Train Your Mind Like You Train Your Body

# Train Your Mind Like You Train Your Body

Think about how much time you spend training volleyball.

Passing.

Serving.

Setting.

Attacking.

Blocking.

Defense.

Strength training.

Speed and agility.

Maybe you lift weights.

Maybe you take private lessons.

Maybe you watch film.

You do all of these things because you understand something:

**If you want your body and your skills to improve, you have to train them.**

But there's another part of you competing every time you step onto the court.

Your mind.

And somehow, athletes are often expected to know how to control that part without ever training it.

We tell athletes:

*"Be confident."*

*"Forget about the last point."*

*"Stay positive."*

*"Don't get frustrated."*

*"Handle the pressure."*

Those are good instructions.

But here's the problem.

**Those are skills too.**

And skills have to be trained.

---

Your Mind Is Part of Your Game

You can have a great arm.

Great vertical.

Great hands.

Great passing technique.

And still struggle to perform.

Why?

Because volleyball isn't played in a laboratory.

It's played while you're experiencing pressure.

You make mistakes.

Officials make calls you disagree with.

Teammates make mistakes.

Coaches correct you.

Parents are watching.

College coaches may be watching.

You're tired.

You're frustrated.

You're nervous.

The score is 23-23.

That's when your mental training shows up.

Not when everything is going perfectly.

**When everything starts going wrong.**

---

You Cannot Control What Happens

This is one of the most important lessons you can learn as an athlete.

You cannot control everything that happens to you.

You cannot control:

• Your coach's lineup.
• Your playing time.
• Your teammates.
• The referee.
• The opponent.
• The crowd.
• The tournament schedule.
• Who is watching.
• Whether someone makes a mistake.
• Every ball that comes your way.

But there is something you can control.

**Your response.**

That may become one of your greatest competitive advantages.

---

# The Space Between the Mistake and the Next Point

Imagine this.

You shank a pass.

The ball hits the wall.

Everyone sees it.

You immediately feel embarrassed.

Now you have a decision to make.

You can drop your shoulders.

Look at the floor.

Make a face.

Look toward your parents.

Blame the server.

Blame your teammate.

Start thinking:

*"I'm playing terrible."*

And suddenly...

One bad pass becomes something much bigger.

Because now you're carrying the last point into the next one.

Or...

You can recognize what happened.

Take a breath.

Learn from it.

Reset.

And prepare for the next ball.

The mistake already happened.

You can't change it.

But you can decide whether that mistake gets **one point of your attention or five points of your attention.**

That's mental training.

---

# Don't Give One Mistake Five Points

One of the most dangerous things athletes do is allow one mistake to multiply.

You miss a serve.

Then you're angry about missing the serve.

Now you're thinking about it while playing defense.

You're late reading the hitter.

You miss the dig.

Now you're frustrated about two mistakes.

Your body language changes.

Your confidence drops.

And suddenly one missed serve has affected four or five rallies.

The opponent didn't do that to you.

**You carried the mistake with you.**

Great competitors learn how to shorten the lifespan of mistakes.

Not eliminate them.

That's impossible.

Recover from them faster.

---

# Mental Toughness Doesn't Mean Having No Emotions

I don't want athletes thinking mental toughness means becoming robots.

You're going to get frustrated.

You're going to be disappointed.

You're going to get nervous.

You're going to care.

That's human.

Mental toughness isn't:

**"I never feel anything."**

It's:

**"I can feel something without allowing it to control what I do next."**

That's a completely different skill.

---

# Your Body Language Is Part of Your Mental Game

Your mind affects your body.

But your body can also affect your mind.

Watch what happens when athletes struggle.

Shoulders drop.

Eyes go down.

Movement slows.

Communication disappears.

Sometimes you can tell an athlete has mentally checked out before they ever say a word.

Train your physical response.

After a mistake:

Stand tall.

Make eye contact.

Communicate.

Take your breath.

Get into position.

Prepare for the next ball.

You may not *feel* confident yet.

That's okay.

Act like the competitor you're trying to become while your emotions catch up.

---

# Stop Trying to Be Positive All the Time

Mental training isn't pretending everything is wonderful.

Sometimes you played poorly.

Sometimes you made a bad decision.

Sometimes your coach is right.

Sometimes you need to improve.

The goal isn't fake positivity.

The goal is **productive thinking.**

Instead of:

*"I suck at passing."*

Try:

*"My platform was late. Get it there earlier next time."*

Instead of:

*"I can't hit this set."*

Try:

*"What adjustment do I need to make?"*

Instead of:

*"Coach is always correcting me."*

Try:

*"What is Coach trying to teach me?"*

That is a much stronger mindset.

---

# Ask a Better Question

When something goes wrong, your first thought might be:

**"Why is this happening to me?"**

Try replacing it with:

**"What is this trying to teach me?"**

That one question can change the way you experience adversity.

Maybe sitting on the bench is teaching you patience.

Maybe struggling against a great server is exposing a weakness you need to train.

Maybe losing is showing your team where it isn't ready.

Maybe criticism is identifying something you haven't noticed about yourself.

Maybe failure is forcing you outside your comfort zone.

Not every difficult experience is happening *to* you.

Sometimes it is developing you.

---

# Train the Reset

Athletes practice serving hundreds of times.

You should practice resetting too.

Create a simple reset routine.

After a mistake:

1. RECOGNIZE

What happened?

Don't hide from it.

2. BREATHE

Take one controlled breath.

3. LEARN

What information did the mistake give you?

4. RELEASE

The previous point is over.

5. REFOCUS

What does the next point require from you?

Then compete again.

RECOGNIZE → BREATHE → LEARN → RELEASE → REFOCUS

Practice this until it becomes a habit.

---

# Confidence Doesn't Come From Never Failing

Some athletes believe they'll become confident once they stop making mistakes.

That day is never coming.

The best players in the world make mistakes.

Confidence comes from knowing:

**"Even when something goes wrong, I know how to respond."**

That's powerful.

You don't have to fear mistakes as much when you trust your ability to recover from them.

---

# Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

If everything in training feels comfortable...

You may not be developing very much.

Growth usually happens near the edge of your current ability.

That means sometimes:

You're going to struggle.

You're going to fail.

You're going to look uncomfortable.

You're going to make mistakes.

Good.

That doesn't automatically mean something is wrong.

It may mean you're learning.

Your comfort zone feels safe.

But your next level probably isn't inside it.

---

# Your Brain Needs Repetitions Too

You wouldn't expect to perfect your jump serve after practicing it three times.

So why would you expect perfect emotional control after telling yourself once to:

*"Stay positive."*

Mental habits require repetition.

Every practice gives you opportunities.

Every mistake is a repetition.

Every correction is a repetition.

Every difficult teammate interaction is a repetition.

Every close game is a repetition.

Every moment of frustration is a repetition.

You're training something every time.

The only question is:

**What are you training?**

Are you practicing frustration?

Excuses?

Blame?

Negative body language?

Or are you practicing:

Resetting.

Accountability.

Composure.

Problem-solving.

Resilience.

The habits you repeat become the athlete you become.

---

# Someone May Be Watching

As you become older, understand something else.

People evaluating athletes may notice more than physical ability.

They can see how you respond after mistakes.

They can see whether you communicate.

They can see whether you support teammates.

They can see how you respond to coaching.

They can see your body language.

They can see whether adversity changes you.

You can't control who is watching.

And you shouldn't perform good character only because someone important might be there.

The better goal is this:

**Become the same athlete whether someone is watching or nobody is watching.**

Then you never have to pretend.

---

# From the Sideline

After more than 25 years around athletes, I've watched incredibly talented players struggle because they couldn't get out of their own way.

The physical ability was there.

The skill was there.

But one mistake became three.

One correction ruined practice.

One bad match became a bad weekend.

One difficult situation changed their body language.

I've also watched athletes who weren't initially the most talented become tremendous competitors.

They learned.

They listened.

They adjusted.

They handled adversity.

They kept working.

They became more confident because they discovered something:

**They could trust themselves when things got difficult.**

That's the kind of athlete I want you to become.

Don't just train your body.

Don't just train your volleyball skills.

**Train the person operating them.**

---

# CoachMikeDZ's Advice

Your mind is going to talk to you throughout a match.

Make sure you're teaching it what to say.

Don't expect yourself to never become frustrated.

Don't expect perfection.

Instead, become really good at coming back.

Come back from the bad pass.

Come back from getting blocked.

Come back from being corrected.

Come back from sitting.

Come back from losing.

Come back from embarrassment.

Come back from failure.

**Your ability to come back may eventually become more important than your ability to avoid falling behind.**

---

# YOUR CHALLENGE

At your next practice, I want you to intentionally train your mental game.

You're going to make a mistake.

Don't wait for the perfect practice.

**Use the mistake.**

When it happens:

STOP.

Take one controlled breath.

Ask yourself:

**"What did that teach me?"**

Give yourself one useful answer.

Then say:

**"Next ball."**

Stand tall.

Communicate.

Get back into position.

Compete again.

Your goal isn't to have a mistake-free practice.

Your goal is to see **how quickly you can become yourself again after making one.**

At the end of practice, ask yourself:

• What mistake bothered me the most?
• How long did I carry it?
• What did I learn?
• Did my body language change?
• Did I recover faster as practice continued?

Then do it again at the next practice.

And the next one.

That's mental training.

---

Key Takeaways

• Your mind needs training just like your body.
• Mental toughness doesn't mean eliminating emotion.
• You cannot always control what happens, but you can train your response.
• Don't allow one mistake to become several mistakes.
• Productive thinking is more valuable than fake positivity.
• Ask, "What is this trying to teach me?"
• Failure and discomfort are necessary parts of growth.
• Your body language communicates how you're handling adversity.
• Mental habits improve through repetition.
• Train yourself to reset, learn, and compete again.

---

Continue Learning

• Your Thoughts Become Your Performance
• The 10-Second Rule: Don't Let One Mistake Become Five
• Control What You Can Control
• Pressure Is Something You Can Train
• Confidence Is Built, Not Given
• Become a Sponge: The Best Athletes Never Stop Learning

You already know how to train your body.

Now start training the person inside it.

**Because the next level of your game may not begin with your vertical, your arm swing, or your strength.**

It may begin with your mind.