February 22, 2021 | Tagged Skills,
Volleyball Acumen - What it is and why you need it
ACUMEN—WHY IT MATTERS FOR VOLLEYBALL TALENT
Decision-making is a crucial skill for volleyball. Your ability to make not only wise but immediate decisions in key moments requires skill and training. Those without acumen, often make wrong decisions, impulse ones, or decisions that don’t lead to an optimal outcome. If you aspire to be excellent at anything in life, you need to develop acumen. Simply doing a task for many years doesn’t give you acumen.
For example, learning to drive is an important skill to have, especially in cities or locations of car dependence. As a student learns to drive, the skills acquired build to a level of competency which allows them to get licensed to drive. But every skill acquisition has a level of the plateau, and research on driving shows that once a person reaches a level of competency, they start to move to autopilot where their skillset levels out and is maintained but is not improved. Driving for twenty years does not make you a better driver than a person who has been driving for five. The same is true for every task. Once a person reaches a “satisfactory skill level,” their actions and behaviors become automated, and they reach a threshold of no improvement. This is amazing!
This means that continued practice DOES NOT lead to better performance!
Acumen means that you have surpassed the satisfactory skill level and now are operating at a level beyond.
Volleyball Acumen
Most athletes experience a rapid acceleration of volleyball skill development but then at some point, their skills will begin to plateau.
The brain tends to be lazy and cut corners or go on autopilot. Finding ways to keep the brain growing and engaged is your key to building volleyball talent.
a. Try new drills.
b. Build on new experiences, make the brain work.
c. Dig deep on the drills that are more challenging. Don't cut corners on your hardest drills.
d. Love feedback and seek out recommendations for improvement.
e. Slow down the drill to a glacial pace and work on making sure every aspect of your position is picture-perfect.
g. Focus on perfect reps and see how many you can get.
h. Always practice with a notebook and write down your game plan and your rep goals. No plan = no improvement.
About NBC Volleyball
Since 1979, NBC Volleyball has helped athletes succeed on and off the court. NBC Volleyball is committed to the mission of building the habits of goal setting, visualization, skill mastery, leadership, gratitude, and personal faith. For more information visit www.nbcvolleyball.com