OTL’s volleyball program is founded on five essential components that benefit all of our athletes.
Have you ever heard the saying, “Stand for something or you’ll fall for everything”? This saying has resonated with me over many years and affected every responsibility I have held in athletics, from a player to a coach and now as a business owner. Our volleyball program represents a unique opportunity for every player to improve and grow as an athlete and as a person.
We have talked about constructing a foundation, using the example of a house. We discussed the 5 Point Value system that we stand on as our foundation. Both staff and athletes intentionally pursue these 5 essential components in order to stand firm for what we believe athletics can offer to our youth.
Being Authentic
Creating Unity
Giving our Best Effort
Aiming to Persevere and
Knowing our Purpose
Today, I want to share with you our very simple process. Teach. Train. Perform. Popular these days are buzzwords like “intense training” or “advanced skills training” Our process of Teach, Train and Perform, is the fundamental view of what we stand strong for day in and day out.
Teach. “You haven’t taught until they have learned” – John Wooden
Proper teaching is top of mind for the OTL coaching staff. If you find that your kids are not understanding what you are saying then you must find another way to get the point across, right?
Sometimes, that means explaining the same concept in 12 different ways, so you better hope those creative juices start flowing. Some athletes learn through verbal cues and others through physical demonstration.
Some need to feel the pressure placed on them while others thrive off of pure encouragement and a pat on the back. Bottom line, athletics are not a one size fits all approach.
Each player is unique in their many ways of learning. OTL focuses on segmenting the learning process so that each athlete can consume small bite-size pieces of information that’s easy to digest. We will dive a little deeper into this topic as we move forward.
Train. “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard” – Tim Notke
Training is a concept that, in my opinion, has gone by the wayside in youth sports. You see teams’ “practice” but they don’t “train”. Wondering what the difference is?
A practice used to be a repetitive act that athletes perform over and over again in order to complete a task or refine a skill. Much like a woodworker’s chisel slowly digging small pieces out of the wood to reshape and reform a tree into a beautiful masterpiece.
Unfortunately, today, practice has become a moment in time where players socialize, get a small workout in, possibly learn something new and play some games along the way.
This Is Why We Use The Term “Train” With Our Volleyball Program
Training cannot be mistaken for frivolous activity. Training is an attentive commitment to work hard, each and every moment, continuously trying to better oneself in order to accomplish a given task, it’s a lifestyle.
Training takes focus, drive, and competitiveness. Athletes want success, but the only time that success comes before work is in the dictionary. Our mission is to train the whole athlete, which means we not only work on physical conditioning and technical training, but we include personal goal setting, nutritional guidance, mental toughness and we work to build resiliency.
Perform. “There is only one way to succeed at anything and that is to give everything” – Vince Lombardi
Last, but not least, all of our hard work in teaching and training can be displayed through our performance. We firmly believe in the old adage that if you trust the process, namely hard work and preparation, the results will take care of themselves.
The performance piece of our model is the time at which our athletes have their moment to shine, showing how hard they have worked. They get the chance to own their outcome.
Performing is a time in which an athlete can experience the light at the end of the tunnel. Through the challenges, the numerous repetitions, the sweat and sometimes the tears it can leave a bitter taste but, in the end, it becomes so sweet because of the progress and growth they themselves and those around them can see.
It takes leadership and consistency to stand for something, which can be hard in an ever-changing culture of athletics. It may seem different and far from mainstream popular “practice”, even sounding a little “old school” but this is truly what our volleyball program represents. Tried and true.
Our affirmation to you – Be bold, proclaim your values and don’t be afraid to stand alone for something you know is right.