impact the game." 

Think about a player like Leah. Yes, she was an excellent setter. She was an impact server. She was the best ever blocking setter for Melrose. She was an excellent defender. Build your all-around game...coaches will appreciate you. You'll earn minutes. You'll get recognition. 

Success Versus Process

Dawn Staley said, “A lot of people notice when you succeed, but they don’t see what it takes to get there.”

There is no such thing as an overnight success, it takes time.
• It takes sacrifice.
• It takes discipline.
• It takes commitment.

Success is earned, not given. pic.twitter.com/LrgS1NP4YH

— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) January 15, 2025

Nobody sees the hours the concert pianist put in to craft her performance. Nobody sees the extra time the valedictorians spent earning their grades. Nobody sees the first, second, and third draft of the best-selling authors. People notice the result not the process.

Show your work. Plan your process. Write it down. Keep track of your progress. Some of you have HUDL accounts displaying your highlights. That's terrific. "Unseen hours" show up in late August at tryouts and scrimmages. 

Simple Equations for Life - IYKYK*

All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own. Don't blame anyone else. 

IYKYK*

Mathematics can restate 'concepts' into equations. Here are a few for your consideration. Don't memorize them; embrace them. Think about these in the context of "control what you can control." 

ACHIEVEMENT = PERFORMANCE x TIME

HAPPINESS = RESULTS - EXPECTATIONS 

SAVINGS = EGO - SPENDING 

VOLLEYBALL OFENSE POINTS SCORED = ACES + BLOCK KILLS + ATTACK WINNERS

VOLLEYBALL NET POINTS = POINTS WON + OPPONENT POINTS LOST - POINTS LOST - OPPONENT POINTS WON

Design your life. Choose to make it happen in a way that works for you. 

IYKYK* = "If you know you know." 

Lagniappe. This shows "the future," applying AI to analyze volleyball performance. Sport gets back to "technique beats tactics." 

Battle for Every Point

Nebraska with an extended rally. 

Separate Yourself

Your title doesn’t make you a captain—your actions do.
✅ Be the first one to practice.
✅ Be the hardest worker.
✅ Be the energy giver.
✅ Be the one who praises teammates.
✅ Be the one who holds people accountable.
✅ Be the last one to leave.#CultureWins

— Jeff Janssen (@janssenleader) January 13, 2025

Lagniappe. An underdog story... from walk-on to the NFL. On Netflix... 

Optimism and Pessimism

"Pessimism just sounds smarter and more plausible than optimism." - Morgan Housel, “The Psychology of Money”

Housel adds, "Optimism is a belief that the odds of a good outcome are in your favor most of the time." 

Imagine two previews of MVB 25. 

(Melrose, MA) "Melrose volleyball faces steep challenges after graduating nine seniors from the 2024 season. Gone is All-State setter Leah Fowke. Gone is starting middle hitter Sofia Papatsoris. Gone are number two hitter Carol Higonenq and the defensive trio of Maggie Turner, Gg Albuja, and Alex Homan. ML12 opponents literally lick their lips at the prospect of facing a depleted Melrose squad."

(Melrose, MA) "Melrose volleyball returns a cast of veteran and young players which helped the team to their sixteenth consecutive title. MAVCA Hall of Fame Coach Scott Celli begins with 6'5" Sabine Wenzel looking to establish herself as the most dominant frontcourt player in Melrose history. She has considerable size up front paired with rising senior Emme Boyer and junior Maggie Shoemaker. Promising defenders Anna Burns and Adele Akland are poised to become the newest back row stalwarts. Three freshmen contributed to MVB 24 success - Sadie Smith, Elise Marchais, and Ella Friedlaender. And help arrives with developing players from the JV and middle school program. Melrose fans can't wait for the 2025 season." 

There's an old joke that says, "I can predict the MVB 25 record before the season even starts. 0-0." 

Apply the "COTE of armor" of Weisinger and Pawliw-Fry in Performing Under Pressure. 

C - Confidence 

O - Optimism

T - Tenacity

E - Enthusiasm 

After you've done the work, success begins with self-belief. 

Unseen Work

Behind every accolade, there’s a saga of sweat, sacrifice, and unwavering discipline.

Greatness isn’t born in the limelight; it’s crafted in the solitude of relentless effort. pic.twitter.com/0ejxGZrAvR

— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) January 12, 2025

Mia Hamm inspired Anson Dorrance's quote. 

What happens in the shadows prepares you for the spotlight. 

"Win the Game in Your Head"

WIN THE GAME IN YOUR HEAD FIRST

"Players and people break down mentally before they do breakdown physically. You're not just training them to run, jump, and do things. You're training them, hopefully, to think under pressure." (Geno Auriemma)

~ via @TheCoachJournal pic.twitter.com/L6QrtwEadR

— Jamy Bechler (@CoachBechler) January 13, 2025

Coach Auriemma says, "force me to play you..." 

How do you earn playing time (in my opinion)? 

1) It starts in the offseason with your plan, preparation, and action. Commit to outworking and out-thinking everyone. Yeah, that's hard. 

2) Earn the right to self-belief. The work produces the magic. 

3) Grow both your mental and physical skills. Mindfulness improves focus, decreases stress hormones, and improves sleep. 

4) Become a better athlete. "Sports reward athletic explosion." The ability to move more quickly and powerfully translates. 

5) Impact the game; impact winning. It's not just numbers... communication, teamwork, reliability in all areas. 

When you've worked on your mind and body, your communication and technique, and increase the probability of your team succeeding, you earn the coach's trust. That translates to playing time. 

Some players are so valuable to the process that it's psychologically painful for the coach not to play them. Been there.  

Lagniappe. Better reception. Exceptional teams win the serve-receive battle.