Quality X Quantity and Developing Your Game

You most likely have heard the phrase, "Practice makes perfect." But you also might've heard the phrase, "practice makes permanent" or "perfect practice makes perfect."

Whether you want to get into the semantics of all that or not, it is equally true that you want to not only have great habits and technique when you practice a skill, but you must also spend hours and hours training your muscle memory if you want to master a skill.

The primary reason I started using wall volleyball drills is because I wanted to rework my form with a lot of different volleyball skills, and then once I reworked it, I wanted to master that skill. Today, I am still doing the same thing and working towards being the most skilled player I can be. Just because I have this Volleyball Training App doesn't mean I am not constantly looking for ways to improve and challenge myself to continue to get better.

So, how can you begin to work on developing great form and technique?

1. Watch the coaching videos — Watch all of the videos that are provided in the coaching tab. Yes, this is a shameless plug for my coaching, but that is why I created all of those videos. The more you can study the right way to pass, hit, set, etc., the higher your ceiling will be, and the easier you will be able to master all of the different skills you work on.

2. Study other players — Watch other players and learn from them. One of the best ways to learn a new move or skill is to watch someone else do it first. Study how they pass, approach to hit, float serve, and any other skill you want to work on. Then, after studying how they do it, visualize yourself using those different skills. During the day, think about how you can do those exact same skills and believe that you can do them.

3. Film yourself — Film yourself and then make adjustments. As good as it is to visualize yourself doing a specific movement, it can be easy to think you are doing something, but in reality, you are not. But the film doesn't lie. So grab your phone and film yourself passing, setting, etc., and then make sure that you are doing everything that you are supposed to. If you aren't doing something, really focus on fixing that bad habit when you do drills. For example, I thought I was rotating and being fluid with my hitting motion, but then, when I watched myself, I looked stiff and rigid. So now, when I do different hitting drills, I really try to remind myself to stay loose and rotate when I hit. It isn't perfect yet, but my hitting form has come a long way!

Getting the Quantity

How can you get the quantity?

This one is easy: get on the wall and start to rep it out. Spend hours out there and get thousands of repetitions working on any skill that you want to improve on. Don't run away from your weaknesses, but instead, make it a point to turn them into strengths. You have the ability to get all the repetitions that you could ever want with a ball and a wall, and even without a wall, there are still plenty of drills you can do with just a volleyball.

So, if you want to see exponential growth in your game as a volleyball player, lock in on quality and make sure that you are executing everything the right way (it will be a work in progress as you go), and then put in the time on your own and get rep, after rep, after rep, after rep, until you have complete confidence in any move or skill you will use in a volleyball game.