MVB graduates go places.
How you do anything reflects how you do everything. Focus, stay fully engaged and be coachable and you'll go places, too.
Lagniappe. Always follow your coaching strategy and alignment.
News, notes, commentary, and volleyball education
How you do anything reflects how you do everything. Focus, stay fully engaged and be coachable and you'll go places, too.
Lagniappe. Always follow your coaching strategy and alignment.
Many MVB players have read Jay Bilas's Toughness as a group. Toughness, both physical and mental, helps players overcome personal and "professional" crises.
Literature and film celebrate toughness crises. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle depicts the struggles of workers focusing on working conditions in slaughterhouses. The Karate Kid shares an East Coast transplant seeking dignity, balance, and success in California.
You define how toughness applies to your MVB experience.
1. Toughness is a skill. Sports grow skill and will. Just as you improve your skills, you grow your resilience.
2. Toughness reveals itself in performance in showing up, competing at practice, and bringing energy to yourself and teammates.
3. MVB players show toughness under adversity when playing from behind and when not at your best. Sadie Jaggers' playoff match against Billerica coming out of a sickbed was a great example of toughness.
4. Players show physical and mental toughness during jousts and blocks at the net, going to the floor to keep the ball up, and having the courage to hit when the situation arises.
5. Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi said, "fatigue makes cowards of us all." The will to condition yourself and the discipline to eat and hydrate properly, to get eight hours of sleep, and 'actively recover' show toughness.
6. Toughness is a habit. The players who engage every day academically and in their extracurricular activities manifest toughness. "How you do anything is how you do everything."
Part of the MVB experience includes modeling excellence, setting high standards, and "leaving the jersey in a better place." Make toughness your brand.
Lagniappe.
Jim Harbaugh said, "Absolutely, you can improve and become better at toughness. It's a talent, but it can be acquired, too. I think of it like building a callus."
— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) April 25, 2024
Toughness is not a talent, it's a skill.
• It's mental.
• It's physical.
You build toughness through… pic.twitter.com/GJsldVemdn
Tom Izzo said, "Championships and great seasons are won in locker rooms."
— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) April 24, 2024
Great teams have great teammates.
• They own their roles.
• They care about each other.
• They commit to each other and the team.
A great team isn't made up of individual superstars, it's made up of… pic.twitter.com/DIVqV8eGqB
Choose to be a great teammate. Make it a priority. Have joy in preparation, practice, and competition. Celebrate the experience and your teammates.
Lagniappe.
Derek Jeter asked Bruce Bochy after a World Series Championship. “How come everybody that comes up here doesn’t talk about themselves? All they care about is the team and all they want is to win for their team? How is that?”
— Coach the Coaches (@WinningCoaches) April 22, 2024
Bochy: that’s how you win.
~ via @CoachJoshLynn
Lagniappe 2. Harsh reality that great players adopt...can you be feminine and the beast. MVB greats navigated that conflict.
“Everybody wants to be the beast but everybody doesn’t want to do what the beast does,” Nick Saban
— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) April 26, 2024
🎥 @SupremeLending pic.twitter.com/1TXIK4QfXN
Lagniappe 3. Don't allow the little things to go unnoticed.
DEATH BY 1,000 CUTS
— Jeff Janssen (@janssenleader) April 22, 2024
KILLS MORE CULTURES
THAN A FATAL BLOW:
🩸 showing up late
🩸 taking plays off
🩸 sloppy practices
🩸 poor execution
🩸 skipping reps
🩸 grumbling about roles/PT
🩸 eye-rolling when coach talks
🩸 not holding people accountable#CutsKill#CultureWins
"Hope springs eternal." Last night the Patriots selected quarterback Drake Maye with their first choice.
Nobody knows how any draft choice will do. Coach Jerod Mayo, discussing the quarterback situation said, "it's about competing and it's about going out there every day striving to get better."
MVB tryouts start in a little less than four months. How you use that time is your choice.
I wrote this to a former player of mine, "What I think life teaches is that others will value your output. Yet, what is more important for your family, your hopes and dreams, is your input."
Lagniappe. Recovery into defense is vital to keep balls alive.
Coach Dean Smith is a HOF Legend.
— Greg Berge (@gb1121) April 25, 2024
He led "The Carolina Way."
Here are some insights from Coach Smith that shed some light on his greatness. pic.twitter.com/zbV9O4k6IW
Progress by studying teams, players, and coaches. Coach Dean Smith earned a degree in Mathematics from Kansas while playing college basketball for a National Championship team.
He was a pioneer in studying basketball analytics and was best known for coaching Michael Jordan, and for his commitment to social justice, including integrating ACC basketball.
Study the list about some of Smith's principles. As he would say, "A lion never roars after a kill."
This is a huge problem in our world today.
— Greg Berge (@gb1121) April 23, 2024
- You cannot skip the process.
- You have to accept the struggle.
- You have to find joy in the journey.
There are no shortcuts. And if you have this mindset and approach to life, you will go far.
No Deposit - No Return! https://t.co/hKQtnXPq7N
Rick Pitino wrote a book years ago called Success Is a Choice. MVB has enjoyed remarkable success by choosing commitment, consistency, and culture.
Spurs' Coach Gregg Popovich teaches, "pound the rock," meaning you can't skip steps. You have to hit the rock a hundred times until it breaks.
Geno Auriemma's UCONN women started practice with two laps with nobody cutting a corner. Champions don't cut corners.
Success in volleyball converges with success at home, school, and work. "The magic is in the work."
Your predecessors have done this. You can and you will.
Lagniappe.
In 1985, the UCONN A.D. told the women's basketball team that he would get them the best woman coach he could find. They asked for the best available coach.
Post by @wnbagotgameView on Threads
Thirsty for success? Learn to love this.
“Find out how to love practice, enjoy it, love it, love the grind…and ask yourself, are we in?or are we out? Every single day,”
— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) April 24, 2024
Dave Roberts
Master the fundamentals with an enthusiastic spirit.
🎥 @BaseballBros pic.twitter.com/BEQqAiDE5p
Don't think "have to." Think "get to."
Lagniappe. Dumbell only exercises to improve strength and ultimately spike touch.
All opinions expressed in the blog are solely my own.
Apply knowledge across all domains. Expressing sorrow or apologizing reflects maturity. But sometimes, it lowers us.
Post by @simiianandView on Threads
This thread points out that "thanks" amplifies our voice.
Better to say, "thank you for working hard at practice," than "I'm sorry for making practice so tough."
Tell your parents, "thank you for supporting my extracurricular activities," instead of "I'm sorry for having to drive a couple of hours to a tournament."
You matter. Better communication is consistent with the first of The Four Agreements, "Be impeccable with your word."
Find ways to grow.
Lagniappe. Write it down. Be thankful. Plan the day. Highlight your days. Improve your plan and plan your improvement.
Post by @booksforaspirantsView on Threads
ELO (Electric Light Orchestra, Xanadu)
ELO - early, loud, often. Talk matters. The sport differs but the concept does not. Talk adds value. Talk energizes. Talk intimidates.
MVB has the Queen of Talk. She alone is not enough.
Lagniappe. Communication is a skill.
WINNING TEAMS TALK AND TOUCH
— Ganon Baker (@GanonBaker) April 23, 2024
This is an ELITE LEVEL SKILL!
IF YOU HAVE IT, YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY TO JOY AND WINNING 🏆
Celebrate - Communicate
Direct - Correct
GET A WORD!
YOUR WORDS CREATE YOUR WORLD 🌎
🏀 GET AFTER IT 🏀 pic.twitter.com/1yQ2RY5FoL
Excellence intersects skill, game understanding, physical and mental toughness.
Look at the past three MVB "Triple Crown" winners - Elena Soukos, Gia Vlajkovic, and Sadie Jaggers. All had exceptional athleticism - quickness, vertical jump, strength (attack). Nobody becomes elite as an 'average' athlete.
Keep training simple:
— Keith Ferrara (@keithjferrara) April 20, 2024
- Sprint to get faster
- Jump to get powerful
- Lift to get stronger & build resilience
- Condition to repeat outputs over & over
- Play your sport to build task specific skills
You don’t need gimmicky drills.
You need consistent & well planned training.
Conditioning requires leaving your comfort zone. You have to go harder for longer with sprints, jumprope, or 'stadiums'. You don't have a cycle ergometer system to measure maximal oxygen consumption (complex measure of fitness). You can do a Cooper 12-minute run test and see how far you run in twelve minutes. You can do this on a track or a treadmill (easier).
Lagniappe.
Post by @the.volleyball.strength.coachView on Threads
Post by @the.volleyball.strength.coachView on Threads
Coaches have potential to influence players both positively and negatively. Telling a player or team, "I believe in you," can make all the difference.
That doesn't mean that coaches should overhype players. But when we confirm our belief in a player, it can be transformative. Players remember genuine expressions of confidence in their work and progress.
Coach Scott Celli and his staff practice transformative coaching in a variety of ways including expanding roles in season and moving players up from junior varsity during the season or postseason as appropriate.
Transformative techniques:
1) "Speaking greatness." "That was great BUT" underperforms "That was great AND..." Kevin Eastman says, "you can't fool kids, dogs, and basketball players."
2) Video. "Video is the truth machine." Showing players positive video shows proven success. And Bill Parcells says, "confidence comes from proven success."
3) Media recognition. 'Statistical leaders' get regular media attention. Noting players who get less 'ink' supports players who impact winning yet may be less well known.
Lagniappe. Bill Walsh changed everything for John Lynch.
Your words and belief in someone matters.
— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) April 23, 2024
In 1994, John Lynch was a backup safety at Stanford. For 3 years, he'd barely played.
He wanted to quit, but that year, Stanford hired Bill Walsh as its head coach.
One call with Bill changed everything for John.
He called and said, "I… pic.twitter.com/QbZbeLHICw
Live three levels of accountability - hold your team accountable, be accountable to your coaches, and stay accountable to self.
Your hard work and communication shows teammates an example. It's not possible or appropriate in high school, but the UNC women's soccer team grades every player every day. If you finish 25th at practice, you cannot possible believe you will see the field on game day.
Be accountable to coaches. Teaching translates, the attitude and culture translate. If you can't be coachable, understand the defensive rotation and find ways to execute well consistently, how can you play?
Be accountable to yourself. What is your TODAY plan? What are you doing to grow skill, strategy, physical and mental toughness? Focus is a skill. Hard work is a skill. Resilience is a skill. "Professionalism" is possible for teens.
Coach Don Meyer preached, "make practice hard so games are easy."
If you practice accountability to team, to coaching and to yourself, you should fear no one.
Standards Matter.
— Greg Berge (@gb1121) April 22, 2024
Standards are about “how” you do things.
- How you practice
- How you compete
- How you show up
UCONNs standards are why they win.
🎥 Alan Steinpic.twitter.com/QirdC9qEco
Lagniappe. Study the video of strong players and your own. "Video is the TRUTH MACHINE."
Former Notre Dame women's basketball coach Muffet McGraw is a straight shooter. She hired only women assistants because she said that women deserve the same treatment as men often get. In fact, less than half of NCAA Division 1 head coaches are women.
Her teams won at the highest levels, including the NCAA championship. Hear her brief commentary.
"I think the important thing that sports teaches is so many life skills.
— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) April 20, 2024
You learn - how to handle adversity, how to sacrifice, you learn discipline...and a lot of commitment.
If you want to really be good, you have to be willing to make the sacrifice."@MuffetMcGraw pic.twitter.com/LcIpqulpMy
Coachspeak repeats themes worth embracing. Commitment, sacrifice, work, sense of urgency are the stuff of winners.
Lagniappe. Diving.
Inspiration drives us, motivating actions that pay dividends. Seek ways to figure it out.
I suggested two books to a patient, The Positive Dog and The Compound Effect. She said, "PD was garbage. Compound Effect was life-changing." That's why they sell vanilla and chocolate.
Suggestions for check ins:
@JonGordon11
— Jon Gordon (@JonGordon11) April 21, 2024
Post by @the.volleyball.strength.coachView on Threads
“It’s exciting when you win and it’s exciting when you lose because the process should be exactly the same whether you win or lose. You go back and find things that you could have done better. The hardest thing is to face that stuff. It’s a really tough challenge,” Kobe Bryant… pic.twitter.com/XvEKjtipRN
— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) April 21, 2024
@WinningCoaches
“It’s about relationships, it’s not about championships!” -- Pat Summitt
— Coach the Coaches (@WinningCoaches) April 21, 2024
@gb1121
5 simple ways to help your team WIN.
— Greg Berge (@gb1121) April 20, 2024
1. Stay mentally prepared
2. Be your best at practice
3. Cheer for others success
4. Maintain your composure
5. Lead your team in high fives
Control the Controllable.
Inspiration plus perspiration yields a shot at success.