Gilberts and his 7 things (first guest blogger)

Dan Gilbert is the Head Coach at Red River College and the president of the successful 204 volleyball club in Winnipeg.

Dan and I spent the summer mentoring the provincial team.  Often during the summer we would discuss what we would see>  I asked Dan if he would write his top 7 lessons from the summer.  

TRAINING FOCUS IS MANDATORY FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE

After listening to Lee Carter talk extensively about how volleyball is a visual sport based on visual cues, I thought what does this really mean? I came to the conclusion that being good at understanding the visual cues really comes down to being good at focusing on those cues and remaining focused prior to, during, and after the execution of a skill.

How often do you hear a coach say one of the following when the practice is not going well?

-        “You need to focus!”

-        “Pay attention!”

-        “We’ve lost our focus.”

-        “There is no attention to detail.”

-        “Quit being distracted!”

-        “What were you thinking?”

Can we train our athletes to be more focused and will it result in better performance? I believe the answer is not only yes, but that training focus is mandatory for peak performance.

Definition of Focus:

1.     Close or narrow attention; concentration.

2.     A condition in which something can be clearly apprehended or perceived.

Two Assumptions:

1.     The greater the focus while executing a task, the more quickly the task is learned. Focusing on the external or outcome has been shown to result in more efficient and longer lasting learning than focusing on the internal or process.

2.     Focus is required for an athlete to most efficiently identify cues that will allow them to react quickly to a situation. Fast eyes are as important, if not more important than fast feet.

7 Things Made Clear this Summer Related to Training Focus

1.     Focus should be on the internal at first, but once the motor pathway is correct the focus must change to the desired result. The majority of our training time should be spent with the focus on the desired outcome (an external focus). At first we may teach athletes to pass with their right or left foot forward, but once they do this with a high rate of success the focus must be the location of the pass.

2.     As soon as two individual skills can be executed at a high degree of success independent of one and other, start training them to be done in sequence (in the real game skills are executed in sequence). As soon as the two individual skills can be done in sequence with a high degree of success, start training them to be done in sequence with a third skill, etc. The ability to execute two or more skills in sequence requires a greater level and duration of focus. At first we may teach the float serve and digging an attack separately, but once each can be executed players must learn how to serve and then defend. Likewise, once a player shows a high degree of success digging from a known location (coach on a box), the player must be made to read the ball out of the setter’s hands to the attacker, and then defend the attack.

3.     Make each repetition count. Does each contact count in the game? If so, then we must train that same focus in practice. Use +/- drills such that each contact has a known outcome that was good or bad. Use a “strike” system such that each error contact is noted. You can use the scoreboard to give points for demonstrating the proper motor pathway or for the appropriate outcome depending on the stage of learning (locus of focus). Yes, I believe in volleyball your athletes need to be way more mentally fatigued at the end of a practice than physically fatigued.

4.     Increase the rate of repetition and keep them focused for a longer duration. If you are going to do those super boring repetitive drills with emphasis on one simple skill, then have the athletes execute the skill multiple times in a shorter period of time. Passing 3 balls in 10 seconds, maintaining focus the whole time and then taking a 50 second break is more beneficial than 3 balls in 60 seconds with 17 seconds of little focus between each contact. Avoid long lines and instead use small groups. You’ll improve execution of the simple skill more quickly and this means you can move to drills of sequence as soon as possible.

5.     Focus on the proper cues as there is such thing as wrong focus. It isn’t good enough to simply tell our athletes to “focus more” or “pay attention”. We must be specific in what cues the athlete is to focus on. If they preparing to dig an attack, are they to focus on the attacker’s shoulder or the ball. Focusing heavily on the wrong cue may actually be more harmful than less focus. Wrong cue = wrong read = wrong movement = poor execution.

6.     Demonstrate focus in many different ways as a coach. Leaders don’t tell people how to do things differently, they show them a better way. Joking with an assistant coach during drills or playing your own game of pepper while the team practices shows your lack of focus. My teams learn the term “always ready” very early in the season and I try to keep them in an anticipatory mindset at all times. At any time in a practice a random ball may be tossed or spiked in a player’s direction (especially players shagging). When you turn your back to me and I have a ball, there is pretty much a 99% chance that it will be tossed in your direction within a few seconds. If we are having a round circle discussion and I’m holding a ball, it’s going to be tossed towards a player that I’m not making eye contact with. Maybe it trains focus, maybe not. Either way it makes for some funny moments during the training session.

7.     Force the sequence and don’t let a broken play break the focus. If you are playing a great team, they will test your team’s focus as they extend the rally with limited errors and persistence. In any drill of sequence, try to find a way to keep the sequence going even if a player makes an error. For example, let’s take a simple drill where there is a serve to a passer and that ball is set to a leftside attack. If the server misses their serve, have an assistant coach (or player) put an immediate downball to the passer, so we train to remain focused (we can’t assume our opponent will let us off the hook). If the passer makes a reception error, have a ball immediately tossed in to the setter from the backcourt.

Some Background Theories on Focus and Paying Attention…

Bandura's Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura developed social learning theory around the core concept that human beings learn by watching and patterning the behavior and attitudes of others, and paying attention is the first essential process. Bandura saw attention as dependent on the relationship between a specific event and a specific learner.

Gagne's Conditions of Learning

Robert Gagne described five types of learning: verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills and attitudes. In his view, the learning process is accomplished with a series of nine instructional events, each of which results in a corresponding cognitive process. The first event, paying attention, results in the cognitive process of reception.

Gabriele Wulf’s Attention and Motor Skill Learning

When attention is directed to the desired movement effect, performance levels rise. Not only is a higher level of performance often achieved faster with an external rather than an internal attention focus, but the skill is retained better.