"Here's a sheet. Blank sheet. One through 15 rank your teammates."
In week one of summer workouts, #UVA Coach Roussell implemented a philosophy so he could better understand how each player views the group pic.twitter.com/5yiN3ykw6r
There's an inside view and there's an outside view. You're on the inside.
Here's a saying, "You can't fool kids, dogs, and volleyball players."
Where do you stand as a teammate and as a worker?
Honest self-assessment can be tough. Brad Stevens once said something like, "I never had a great student on my (college) team, who wasn't an excellent defender." Why is that?
Offense requires talent. Defense is founded on grit. I believe that contemporary youngsters have the same grit as your parents' generation or even mine. If you want success, the road is there.
Remember, the road least crowded is "the extra mile."
All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own. The blog is not an official publication of any City of Melrose organization.
We live in an era of I want what I want, and I want it now. Overcoming that demands a different kind of strength, one that doesn't announce itself.
The word patience evolved from the Latin patentia, meaning suffering. Not passive waiting, but the willingness to endure the work and the time necessary to achieve a desired end.
The Chinese character for patience captures this beautifully: it depicts an enduring heart. Two cultures, a thousand years apart, pointing at the same thing.
History and Patience
Aristotle framed patience as a balancing act - the mean between apathy and impetuousness, between too little and too much. Benjamin Franklin sharpened that: "He that can have patience can have what he will." For Franklin, patience wasn't resignation. It was leverage, the leverage of a nine-year printing apprenticeship.
The Stanford marshmallow experiments gave us data to match the philosophy. Follow-up studies found that children who delayed gratification - who waited for the second marshmallow - earned higher SAT scores, better grades, stronger social skills, and showed less substance abuse. The ability to endure the moment predicted the future quality of life.
John Wooden understood this instinctively. Patience flanks competitive greatness at the very top of his Pyramid of Success. He won his first national title at UCLA in his 16th season. Sixteen years. The Pyramid wasn't decoration - it was his operating system, and patience was load-bearing.
Patience as Emotional Discipline
In Stoic philosophy, patience isn't passivity; it's emotional discipline. And that discipline quietly opens something else: compassion. When you're not ruled by impulse, you can see another person clearly. You can see not just who they are, but who they might become.
For coaches, that combination is gold.
The player who can't get out of her own way right now. The setter who panics under pressure. The outside hitter who's technically sound but hasn't found her competitive edge yet. Patience lets you hold the vision of what's possible for them, even when they can't hold it themselves - and help them navigate the time and commitment it takes to get there.
Patience in Sports
The applications run from the physiological to the tactical:
Maturity and physical development. Pre-adolescent athletes are genuinely limited - neurologically, physically, emotionally. Rushing that timeline doesn't accelerate development.
Player development. There's a pyramid to climb, and the steps don't rearrange themselves. Fundamentals precede execution, on the court, in the dojo (sand the floor), in the pool.
Team development. Collaboration is built, not declared. Trust accumulates through repetition, conflict, resolution, and time. The team that competes in November is not the team that gathered in August. Honor the process.
Waiting for the scoring moment. This is patience made visible in real time. The cut that opens late. The through-pass that reveals itself one beat after you expect it. The changeup that requires the hitter to hold just a split-second longer. Elite players don't rush the moment. They read it and let it arrive.
Summary
Patience adds value. And it's trainable.
It shows up in etymology, in philosophy, in experimental psychology, in Wooden's sixteen-year climb to a championship. It shows up in the athlete who waits for the cut, in the coach who holds the vision longer than the player can, in the team that trusts the process when no championships have appeared on a banner.
The enduring heart isn't passive. It's disciplined. It's the water that carves canyons and the coaches who craft championships.
Kelvin Sampson shares why coaches should coach out of positive fear to drive you to be the best you can be and to always have a chip on your shoulder. pic.twitter.com/f6TwEio1XQ
All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own. The blog is not an official publication of any City of Melrose organization. Adapted from my basketball blog.
"How you do anything is how you do everything."
"Focus is a superpower."
What is focus?
Focus synthesizes awareness of surroundings- time, space, and situation - and the ability to make decisions under pressure.
We did a drill in high school with a passer and a line of receivers about 12-15 feet away. The passer would start by passing a medicine ball to the next person in line and the "line" would be passing a basketball back. Two balls in play. Pay attention or risk getting a medicine ball in the kisser (it happened!).
The Focus Spectrum
Focus includes the ability to prepare, to learn the playbook, assignments, and the scouting report. Restated, focus happens long before you ever step onto the court for games.
Focus is knowing where your scorers thrive with the ball, how an opponent wants to attack. Focus is being able to play "harder for longer." Focus is learning to "see the game" by being coachable and through video study.
Teams without focus are often "not on the same page" and unlikely to execute. Conversely, players and teams that execute have proven their ability to focus.
Keep it simple
Focus includes "wide focus" about what happens in the geometry and player motion and "narrow focus," being able to read a defender (e.g. attack the front hand/foot) or go for a steal as it leaves a dribbler's hand (e.g. Kawhi) or returns after bouncing off the floor.
Games are won and lost because of missed assignments or loss of focus, where players "got lost" during a timeout.
Charles Barkley noted that Zach Randolph scored partly because of "Dummies."
Training Focus
Mindfulness
Asteroids is a cheap version of high tech training available
No free shooting...add focus with constraints...time, scoring requirement and a hand in the face
Focus isn't a solitary skill. Sometimes it requires intense physical training and at others the ability to sit your butt in a chair to study a playbook, opponent video, or American history.
Lagniappe. "If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you’ve lost your focus." - Michael Jordan
Kobe Bryant defined focus through singular, unwavering attention to a specific goal, "I focus on one thing and one thing only - that's trying to win as many championships as I can."
Focus translates not to playing matches or sets, but playing hard to succeed this play. It's ability to be present and to reset immediately.
Some of the freshmen from MVB recently participated at the USAV Nationals in Indianapolis. The team improved throughout the tournament and gained valuable experience playing top teams from around the US.
Here are some photographs courtesy of Lee-Anne Dautovic.
Sport training isn't mandatory...unless you thirst for success. It doesn't have to be drudgery.
Find fun activities that raise athleticism and train with a teammate. Think "out of the box."
Jump rope - five minutes once a day.
Pilates
Dance (AI assist)
A randomized pilot study compared a dance video game training program to traditional agility ladder drills in elite volleyball players. The investigators used the Wii system with "Just Dance" 2014. Athletes could presumably substitute other dance video exercise.
After six weeks:
Both groups improved.
The dance-training group showed significant agility gains.
In some analyses, the dance group improved more than the ladder-drill group.
The study is small, but fascinating because it suggests that rhythmic movement training may transfer to volleyball agility.
Why Dance Might Help Volleyball
1. Better Footwork
Elite dancers spend thousands of hours learning:
Weight transfer
Change of direction
Precise foot placement
Movement efficiency
That sounds a lot like:
Setter footwork
Defensive movement
Blocking footwork
Transition movement
2. Enhanced Body Awareness
Researchers consistently find that dance training improves balance and proprioception. Years of ballet training appear to alter how the nervous system organizes movement and balance.
Better body awareness can improve performance and potentially reduce injury risk.
3. Better Landing Mechanics
One of the most intriguing findings from dance research is the emphasis on controlled landings.
Dance training teaches:
Soft landings
Alignment
Joint control
Force absorption
Those same qualities are critical for volleyball athletes who may perform 100+ jumps in a training session.
4. Rhythm and Timing
Many volleyball actions are timing problems disguised as skill problems.
Examples:
Blocking
Hitter approach timing
Setter-hitter connection
Defensive reads
Dance develops rhythm, timing, and synchronization.
A hitter who is consistently early or late often has a timing issue rather than a strength issue.
Historical Examples
A surprising number of elite athletes have incorporated dance:
NFL receivers
Figure skaters
Martial artists
Boxers
Basketball players
Perhaps the most famous basketball example is Hakeem Olajuwon, whose footwork was frequently described as dance-like.
A Volleyball Blog Angle
Lessons:
Balance before power
Footwork before speed
Body control before athleticism
Rhythm before force
Grace before explosiveness
"Volleyball players often admire the vertical jump of great athletes. They should also admire the movement quality of great dancers."
Volleyball players often think athleticism begins with jumping. Athleticism begins with movement. Anything that trains athletes to move with rhythm, balance, coordination, and confidence deserves consideration. Shuffle dancing may look unconventional, but so did jump rope, yoga, and ballet -until athletes discovered they worked.
Lagniappe. Not a replacement for skill or volleyball play, but a possible supplement for 5-10 minutes a couple of days a week.
Leaders don't travel the same path as everyone else. They model excellence. They set the standard. They challenge others to meet it.
Some young women don't want the mantle of leadership. They don't want to stand out or be a called a "witch" or worse.
Leaders make leaders.
Leaders take ownership of the program. "This is who we are. That is not how we play."
During tryouts at another school, $20 went missing from a player's locker. The captain spoke up. "I don't know who took that $20 and I don't care. But if you did, don't show up here tomorrow." Not everyone came back.
Leaders make everyone around them better.
Leaders aren't on time. They're early.
Leaders leave the gym and the bench area better than they found it.
Leaders "prove others wrong."
Leaders champion accountability.
Don't set the standard. Raise it.
Some of you have only a few months remaining in your volleyball career. How are you going to invest them?
Successful people have something in common. They've failed...a lot. Failure allows us to make "course corrections" in reassessing what we've done and how we can improve.
Failure is data. Take advantage of data to learn from it.
This doesn't mean an all-consuming obsession with failure. From studying game (and sometime practice) video, examine both strengths and areas to practice.
Years ago Melrose had a relatively tall attacker who often struggled because her contact point was barely above the net. When attackers struggle, break down (video) the process:
1) Attack footwork
2) Coordination of footwork with armswing
3) Decision making - "the right shot at the right time"
4) Contact point and difficulty for defense
5) Execution of the shot
Each of us has "three lenses" of visualization:
How we see ourselves
How we see others
How we see the world
Take ownership of our attitude, beliefs, values, and actions. Model excellence for teammates. Don not become a victim of "bad officiating" or "bad luck" or "bad sets." As Coach John Wooden advised, "Don't whine. Don't complain. Don't make excuses."
Great players want to be coached, to be informed of how they can be better. Setbacks are inevitable. Overcoming them is a choice.
Lagniappe. "Champion Mentality:
Stays positive
Takes responsibility
Finds solutions
Admits their faults
Asks for feedback
No Victim Mentality
No Complaints
No Blame for others
No excuses
Recognizes faults
Wants feedback" - Allistair McCaw in "Habits That Make a Champion"
Titles get reorganized. Companies get acquired. Markets shift, layoffs happen, the role you trained five years for can disappear in a Tuesday morning meeting.
Twenty-four years of watching MVB reveal one point about all - simplify the game. Like most sports, volleyball rewards skill, strategy, and athleticism. But there’s more.
1. Strong teams radiate competitive character. Strong opposition doesn't quit either.
2. Successful teams score points and don’t rely on opponent weakness.
3. Scoring “positive” points comes off attacks, service, and block-kills. Continually put your opponent in an unfavorable position.
4. Strong teams find ways to win and weaker teams find ways to lose.
5. Communication is underrated. It starts in practice.
6. Use "economics." Strong teams get more attacks to better players - the allocation of limited resources.
7. "Utilize strengths, attack weaknesses."- The Art of War Take advantage of your advantages. Coaching is a strength.
8. Support each other. That is not always human nature. All great achievements in society occur as collaboration.
Sport is often about "space" and "time." In baseball there's a pitching saying, "Work fast, change speeds, throw strikes." In basketball, "Offense is spacing and spacing in offense." In football, "Control the line of scrimmage."
Volleyball also rewards controlling space and time.
