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Lesson
1
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Finally
Revealed:
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Secrets
That Will Have Your Opponents
Waking Up At 2:00am, Unable To Sleep,
So Afraid To Play You - Wishing You Wouldn't
Show Up For The Game!
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Have
you ever wondered what it would be like to know that your
competitors were dreading the moment they had to walk on the
court, look across the net, and see you standing there ready to
dominate & destroy them?
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I've
been on the court at least 3-5 times a week for the past 10 years
, playing in college, competing everyday for my starting position,
and coaching.
I've won 3 conference championships, being MIVA/NAIA Player of the
Year, Tournament Most Valuable Player, and Marycrest University
Male Athlete of the Year as a sophomore.
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I've
coached collegiate ball, and am now coaching 2 of the best 15
& 16 year old club teams in the country.
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How
Did You Guys Beat Us?
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I continually hear the comment "I have no clue how you guys
beat us!" from other coaches. Sometimes even the referees
express their shock to me.
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My
competitors repeatedly approach me wondering what happened to
their team when everything seemed to be in their favor. I usually
smile and humbly say, "We played well today. It was a good
match."
If they were smart, insttead of telling me they don't have a clue,
these people would be asking me: "How did you do
it?"
The funny thing about coaches and volleyball players who are
trying to improve (after they lose), is that they think
they need to work harder. After they're beaten, they'll get mad
and say, "We need to work harder, try harder, pass more
balls, Ya Da Ya Da Ya Da. . ." I hear it all the time.
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I
know what it's like to struggle. I know what it is like to hope
that someone will come along and teach them a "secret
strategy" to make you better, but inevitably not improving at
the rate you should be!
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But
working harder, trying harder, and passing more is not the
secret!
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It's
One Of The Biggest Myths...
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The idea that the team with the most experience, the most talent,
and the most expensive warm-up apparel will win (or at least be
the most intimidating) still lingers - and it
really makes me mad!
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It
is absolutely ridiculous! Let me show you why.
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As a freshman, I
played volleyball for a small school in Davenport, Iowa. We went
to our first major tournament that year.
We had play the team that had finished second in the nation
the year before! Needless to say, with four freshman and two
sophomores starting, we were downright scared and straight-up
intimidated.
During warm ups, as they crushed ball after ball, we watched with
dropped jaws, shaky knees, thinking, "we wish we were as good
as those guys!" or more honestly, "Oh, S*&$@!"
But, scared or not, we still had to play the game. Personally, I
was wishing our bus would get stuck in a snow storm, the driver
would get lost, or something would prevent us from making the
match. I'm sure you know the feeling!
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But
all that wishing and a donut, wasn't gonna make a difference ,
because we had to suck itup and play anyway.
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The
other team was more experienced and did all the natural things
bigger and better.
Their whole goal seemed to intimidate us! And, as I said, they did
a pretty good job of it.
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My
team not so proudly wore $5 t-shirts, stamped with a
volleyball and the name of our school. None of our shirts would
even stay tucked into the $13 generic mesh shorts that we bought
at K-mart.
They wore $100 warm-ups and top-of-the-line uniforms. They even
wore the same shoes! We joked(out of nervousness) that they
probably just spent the last half hour in front of the mirror,
styling their hair together in the locker room.
When we shook hands, they barely acknowledged us, and then, as
expected, they started to whoop us like we were a bunch of little
boys . We must have made at least five errors in the first six
plays.
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"How
embarrassing!" I thought to myself, as I looked over to the
bench for some help. But none was given.
My teammates all started pointing fingers at one another about
whose fault it was. The disgrace and humiliation seemed to come to
a temporary end when they scored the 15th point, and we switched
sides.
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Then A Funny Thing Happened...
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As
Game 2 started, our hits started to fall for kills. Our backrow
started running down balls, and reading the other teams hitters
better. As the setter, I started making better decisions, and
putting up more accurate sets.
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After
30 minutes of playing, my unknown team from Davenport, Iowa
stunned and shocked the whole gym as we won the second
game!
Since this was pool play of 2 games, we were done playing this
team. But that's not what's important. What's important was that
we had tapped into something that we didn't know about - and none
of us had a clue as to how we did it!
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After
the match, on the bus, I couldn't stop thinking about how
different games 1 & 2 were. The thought, "How did we do
it?" repeated itself over and over in my head.
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The
next two nights I could barely sleep as I continued trying to
figure out where the "magic" came from. It wasn't until
3 days later,
while driving in my car to get some bread at the grocery store,
that it finally hit me!
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"I
know what it is!"
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If
you want to find out what I discovered, and how you can apply it
to win your own games please go to Lesson
2
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