Improving Effort
and Focus at Practice
-By Dave Cross
A Question for Dave:
The problem I have is finding drills that push competitiveness
and focus. I know
that we need to run some drills that really concentrate on
technique. However,
I need to get my girls to want to compete at a high level. What
would you suggest?
Dave's Reply:
The Bottom Line:
Any drill you turn into a competition with consequences
for not winning will
improve the focus and effort immediately.
Also, if you assign a certain amount of consequences (pushups, sit-ups, etc.)
that rewards your players for how close they come to
actually winning, you
will ensure maximum effort and focus throughout the
entire drill from
everyone.
For example:
"Three pushups for every point you get beat by"
This works whether you are using a "total score" goal on skill repetitions
(i.e. passes to target), or a "total time" goal (i.e. how long can they
pepper for without letting the ball fall).
It also works on team competition drills, such as a "Wash Drill".
What this does is it keeps them pushing right until the end, even if they
realize they aren't going to be able to win the drill, because the more they
get beat by, the more consequences they have to do.
The bonus to this is that there will be
times where they will want to "give
in" but they won't, and then they will somehow come back and win-which is
exactly the mentality we want on the court during a match!
Another part of getting them to play with total focus and effort is that
this is when they have the most fun playing the game.
This is an idea that you need to bring out with them through discussion.
Whenever they have a "clunker", pull them together and ask them "How much
fun was that?"
Invariably, you will get responses like, "Not much".
Then point out to them the reason: They weren't going hard!
Then point out to them that they main reason they play the sport is that
they love it, and it's the most fun when they are giving
it everything they have.
Then when they have a "great segment", bring them together and again bring
up how much fun that was.
You'll get responses confirming that, yes, that was a lot of fun.
Then point out to them that they had fun because they
did well, and they did
well because they were giving it everything they had.
Finally, you must stress the mentality of "The only mistake you can make
is
not giving 100% mentally and physically."
You must support this theme with them in your responses
to their play.
Praise them for excellent rallies that they end up losing. Praise them
when
they attempt skills and strategies you've been stressing, even though the
execution or outcome could have been better.
In the end, when you get them to realize that all
you want is them to bust
it and focus consistently on the court, and that this is also when they have
the most fun playing the game, you'll have them right where you want them.
And using the consequences will help them to push for that effort and focus
even when they aren't feeling like giving it for whatever reason, (we all
know there are a myriad of those with teenage girls!) LOL
NOTE: The "consequences" work much
better when there is no anger or
frustration from you when assigning them-it's just a matter-of-fact approach.
Good luck and please let me know how it goes with your team!
Dave Cross
National Director
Yes I Can Volleyball
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