Volleyball Junkies: 3 Tips to Promote Athletic Success using the Power of Perspective

If you are not investing the time and energy to develop the mental side of your game, you're guilty of self-sabotage. As a Northwestern University student specializing in Economics, I have found two articles on how to frame challenges to foster better athletic performance, which will interest you. 

2016 Olympic medalist and current pro player Kelsey Robinson picked Carli Lloyd's brain for her blog Nom and Play. Carli Lloyd is a highly acclaimed and well-respected player in the volleyball world, as she is a Bronze Olympic medalist and was recently inducted into University of California Berkeley's Hall of Fame. Robinson's blog post gives you a glimpse into how Lloyd processes the world around her, learning to frame change as an opportunity. She attributes her ability to persevere in the face of challenges to first "accepting what is" and then focusing on what she can control.

Image by Matt Brown via USAV

Karch Kiraly, the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team Head Coach, periodically shares snippets of wisdom to his blog on the USA Volleyball website. His 2012 blog post titled "Stuff Happens Learn to Love It" outlines how embracing adversity better positions you for success. Kiraly's message is similar to one of my favorite quotes: "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond". When things do not play out as planned, you are still in control of dictating the outcome. Kiraly encourages his readers to start expecting life's curve balls, so you can spend less time fixating on the ensuing negatives and more time figuring out how to deal with them.

Based on my review of these two articles and my studies at Northwestern, I have created 3 tips to use when focusing on strengthening the mental side of your game.

• Be Present: Do not dwell on mistakes because you cannot change the past.

• Expect the Unexpected: Accept that you will be faced with adversity in both sports and life, and learn to rise to the occasion.

• See Big Picture: Find joy in the process because preparation does not guarantee the desired result.

It is time to start investing as much in your mental strength as your physical strength to get the most out of your athletic career. When athleticism is similar, mindset is the differentiating factor. 

Taylor Tashima is a four-year starter and 3x captain of the Northwestern University Varsity Volleyball Team. She is passionate about training and mentoring ambitious high school athletes who desire to pursue volleyball at the collegiate level and beyond. An aspiring professional volleyball player, she has experience representing USA in countries including Thailand, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Mexico. In 2013, she captained the USA Youth Team that took the Silver medal versus China at the World Championships. This achievement was significant, as it marked the first US medal in a World Championship for either gender at the youth or junior level. She will be graduating from Northwestern in June 2018 with a degree in Economics, minor in Business, and certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications.