My national team experience has come to an end for the
summer. I really enjoyed the
summer with the A and B teams combined.
It was nice to be the good cop for a change. But the experience was even
more exciting to see the improvement and commitment of these athletes.
It is interesting to discuss how they all got to the level
of the national team. They took many different routes to make the team. Some were child prodegies others just kept building towards it. It isn’t
really a secret, they put the time in the gym and on the court. Athletes I talked to about their
experience in youth volleyball did more than the average. Many had coaches that would put in
extra time with them in the gym.
They had the opportunity to play on the provincial
teams. They loved the sport of
volleyball and found ways to play.
Many of them put up nets in their backyards. They would play balloon volleyball or sock volleyball with a
family member over couches.
Most of them have a point in their career where they weren’t
very good and had to grow into their bodies. They had supportive coaches that saw they had athletic
potential and encouraged them to keep playing. They had friends who also loved the sport so it seemed
normal to be playing all the time. They are never satisified with good
enough. There is always something
for them to work on or improve.
When I was coaching the Killam Spartan’s we had many players
who were talented to go on to play at the next level. But it wasn’t commonplace
yet. When they would leave to go
play provincial team most of the friends couldn’t understand that
commitment. Why would you give up
your summer playing volleyball. If
they left to go play Juvenile (U-18)volleyball 2 hours away they would also be told of the
parties they missed. They had
pressure from boyfriends to not be gone as much. Many would give up the dream. People at the national team level found ways to overcome
this.
We hear in the news the 10000 hr rule of purposeful practice
will make an expert, but quite often in Canada we believe in breaks or else
they will burnout. Most research
tends to agree the main reason for burnout is because athletes have too much
success early. They achieve tons
of accolades and awards. As they
move up levels it becomes harder and harder to achieve the same level of
success. It then gets to a point
where they just give up.
The athletes on the national team faced these situations as
well. Many of them haven’t had a
summer off since they were 15.
They keep training and get better.
The training load for the five weeks was high. They trained twice for 3 hours 6 days a week plus did weights 3 times a week. I was convinced when we retested them
after 5 weeks their testing would be down. All but 3 improved with this schedule. Yes the trainer had some monitoring
injuries and soreness, most of which was there long before this summer. When I look at some of the younger
athletes they would get 40 swings in a 3 set match in their grade 12 year
. They would play 4 or 5 matches a
day. This also was done with no strength
and pre hab,
As coaches we often look for a quick fix of the team or
intervene quickly when the drill isn’t working. It is ok to have them struggle through the situation. It is ok to fail. My friend David Johnson was inducted
into the Alberta Volleyball Hall of Fame this weekend. In his speech he mentioned his mother
feeling so bad for him after a tough loss. He said to her you have to be willing to risk the loss in order
to find the success in winning. We
need to teach it is ok to lose to put ourselves on the line. But come back with a vengeance and work
harder to put yourself in a situation to succeed.
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