Premier Chalk Talk Vol 7

Hey! Hi everybody.  I hope everybody is doing well and enjoying the transition into spring.  As many of you already know, we are well into our season and have passed the halfway mark of our season.     It may be because of my advancing age, but I cannot believe how fast the season has been progressing.  Even though we are well on our way with the season, it is important to recall one of this season’s themes; the need to “Finish Strong”. Before I venture into some of the discussion topics for this edition of Chalk Talk  I want to first congratulate 18-Onitsuka on their success this past weekend by securing a bid for USAV Nationals.  I thought they did a great job this past weekend of representing the club in a tough event. I would also like to congratulate Mrs. Huffman for winning the Parent IQ quiz from the last edition of Chalk Talk! In this edition of Chalk Talk, I will discuss: Team Phase, What is Burn Out?, Finding the Passion Within, The Importance of Active Rest, and Loving Who You Are.  This will be a longer read, so you may want to break it down into multiple sittings. As always, feel free to email me if you have any questions, topic suggestions or even critiques about my writing.  You can contact me at wymankhuu@gmail.com and I will write back soon!

Team Phase

We are nearing the the end of our I.Q. Phase of training and will be progressing towards the Team Phase of our training.  This is the fourth out of five training phases.  The emphasis of Team Phase is to continue to advance the team concepts learned in the System Phase and to develop a higher level of execution in a team setting. Although we will never abandon individual player development, our focus now shifts towards advancing team development and we will work to practice finding individual success in a team setting.  It is important in this phase that players learn how to compete as players who are playing for the team and not just themselves.  One of the most important lessons that I think any serious athlete needs to understand is that individual success and team success are not mutually exclusive and often go hand in hand. Players tend to gravitate towards Team Phase because in their minds it means that they get to, “play more”.  In reality however, the Team Phase is designed so that players and teams can find an increasing level of comfort and success in various situations that may occur in competitive situations.  Being able to train these situations in a controlled environment allows for us to, “find calm amidst chaos.” This is my favorite portion of the season in terms of training because there is so much flexibility in terms of what we can work on as teams, players and coaches.  It is important to understand however, that in order to maximize the effectiveness of practices during the team phase, it is important to have the entire team there.  It is impossible to practice as a team, if a large portion of the team is absent!

What is Burn Out?

Recently a friend of the Premier, Former head tier trainer at Premier, master coach at Sports Performance, and Assistant Coach at Grand Valley State University, Craig Vleistra, wrote a very interesting article on athlete burnout.  You can read it here: The Term “Burned Out” is a Played Out Excuse Here is an excerpt from the post: I think what people are saying when they talk of burnout is that they have been doing an activity (like volleyball) without a mission or a purpose for too long.  I have a suspicion that Tom Brady, Serena Williams, Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan and Michelle Wie probably never complained of being burned out playing their sport.  Why?!?  Perhaps because they had a purpose/mission/goal for every stage of their career.  They were never mistaking activity for achievement.  It was always about achievement of purpose.  An achievement of goals.  An inner desire to get better.  An inner desire to fulfill the mission.  An inner desire to give back to the team.  An inner desire for perfection.  All of which are intrinsic motivations.  All of which fit within their purpose for their respective sport. This is a great topic of conversation for parents and athletes to have.  You can talk about whether your daughters whether they are practicing to have something to do or if they are practicing trying to do something.  You can discuss what their ultimate goals are in the sport.  You can talk about what they feel their purpose in practice is.  I think that you will learn a great deal about your daughters as athletes by having these conversations so I highly encourage you to do so.

Finding the Passion Within

I believe that the article of burnout offers a great segue into a discussion about passion.  Passion is something that is hard to define.  It is one of those things that you either have or do not.  You know it when you see it.  Temporary passion can be faked or imitated for short periods of time, but true passion is eternal. When I ask younger players why they play volleyball, one of the most common responses that they offer is,” because it’s fun.”  When I ask these same players why they play volleyball when they are older many of them respond, “because I have a passion for the sport of volleyball.”  When I hear those words, I can almost guarantee that that player will achieve great success at the next level. Passion cannot be instilled into players.  It ultimately resonates from within.  I do believe that players can learn passion by surrounding themselves with other passionate people.  Passion is contagious.  I think it is important to be realistic about how much passion your daughters have about the sport of volleyball and help foster that passion so that they can reach the levels of success that they want.  If you or your daughters believe that they do not have passion for volleyball it is important to find out if they ever had it and what created that passion in them.  Everybody finds their passion differently, so once you can put a finger in what drives the passion in your daughters you should help them run with it. I will now past along my thoughts on the subject.  I have now been out of college for 4 years and high school for 8.  I recently attended both my high school and college reunions.  We talked about various topics but invariably ended up talking  about what we were doing for a living, where we lived, who we still kept in touch with, and our general outlook on life was.  The prevailing theme amongst all of us was how much we relished our high school and college glory days when life was easy and work or graduate school did not get in the way.  I came away from both experiences thinking to myself, “Man, I am so lucky.  I get to do something that I am passionate about on a daily basis.  How many people really get to say that to themselves?”.  People ask me all the time how I can work the hours that I work, or put up with some of the things that I put up with without burning out.  My reply is always the same, “if you really like what you do, then you never really get tired of it.”  I may not always be the perfect coach, in fact often I am far from it, and never get offended when people question my coaching.  If anybody ever questioned my passion for coaching however, I believe that I would be seriously hurt. I would hope that is true with athletes as well.  I understand that some are naturally more passionate about volleyball than others.  That is completely okay.  However, I personally believe that even if there is only a small ember of passion in an athlete it can always be cultivated into a large flame if provided the proper kindling.  I hope that we can work together as coaches and parents to provide that kindling so that everybody can find and develop their passion for volleyball.

Training and Rest: The Importance of Active Rest

As the season is progressing and players are increasing the number of hours that they are putting in the gym it is important to talk about the training environment, especially the recovery processes that are put in place.  Managing recovery between practice and competition is equally as important as what coaches do in training, but the recovery process is often given little or no thought. We must understand that recovery is the active process to return the body to a normal, healthy and rested state, so it may once again go through training at the highest possible level. Recovery from hard training is what allows the body to continually become stronger and reach a high level of conditioning. What are the steps that can be taken to aid and speed the recovery process? Here are 43suggestions put forth by Rick Butler, the club director of Sports Performance. Nutrition: Eat a small meal that combines protein and carbohydrates immediately following training or competition. Intense work and activity causes the blood sugar to drop and then the muscles will use protein from the body to replenish glucose.  “Feeding the muscles” after activity is the key to growth and development. Often the eating habits of the high-school age athlete need to be addressed and clarified to be sure that proper nutrition is involved. Educating each athlete to understand what  good protein and carbohydrates are and how they greatly assist the body in recovery is crucial. For the elite level athlete, proper nutrition is a key ingredient in maintaining a strong, healthy body. Controlling Inflammation: There is a great deal of talk at volleyball tournaments when players are seen wearing ice bags on their knees and shoulders that only promotes the mindset that the average junior volleyball player is injured and in a constant state of “overtraining.” For many coaches though, mandatory icing is used to  fight inflammation that occurs from the constant repetition of the high-stress activities in volleyball such as jumping and spiking. Controlling and eliminating infammation of the joints and connective tissue is absolutely crucial to assisting in the recovery process.  Icing to fight inflammation is a great tool for athletes to use to aid recovery. Active Rest & Recovery: One of the consistent messages that constantly runs through the junior volleyball community is that the players need more rest and “time off .” To better understand the recovery process, it must first be looked at as “active” in nature and best achieved through activity rather inactivity. The thought of a volleyball athlete lounging on the couch for a week so she can recover from over training could not be further from reality.   The body actually heals itself through movement and the vascular system, when stimulated, pumps blood through the body and sends oxygen and other nutrients to the muscles which allow those muscles to begin the healing and recovery process. Similar processes also take place with the connective tissue when exposed to light exercise and also light stretching to keep ligaments and tendons active. Light weight training, yoga, swimming, bike riding and other “moderate intensity” types of exercises are all classified as “active rest” and actually speed up the entire recovery process. We spend a great deal of time researching and keeping up with the sports science of training and are always working to tweak our training and practice approach to best enhance our practice environment.  We have already implemented our nutrition plan, encourage icing after practice and have constantly preached to the athletes about the virtues of active rest and recovery.  We cannot however monitor these things because almost all of this occurs outside our watch.  As parents, I am hoping that you can encourage these best practices and help the athletes help themselves by speeding up their recovery.

Loving Who You Are

Here is a video that many of my coaching friends have been sharing.  I thought it was something that every female athlete should watch and talk about with their parents. I think the video offers a great message and is provides some strong talking points that do not just revolve around sports. Self Awareness Video

Thanks For Reading! Thank you for reading the newsletter.  If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time. Have a great day!

Premier Chalk Talk Vol 6

Hey! Hi everybody, this is Wyman again.  I hope everybody is doing well and enjoying the amazing stretch of warm weather that we are experiencing.  Before we get started with the newsletter, I want to congratulate the following teams and players for their strong finishes in the Asics Midwest Powerleague: 18 Onitsuka – 2nd Place All tournament team members: Maggie Halloran, Alaina Turner 17 Kayano – 3rd Place All tournament team member: Jane Emmenecker 16 Kinsei – 2nd Place All tournament team members: Stephanie Olman, Audra Appold 15 Trabuco – 3rd Place All tournament team member: Paige Hudgin Congratulations to all the players and coaches for a strong showing in Power League.  Great job girls! In this edition of Chalk Talk, I will discuss: Team Building, You Get What you Give, The Importance of Stretching and lastly a Volleyball IQ Quiz. As always, feel free to email me if you have any questions, topic suggestions or even critiques about my writing.  You can contact me at wymankhuu@gmail.com and I will write back soon!

Team Building

Every year prior to the midyear event, Houston this year, Premier takes its players and coaches on a team building weekend.  The weekend offers a great opportunity for the players and coaches to work together, share experiences and spend time with each other outside of a gym setting.  One thing people often overlook is the fact that just because players practice with one another does not mean that they really understand one another outside of being athletes.  This is a great opportunity for players to share a little bit of what makes them who they are with their teammates in a safe and challenging environment. Many of you may wonder why we choose to do team building towards the middle of the year as opposed to the start of the club season.  This is a very valid question.  The answer is quite simple actually.  Since many of the athletes are unfamiliar with one another at the start of the season, we think that it is best that players engage in a team building activity after they are comfortable with one another. This weekend will continue the theme of building competitiveness in our athletes and teams.  They will work together and bolster their competitive spirit while they engage in team building exercises and spend time with one another.  As many of you already know, the best way for girls to bond with one another is just to spend time with one another.  This will provide a great opportunity for this to happen and hopefully they will gain some insight about their teams and themselves as individual athletes. Here is to a good weekend.

You Get What You Give

From a very young age, I was told that if you work hard you will succeed in whatever endeavor you choose to pursue.  I have found this to be incredibly true and especially true in athletics.  Athletics at its purest is a complete meritocracy.  You can see this in the NCAA basketball tournament where programs who do not have the greatest facilities, resources, highest touted players consistently topple the perennial powerhouses.  You can get lucky once or twice but eventually you earn what you get; and the hardest workers usually get the most. I believe this generation of kids is different than any other simply because they have grown up in a different world than any other generation.  I know I may be part of that generation, but as I often like to say, ” I am the oldest 25 year old in the world.”  For an interesting read, here is an article that has been circulating among the volleyball coaching circles about the current generation of kids and athletes.  [Are We Raising a Generation of Helpless Kids?]  Volleyball is now a high profile sport, and players are being exposed to a higher level of the sport at a much younger age.  Players are also expected to perform at a much higher level and face pressures that may not have existed even 10 years ago.  With all of this, it is important that players understand how important hard work is in their pursuit of playing volleyball. We are currently reading about goals and will continue to talk about goals with our athletes in the upcoming weeks.  Most of our athletes have amazing goals.  I am constantly impressed by the level of aspiration so many of our athletes have in the classroom, court, and in their extracurriculars.  In order to achieve these goals coaches, parents and players have to work together in order to impart the work habits and inspiration necessary for success. It is important that players understand that it is ultimately what they put in that they will receive on the other end.  If the parents or coaches care about the outcome more than the players, nothing will come of it.  Once players understand that they are accountable for what they are giving in the process, they will experience the most success.  In my experience as a coach, if a player cares about getting better, they will.  The players who repeat the same mistakes every day, nod their head but aren’t listening and never seem to grasp concepts are really just there for some other reason and not truly because they want to be there. The last thing I will say about this topic is that throughout the season, I can pleasantly say that a majority of our athletes are excited to be in practice and truly want to be there.  That is great.  I just want you as parents and them as athletes to understand that just because you go through practice does not mean that you will get to where you need to be.  You have to put in great effort to get great results.

The Importance of Stretching

Stretching is an integral and frequently overlooked aspect of an overall training regimen. Many athletes put countless hours into training and perfecting their games, but then skip their cool down and stretch. Stretching can take as little as 10 minutes and boasts several lasting benefits, including reduced risk of injury and soreness, improved range of motion, circulation and posture. There is a lot of debate around when is the most beneficial time to stretch. Prior to training or games, stretching should be composed of dynamic stretching movements that simultaneously warm up and stretch your muscles. Following your exercise routine or competition, a thorough stretching routine should be completed after a short cool down. This stretching should be more static in nature. Stretching should not just be done because something is not feeling great, but rather should be a lifestyle activity that is done on a regular basis to increase blood flow, flexibility and agility.  Players have all been introduced to a variety of stretches in practice, plyometrics, core and in their small group settings.  These stretches can be done on off days where players do not have practice and is a great habit and lifestyle choice for budding athletes. If you have an athlete that cannot touch their toes or is limited in their flexibility, the importance of stretching is even more important and active steps should be taken to increase the range of motion and flexibility of these athletes.   These stretches are not very time consuming and can even be soothing and relax an athlete after a stressful day.  Please encourage your daughters to engage in stretching and proper body maintenance. Here is a basic stretching guide to get you started from Princeton University. Princeton Stretching Guide

Parent’s Volleyball IQ Phase

Since it is Volleyball IQ phase, here is a parent quiz about volleyball for you guys to partake in.  A prize will be determined and given out to the player whose parents answer the most questions correctly.  If more than one parent answers the same number of questions correctly, the winner will be drawn randomly.  Players are not allowed to help!  Email wymankhuu@gmail.com with your entries. Questions: 1. How high is a regulation women’s volleyball net? 2. How many squares are in a volleyball net? 3. What was the original name for the sport of volleyball? 4. How many panels are on a regulation volleyball? 5. What are the dimensions of a volleyball court? 6. How many substitutions does a team get per set? 7. When was the libero instituted into club volleyball? 8. What year were let serves allowed to be counted? 9. When the referee blows the whistle and puts both of his arms up in 90 degree angle with his palms facing the court, what does this signal respresent? 10. What was Premier called at its inception? Good Luck!

Thanks For Reading! Thank you for reading the newsletter.  If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time. Have a great day!

Premier Chalk Talk Vol 5

Hey! Hi everybody, this is Wyman again.  I hope everybody is doing well and getting into the swing of the season.  Before we get started, I want to congratulate the 15-Trabuco team for taking 4th place in gold in Chicago during the President’s Day Tournament and for staying undefeated in the Asics Midwest Power League!  Great job girls!  Best of luck to all teams and players competing in Indianapolis this weekend. In this short edition of “Chalk Talk” I will discuss system phase, the importance of fitness, the importance of stretching, and include a few funny pictures about volleyball. As always, if you have any questions you can contact me atwymankhuu@gmail.com.  It is also best to view this newsletter with images enabled.

System Phase As the season has progressed, we have shifted our training away from the technical phase of training towards system phase.  During the system phase, which we have been in for the past 3 weeks, we work on applying the technical skills that the players were practicing into a team concept.  This is a much faster paced portion of the club season and differs greatly from the technical phase. During the technical phase, players spent a majority of their time working to develop their individual skill sets.  Every player went through what we call a skill breakdown where players learn the nuances of each skill from serve receive passing, setting, to attacking.  During this phase players work to develop themselves into all around players who are at least capable in multiple areas while hopefully becoming very proficient at a few of the skills. During system phase we try and combine the skill sets that our players have developed and place them in positions on the court that will allow them to find success in competition and to develop as players on the court.  This does not mean that the technical aspects of training are neglected.  Rather it just means that there is a greater emphasis on implementing the core of what the teams will be doing during the season.  This phase is very similar to training camp in football or preseason in basketball, where coaches implement their offensive and defensive systems with their teams.  We do the same thing in volleyball and work on setting up the team’s side out offenses, transition offenses, free ball offenses, blocking schemes and defensive positioning assignments among other things.  This part of training may become slightly overwhelming for some of the players and it is important that players understand what they need to do, how they should do it, and when they should be doing it. As we advance in system phase we are excited to see progress from all of our teams as well as all of the individual athletes.  The system phase is a great opportunity for players to showcase their development as players in a team setting.  For those who have been at Premier before, your daughters may have told you that practices have been moving faster than in years past.  They would be correct.  As we move on in the season, we will be further our system training before we proceed to the volleyball I.Q. phase of training that will culminate in our team building trip.

The Importance of Fitness

As many of you already know, we just wrapped up fitness testing for the second phase of the Competitive Cauldron.  We are glad to see many players move up in strength, speed, agility, and to see some of our younger players grow.  Since fitness and strength training fresh in our minds, I want to stress the importance that our athletes are getting stronger as they progress in the sport of volleyball.  You can check out results at the Premier Competitive Cauldron Fitness  link. Girl’s volleyball is fast becoming the most popular sport in terms of female participation.  As the pool of female athletes increases, the level of athlete that participates in the sport is vastly increasing as well.  Colleges and universities are labeling women’s volleyball as a high priority sport and are increasing their budgets, scholarship dollars, and with that their expectations.  Many athletes who may have once been basketball, soccer, softball, or track athletes are now participating and excelling at volleyball.  The average height of player has also trended upwards in the past ten years as well.  As the pool of athlete becomes greater, it becomes harder and harder to stand out from the crowd. The great equalizer is hard work and fitness.  Although players do not have the ability to control their genetics, players have the ability to control how they choose to maximize the attributes that they already have.  In order for this to happen players have to invest in their bodies and put the time and sweat equity it takes to see gains in their strength, speed, jumping ability and agility. One of the best things to see in a player is the smile on their face after they see that they can now do five more push ups, do a pull up, or run one eighth of a second faster in their agility drill.  There is a pretty direct correlation between the athletes who stress the importance of getting stronger and the athletes who make gains.  Sometimes you  can get lucky in terms of how the ball bounces or where the ball lands while playing volleyball, but you cannot get lucky with fitness. I highly encourage parents to encourage their daughters to work on developing their strength and fitness at home.  This does not require a gym membership or equipment.  There are many body weight exercises that can be utilized by the players.In order to get stronger, it is very important that athletes are honest with themselves and acknowledge where they are in their strength and fitness goals.  By being honest with themselves, they can figure out some realistic goals and set a timeline for improvement.  Below are three quick links that I think are great for athletes who want to increase their body weight exercise strength and the average scores of players in the fitness tests. http://www.hundredpushups.com / http://www.twohundredsitups.com/ http://www.twohundredsquats.com/ Average of all Players in Fitness Testing Star Drill: 25.23 secs Shuttle Drill: 27.14 secs Push ups (all the way to the ground): 5.55 reps Speed Squats: 40.2 reps Pull ups: 0.38 reps Bench (Max Rep Conversion): 86.07 lbs Leg Press (Max Rep Conversion): 280.79 lbs Commit to being fit!

Volleyball From 6 Perspectives

How High is It?

Most Interesting Man In the World

Boromir Says

Have a Great Day! Have a great day!  I tried to keep it short this time.  As always, if you have questions feel free to contact me.

Premier Chalk Talk 2012 Volume 4

Hey! Hi everybody, this is Wyman again.  I hope everybody is doing well and staying warm as winter seems to have finally arrived.    As promised, I am sending the fourth edition of Premier’s “Chalk Talk.”  Before I discuss this edition’s topics I want to first congratulate all of the Premier teams who competed this previous weekend with their strong performances: 18-Ontisuka going 5-0 in Power League 18-Antare going 4-1 in Power League 17-Kayano going 4-1 in Power League 16-Kinsei for finishing in 5th place at Central Zones 14-Tokidoki for finishing in 3rd place at Central Zones Great job to all of the players and coaches! In this edition of “Chalk Talk” I will discuss the difference between male and female athletes, give you a glimpse of setters training, the “Finish Strong” book, and a brief glimpse of some of our player’s outside interests. As always, if you have any questions you can contact me at wymankhuu@gmail.com.  It is also best to view this newsletter with images enabled. XX vs XY As a male coach in a female team sport, the question I am asked most often by my friends and outsiders is what it is like to coach female athletes.  This is a topic that I have spent much time learning about because I truly believe that it is important to understand our female athletes as coaches, players, and parents. Before I venture any further, I think it is important for me to state that I believe that the current level of female athletes, and especially in the sport of volleyball, is amazing.  The sport of volleyball has changed dramatically with the evolution of the female athlete.  The sport is being played higher, faster, and more competitively than it has ever been before.  With the development of the game, I think it is important that we take some time to reflect on some differences between male and female athletes.  Hopefully it will help you relate to your daughters more and understand what they are going through. Male athletes are naturally socialized to be loud, aggressive, competitive and dominant. They are taught to ignore their softer feelings/emotions and be “strong”, rejecting anything “female.” As a consequence, boys do quite well dominating and competing aggressively but not so well in being cooperative, team oriented, socially related and unselfish. It’s usually in these areas that boys need to be coached.  Girls tend to be very different in their approach. Female athletes, on the other hand, are socialized to be soft-spoken, cooperative, team oriented, and unselfish to a fault. They are taught to keep a low profile and not bring attention to themselves. The male traits of competitiveness, aggression, selfishness and dominance are negatively coded in them. Most young women begin to feel uncomfortable when they start exhibiting these traits. As a coach of young women, having this information is absolutely critical. It means that you can’t go into a group of young women and just expect them to naturally respond to you like your last guy’s team did. Instead, you have to go out of your way to actively teach your female athletes that it is actually okay to be aggressive and competitive. You have to encourage them to take risks and to stand out. This is not an easy task to accomplish. This is one of the reasons why we implemented the Competitive Cauldron this year to help us teach aggressiveness and competitiveness. Most female athletes believe that they have to choose between being the best and being liked. The serious athlete wants to excel and go as far as possible. She wants to be the best.  Unfortunately this urge to be the best comes in direct conflict with another important need of the female athlete: to be socially accepted. To be the best you must train harder and longer than everyone else. You must go hard against your friends. Coaches and parents play a very important role in trying to balance these two desires. It is often stated that female athletes are primarily motivated by relationships they have with their teammates, coaches and parents.  Of course you must treat your daughters with respect and listen to their concerns. A great role for parents is to provide honest positive feedback, when appropriate. Know that many female athletes tend towards being hypercritical of themselves. They tend to minimize their strengths and over exaggerate their weaknesses.  This is because for every three times a coach offers praise to a player, the player remembers the one time they did something wrong.  Parents play a very important role in helping remind players of the correct things they have done. If you have read through this far, I hope you picked up some useful tidbits into some female sports psychology.  I find this fascinating and hope that you understand that this is something that we actively think about in our planning of practice and development of our athletes.  We hope that you can have some positive conversations with your daughters about this at some point. A Quick Look at Setter’s Training Premier is known for its setter’s training and the focused setter’s training that it provides for its athletes.  We were recently asked by the AVCA and the JVA volleyball associations to show them a little bit about how we trained in their Coaches to Coaches video series.  We want to share the video with you as well.  You can watch the video by clicking the picture above or the link below. JVA Coach to Coach Setter’s Video Finish Strong Every year at Premier, we try and develop a theme for the season.  This year we have gone with the theme of “Finish Strong.”  The series was developed to help teen athletes learn and understand lessons that will hopefully transfer to their performance on and off the court. Many of our assignments for practice have revolved around reading pages from the book that was given to all the athletes and reflecting on them.  Here is a brief glimpse into the 4 chapters that we have talked about so far. Respect- Chapter 1 Respect means more than just playing hard and playing fair. Respect begins with a higher awareness of yourself, your teammates, your opponents, your coaches and your sport you become the kind of player that everyone wants on their team. Respect is important in all aspects of life, and it is essential in sports. Enthusiasm – Chapter 2 Each athlete has a certain amount of passion and love for the sport they participate in.  One of the questions that I love to ask athletes is whether they play a sport because they are good or do they play because they love it.  You can often tell by the enthusiasm an athlete shows when they are practicing, playing or talking about the sport they play. Commitment – Chapter 3 You don’t have to be a world-class athlete to understand the value of commitment. Commitment is on of the most important attributes any athlete can possess, a promise that you make to yourself to follow through – to continue in the face of adversity, to reach your goals despite the inevitable hardships. Plenty of talented athletes fail. Why? Because without commitment, success is impossible. Priorities – Chapter 4 As with any teenager, there are many things happening in their lives.  Where athletes prioritize the important things in life in sports, school and their personal lives is very important.  There has to be a balance between everything an athlete deems to be important as they pursue their goals in every aspect of their lives. We Don’t Just Play Volleyball! Our athletes are not just volleyball players.  They are students, artists, musicians, volunteers, among many other things.  In fact, almost every one of the players are well rounded young women with many hidden talents and hobbies. Maggie Halloran from 18-Onituska is in fact now a blogger highlighting her kitchen escapades.  Please pay her page a visit at http://project-domestication.blogspot.com/. I will continue to highlight player interests outside of volleyball in upcoming newsletters.  If your daughter has an interest outside of volleyball that they would like to share, please email me! Have a Great Day! Have a great day!  This was a long one but thanks for reading.  As always, if you have questions feel free to contact me.

Premier Chalk Talk 2012 Volume 3

Hey! Hi everybody, this is Wyman again.  I hope everybody is having a great start to the new year.  Since I last emailed you, much has happened in the Premier gym and in the sport of volleyball.  In volleyball news, UCLA recently dethroned Penn State’s run of four consecutive women’s Division I national championships by defeating Illinois in 4 sets in San Antonio.  Hopefully, many of you were able to watch some high level volleyball and see the heights at which this sport can be played at. With every new year and new club season, we like to add different aspects to our training and gym culture to help create a strong atmosphere of competitiveness, dedication, and goal setting.  This year is no different. We have added a few new aspects into the gym and  In this version of “Chalk Talk” I will discuss Gym Culture, the Competitive Cauldron, the Nutrition Guide, and Captains.  This is a long read only because a lot has been going on in the gym so please try to read through it all. As always, feel free to email me any questions that you may have about any of the above topics and I will do my best to answer them. (It is best to view this newsletter with pictures allowed and for navigation you can click on the links under the Table of Contents) Hey We Are Premier! [Click above screen capture to see club cheer] Something that Premier is very conscious of is creating a positive gym culture that excites players and gets our players excited about their development.  We want our younger players to aspire to be like our older players and our older players to aspire to be like alums who have gone on to have successful collegiate careers.  Something that your daughters may notice is how together everybody is from the coaches to the players.  We all go through the same practices and experiences and through those shared experiences we are able to create culture. You may have noticed we have brought back “Gym Buddies,” this year to try and foster a relationship between an older and younger players.  You may also note that everybody calls the ball the same way, looks the same way, and is treated in the same way so that everybody feels that they are playing for something larger than themselves.  We will continue to build upon this culture as the year progresses and hopefully the players notice what we’re trying to do! One way we create unity is through practice t-shirts.  You are probably aware of this due to how often you are tasked with washing them for your daughters.  For those who are new to Premier, every player wears a practice t-shirt to every practice of the year.  It has been a tradition at Premier to add two new t-shirts along with two new shirt quotes into circulation every year.  This year the two new practice t-shirt sayings are: “All In,” and “Earned Never Given.” The presence of the quotes on the back of the practice shirts also provides constant reminder to our athletes about our gym culture and what is expected of them.  Hopefully by the end of the season each and every one of the players in the gym across all levels will appreciate the words on the back of their shirts. Competitive Cauldron This year one of the biggest changes we have made is the implementation of the Competitive Cauldron into our National and Asicstiers.  The Competitive Cauldron is allows players to compete with one another in a variety of physical and non physical categories throughout the course of the season. It also allows our players to keep track of their progression and development over the course of a long club season.  As the season progresses, players are tracked in such categories as attitude, coach-ability, technique, serving, competitive play, fitness, and leadership among other things.  Each player is then given a score based on each of these categories and ranked among players in their age and skill range.  Every player is given the same opportunity with non physical categories being their coaches and tier trainers. Since the cauldron is ever evolving, players have the ability to rise or fall in the cauldron with each and every practice which allows for a very competitive practice environment.   Since one of our primary goals is to develop strong individual athletes in addition to fielding strong teams, the cauldron creates an opportunity for players to see how they stack up with their peers.  One of the things that have pleasantly surprised me so far about the Competitive Cauldron so far is the amount of non mean spirited competition there has been in the gym.  No player is truly ever out of it as every practice affects their standing in the cauldron. The results of the cauldron are posted up every Monday in the gym.  I highly encourage you to encourage your daughters to check out their standings regularly.  You can view them when you enter the gym as well.  The cauldron is something I strongly recommend you talk to your daughters about as well. The cauldron resets every phase of training so the end of the first competitive cauldron will be in two weeks. Nutrition Since it is the New Year many of us have made New Year’s resolutions involving the betterment of our fitness and health.  I personally am giving up pizza and diet Pepsi.  If you know me at all, you know that those two things account for roughly give or take 40% of my diet.  We want our athletes to understand the importance of taking care of their bodies as well and just recently handed out a nutrition guide to all the athletes.  Please read through it and encourage your daughters to read through it as well.    The nutrition guide explains the rigors of being an athlete and the importance of eating well and enough to support the needs of young female athletes. Along with the nutrition guide we asked each player to give up a food vice for the duration of the club season.  Many have chosen cookies, ice cream and sweets.  We believe that it takes great dedication to give up something we all enjoy but all know may not be the best thing for us to consume on a regular basis.  We have also asked all athletes to give up cream based sauces, soda, and fried foods as well.  These are the same foods most college programs now restrict their players from eating as well. Although we are asking players to cut out certain foods from their diets, we do not condone cutting calories from our diets however.  In fact, we actually want our players to eat more of healthy alternatives!  Since many of the players come from school and eat lunch at a very early hour, many of them go a long stretch without consuming food.  With the intensity of practice and the amount of energy it requires, it is of utmost importance that all players are fed and hydrated before and during practice.  Players are encouraged  to pack a light snack, protein bar, or granola bar with them to practice so that they can have a quick pick me up in practice if they need it.  All players should also make sure they eat a full meal before practice. Captains Here at Premier we place great stock on who team captains are.  Besides each team having a captain, there is also a gym captain, and a setters captain. We have recently announced all of our team captains for the National and Asics tiers.  These players are given the responsibility of carrying on the gym culture that I previously mentioned.  Captains are also in charge of being liaisons between teams and their coaches and tier trainers.  I believe it is a great honor to be named a captain of any team and especially so at Premier.  We often like to say that team captains go above and beyond what they are asked to do.  I believe that this year the captains of their respective teams have done just that and I congratulate all of them on being named captains. Captains were chosen based on a variety of things.  Everybody who wanted to be a captain had to apply in writing and filled out a brief questionnaire.  Players were then assessed based on their understanding of what practice is at Premier and their understanding of what it means to be a Premier player.  Lastly, players were assessed on their effort in the gym, coach-ability and desire to be in the gym.  We believe that captains are built and not just a title bestowed on players.  After looking at every variable, we decided amongst coaches and tier trainers the captains of each team. Thanks For Reading! Thank you for reading the newsletter.  If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time. Have a great day!

Premier Chalk Talk 2012 Volume 2

Hey! Hi everybody, this is Wyman again.  I hope everybody is doing well and excited about the new year and the club season!  Since everybody has now started practice, I thought it would be a great time to let you know about what we are doing in the gym. In this edition of “Chalk Talk”, I will discuss the first phase of practice, being positive, and gym culture.  This email is a little on the long side but please try to make it through so you can get a feel for what your daughters are going through. As always, if you have any questions or want to respond to the trivia question, you can contact me at wymankhuu@gmail.com.  It is also best to view this newsletter with images enabled.

Phase 1 – Technical Breakdown We are currently in the “Technical Breakdown” phase of our training, which solely focuses on introducing, teaching and engraining the many skills that are required to play volleyball at a high level.  We begin each season with this phase as it allows us to train volleyball athletes from the ground up and address specific strengths and deficits of each athlete as we progress through practice. In this phase, we are going through the fundamentals of every volleyball skill from passing to attacking, while introducing terminology, techniques, and expectations.  Coaches are working hard to emphasize the importance of the little details while teaching the players how to execute each individual skill.  While some players are learning these skills for the first time and some players are well seasoned in these techniques, we are a big believer in reinforcing good habits to those who know them already and in creating a strong foundation for those who are starting with a blank slate. This is a very exciting time for players and especially our coaches because this phase of training incorporates a lot of teaching and learning on behalf of our players and coaches.

Be Positive

Be Positive Video Please watch the video and share! One of the toughest parts about being in the first phase of training is the amount of attention to detail that is emphasized by the tier trainer and coaches.  This can be a very frustrating time for many athletes.  Many of them may have achieved a certain level of success already in their volleyball careers and may be hesitant to make changes.  The sport of volleyball is always evolving and playesr have to learn how to adapt. I highly urge you to stress the need to be positive and try to adapt to the techniques that the coaches are trying to reinforce. Since this is a very detail oriented and slower paced portion of the season it is important to engage with your athlete and help them remain positive.  Please take some time and ask your daughters about practice and what they are going through.  There are some tips below on how to engage young athletes from the Positive Coaching Alliance: 1. Establish Your Goal—A Conversation Among Equals: A conversation is something between equals. Kings didn’t have conversations with their subjects. They told them what to do. Prepare yourself for a conversation with your child by reminding yourself that sports is her thing, not yours. Remember that you want to support her, to let her know that you are on her side. Your goal is not to give advice on how to become a better athlete. It should be to engage your child in a conversation among equals, one of whom (you!) is on the side of the other (her!). 2. Adopt a Tell-Me-More Attitude:  Adopt the attitude that you want your child to tell-you-more (“I really want to hear what you have to say.”), and then listen to what he has to say—even if you don’t agree with it or like it. Think of your conversation with your child as an Olympic event with judges. A conversation that rates a 9 or a 10 is one in which the child does more talking and the parent more listening. Set your goal before you start, and go for it. 3. Listen! In many instances you may know exactly what your child can do to improve. However, this is a conversation, remember? Your goal is to get your child to talk about her sports experience, so ask rather than tell. 4. Use Open-Ended Questions: Some questions lend themselves to one-word responses. “How was school today?” “Fine.” Your goal is to get your child to talk at length, so ask questions that will tend to elicit longer, more thoughtful responses. o “What was the most enjoyable part of today’s practice/game?” o “What worked well?” o “What didn’t turn out so well?” o “What did you learn that can help you in the future?” 5. Show You Are Listening. Make it obvious to your child that you are paying attention through use of nonverbal actions such as making eye contact as she talks, nodding your head and making “listening noises” (“uh-huh,” “hmmm,” “interesting,” etc.). Please talk to your athlete!

Gym Culture

[Click above screen capture for video of club cheer] Something that Premier is very conscious of is creating a positive gym culture that excites players and gets our players excited about their development.  We want our younger players to aspire to be like our older players and our older players to aspire to be like alums who have gone on to have successful collegiate careers.  Something that your daughters may notice is how together everybody is from the coaches to the players.  We all go through the same practices and experiences and through those shared experiences we are able to create culture. You may also note that everybody calls the ball the same way, looks the same way, and is treated in the same way so that everybody feels that they are playing for something larger than themselves.  We will continue to build upon this culture as the year progresses and hopefully the players notice what we’re trying to do! One way we create unity is through practice t-shirts.  You are probably aware of this due to how often you are tasked with washing them for your daughters.  For those who are new to Premier, every player wears a practice t-shirt to every practice of the year.  It has been a tradition at Premier to add two new t-shirts along with two new shirt quotes into circulation every year.  This year the two new practice t-shirt sayings are: “All In,” and “Earned Never Given.” The presence of the quotes on the back of the practice shirts also provides constant reminder to our athletes about our gym culture and what is expected of them.  Hopefully by the end of the season each and every one of the players in the gym across all levels will appreciate the words on the back of their shirts.

Have a Great Day! Have a great day!  Please talk to your daughters about practice and as always if you have questions feel free to contact me.

Premier Chalk Talk 2012 Volume 1

Hey! Hi everybody, this is Wyman Khuu from Premier.  I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got to enjoy great food and great company.  For those who know me, I am happy to once again have “Chalk Talk” enter your email inboxes.   For those who do not know me, I hope to better familiarize myself with you and your families as the season progresses.  The intent of this monthly newsletter is to increase overall volleyball knowledge and to provide parents with a little bit of insight as to what your child is going through in the gym at Premier.  This is also an opportunity for me to share with you the latest volleyball news, and hopefully provide some advice in dealing with developing volleyball players.   I also want to provide an avenue to build on the parent coach relationship and to allow parents to see a little bit about what the coaches are thinking. With that being said here is my email address wymankhuu@gmail.com if you have any questions, comments, topics you would like to be discussed or if you just want to chat.  Please don’t be shy to ask me questions.  No question is too trivial.  If you know of someone who you know would like to be on this newsletter, I will be happy to add them to our email list as well. This will probably be the shortest newsletter of the year so that I don’t scare you off. Welcome! Premier 2011-2012 Welcome Video One of the features that I will be trying to incorporate in this season’s “Chalk Talk” is the use of multimedia.  Some of the girls of Premier wanted to offer you a heartfelt welcome to our club and wish you a great upcoming season.  Feel free to click through the link above or the scree cap to watch the video. What It’s Like As the first practice for your daughter at Premier is looming, many of you may be wondering what your daughters will be going through during the upcoming season.  While many of you may have heard from other players or parents what it is like at Premier, we think that the practice environment is something that has to be experienced in order to truly understand what it is like.  Here at Premier we believe in a “tier training” philosophy. The tier trainer is the person who is tasked with working with each coach and their players to work towards the common goal of training your daughters.  They plan practices for all of the athletes in the tier and assist the coaches in executing those plans to maximize efficiency in practice and to ensure that all players are receiving the level of training that they deserve. As the season progresses, you and your daughters will get to know both the coaches and tier trainers better. Goal Setting! Before we start our upcoming season, it is important to address the goals of our upcoming club season.  This is a very exciting time of year as players, coaches and parents are getting ready to begin their journey into club volleyball.  I know I am personally psyched to begin myself. As with any season, I think it is very important to talk about goal setting as players, parents and coaches.  I believe that the more dialogue there is about goal setting, and how to obtain these goals the more goals will eventually be reached. These are some questions that I think can be discussed between player and parent in regards to goal setting (All questions are phrased as if a parent were asking their daughter): 1. What do  you want to accomplish out of my club season as an individual athlete? 2. What is currently your strongest volleyball skill?  What is currently your weakest volleyball skill?  Do you know what my best and worst skills are? 3. What are you willing to do to reach these goals? 4. What is your short term volleyball goal?  What do you want to achieve in 3 months?  What do you want to accomplish by the end of the season? 5. How do you know if you taking the right steps in reaching your goals? 6. Are you willing to talk to your coach and tier trainer about accomplishing your goals? 7. What can I do as a parent to help your reach your goals? These questions may be uncomfortable to discuss with your daughters but I think that it is valuable in terms of getting to know your daughters as athletes.  The better we are in terms of open communication the quicker we can all work together to achieving our goals and having a great season. What Makes a Good Goal? Here are some pointers for setting strong achievable goals: Make goals specific, observable and in measurable terms – Setting general goals such as improving your serve is easy but it becomes hard to determine how to go about doing this without specific criteria or directives. Specifying how and when to do things can help to this end. Set positive goals as opposed to negative goals – Goals can be stated either positively or negatively.  Whenever possible, set goals in positive terms by focusing on behaviors that should be present rather than those that should be absent. This can help athletes focus on success rather than failure. Use short-range goals to achieve long range plans - Goal setting is much like climbing a mountain. The long range goal of reaching your main goal requires strategic short-term goals setting.  Make sure goals are internalized by the athlete – It is important that athletes feel in control (self-determined) of their goals. Ensuring that athletes accept and internalize goals is one of the most important features of goal setting. If athletes set their own goals, they will most likely internalize them.  Sometimes when parents or coaches set the goals for the athlete, it makes it harder to achieve if the athlete themselves do not internalize the goals themselves. Thanks For Reading! Thank you for reading the newsletter!  I will aim to send out Volume 2 once practice begins. Have a great day!

Chalk Talk Volume 10

Hey!

Hi everybody, this is Wyman again.  I hope everybody is doing well.  As the season is nearing its end and teams are going to AAU Nationals in Florida, I think it is a very opportune time to compose another edition of Chalk Talk.  As you reflect back on the season, parents, coaches and players all hold a unique perspective on their experience at Premier.  As somebody who really believes in the people and culture at Premier, I hope that the positives far outweigh the negatives.  I also look forward to watching all of our teams compete in Florida and wish everybody the best of luck in the upcoming days.

In this edition of Chalk Talk, I will discuss: Hey We Are Premier, Stack Magazine, From the Source, See You Soon, Parting Shots and Pats on the Back.

I have made it easier for you to access previous versions of Chalk Talk and have archived every newsletter I have sent at: http://premierchalktalk.wordpress.com.  Feel free to bookmark the site and catch up on anything that you may have missed in the past.

Since this is the last edition of Chalk Talk for the year, I want to thank everybody who sent me comments, questions, or suggestions.  I even appreciate the grammar Nazi’s who have made me a better writer along the way.  With that all being said, I hope everybody has a great summer and I look forward to seeing you and your daughters in the future.

Hey We Are Premier

 

Here at Premier and M-Juniors we are often asked by others what it means to play at Premier or be a coach at Premier.  While each individual answer may vary, I believe that each individual answer only offers a small perspective on what it truly means to be a part of Premier.  It is because of this that I thought it would be nice to have our players describe what it means to be a part of Premier in their own words:

 

Hey We Are Premier

Stack Magazine

 

Premier recently hosted Stack Magazine, an up and coming sporting publication aimed at the high school athlete (http://magazine.stack.com/Sport/85/Volleyball.aspx) in Maumee. We were both surprised and honored that they decided to profile our club since a majority of their coverage revolves around collegiate and professional athletes.  Premier will be one of the first groups of youth athletes that they will profile.  Please refer back to the website regularly and be on the look out for the feature on Premier and our athletes.

They followed our athletes throughout the evening and shadowed them through workouts, plyometrics and practice.   Through it all, they observed, interviewed, and filmed our players as they went through their practice routine.  We put our players through a variety of workouts and drills as our players put their best face forward and represented the club and themselves very well.  Although it offered a slight deviation from our normal routine, we think the players had a good experience and that it was in the end well worth it.

In the meantime here is an advertisement that Stack and Asics have put together which has some neat cameo appearances from some of our athletes:  (You need to click on the video in the lower left corner.)

http://serveitup.stack.com/#overlayMask

See You Soon

As the season is wrapping up and the summer months are fast approaching, many of our athletes are eagerly anticipating a summer of relaxation, time by the pool and air conditioned rooms.  We highly encourage our players to give their bodies a rest but also want to emphasize the importance of continuing to get touches on the ball over the summer as well.  This pertains to all players from those who are moving onto college to those moving on to their school seasons.

 

One of the most important things an athlete can do is to maintain if not further their development that they have worked so hard to achieve during their club season.  The worst thing that can happen is to regress in overall fitness, skill or competitiveness over the season.  I am not too concerned about this since most of our athletes love being the gym and understand the importance of spending quality time in the gym.  I just urge you as parents to help provide a push and motivation for your daughters as well to keep their hands on a ball this summer so that by the time the next club season rolls by, we can pick up from where we left off instead of retreading on old subjects.

From the Source

For all of the seniors moving on to the next level of volleyball, here are some words of advice from Lexi Zimmerman a 3 time All American and leader of an Elite 8 and two time Sweet 16 team for the University of Michigan.  She is now an aspiring National Team Player and a professional volleyball player in Puerto Rico:

College athletics is incredibly demanding and, in my opinion, requires above all other things passion and discipline. Preseason can test any athlete’s mental and physical breaking points. August 8th marks the beginning of the Michigan volleyball preseason. We have two practices a day and spend almost all of our off-time sleeping and eating. The first thing we do is our fitness test called the shuttle. It is a test of endurance and mental strength that leaves us all exhausted and those that passed with a sense of accomplishment I have not felt elsewhere. As soon as we finish this test we get issued our gear: We jokingly call this process Christmas! There are many perks to being a collegiate athlete; however, this is not a strong enough reason to play in college. If your alarm goes off in the dark of 5 AM and you have to walk through 3 feet of snow and freezing rain to get to morning lift free gear will NOT be the thing getting you out of your warm bed. Your motivation has to be grounded in a deep love of the game, your program, and your team. I have been playing volleyball at an increasingly competitive level for the past 14 years. Every year that I play volleyball it becomes more rewarding, demands more sacrifice, and requires more passion and discipline. To paraphrase Whoopi Goldberg from Sister Act- If when you wake up in the morning you can think of nothing but playing volleyball, then you are a volleyball player. If you do not love it, it is hard to learn to love it as you get older.  Find your love of the game and let it run free.

Parting Words

Here are some parting words from an outgoing senior, Sarah Sailus for us all to reflect back on.  Although I always think that is very cliché when coaches talk about how coaching success is more than just wins and losses I think that Sarah’s words we can all agree that it truly is.  Here is an excerpt of her writing unedited:

The year at nationals my team did pretty well, and our club’s 18 year old team placed third. I definitely learned a lot about volleyball that year, but what I learned most about was myself. I learned my strengths, my weaknesses, and most importantly my limits. I have been at Premier for three years now, and it continues to be everything that I have ever wanted in a volleyball program. It has given me opportunities that three years ago, at just 14, I could have never dreamed of. Thanks to everything that the program and the coaches have taught me, I will now be going on this fall to play at The University of Mount Union. They are very well-known for their athletic program, as well as the great academics that they offer. I am now finishing up the last two months of my career as a player at Premier Volleyball Academy, and I could not have asked for a better life experience. I would not be the person that I am today without the experiences I have had at Premier. I have learned discipline, commitment, sportsmanship, leadership, and a hard-working attitude. Most importantly though, I have learned to never quit on anything. No matter how difficult, frustrating, or strenuous something can become, I have learned that quitting is only taking the easy way out. Premier has made me feel like a part of something much bigger than myself. I feel at home every day when I step into the gym, and it is going to be very hard to leave that home at the end of this season. I can only hope for two things in leaving Premier Volleyball Club. I hope that I have left a lasting impression on all those who have left a lasting impression on me. Also, I hope that someday I can give girls just like I once was the chance to make their dreams a reality as well. Those are the girls that I someday hope to coach; the little girls with big dreams.

Thank you for a great season!

Chalk Talk Volume 9

Hey!

Hi everybody.  I hope everybody is doing well.  I know that I mentioned sending out an update a little bit earlier but I hit a bout of writer’s block.  However, I think I have overcome my aforementioned writer’s block and am happy to share the ninth edition of Premier Chalktalk with you.  As I have been circulating the newsletter I realize that some of you may not have been receiving every volume of Chalk Talk.  This is probably not your fault as email addresses change, spam filters occasionally filter me out, and occasionally other circumstances get in the way.  I have made it easier for you to access previous versions ofChalk Talk and have archived every newsletter I have sent at: http://premierchalktalk.wordpress.com.  Feel free to bookmark the site and catch up on anything that you may have missed in the past.

In this edition of Chalk Talk, I will discuss: Celebration Night, “Catch’em While They’re Good”, From the Source, Double Goal Coaching, and “Yay” Seniors.

 

As always, feel free to email me your thoughts, concerns and questions.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Before we get started, I just want to let everybody know that I am not neglecting your emails and that I am truly trying to answer your emails as quickly as possible.  Please feel free to continue sending me your questions and I will try to answer them in the swiftest manner possible.  You can reach me at wymankhuu@gmail.com.
As always, this is a rather lengthy email.  You have been warned.

Celebration Night

As Celebration Night is fast approaching, (May 12^th), I feel that it is necessary to mention why we have a Celebration Night at all.  In previous newsletters I mentioned how important culture building is to Premier and how we value creating a sense of unity amongst our players and coaches of all ages through shared experiences.

 

Celebration Night acts as one of the most important nights of culture building in terms of allowing our players to create new shared experiences with one another in a non practice environment.  On this night players of all ages will be able to engage in a variety of activities and entertainment that allows them to bond with their fellow gym mates and coaches.  It offers a nice break for the players and allows for them to interact with one another in a non volleyball capacity.

 

Aside from the raffles, treats and entertainment, Celebration Night also creates an environment in which younger players and older players alike can honor the Premier and M-Juniors senior class.  Since our seniors are often the best players, leaders and role models it offers a great opportunity for our seniors to be proud of their accomplishments and allows for them to feel appreciated and share their appreciation to their peers and coaches alike.

The theme of this year’s Celebration Night will be, “Sweets and Treats!”  Take it for whatever it’s worth. I am sure that this year’s Celebration Night will be a success as well and look forward to seeing you there.
Catch’em While They’re Good

Criticism and sports often go hand in hand.  There is no escaping this fact.  Players are constantly given endless loops of feedback from their coaches and peers.  Players are often so overwhelmed with the information to the point of confusion.  Players often remember what they are told that they do incorrectly and those criticisms, while usually on target, linger with players for quite a while.  What players usually have a hard time with is celebrating their successes.  This is not uncommon at all with developing female athletes who are striving for high levels of success.  They usually want more.

 

The desire to be great is a wonderful thing.  The problem is that often players only see the top of the mountain and ignore all of the many successes that must precede reaching their apex.  This is where the “catching them while they’re good” concept comes into play.  This philosophy is brought to us by former U.S. Olympic gold medal winning coach Tony DiCicco who has a book of the same name.  It is a recommended read.  The philosophy revolves around coaches and parents noticing players achieving small milestones and then complimenting them on the spot of those successes.  Coaches and parents are encouraged to catch their players or daughters being good at a variety of things that can vary in difficulty, size or gravity.  It can be as simple as telling somebody, “good job,” when they show good body language or as complicated as telling somebody “great job,” for having perfect technique executing a difficult skill.  In the mind of the player, being reminded of when they are good will reinforce positive behaviors and skills and create a strong sense of self worth and confidence.

 

As somebody who is often very critical of players this absolutely resonates with me greatly.  Ever since this has been mentioned to me over a dinner conversation, I have been thinking about this philosophy a great deal.  The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that this is indeed a very powerful tool in terms of developing great athletes.  I do have to mention however, that this philosophy does not mean creating false compliments or praising athletes just for the sake of praising them.  Athletes must do something, “good” in order for somebody to catch them doing it.   I encourage our coaches and players to catch their players and daughters doing great things.  If they do something good let them know!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Catch-Them-Being-Good-Successfully/dp/0670031224

From the Source

In a new feature for the newsletter, I have reached out to some previous alum of Premier to write about their volleyball experiences.  Hopefully their writing provides some insight, inspiration and some knowledge about volleyball from somebody who was in your daughter’s shoes at some point.   In the first installment of this feature I got Maggie Busch (2006) to write a little bit about her college experience.  My words are in brackets:

My college experience is one that I am extremely thankful for and one that I will never forget.  After graduating from a very small high school [Toledo Christian] with a senior class of only 63 I knew I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and experience something different. I wanted to be the small fish in the big pond instead of a big fish in a small pond. I found the perfect fit when I decided to become a Wolverine at the University of Michigan. Playing in the Big Ten was something that I always wanted to do but I knew that it was going to be a challenge. I knew that I would have to fight everyday in the gym in order to earn time on the floor on Friday and Saturday nights. At times I thought I was way over my head and wondered why I didn’t just choose a safer road. Now as a recent college graduate I can honestly say that if I could do it over again, I would do everything exactly the same way. Choosing Michigan pushed me to be a better player, a better student, and even a better person. College volleyball took me all over the country and even the world playing against the best competition available. As I get ready to start the next chapter of my life I realize how much I am going to miss playing volleyball but for me it is about so much more than just the game. As hard as it is to believe as a competitive athlete, I can hardly remember the scores of most of my games, or even whether we won or lost some of them. But rather, what I will take away with me are the relationships that I have formed over the years and the memories we built together. From high school to club to college, the highlights were always the little things that I sometimes forgot to appreciate. So enjoy the journey and the people around you because before you know it will all be over and for me that is what was most special about my volleyball career.

Double Goal Coaching

A new coaching philosophy that has recently become increasing popular in all youth sports is the double goal coaching philosophy.  The Double Goal coaching philosophy revolves around having two goals: winning and teaching life lessons through volleyball.  It really places great emphasis on the old cliche of winning on and off the court.  The theory revolves around players having a theoretical “emotional tank,” and in order for players to perform well they have to have their emotional tank full and not on the brink of being empty.

In order to make sure that players have a full emotional tank it is important that there is a good ratio of positive to negative reinforcement.  The ideal ratio is somewhere between 3:1 to 5:1 in terms of positive reinforcement to negative reinforcement.  This depends on the level of athlete and the level of competition involved.  Those who can contribute to the emotional tanks are coaches, teammates, peers, and parents.  Since players often receive a lot of critiques from coaches, it is pretty important for teammates and parents to provide positive encouragement to help refill a player’s emotional tank.  Players’ emotional tanks also are fluid and can rise and drop as the ratio of strong to negative varies.   Therefore it is necessary for people to constantly provide support to players as they go through their season so that they can maintain a full emotional tank.

With this, I highly encourage you as parents to constantly provide support, encouragement and help to your daughters.  I am sure this is not foreign to any of you but it’s always nice to reinforce.

“Yay” Seniors”

On behalf of the Premier and M-Juniors volleyball staff I would like to congratulate every one of our 17 seniors, each of whom has committed to play volleyball at the next level in college.  The 17 seniors will be spread out through 6 states and compete in a variety of conferences.  We wish them the best of luck. I think I speak for everybody when I state that I am extremely proud of all of our players, coaches and parents for helping our athletes reach their goals.

At Premier we take great pride in helping athletes that want to pursue volleyball at the next level in reaching that goal.  It is not always the easiest journey for both the player and the club, but in the end we can look back and say that another year has gone by with every player moving on.  According to Richkern.com, a volleyball information site, Premier has the second highest number of players that move on to the college ranks out of any club in the country.  That is awesome and only comes with the hard work of the staff and players themselves!  We look forward to and will continue to train, encourage and develop these athletes so that they can become contributing members of their respective schools.

 

 

Chalk Talk Volume 8

Hey!

Hi everyone, this is Wyman again with another newsletter.  I apologize for the delay, but I have not forgotten about you guys.  I have been meaning to update you guys with the happenings at Premier and M-Juniors but have only recently managed to free up some time to write.  Hopefully, this edition of Chalk Talk can provide some insight into a variety of topics that may be applicable to you or your daughters.

In this edition of Chalk Talk I will discuss: The Paradoxical Commandments, Words Matter, I Love Me and as always Pats on the Back.  I will have a video in the next edition of Chalk Talk.  I will have another update in a week or so… I think.

Please feel free to continue sending me your questions or topic suggestions and I will try to answer them in the swiftest manner possible.  You can reach me atwymankhuu@gmail.com.

The Paradoxical Commandments

Over the past weekend on our annual team building trip we were given the great opportunity to talk about leadership and teamwork with Danielle Slaton (more info here) a former women’s soccer standout at UC Santa Clara and for our Olympic team.  She provided us with a great presentation and with even better anecdotes about her life as an athlete as a youth, collegian, and as a member of our Olympic soccer team.  She also provided us a list of axioms that she lives by which I wanted to share with you all.  I feel that the list is very refreshing because it is full of optimism, encouragement and the potential for more.  Since we are dealing with youth athletes, I feel that this is a great tone to set for your daughters.

I also put the definition of paradoxical for some of our players who may also get this email just in case they have no idea what the word means.

Paradoxical: a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.

Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.

Help people anyway.

Give the world your best and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world your best anyway.

If you feel like you want to go out and take on the world like I did upon hearing these statements, I do not blame you at all.

Carpe Diem

Words Matter

As many of you have probably have heard at one point or another, “perception is reality.”  Often when that statement is tossed around it refers to physical appearance or actions.  We often lose sight of the power of words and what effect they can have on people and especially developing athletes.  We all hold on to different things and different individuals have different filters that allow or disallow themselves from absorbing different information.  For the people disseminating the information however, we often have one message in mind when in reality what is being absorbed may be completely different.  I think that it is really important that we value what we say to others and are open to what people are saying to us at all time.

My friend Zoltan Mesko, (current punter for the Patriots) passed along this video emphasizing just how important words can be.  I in no way am endorsing this company.  I just think that the video really drives home the point that I’m trying to make.  The link to the video is below.

You may be wondering how this applies to your daughters or even volleyball in general.  One of the questions we always ask our players at the end of the year is something that was said to them by any of our coaches that they remember the most.  What is written by the player is usually different than what the coaches think will be written.  What is written is usually some off the cuff comment that was made in passing and never from that impassioned speech given by the coach in a pivotal timeout.  It is often the casual comment that makes the greatest impact.  It is because of this that we have to be smart and choose our words wisely.  What we say, they say or you say can impact somebody more than you can ever imagine.

We often discuss as coaches why certain things that we’re trying to get across to the players are not translating.  We often know that a player is trying and they are listening yet what is being said does not always register with the player.  This is probably true in reverse as sometimes what a player wants to express to a coach is lost in translation as well.  This probably happens between the player parent relationship and the coach parent relationship as well.  I urge everybody to continue to find different ways of communication so that we all get our messages across in the manner we want and so that we all can reach our common goals of developing great young women and volleyball players.

“I Love Me”

As our athletes and daughters are advancing through their seasons they need to be aware of the wear and tear that they are placing on their bodies.  They need to as I like to say, “love themselves.”  Many of our players play volleyball ten to eleven months of the year and often neglect taking care of their bodies.  Earlier in the season we talked about the importance of good nutrition in an athlete’s life.  Besides eating well, it is also paramount that players are eating enough to replenish all of the calories that they are burning in practice.  It is very natural for players who practice multiple days a week to put on weight during the season as they are building muscle and burning fat.

It is also really important that players are doing their due diligence when it comes to injury prevention.  Stretching at all levels and ages is of utmost importance and is great for injury prevention.  The greater a player’s flexibility and range of motion is, the less likely they are to sustain major injuries and the quicker they can recover from nagging injuries.  Please encourage your players to stretch at home and improve their general flexibility.  If players are unsure of what stretches to do, they are encouraged to ask their coaches for suggestions.  They may choose to use you, their parents, as resources as well.

Another oft neglected part of taking care of one’s body is the need for sleep.  Muscle builds during sleep since protein synthesis usually occurs while the body is at rest.  It is also tough for athletes to recover without the proper amount of sleep.  Sleep also increases alertness, attentiveness and focus which are all vital to perform at a high level in sports.

Lastly, as the weather is getting warmer and the gym is getting hotter, it is really important that our athletes stay hydrated at all times.  Water is an amazing liquid.  Water is an even more amazing liquid in a hot gym.  Please encourage your daughters to bring their water bottles to every practice so that players can stay hydrated during an entire practice.

I know none of this is revolutionary information, but it is something that needs to be brought up all the time.  I trust that you as parents will do a great job with this!