Congrats to the players and coaches of the 18 Typhoon! ECE’s 18 Typhoon ended the season by winning the Bronze Bracket at East Coast Championships during the Memorial Day weekend in Pittsburgh, PA!! What a fantastic way to send off our Seniors!! Best wishes to our ECC graduates!
Student athletes face many unique challenges: managing their health and safety, their own expectations and those of others, parent-coach conflict, training time, financial burdens, and scheduling, to name a few. Student athletes prefer a mind that is confident, focused, and mentally tough, rather than one that is anxious, distracted, and out of control. However, at one time or another, all
athletes feel like they didn’t perform their best. Perhaps their minds or bodies felt off, or distractions made it hard to focus. This is where being a mindful athlete can help you. Mindfulness is about being more aware of your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and the external environment in the present moment—and making better-informed choices about what you’ll do. Mindful athletes can find improved awareness of their minds and bodies, allowing for control and power over their choices.
Munciana Volleyball Club (Muncie, Indiana) shares a setting device called a slant board that the club uses as part of their setter training. The slant board enables the setters to get unlimited reps without a coach needing to enter balls or orchestrate the drill.
Click here to view more setting drills.
1) A great teammate gives relentless effort: Remember, your coach should not have to coach effort! You cannot control many things that will happen during your basketball season, but you can control how hard you play. The only way to get better is to give your maximum effort. This not only makes you better, it pushes your teammates to get better as well.
2) A great teammate is unselfish: Put the team first. Your job is to do what it takes to help the team be successful. This isn’t always easy, but great teammates find a way to put the success of the team above their own success.
3) A great teammate is honest: All great teams and relationships are built on honesty. Your coach and teammates need to know that they can trust you during the ups and downs of a season.
4) A great teammate is humble: Basketball is a team sport. You may be the star of your team or you may be a role player, either way, remember that the team comes first. Put your individual accomplishments aside and give praise to your teammates. Teams succeed when no one cares who gets the credit.
5) A great teammate holds themselves and their teammates accountable: You should have high standards for yourself and your teammates. If a teammate is not fulfilling duty to the team you can’t be afraid to confront them and get them back on track. You might need to help them buy in to a particular strategy or help them accept their role on the team. Don’t accept a negative attitude from teammates, be the player that reaches out to them to help your team as a whole.
6) A great teammate strives to improve: You can always be a better player tomorrow than you are today. Work to improve your game and you will lift your teammates. Stay and work after practice and see how many teammates start to join you.
7) A great teammate is optimistic: Don’t be a player constantly complaining to others about what’s wrong. Look for the positives in your teammates and coaches
8) A great teammate has respect for others: Respect your teammates. Respect your coaches. Respect your family, Respect your teachers. Respect your facilities. Respect your school. Look people in the eye. Nod and acknowledge your coach when they are addressing you. Clean up after yourself. Be polite. Encourage and cheer on your teammates. Help create a culture of mutual respect.
9) A great teammate is a leader: You don’t have to be the best player on your team to be a leader. You don’t even need to be a vocal leader. Every player can lead by their actions. Is what you do on a daily basis making your team better? Challenge your teammates during drills. You’ll improve and so will they. Bring energy to every practice. Don’t talk bad about teammates or coaches outside the team environment. These are all ways you can lead your teammates towards success
10) A great teammate is resilient: Help your team use temporary setbacks or losses as an opportunity to grow and improve. Don’t make excuses, look for solutions. As a mentally tough basketball player, pride yourself on being resilient. Your ability to bounce back will be infectious and help make your entire team more resilient. In any situation, one player’s positive outlook can make a difference. Try to be that player.
11) A great teammate helps foster a family atmosphere: Support your teammates like family. Your season is going to have highs and lows, so are your teammates. Teams that build close relationships are usually the teams having the most fun and having the most success.
12) A great teammate takes responsibility: All of your actions, within and away from the team, are a representation of your team, your school or organization, and your family. Take responsibility for your behavior and actions at all times. Conduct yourself in such a way that your parents, coaches, and teachers would be proud of you. You never know who is looking at you for cues on how to behave.
Coaches – This is a key point for you to remember as well. Your young players are looking at you to see how you behave. This includes your interactions with players, officials, and other coaches. Be the person you want your players to be. Actions speak louder than words.
Mike Klinzing is a Trainer for PCA-Cleveland and is Founder and Executive Director of Head Start Basketball (Cleveland, OH). Offering youth basketball camps and basketball skills training for over 20 years, Head Start Basketball uses the game to improve character, develop leadership skills, and promote sportsmanship.
Who Are We?? ECE!!
Anyone who has played both high school and club volleyball understands just how different they are. The transition from one to the other can often be difficult. You finish one season after spending months working hard with your team, then you go back to square one with a new team.
Although it always takes time to fully adjust to the change, the process can be made easier if you follow these guidelines:
1. Be adaptable
Every coach has a different style, and this can make it difficult at first when you’re transitioning into the club season. There might be one skill that you worked on throughout high school season that your club coach teaches completely differently. Being coachable takes practice. It’s a conscious decision to take the corrections your coaches give you and apply them on the court. But it pays off. If you commit to being coachable, you’ll find it a lot easier to make these adjustments.
2. Manage your time
Another thing you have to adapt to is a new schedule. When moving from high school to club season, my schedule completely changes. In high school season, I have lifting and practice every weekday unless we have matches, which are usually twice a week, and weekends off. In club season, however, I have practice two days during the week and two days on the weekend, lifting on days I don’t have practice, and tournaments on most weekends. This forces me to shift my schedule for homework, eating, sleeping and free time. Club also sometimes requires you to miss a day or two of school for travel tournaments, so it’s important to communicate with teachers and stay on top of your work.
3. Get to know your teammates
Coming off of high school season, you will be used to playing with girls who you know really well and know how to play with. But when you start practicing with a new club team you often have a lot of new teammates. It might be harder to play together at first when you don’t really know each other, but as you practice more you will become familiar with each other’s playing style. Besides just spending time together at practice, one way to get to know your teammates is by scheduling team-bonding outings. Whether it’s hanging out as a team at someone’s house or just getting food after practice, it’s important to build relationships with your teammates off the court.
4. Set goals for the season
Since the two seasons are back-to-back, it’s easy for them to blur together and start to feel long. One way to keep yourself energized is by setting goals for the season, personal or team. This will help you stay mindful and on track when you’re practicing. It will also help you avoid burnout. For me, goals are a huge motivating factor. I get excited because I want to do everything in my power to achieve those goals, and each practice becomes an opportunity to get closer.
5. Be prepared to work hard
The first month of club is one of the most important parts of the entire season. It’s where you establish the culture for your team, build the foundation and start defining roles. One of the best parts of the new season is that you have the opportunity to start fresh. If you were on the bench for your high school team, you get a new chance to earn your spot on the court. And if you started on your high school team, you have the chance to prove why you should continue to do so. If you work hard each day in practice, you’ll not only improve yourself as a player, but you’ll motivate your teammates to do the same. This will set you and your team up for a successful club season!
Author: Kendall Kipp | Outside Hitter at Stanford University
Kendall Kipp is a 6-5 outside hitter at Stanford University. Previously, she played for Laguna Beach Volleyball
Club in California and was a member of the 2016-17 U.S. Youth National Team.
This article is published on the Art of Coaching Volleyball.