Just finished the High School season and watched an interesting contrast in some of our players. We had several players, while not really beginners, were very much novices at playing the level of game we coach. We have a great defense and we run a fast offense with a certain amount of deception. We need to do this because we aren’t stacked with a bunch of big bangers. We are in a very competitive conference. In order to be competitive, we’re running a fairly advanced level of play with a lot of fairly inexperienced kids.

This causes some interesting situations, particularly in the mental side of the game.

One thing in particular I noticed this season revolves around what players “remember for next time” when they learn a new skill. The some concept applies to coaches as well, but we’ll get to that later.

So imagine a young “home run king” stepping up to bat. Here comes the pitch. He takes a breath, closes his eyes, swings as hard as he can and belts one over the fence.

What does he remember? Certainly he remembers how good it felt to hit, run the bases and have his team waiting for him at the plate. But what does he remember about the swing? Getting up to bat?

What if he remembers “hey I closed my eyes and swung as hard as I could”? Is THAT what’s going to make him successful the next time he comes to the plate?

He SHOULD remember his stance. His balance. His weight shift. His calm focus. His grip on the bat. Which bat he chose. His timing. If he does, golden. If he doesn’t, he’ll struggle.

So, back to volleyball. A hitter, mostly middle. Going over and over everything to turn her into a reliable, effective attacker. Transition. Approach. Timing. Communication. Position under the ball. Seeing the blockers.

She goes up, gets off a good swing, beats the block. Celebrates. Happy she got the kill.

Then immediately goes back and forgets everything that got her there. No transition, no communication, poor timing, bad position on the ball. Those little pain-in-the-ass details. Back to hitting the ball into the net. The bottom of the net.

She remembers that she swung hard and how good it felt.

A constant struggle all season.

By contrast, another hitter that believed early on that if she worked on those pieces, and didn’t try to hit the crap out of the ball every time, the power would come. Her approach, footwork, timing, communication all becoming more and more automatic as the season progressed. And guess what. Not only is she hitting smart, she’s hitting hard. Solid. Dependable. Golden.

She remembered and worked on all those little pain-in-the-ass details.

Oh yeah, she gets to celebrate too. A lot.

So why do you care? What do you do with this?

If you are simply aware that some (or all) of the players on your court are only remembering the “swing hard” part, you can direct your attention accordingly. Go back to those details as often as it takes to not have to. You can identify what the issue really is other than “she just doesn’t get it” or “she’s not trying hard enough”.

Once you quantify it you can deal with it.

What do you remember as a coach? Do you remember that awesome, physical, hard hitting team you had that were so good that you “threw balls at ‘em and got out of the way” all the way to the championship? Or do you remember that struggling, hard-working group of over-achievers that took every detail you could think of to squeeze out a second-place finish that surprised everyone?

Do you remember teaching all the little pieces and relishing the results or do you remember standing back and basking in the glow of that team that was so good anyone could have coached them to a winning season?

Which team do most groups more closely resemble now and which way do you prefer to coach?

Just food for thought.