Mental Game

Table Of Contents

Mental Prep in the Game of Volleyball

by: Mark Lindal

This paper was used to help the Vancouver Island Girls under 16 team win the BC Summer Games Gold medal in July 1998. Mark Lindal was the head coach of that team and found out the benefits of mental visualization with his team.

"The players found they were more relaxed and focussed in games" said Lindal. "By the end of the tournament we won because we were the toughest team mentally and that really showed when the games were close."

Mental Preparation is the most important aspect of the game of volleyball. It can be the difference between playing well and playing your best. Each element of the game can apply the principles of mental prep and an athlete can see its benefits in only a couple of practices.

There are four areas of Mental Preparation that need to be incorporated:

1. Controlled Breathing - essential in learning to relax
2. Self Talk
3. Concentration or attention span
4. Imagery or visualization

Controlled Breathing:

There are a few different techniques to this but all have the same goal. Help an athlete relax so that they can a) overcome a mistake and re focus, b) improve concentration, c) begin a visualization session.

The technique I like is the counting method where you start at 5 and count to 1. With each number you take a deep breath through your nose and focus on the number. Exhale and feel the tension release from your body. Say to yourself ìI feel more relaxedî, ìI am breathing in relaxation and exhaling tensionî. Do not rush this exercise.

Self Talk
Self talk are those words we say to ourselves in our day to day lives - on and off the court. The words we say to ourselves can have a profound impact on how we perform. Improvement in this area is a great life skill for young athletes to learn.

For instance - after we make an error what do we say to ourselves? Is it negative? What are better words we can use that can get us and our team ready for the next play. I am not a big fan of players going to a person who just made a mistake (i.e. service error, hitting error, shanked pass) and saying nice try. This actually can be a very negative effect as the person knows they made a mistake and is better left alone to re focus on what the team has to do next. What a person can do is run a quick movie of the result they wanted on the play, then get into position and say to themselves ìthe next ball is going inî. You can even be more aggressive and say to yourself "give me the ball because I'm going to make the perfect pass and then hit back at you!"

Concentration:

I like to emphasize check list to help players improve this. Every play and every position has a check list that needs be done before the ball is served. For example on Serve Receive a check list might be 1) pass the ball, 2) swing to power, 3) hit the ball down the line to one, 4) ready to block and key on player number X.

When we are serving it is important to look at the other team and run the check list of who we have to block, where we play on defence, where the hitter is going hit, what are we running on transition.

Another aspect of concentration is being able to finish a team off when we get a lead. What we need to be successful is an attitude that increases concentration after 10 points. It is like a hunter moving in on its prey - you have to finish them off. Some teams I have coached have had a set play that we would switch to at 10 points. The players found this fun and that it helped them focus in on the win and finishing strong.

Scouting the opposition is an important part of mental prep and concentration. If you know who the team will set and where the players are going to hit or serve, you have gained a big edge in the game. It also give you something you can focus on. Scouting and game plan are a whole other chapter.

Imagery and Visualization

There have been several studies done that show that all the best athletes and even top people in business have one major thing in common. They visualize.

Imagery is the pictures you see or feelings you get. Visualization will put it into practice. In talking with many young athletes the common concern is lack of attention span, other thoughts or dreams come into play. That's OK, but the more you practice visualizing the more it becomes routine and the more benefit you gain.

The first thing is to clearly picture the result you want and relate it to something. For instance what describes the feeling we get when the team is playing well. This might be strong, harmony, in tune, in the groove, powerful, unstoppable, etc. Now what colour would relate to that performance and the mood they feel. This can be practiced to the point where the colour can trigger the images you want.

Visualization puts this into practice. It involves first controlled breathing to relax yourself then goes through a series of images or mental movies. Visualization can be long term goal setting or short term skill improvements and check lists. I like to have athletes visualize during each stoppage in play.

Here is a template for running mental movies or visualizing:

1. Do your control breathing with your eyes closed.
2. Picture yourself inside an elevator (some people like to picture the top of a hill)
3. As you go down the elevator (hill) count slowly from 10 to 1 going down each floor.
4. As you hit each floor say ìI feel more relaxedî, ìBreath in relaxation, exhale tensionî
5. At the bottom the doors open and you see a garbage can. Picture you putting any left over garbage, tensions, problems at school, home or relationship in the can and close the lid. There is a lock on the can. Lock it for safe keeping
6. See a room with some big screen TV and stereo equipment and in the middle is a soft chair for you to sit in. Go sit in it and turn on the TV
7. On the screen is your visualization channel. You have 2 views. One with you on the screen performing the skills, one with you actually in your body performing the skills. Choose the view you want.
8. If it is before practice or a game visualize the goals you want to achieve at the practice. Go through the skills you want to improve, or position you play. How are you going to contribute and make this a fun and rewarding practice for you and the team
9. If it is after practice - reinforce the skills and team play you went over. Remember the strong plays that you like. What did you learn and how did you contribute to the team.
10. Turn off the TV
11. Go to the elevator and start going up from 1 to 10
12. This time feel more energy and breath faster as your body comes to life at floor 10.
    

Before each play in a game take one deep breath and run a quick mental movie of your check list for that play. For example: See exactly where the serve is going. See the hitter hit the ball to your right and move to the ball making a perfect pass. See the set come to you and picture where you hit the ball.

One final point is that the body cannot tell the difference between when you are dreaming and actually physically doing the skill. No one but you will know whether you are doing mental visualization but if you keep practicing it you and your teammates will see your improvements.

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