Author: Vernon Gambetta
Venice Volleyball Update
Yesterday the season ended two matches short of our goal of the state championship. We lost to two time and defending state champion Tampa Plant in four games. No statistics or won loss records can tell the story of this team. I struggle to find words to describe how I feel right now. Sure I am disappointed, but that is not it. We ended with a loss, which no one wants to do, but no team I have ever worked with has come so far in the course of season. We have no seniors, all juniors and sophomores, but we matured and grew and by the end of the season were playing like veterans. Someone described us as looking like a nest of hornets on the court the way we moved and played defense. We had only one player over six feet (barely) but we played like giants. We fought Plant and made them earn the victory. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with these young ladies and the great coaching staff. I hope each of you in your professional careers have the opportunity to work with a group of young ladies like this. This journey is not over, after the match the girls were down but all of them can look into themselves and be satisfied in their commitment and hope for the future. This is a team to be reckoned with next year. We will start again in January with our work outs in the parking lot and they will come back mentally and physically stronger than ever. Hope and optimism are the emotions that I feel and I know the girls feel that way after yesterdays match. This group of coaches and athletes renewed my passion for coaching. I will be thankful for them the rest of my life.
Thoughts on Being the Best
Control what can, not what you can’t! Be Smart. Work on something specific each day. Have a plan! Train with a purpose. Improvement is incremental. Small steps lead to big steps. Pressure – Pressure is what you make it! Use the pressure to make you better, internalize it and use it as a positive influence. Belief – Think you are the best and you are on your way. Confidence, believe in yourself, your preparation and your support system. Routine – Great athletes doing the same thing, the same way, at the same time each day. Regularity. You can set a clock by the great ones. Work– Every one works. The great ones work smarter. Analyze your strengths and weaknesses objectively. Minimize your weaknesses and optimize your strengths. Bring your weaknesses up to the level of your strengths. Choices – It is always about choices. Make the choice to be the best. Life is constantly about choices. Improvement – Michael Jordan, as good as he was, got better every year he played! He would pick one aspect of his game each off-season and set out to improve that aspect with relentless determination. Perfection – The perfect game has yet to be played, in fact it will probably never be played. The perfect race has yet to be run. That does not mean we should not strive for perfection, it does mean that that we should strive for perfection but not be frustrated when we do not achieve perfection. Take chances, risk, try a new move in a game, take on a defender. Make things happen! Mental Toughness – Physical preparation gives mental strength. Push yourself, do not give in. Go the extra step and the extra mile. Effort – Performance may vary, but effort is a constant. You have control over your effort. Make it high energy, high level and purposeful. Consistent effort will level out the peaks and valleys in performance. Goals – It is about goal achievement not goal setting. Anyone can set goals, but few can achieve goals! Dreams are private. Goals are public. Share them. Find people to support you to achieve your goals. Be specific both in setting your goals and the means to achievement. Constantly visualize yourself achieving your goals! Focus – No rabbit ears! Program your inner voice to respond only to what you tell it. Only listen to your positive self-talk. Filter out the negatives. Evaluation – Self-assessment is a constant for those who chose to be great. Be objective. Look at the positives and the negatives. It is an ongoing process. Evaluation and self-assessment are a series of stepping-stones necessary to climb the staircase of success. Be yourself and true to yourself. You are great and will get better!
Volleyball Arm Swing
Several weeks ago Jill Gerber wrote the following: “In working with the Venice Volleyball team what kinds of things are you doing to connect the whole body movements of throwing to the body movement of the attack arm swing? I am finding that most volleyball players rely heavily on a shoulder/arm movement rather than a more hip, trunk, shoulder, elbow, wrist chain of movement.” Jill, first of all let me apologize for not answering sooner, just kind of fell between the cracks. I believe in using a variety of medicine ball throwing movements to reinforce the concept of total chain involvement. At least two days a weeks we do an upper body wall throw module with a 3 kg ball using two arms and then the same series one arm with either a 1kg or 2 kg ball depending on the individual players needs. Two other days a week we do Total Body Power throws for distance and the other day a different total body throw series designed to reinforce arm lag and hip lead. With specific individuals whom the coach feels need to improve arm speed with do a program of manual resistance, stretch cord fast eccentric work and throwing with various weight and size balls. I really think the root of the problem with the girls volleyball players is that they do not have a good foundation in throwing mechanics. That is something I am going to emphasize more in the 09 off season. I am going to just have them play catch with a football or a softball.
Venice High School Baseball
Last week we tested or more exactly competed in the Upper Body Triathlon. We tested Jungle Gym Pull-ups, Dips and Push-ups. The winner was determined by the player who got the highest number of total reps. Great spirit and good competition. These kids have been training since June. They have done a superb job and shown great improvement. We are now starting our Get Fast phase, more emphasis on speed development now that we have a good base of Foundational Strength. This is a good high school program with coaches who get it, very much like the Venice Volleyball program, the kids are disciplined and held to a standard of behavior. That is a prerequisite for any program I work with. This epitomizes the weight room without walls concept. All out training is done at the baseball complex in a covered batting cage or the grass with sandbags, jungle gyms, and dumbbells.
Books
Amazon seems to be a good source of used books now. I have used Abe books quite a bit in the past for used books. Any of you that read Spanish most of the classic training works are available in Spanish. I have ordered a fair number of training books in Spanish from Editorial Paidotribo. We need to figure out a way to make these out of print books available. Hope this helps
Warm-up the Hidden Edge
Found this in the archives – Thought it would shed some light on this now "controversial aspect of training. This was written in 2002, before movement prep was born! Warm-up is the most neglected part of the workout, yes it is part of the workout. The workout begins with the warm-up! The first mistake that people make is to take warm-up for granted. It sets the tempo for the workout to follow. It is the bridge from normal daily activities to actual training. Too much emphasis in warm-up is placed on raising core temperature and heart rate, from a physiological perspective that is not my main concern, rather it is neural activation. Getting everything firing properly to prepare for the more intense work to follow in the actual workout is most important. From a psychological perspective the warm-up should almost be a ritual. This is a security point or anchor for the athlete regardless of the situation. The warm-up is “active” not continuous. It should build progressively in intensity into the workout. There is a great emphasis on mobility, not much on static flexibility. Stretching does not warm you up! It is only a part of warm-up. Flexibility is trained as a separate training unit, preferably after the workout. For descriptions of the actual exercises, sample warm-ups as well as cool down activities, see the Warm-up and Preparation video. The coordination portion of warm-up should be tailored to fit the theme of that day’s workout. That will serve to specifically prepare the athlete for the day’s activities as well as add much needed variety. Pay particular attention to the order and sequence of the warm-up. It is designed to flow synergistically from one exercise into the next. Last but no least, think of warm-up as a daily investment in general fitness training. Given that warm-up should be a minimum of twenty mites a day, the cumulative fitness benefits of warm-up rapidly accrue. Twenty minutes a day, six day a week adds up to two additional hours of training a week. Over forty-eight training weeks that represents a significant amount of training time. Active Multi-Stage Warm-up 1) Mini Band Routine (12” band above ankles) Sidestep Walk – Forward/Back Carioca Monster Walk 2) Basic Core (3 Kg Med Ball) Wide Rotation x 20 Tight Rotation x 20 Side to Side x 20 Chop to Knee x 20 Figure 8 x 20 Big Circle x 5 each direction 3) Balance & Stability Single Leg Squat (Hold each position five counts) a) Straight 2 x ea leg b) Side 2 x ea leg c) Rotation 2 x ea leg Balance Shift Shift Right – Shift Left Forward Right – Forward Left Back Right – Back Left 4) Multi Dimensional Stretch Lunge & Reach Series ( 2 reps in each plane – Forward/Side/Rotational) Reach Up Reach Out & Down Reach Across Jack Knife Crawl x 5 Spiderman Crawl x 5 5) Active Stretch (No more than two minutes) Calf Hamstrings Psoas Lats Pecs 6) Coordination (All @ 30 meters x 2) Skip Crossover Skip Side Step Carioca Backward Run High Skip High Skip with Rotation 7) Accelerations 4 – 6 x 30 meters 8) Sport Specific Activities
Dietrich Harre – Principles of Sports Training
The bibles according to Harre as some of my friends refer to it. An outstanding basic book, not because it is East German, there are no secrets just sound training concepts. I am rereading this for the umpteenth time. I find it keeps me grounded in the principles of training, no glitz, no glamor, no marketing, just basics. Every time I read it I marvel at the simplicity of the concepts. In the midst of this read it dawned on me how much influence the concepts taught in this book influences me. Really nothing especially profound, in the content, just common sense and sound pedagogy. It also serves to remind that training did exist before the internet, I know this will surprise many of the current generation of "internet experts." This book is a must for a coaches library, unfortunately this book is now out of print. I think if you search on used book sites you can still find it.
The Work Ahead
This is not a political blog. I made those comments on good faith, faith in a country that my parents came to seeking the American dream that they were able to provide for my brother and I. I have one message to those of you commented, no one is forcing you to read this blog. It is definitely a free country. My thoughts and ideas, in fact my persona go far beyond athletic development. We cannot ignore the world we live in.