Bringing It Back to the Basics

                So often in sports, people question why they are not successful. They practice hard and keep pushing themselves to new extremes; however, they do not see improvement. This is caused mainly by one thing. They forget to first get down the basics.

           This can easily and directly be applied to volleyball. In order to become not just good but great, you have to first get down the basic fundamentals. According to Bing Dictionary fundamental is defined as basic: relating to or affecting the underlying principles or structure of something. This basically means that it is the strength or the support behind the fancy stuff. Behind every jump serve is a basic fundamental. Behind every pancake there is a basic fundamental.

             These basic fundamentals can be broken into underhand and overhand serves, digging, passing, and setting. In order to be a successful volleyball player, you have to perfect these basic fundamentals. You can’t just be good, or great, or even proficient. You have to be perfect. Then and only then will you be successful in your volleyball abilities.

 

The book, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, gives a common theme throughout of a “10,000 hour rule”. In his book, Malcolm is basically stating that to become great or perfect at something, you have to put in a tremendous amount of effort. You have to put in the time to become perfect at something. That is all there is to it. Many will practice for an hour a day and call it good. Gladwell disagrees. He believes that three hours of practice is what it takes. If you constantly practice perfection you will succeed.

 

Whether that practice is sitting at a wall with a ball setting the ball against the wall for hours or getting friends together for a day of sand volleyball, they will help for you to get better. With practice and hard work and perfecting the fundamentals, you will be able to become a much better player.