Lesson
3
How
To Take Complete and Total Control
Of Your Associations And Emotional State - And How You
Play And Win As A Result
The
first step is learning how to master your body movements
("physiology"), self- talk, and the pictures you see in your
head ("visual images").
For example, I was working with a Professional Volleyball player we'll
call "Sara". Sara was an all-American, played for the U.S.
National Team, and
some other professional teams.
One of the problems she had was maintaining her focus after making
passing errors. So I asked her:
"Do you notice the difference between how you move your body when
you shank a pass and recover with a perfect pass next serve, and when
you make multiple errors in a row?"
She thought for a minute and said, "Yes. When I make multiple
mistakes, I shrug my shoulders. Say 'I hope she doesn't serve me the
next ball.' And I see myself shanking the next pass and getting
benched."
Next, I asked her "What's the difference when you
bounce back?"
She thought for a minute and said, "When I make a mistake and
bounce back, I'll say, 'Serve me the next ball.' Then my shoulders go
back and I take a deep breath."
I said, "What images are going through your mind?"
She said, "I see myself passing the ball perfectly!"
She was already doing this naturally some of the time, but when I
showed her simple ways to do it every time, whenever she wanted to,
on command, she could pass nails and focus on swinging much more
aggressively.
Press
Your Own Buttons For
Outstanding Performance At Any Time
Some coaches and players get really mad when they don't play well
against poor competition, but get really excited when they play
awesomely against great competition.
Neither of these approaches is wrong, but real power comes from being
able to stay "neutral" and simply noticing the difference of
how you prepared in both situations - physically and mentally.
I learned this 10 years ago while watching my little sister's team
play. We were out in California for a National Qualifier, and I
remember them playing a top level club team, Ichiban.
My sister's team was physically comparable and trained just as well,
but got totally destroyed. In just 2 games, the match was over.
Her coach was incredibly frustrated with the girls, and I remember him
saying that the core problem was how they warmed up for the game.
Physical preparation had nothing to do with it!
3
Important Factors You Must Know...
There
are 3 important facts that most players and coaches miss. First,
mental preparation preceded the physical preparation and was much more
important.
Even the world's greatest volleyball player or team, with the world's
greatest technique and strategies, will choke, freeze, and walk off
the court with their
heads down in failure and embarrassment, if they don't learn how to
master their mind and emotions!
Just recently, I was working with my team on serving. There I was
watching them serve when one of my outside hitters ran behind the
serving line and started saying, "Don't miss the serve! Don't
miss the serve!"
As she was doing this, her shoulders were down, her tone was one of
doubt, and there were 10 other things that were out of whack, just
because of her statement, "Don't miss the serve!"
Internally, I was thinking "Oh my God, I've been coaching her for
a year and a half and she's still doing this!"
Instead of getting mad, I got resourceful....
An important point to remember is that your brain tends to give you
what you focus on. Plus, your brain doesn't understand the word
"Don't".
For example, if I say to you, "Don't think of a pink
elephant." What comes to mind? Of course, A Pink Elephant!
Now, the Pink Elephant example is pretty common, but let me share with
you what most people don't notice about it:
Your
words, the pictures you see in your head, and the way you move your
body are all connected, so if you change how you are doing one, the
others change too!
Implementing
"State Management" Strategies
For Quick & Powerful Results!
I told
my player to take a deep breath, put her shoulders back and look where
she wanted to serve. That interrupted her negative thought process,
because it changed how she was moving her body, or what is called her
"physiology."
Next, I asked her, "What would be a better phrase you could
use?"
She came up with, "Aggressive, Zone 6!"
At that moment, since she changed her physiology and self talk, and
the visual images she was seeing in her head were focused on an
aggressive serve to Zone 6.
All she needed to do next was to let her unconscious
mind take over and let things flow...
Next time you (or your players) are having trouble with confidence,
aggressiveness, or using a specific skill, all you have to do is
change 3 simple things
-
Self-Talk
-
Visual Images
-
Physiology
... and that puts you (or your player) into a resourceful
emotional state that immediately enhances performance!
In the next lesson, I'll show you how you can take this one
strategy and implement it to attacking, serving, defense, serve
receive, and other "mission critical" situations.
Join me now as we go to Lesson 4
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