Coaching Mental Performance Series | Junior Volleyball Association

The goal of the Coaching Mental Performance Series is to equip coaches with the understanding to help athletes further understand their own motivation and underlying strengths, necessary adaptations, and underlying needs in sport.

Mental performance is a key aspect of sport as athletes learn and grow within the volleyball domain. Coaching Mental Performance is about arming coaches with knowledge and tools to better facilitate growth and development in their athletes. Beyond the technical and tactical skills of sport, coaches can facilitate mental and emotional growth on the court that serves athletes off of the court

This series addresses a different aspect of coaching mental performance in youth athletes each week. Coaches have access to a handout and talking points to guide them through the various elements of coaching mental performance with their team(s).

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Club Directors, Club Coaches and Junior Volleyball Educators have the resources to provide a Coaching Mental Performance program below. Begin with Part 1.

Part 1: The Neurobiology of Development and a Coach’s Impact

3 ways to create a safe environment for your athletes to learn, adapt and grow on the volleyball court.

Part 2: Developing Rapport

Rapport building is about meeting the athlete where they are at. Here are some resources to help coaches build rapport with their athletes.

Part 3: Effective Feedback During Training

The 3 Stages of Learning give us an understanding of where our athletes are in their learning process so we can facilitate longer term increases in performance through more intentional feedback.

Part 4: Motivational Interviewing Techniques for Resistant Athletes

Motivational Interviewing is a lens through which to look at behavioral change for coaches seeking to facilitate this change within their teams.

Part 5: 6 Stages of Behavioral Change and “What to do When…”

The 6 stages of behavioral change includes strategies in each stage that help 1) to reduce resistance to future change and challenges, 2) increase athlete participation, 3) reduce athlete dropout, and 4) increase athlete’s buy-in to overall team change.

Part 6: Self Care for Coaches and Athletes

Create a Self-Care Plan that addresses the four dimensions of health: Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual with nourishing activities that athletes and coaches can comfortably maintain week after week.

Part 7: Termination Conversations

The season is coming to a close and the last tune-up tournaments are taking place before the big National events. It’s the perfect time to prepare your team for the end of season through termination conversations.

Part 8: Reinforcement and Punishment

The name of the game is to increase our athlete’s tolerance to stress and help them consistently adapt to any given situation.

Part 9: Team Identity and Value Systems

When coaches put their own spin on how they train their squad, that results in a team identity that is uniquely their own and becomes an integral component of their overall performance.

Part 10: TARGET Culture and Intrinsically Motivated Athletes

The TARGET model is something coaches can use as a framework for how they develop their team’s culture that can naturally help team’s seem more “mentally tough/resilient.”

Part 11: No Such thing as a “Bad” Practice

Recognize the possibility of holding two competing truths at the same time: “I have done bad things” and “I’m doing the best that I can” as opposed to perpetually victimizing yourseld and focusing solely on negative experiences.

Part 12: Energy and Communication for Gen Z Volleyball Athletes

With Gen Z athletes, team success is often described through a dichotomy of either, “up” or “down”; that they either have an amount of “energy” that allowed them to win, or a “lack of energy” leading to an eventual loss.

Part 13: The Coaches' Ego

The more the coach exerts an amount of control over their players’ play, and/or how they think and feel about their play, the more they run the risk of impeding the players’ natural ability to…play.

Meet Rob Samp, LPC

Rob Samp is the Mental Performance Coach for MOD Volleyball, a JVA member club in Chicago, Illinois. He currently holds the title of LPC within the State of Illinois, utilizing EMDR and Brainspotting to work with complex PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety around Cook County, IL. Rob has nearly a decade of coaching experience at the junior and collegiate level. He is grateful to be continuing his pursuit for facilitating performance excellence within MOD, as well as the universities around the Chicagoland area. Click here for Rob Samp’s contact information and website.

Rob Samp’s Psychology Today Profile

Rob Samp’s Linked In Profile