This was the best game of 2022. Boiler up time!

Check yourself...

February 12, 2023

Welcome to The VolleyBrains Weekly.  It's that time of the week again. 

Let's get our volleyball on. 

Here's what we've got this week

  • That one thing...

  • Hands down, the best international volleyball match of 2022!

  • Check yourself...(them deep thoughts yo 🙃)

For the smoothest 'viewing' experience press the 'read online' link at the top right of this email. Over there all clips will play in your browser without redirecting.👍

Positivity > ...anything else.

Purdue's head coach Dave Shondell about the importance of being positive...

Never forget...

yeah that GIF is a new low, bear with us...eventually we'll reach greater depths hah

I always enjoy these mic'd up practice clips...

Here's one with Dave.

HUNGRY, HUNGRY!!🔥🔥

The Shondell family, Dr. Don, Munciana, Ball State...our Euro readers won't have a clue what all that stands for (hey, I also didn't), and our US readers will very much know what's up. 

Don Shondell (Dave's father) is one of the pioneers of the college game in the United States

Head over here for a great feature about Dr. Don and his legacy.

Best game of 2022. Full stop!

Last year's World Championships quarter-final between France and Japan was effin epic. 

It had it all, suspense till the very end, nasty spikes, creativity, and technical excellence. 

I'm not somebody that goes back to rewatch a lot of games...but this one 'hits' differently.

Below you'll find a quick cut (2 minutes) of every point from 8-8 in the 5th til the end of the tiebreaker. 

Couple of things to check:

  • a decent amount of serve errors

  • from 13-13 onwards France took the heat off their serve

  • France's middle dominance (2 spikes, one 'dunk') was important

  • epic game 2+ hour match got decided by France's 3rd middle on defense?

Little side note, Japan's head coach is Phillipe Blain, he's French and Phillipe was French NT head coach from 2001 til 2012. 

Maybe it's... my fault?

The only 'marketing' we do for volleybrains.com is annoy moderators of 'volleyball' Facebook Groups with the links to our articles. đŸŤ  đŸ˜…

Last week we posted Dani Busboom Kelly's article in one of those groups. 

It's perfectly normal human behavior that quick-witted replies, and 'some' generalizations run deep in FB groups, as they do in our daily lives.

And in coaching volleyball we all know the 'Generalisation Trifecta': The kids these days, annoying parents, bad reffing...you know the gist.  😇 

But maybe there's a question to ask yourself first.

Passing the mic to the founder of CDBABY and author Derek Sivers.

I used to get mad at people. They lied. They betrayed me. They disappeared.

Do you hear the pattern? “They this. They that.”

When someone upsets you, it’s human nature to feel it’s their fault. But one day I tried thinking of everything as my fault.

I created the environment that made them feel they had to lie. I mistook their neutral behavior as betrayal. I made it more appealing for them to disappear than to communicate.

It felt so good to think it was all my fault!

This is way better than forgiving. When you forgive, you’re still assuming that they’re wrong and you’re the victim.

But to decide it’s your fault feels amazing! Now you weren’t wronged. People were just playing their part in the situation you helped create.

What power! Now you’re the person who made things happen, made a mistake, and can learn from it. Now you’re in control and there’s nothing to complain about.

This philosophy feels so good that I’ve playfully decided to apply this rule to the rest of my life. As soon as I catch myself blaming anyone for anything, I decide it’s my fault.

- The guy who ran away with my investment? My fault. I should have verified his claims.

- The love of my life who suddenly dumped me? My fault. I let our relationship plateau.

- Don’t like my government? My fault. I could get involved and change it.

Doesn’t that feel more powerful? Try it. Maybe instead of “fault” you prefer the word “responsibility,” but the idea is the same. Think of every bad thing that happened to you, and imagine that you happened to it.

Derek Sivers - founder of CDBABY

And after all that, you can be your degenerate self once again. đŸ™ƒ

If you like this newsletter, please forward to other coaches and players. It only takes 10 seconds. Producing the content and writing this takes me 3-4 hours every newsletter. Your support and help make a huge difference! Can't thank you enough! â¤ď¸ 

That's a wrap. Have a great week!

Matias

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