10 TIPS TO HELP YOU MAKE THE TEAM - WHAT COACHES LIKE TO SEE AT TRYOUTS

GROOVING YOUR VOLLEYBALL SKILLS

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WHAT COACHES LIKE TO SEE AT TRYOUTS

The following are 10 tips to help you make the team.

1. You want to wear something that makes it easier for a coach to describe you to other coaches. Wear something that stands out. For example, tie-dye shirts or tie-dye socks will help you stand out from the crowd.

2. Show tremendous effort on the court.

3. Whatever the coach asks you to do, do it with enthusiasm.

4. Never show frustration.

5. If you can get there early, warm-up before things start. Don’t wait on the side of the court.

6. Be helpful and supportive to other players. A team is about a community feeling and if the team doesn’t have it, you won’t win.

7. Don’t look stressed out. Enjoy yourself.

8. Be friendly.

9. Do your best.

10. What’s important is how you react to things.

Do you have volleyball friends that would find these tips to be helpful? If so, please forward this email to them.

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GROOVING YOUR VOLLEYBALL SKILLS

The following is the "groove theory" as applied to volleyball.

Every time you pass a volleyball in a certain way, you increase the probabilities you will pass the ball in that way again.

In this way, patterns, called grooves, build up which have a predisposition to repeat themselves.

Every time an action is performed, a slight impression is made in the cells of the brain, just like a leaf blowing over a fine-grained beach of sand will leave its faint trace.

When the same action is repeated, the groove is made slightly deeper.

The deeper the groove in the nervous system, the harder it seems to be to break the habit.

Just recently I was working with a girl on hitting. She came from a place where she was trained to only tip deep. Every time she went short, it was a roll shot and she would never attempt to tip short. I was explaining to her that if she were to mix in some tips then that would make it much more difficult for the opponent to dig her hard hits.

We started a drill where her job was to tip the ball short. When it came time to tip the ball, she kept rolling the ball and forgetting to tip! It took many repetitions before she became comfortable tipping short instead of rolling.

We have all had the experience of deciding that we will not hit a volleyball the same way again.

Many players try to exert their willpower to get out of the old groove.

This can be a very painful process to fight ones way out of deep mental grooves.

The fact is, this process doesn’t have to be this painful. There is a natural and more childlike method of solving this problem. A child doesn’t fight her way out of old grooves, she simple starts new ones.

Here is the usual way people learn…

1. Criticize or judge past behavior

2. Tell yourself to change, instructing with word commands repeatedly

3. Try hard; make yourself do it right

4. Make a critical judgment about results leading to thinking too much and trying too hard


The following is a better, more natural way of learning…

1. Observe existing behavior nonjudgmentally

2. Picture desired outcome

3. Let it Happen

4. Nonjudgmental calm observation of the results leading to continuing observation and learning

Here is my latest page on changing habits and the steps to learn your volleyball skills naturally.