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![[image loading]](http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ku7j27i84K1qznsg8o1_r1_500.jpg)
Hey guys;
Lately I've been playing a lot of Volleyball..
I started playing it to get my mind off a relationship that didn't end well from that summer and I wanted something to occupy my mind.
Well one obsession led into another and I can honestly say that I felt my progression in volleyball grow and grow until about a couple of weeks ago..
(Figuratively).. I hit a major wall and have been declining ever since..
I've lost confidence, I feel myself questioning my value on the court because in a team sport, I'm sure you all know it SUCKS letting down your team mates..
I just don't know what to do to get over this hump.
I'm not gonna lie to you.. one of the things I'm scared more about right now is that this is how it will be from now on. That this is my skill cap. I can't explain it but I'm practicing everyday, I'm waking up early, going to bed late at night just practicing..
But when I get onto the court and play a real game.. it's just not there..
Does anyone know what to do from here?
I know it feels like maybe a bit trivial but this does seem like.. psychology based and that's not really my specialty at all.
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when i hit a hump in basketball i take a few days off and chill and then i work harder than ever when i get my motivation back
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You mean when you get to the court the wall's no longer there or you just don't do as well as you want to? Either way, just keep at it. You improve most at first, from there on out your rate of improvement greatly decreases. You just have to keep at it.
Edit: Taking a short break can help too.
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Yep. This is the slump phase that happens just before you begin to master something. There is typically a second slump phase farther down the line before you can really enjoy mastery and you begin to see extremely diminishing returns on your practice time, but it's mostly the same for everything.
You're slumping. You may be trying things slightly differently that are better at a higher level of play without realizing it. If you are doing this, you might be changing your whole game even a tiny amount without really realizing it yet. This is what I've found with my own slumps in things. I try something new that, unknown to me, has a higher skill cap associated with it, but because it is a new thing to me I feel like a beginner again for a while before improving rapidly and passing my last peak. Some people also say that there is a tunnel you must pass through like a test from the gods (or perhaps yourself) before you can achieve greatness, like if you don't really love it, it's not worth your time, so your passion is being tested as a sort of defense mechanism against wasting time on something you don't really enjoy doing. Whatever you believe, it's necessary to cross that bridge to improve at anything.
You begin by walking. Then you run. But you must change the way you move in order to run, because Olympic Power Walking just looks weird, and you can't sprint that way.
Edit: Here's the image that describes what I'm talking about.
![[image loading]](http://www.dartbase.com/phases.jpg)
It's talking about darts, but it can be applied to anything worth doing.
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Most of the people I played volleyball with were weird and overconfident. Not that I think it's a bad thing. I think that just happens to be the best mindset to have when you have to always be confident in yourself to do well but also deal with mistakes that give the other team points.
Like all those teams that would just go overly enthusiastic cheering and yelling all the time, I think it's necessary to maintain a good mindset for the entire match. It sucks because when you lose a point, it's undeniable that it's your fault. It's different compared to say, basketball or football, because in those sports, if you make a mistake, you just lose the ability to score points or make it easier for your opponents to score points. In volleyball, mistakes are directly the cause of the opponents scoring. So because of that, you have to learn to shrug it off and play totally confident in yourself.
You almost have to put on a different personality when you step onto the court. At least that's what my experience in playing has been.
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On December 04 2011 15:45 Emporio wrote:
Most of the people I played volleyball with were weird and overconfident. Not that I think it's a bad thing. I think that just happens to be the best mindset to have when you have to always be confident in yourself to do well but also deal with mistakes that give the other team points.
Like all those teams that would just go overly enthusiastic cheering and yelling all the time, I think it's necessary to maintain a good mindset for the entire match. It sucks because when you lose a point, it's undeniable that it's your fault. It's different compared to say, basketball or football, because in those sports, if you make a mistake, you just lose the ability to score points or make it easier for your opponents to score points. In volleyball, mistakes are directly the cause of the opponents scoring. So because of that, you have to learn to shrug it off and play totally confident in yourself.
You almost have to put on a different personality when you step onto the court. At least that's what my experience in playing has been. Yeah, I always played soccer better when stupidly confident. Otherwise I go off on tilt and do terribly.
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well it depends a lot. What exactly is your problem?
First of all Volleyball is EXTREMElY difficult. I'd say it's the most difficult, but still well-known, team sport. Usually you can say, to reach a decent level you have to play regularly for at least 2 years. To be as good as playing on an overregional(let's say fourth league+) level u either have to have a lot of experience with lots of different sports or you have to start with a good technique education in young years(14-). Otherwise it's gonna be really difficult.
The second problem is: what is your position? I don't know the english words so just: are u a setter? libero? 4? diagonal(2)? mid(3)?
To help you with your training we should know that because each position needs completely different advice, training, skill- and mindset 
I made the experience that training technique every day isn't helpful in Volleyball. I'd rather have three days off to get my mind off of training, do some strength, athletics, etc.
Have you talked to your trainer about your problems? Does he see the same ones? etc.
And the most important one: In Volleyball you have to be extremely patient. It's just hard as fuck.
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From a psychological perspective you seem to be over aroused during match situations. Arousal being a term for too much stimulus. The amount of stimuli a person can manage while maintaining a certain level of play is different. Mental toughness and coping strategies vary from person to person. You seem to have the right attitude overall, instead of blaming mistakes on external factors you are internalising everything and your action/reaction is to practice more. That said you could be over internalising as a result your mistakes are being interpreted as failures and letting the team down. Mistakes are part of sport, everyone makes them, the learning curve for sport is different and it really is dynamic from day to day and month to month. You are training hard at the minute but you need to make sure that your training is focused and smart. Body conditioning, sports specific skills or repetitive motor function training. Work out what is causing your mistakes in game. If you are not struggling with these in practice and its just a match day problem then maybe you need to develop a pre-match routine and use this to help focus you on the task at hand. Mistakes are a self perpetuating and self fulfilling prophecy in that mental patterns as well as actions can be the crux of the negative/positive disposition. Setting goals or targets per practice or match are decent methods to attain focus as well as help increase confidence through reaching goals.
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EPT
