Training with a positive mindset

"Winners build on mistakes. Losers dwell on them"

~ Arnold Mori

Its not always easy to deal with a loss, as shown on my face after last weekends league loss, but the feeling is something I am using to drive me in training this week

Welcome to the third edition of this volleyball blog, I hope you have been as eager to read this as I have been to write more of my thoughts down on paper (or typed onto my laptop).

One of the questions I have been asked by some of the players I have coached over the years is: “how much and what training should I be doing at my age?” With this in mind, I figured maybe one of the best ways to get this blog up and running would be to highlight a few of my training experiences for an initial post, focusing more on the mindset that I try to take into all of my volleyball sessions and how the start of the session is important. In later posts I will then talk about different parts of a session and isolate the differences between the junior, collegiate and professional training environments I have been involved in and how I approached each of them.

One of the most important factors of a good training session is the preparation, physically and mentally, before you step into the gym, and how you conduct yourself in the warm-up. This applies to any age group or training level!

One of my favourite sayings in volleyball, and I am sure most of the sporting world would agree, is that you should train hard so matches almost feel easier! Now granted some days you don’t always feel like you want to chase after that ball your team mate dug towards the back wall, but when you lose the training exercise and you don’t make the starting side, was it worth those few extra seconds of rest? Now I would be lying if I said that every day I threw myself into practise 100%, but as with all experiences you can only learn. After playing volleyball for 8 years now, I still find that my mentality in training is a rollercoaster area for me, but I would like to think it is becoming more consistent.

I also realised that some days you might not be able to walk into practise with the most positive mindset, but that you can still develop that mentality through the start of practise, something discussed in more detail in a VolleyScience article by Ciara Michel, regarding the use of a “Fake it ‘til You Make it” attitude to push herself in all of her training activities and bouncing off her teammates (if you haven’t read the article its worth a read!). One thing is for sure, looking back I can see that my best practises were the ones where I did everything I could to be focused and committed, starting even before I set foot on the court. Then all of a sudden, my confidence goes up and suddenly, my game hits the next level.

UMO MVB 17-18 Team after a practise session at Long Beach before playing the 2018 National Champions

Now I am not one of these people who has to listen to a certain song before every session or has to put one shoe on before the other. If that works for you then please don’t stop, everyone has their own way of preparing. I do like to listen to some music to get me going when I haven’t felt in the best mood before practise, but this varies session by session. However, one non-negotiable I have used throughout my junior and senior career is the 15-minute rule. Whatever time your session starts, always be there 15 minutes before if not longer!! This gives you ample time to prepare and think about your approach to training to ensure it is your only focus. I remember before going off to the States having a chat with Andy Jones and how, from a coach’s perspective, seeing a player being at the court early shows dedication and a desire to be at practise, and for the player it’s the start of a positive outlook on training.

Aside from a small pre-training focus routine, I find that when I throw myself into the warm up (not a loving throw, more of a jump into the plunge pool type throw) and really put my energy into the early stages, I am mentally and physically more engaged with the session. For example, we have started running ladder drills to warm up, and putting my footwork to the test (big uncoordinated guy, not always the best combo) is an early challenge and will help my increase my footspeed. Next comes one on one digging games and I am finding if I have the mentality of trying to win these then it sets up my overall mentality for the session! I started off my professional training career going 0-5 for the small digging games, but once I started to focus on being competitive I won more games and found that the rest of the session was more positive!

Now I am going to state the obvious and I am asking you to see this through, so stick with me… training is a vital part of volleyball development… there I said it! Now I have heard myself described as a match player in the past, someone who might not be there in training but will pull it out for games. As I have grown up, I have realised that to become a better player I can’t just rely on coming good in a game, because I might not even be on the court in the first place. Worse still, how can I improve if I only play well in a game? This is something all juniors should be aware of, because it can be very easy to get distracted by being the current best player in your club, but unless you keep working hard in training it becomes very easy for others to overtake you. Now I am not saying that if you have one bad training session you will become a terrible volleyball player, but the good players will learn from a bad session and ensure that the next time they step foot onto the court it will be a more positive outcome.

Training is also the one place where if you make an error trying something new, there is no damage to your league position. If you have the mindset of going into practise to focus on one detail to improve, big or small, this can make all the difference in your overall performance of the session and your confidence. In fact, sometimes at UMO I would have a chat with Coach Heller about where I can improve my game and we would discuss an area of focus for the week so that he knows my aims and could ensure I was working towards them. One thing is for sure, the more repetitions an athlete undertakes, the more the skill will become engrained and natural. However, the most important part about this is to focus on the technique, because if you practise 100 repetitions with poor technique, this will become engrained in your system and its difficult to change when the number of reps keeps on increasing (hence why even peppering can be important for technical work)!

A good warm up can also lead to a good game ft the bright green knee pads -VC Gotha Facebook picture

If you have ever been coached by me, I am a really big fan of breaking things down into memorable chunks, so I feel the best way to leave the blog post is to leave some focused bullet points that can always be referenced!

My challenge to myself and to you is this, every session, no matter what has happened before the session or what might be going on elsewhere in life, find why you love being at training, stay positive and keep your focus on the court. Find a way that works for you in the build-up to training and in the warm up to make sure you are raring to go as you enter the first drills and use your team mates to bounce off of!

Things to remember:

1. Training is important- Every session is a chance to improve, even 1%, so make it count!
2. Mentality – Having a focus for the session will get you much further than going without
3. Don’t be afraid to make errors! – if you didn’t make errors, you would be playing in the World Championship finals right now!
4. The 15-minute rule!

Tschuss!

Rob

Volleyball Update:

We lost to the league leaders last weekend, TGM Mainz Gonsenheim 3-0, where we struggled to match our oppositions consistency. We play again this weekend at TSV Grafing on Saturday before welcoming Heitec Volleys Eltmann to Gotha again, this time in the Polka Cup on Sunday!

Best of luck as well to all of the U17 England teams competing at NEVZA this week!

Also, a big shout out to the Bello Twins for an awesome showing at the Youth Olympics!

Sometimes when you're making more errors you want to pull back,
 but I just need to keep going forward.

∼ Venus Williams