-Applying mental skills in practice and competition

-What has led to Pitt's success

-Mental case studies: 

• Lack of motivation
• Perfectionists
• Resist making changes
• Nervous before competition
• Aren't acting like themselves

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Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching Volleyball

The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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-How Bernie's work has changed the program and culture

-Team and individual values

-Applying mental skills in practice and competition

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Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching Volleyball

The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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• 0:44 - What Kasey has been working with in the off season with his players.
• 6:17 - Introducing Rob and how he has worked with the UMBC staff and team.
• 7:58 - Describing “action capacity”, and how it can fit into the context of sports.
• 14:19 - What are the best ways/exercises to achieve action capacity in the category of jumping?
• 18:46 - Andy’s thoughts on implementing action capacity values when training.
• 21:34 - How Kasey and Rob have implemented action capacity with athletes they have worked with.
• 24:51 - What would the volleyball equivalent of the NFL combine look like?

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Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching Volleyball

The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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Thanks for listening and supporting the show!

Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching Volleyball

The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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• 1:15 - Karch’s thoughts on using an ecological approach at the professional/national team level.
• 3:44 - Players’ response to the “Goldilocks” style of exaggerating the two extremes to find the middle ground that works for them.
• 5:29 - At the national team level, has Karch found that there are variabilities in play style?
• 9:34 - Has Karch ever thought to experiment with using environmental constraints that naturally come with playing outdoor volleyball in practice for the national team?
• 12:35 - What should the coach’s role be in the development of youth players?
• 14:54 - Competitive games that John and Karch have come up with when all the courts at the beach are in use.
• 19:16 - Competitive games that Karch has come up with for when his players are tired and worn out.

Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching Volleyball

The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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• 1:34  - Environmental constraints that Karch had when he was playing volleyball growing up.
  • “Win and keep playing or lose and sit” system
• 4:50 - How the lumpy and hilly sand at East Beach may have shaped the way Karch learned to play.
• 6:26 - How natural obstacles can pose as challenges for athletes to overcome.
• 8:44 - How fatigue played a factor in Karch’s tournaments and his development as a player.
• 14:04 - How did Karch adapt to the many rule changes and even court size changes during the time he played?
• 19:16 - Karch’s thoughts on traditional coaching, and if he wished he had coaches give explicit directions when he was first learning to play.
• 23:40 - Comparing Karch’s current coaching style to the way he learned to play volleyball.
• 27:05 - What Karch is doing to help his players become problem-solvers.

Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching Volleyball

The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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• 3:04 - What Karch has been learning about and focusing on recently.
• 5:55 - How has Karch implemented motivational interviewing while coaching the U.S. women's volleyball national team?
• If you have an abundance of knowledge and experience, like Karch does, when is the most effective time to share it?
• 10:50 - How Karch’s experience practicing volleyball growing up was different from others’.
• 17:30 - Karch’s thoughts on explicitly showing and teaching the “correct” technique.
• 20:01 - How Karch experimented with different platforms/grips to find the one that felt the most natural.
• 25:12 - Experimenting with different footwork depending on the side Karch approached on to attack.
• 27:21 - Adapting how you play based on your body type.
• 30:30 - Did Karch consciously choose which approach footwork to choose during the play?

Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching Volleyball

The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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• 1:26 - Checking in with Andy, has spring training already started for baseball?
• 2:26 - Introducing the topic for today’s episode: internal cueing.
• 8:54 - Kasey’s thoughts on internal cueing.
• 14:43 - Concerns in the long term with having athletes shift from an internal to external focus.
• 18:03 - Should internal focus be something that can still be discussed within the coaching scene?
• 18:56 - Where does internal cueing fit into practice design?
• 27:38 - Would it be effective to practice internal constraints and then later transition into external constraints?

Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching Volleyball

The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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• 1:40 - Helping athletes learn how to handle pressure better (Chapter 15 of Rob’s book)
• 3:18 - Approaching coaches who would rather have “perfect” practices by removing pressure and anxiety within the practices.
• 4:50 - How and when would Rob implement pressure and anxiety?
• 11:41 - Explaining the challenge point hypothesis (Chapter 14), and dealing with obstacles that come with implementing it into practice.
• 12:31 - How can coaches adjust practice activities if they are too difficult/if there is too much failure (especially at the junior level).
• 16:00 - Unique qualities about the volleyball community that have stuck out to Rob.
• 19:18 - What kind of coaching instructions can end up making a player’s vision and serve receive skills worsen?
• 22:21 - How setters and attackers can improve their peripheral vision to improve sets and score more points.
• 25:30 - What inspired Rob to focus this year on interviewing more coaches for his podcast, and what has he learned from them so far?

Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching Volleyball

The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

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• Access Rob’s online content here, and also where to buy his new book Learning to Optimize Movement
  • https://perceptionaction.com/
• 2:25 - How Rob is able to connect with such a wide variety of organizations and individuals.
• 3:47 - Has the ecological approach somehow made an impact on Rob’s day to day life?
• 4:42 - Diving into Rob’s new book, explaining the difference between a college and professional infielder with regards to gaze behavior (chapter 3).
• 5:39 - How can coaches help players improve their gaze?
• 7:56 - How can coaches determine that their players have actually improved their visual perception without using expensive equipment like eye trackers?
• 10:14 - Are there times when internal feedback can actually be effective?
• 12:36 - Replacing explicit instruction with activities that can teach athletes the same skill more effectively (chapter 6).
• 17:44 - How the four variables of variability, instability, constraints and overload can help promote change.
• 20:24 - Examples of overload across multiple sports including baseball, basketball, and beach volleyball.
• 23:58 - Explaining what attractors are and how they are implemented.
• 26:29 - Explaining the difference between monostability and multistability.
• 27:42 - How coaches can create new attractors/fluctuators.

Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching Volleyball

The Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a Champion

Become a Patron to support the show.