Originally published in VolleyballUSA, Winter 2010-11 issue. I can’t tell you how often I hear athletes say they’re going to cut carbs in their diet because they want to drop a few pounds. The strategy goes something like this: Scrambled eggs for breakfast without toast, water during practice, grilled chicked and veggies for dinner –...

I recently was at the NCAA Finals for Women’s D1 and four words jumped out at me that I have always found of importance, but which were being repeated in session after session. To hear others using these four words in genuine ways, makes me think we have turned a corner in volleyball.

Three Outlet Adapter – This leads my list because of the technology that we all use to be better teachers. Carrying a one to three adapter makes you a savior to one other fellow traveler, as you ask permission to change one outlet to three, one for the lucky first arriver, one for you, and one for that other fellow coach or traveler desperately needing a power source.

I love to read and learn from people much smarter than me. Dr. Daniel Kahnemann, Jon Brockman (visit the www.edge.org often and you will be thankful even if your head spins at times), John Wooden, and Albert Einstein are examples.

The two most important skills in our sport are reading (as in anticipation, not hunkering down with a great book, though that skill is VERY important in life) and learning.

One of the core concepts of motor learning is to increase the opportunities to respond. In our USA Volleyball IMPACT course, we call this increasing the contacts per hour.

For over 30 years, my mom taught first grade. I would visit her many times at school while she taught over the decades, starting from about the same height as the kids in her class, to being over six feet tall and towering over the kids, my mom, and their little chairs. What I remember from her teaching has colored my coaching, in the principles I learned from her, which would apply to coaching any sport well.

Karch Kiraly talks exuding confidence