Blog #5: Performing Under Pressure 

Following some recent observations and conversations, I’m writing a blog about performing under pressure. Specifically, I want to share some considerations concerning dealing with consecutive points loss in a game. Keep reading if you want to learn more about some mental skills that will help players “reset” and control/maintain their performance. I’ll also share some implications for your coaching – how you can tailor your coaching to meet the needs of the player’s you coach.  

Self-Confidence 

Confidence plays a significant role in the way we perform. In a game of volleyball, it is likely that confidence will change during performance (increasing or decreasing). I believe there is a difference between confidence and self-confidence.  

Confidence stems from external sources. It is supported by experience and results. 

Self-Confidence is internal. It is based on the belief that you have about yourself. It comes from within and comes prior to experience or success.  

So why does this matter? Having a strong belief about yourself and your abilities, without evidence, will encourage you to 1. Approach challenges, 2. Try new things, 3. Step outside your comfort zone, 4. Increase effort, 5. Select appropriate strategies, 6. Regulate unwanted thoughts and emotions. The list goes on!  

Typically, we see confidence and self-confidence as connected. A poor result, dealing with consecutive points loss, an error, etc. can lead to a sudden loss of confidence AND self-confidence. Can we separate confidence from self-confidence?  

To perform at the highest level, self-confidence should be like the trunk of a tree, with its roots firmly in the ground. The tree is strong. It is sturdy. In this analogy, confidence is the leaves. Leaves can blow off. Leaves can also grow back. During a game, you might witness me make mistakes. The opposition might single me out on serve receive. You might see my confidence starting to fade, just like the colour of the leaves. Regardless of the experience, I want my self-confidence to remain constant. I trust in myself and believe in my abilities. Like the tree trunk, my self-confidence is robust.  

Implications for Coaching Practice 

1. Let’s talk more about SELF confidence. Asking a player to ‘play with more confidence’ or telling them to ‘be more confident’ might have limitations. Remember, confidence blows about in the wind. Show players that you trust/believe in them and help players to trust/believe in themselves.  

1. Praise effort (when its warranted) and improvement. Challenges are inevitable in volleyball. We want to support players to approach challenges. Help players to develop the skillset, mindset, and habits to navigate situations in the future.  

1. Our thoughts effect our feelings. Our feelings effect our behaviour. Encourage players to use positive self-talk that focuses attention on being self-confident. For example, “I am, I can, I will, I do” or “believe it, receive it”. Positive self-talk is a word, comment, command (without an answer) to improve focus and reduce anxiety.  Help players to replace negative thoughts (and feelings) with positive ones.  

Focus and Distraction Control  

Michael Phelps once emphasised, “When I’m focused, there is not a single thing…that can stand in the way of my doing something.” The ability to focus attention to the task at hand, while ignoring distractions (internal or external), is a key ingredient of successful performance. Focus, attention, and concentration can either help or hinder an athlete’s performance.  

A crucial aspect of an athlete’s skillset lies in their ability to transition between attentional styles, adapting to the demands of each task or situation. Attention can either be internal or external and broad or narrow. When athletes are focus inward (thoughts, emotions, the body) they are said to have an internal focus. Athletes who are focused on the environment (ball, teammates, opposition, court) are using an external focus. In terms of width, a broad focus is when an athlete is paying attention to a great deal of information (ball, setter, ball, hitter) whereas focusing on one stimuli (the middle of the ball) is considered narrow.  

I’m going to stop the theory stuff here. If we continue down that path, things will become increasingly academic and less relevant to your coaching practice. Instead, I want to talk through some digestible and applicable ideas. 

1. Control your thoughts. Focus your attention.  

As mentioned, a major component of concentration is the ability to focus one’s attention on what is most important and thereby not be affected by external (the crowd and opposition) and internal (negative thoughts and feelings) triggers. Unless concentration skills have been mastered, performance will almost always suffer. Control your thoughts is to decrease attention to irrelevant triggers. Focus your attention is to increase attention to relevant cues. Concentration also means being totally present. ‘Play in the 4, 5, 6’ is a simple attentional cue for players. Playing in the 1, 2, 3 means our attention is drifting into the past. Playing in the 7, 8, 9 means our attention is wandering into the future. ‘Play in the 4, 5, 6’. This type of cue can help an athlete to shift the attention to the task at hand and thus help them to avoid distracting thoughts (and feelings) taking over.  

1. The benefits of an external focus of attention. There is extensive evidence that indicates an external focus of attention (where athletes direct their attention at the effects that their movements have on the environment) is usually more effective that an internal one (in which athletes focus on their own body movements) when it comes to learning and performance. An external focus facilitates performance by promoting automatic processes, whereas an internal focus induces a more conscious type of control, constraining the body (Singh and Wulf, 2021).  

Let’s use serve receive as an example. An external focus of attention would be - ‘focus on the target’, and an internal focus of attention would be - ‘focus on your arms’. Note here, encouraging a player to - ‘focus on your platform’ can promote an external focus because the body part is being replaced with an image of an object. For a novice player, they may benefit from an external focus that is closer to the body (i.e. the ball or the platform). For advanced players, they may perform better with an external focus that is further away from the body (i.e. the target).  

Implications for Coaching Practice 

1. Telling a player to ‘pay attention’ or to ‘focus’ might not create the desired impact. Create concentration activities in training whereby players experience using different attentional strategies. Design activities that help players shift between a broad to narrow focus.  

1. Train athletes to transform failure into success by mentally rehearsing successful performances. Remember, what you think, you become.  

1. Arousal (action within the body) indirectly affects attention, judgement, and memory. Help players to turn down the arousal thermostat with techniques like breathing and positive self-talk.  

1. Use different types of cues when coaching to encourage players to focus their attention externally, internally, near, and far. Use analogies. Understand what works best for each player.  

To close the loop on this blog, I want to tie this all together with a scenario.  

I just shanked my pass, and we lost the point. Odds are, serve is coming my way. The opposition bench is cheering. First thing I do – I smile. That releases endorphins. It helps to reduce my heart rate and boost my mood. I breath in through my nose. I take in more oxygen that way. It stimulates the production of enzymes that reduce blood pressure. I’m regulating my body’s response. Now I need to control my thoughts. I remind myself to “put your crown back on”. I trust myself and I believe in my abilities. I block out the distracting external (and internal) triggers to focus on the task at hand. I shift my focus to narrow and internal. I am preparing. I am mentally rehearsing a successful pass. I’m in my playing box. “Play in the 4, 5 ,6”. Then I shift to being narrow and external…just as the ball is tossed “see the ball… platform… target”.  

Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu - Adorn the birds with feathers so it can fly 

Club Champs 2024 saw our C.O.D.E-F Wāhine coaching, playing, or both across this year's tournament. An important piece of the story to share is that Kim Smith the (C.O.D.E-F Facilitator) was in a position this season where Mary Edmonson (Mezza) who was a participant in this programme was her Club Coach. This is what Kim had to say when we asked...

"What was it like Kim as the C.O.D.E-F Facilitator with Mezza who was a part of the programme as your Coach this season?"

"I was so excited to be coached by Mezza. Every training was sooo fun. We were always challenged to switch our brain on instantly. Mezza trialled individual works ons this season and made the time to have chats with what and how each person would work on these. This transparency was great the whole team were able to support each other to get better at their work on. Mezzas game plans at tourney were on point!! She would spend a bit more time at the gym to ensure she was happy with our game plan. She used a whiteboard and if something on the plan changed she would change it here too. 

I loved how Mezza and Sarah (Also C.O.D.E-F Alumni) continued to work closely together. They initially did observations on each other during the C.O.D.E-F programme and they supported each other sitting on each others benches during Season and into Nationals as much as they could. Mezza really valued having a sounding board and for Sarah to be watching for something in particular so that Mezza could just focus on the overall game." - Kim Smith SVC Silverbacks Women's Player 

Mezza shared how important the collaborative approach with her senior players was this season. "We work very collaboratively so Kim, Petra, Gab… would suggest a different drill or a change of direction and often we would go in that direction. Ultimately I guess it was my decision as to what we would do as their prime focus was their game."

Here are some of the other insights shared by C.O.D.E-F alumni, highlighting how the lessons from C.O.D.E-F influenced their approach to this competition.

It Takes a Village.

Just listen and ask, because it takes more than a village to coach a team. - Mary Edmonson, SVC Silverbacks Women Coach 

Player-Led Time Outs and Enhanced Game Strategy

Theory-Driven Training Sessions and Season Structuring 

Building a Stronger Community

Boosting Confidence and Tactical Decision-Making

The learnings from C.O.D.E-F gave me a huge boost in confidence as a coach. Even though we had a tough season, I felt more secure in my decisions, particularly when it came to calling timeouts and understanding what needed to be communicated during those breaks. Asking more questions of the players allowed me to dig into their decision-making processes and gave me new tools to use in high-pressure situations. A proud moment came when we won our semi-final—a tight match where we came from behind in every set, including a dramatic 5th set where we were down 13-11. After the game, a player from the duty team congratulated us, and I was moved when they mentioned how great it was to see a female coach leading a team to victory. - Treena Blythe Tauranga Tigers B Women Head Coach 

More Information About C.O.D.E-F 

In July 2023 Kim Smith and Volleyball New Zealand were successful in receiving funding through High Performance Sport New Zealand Women in Residency programme. The coaching programme was targeted towards women coaching within the national pathway or those with aspirations to do so in the future. CODE-F was designed as a coaching programme for women, by women. It focused on the key elements of it being responsive, bespoke and participant-focused. The structure of the programme was research-informed and had key focuses around visibility, confidence, capability and building a strong network to feel connected to. The following coaches were successful in being part of the first cohort 

At the conclusion of the year-long project: 46% of C.O.D.E-F group are now coaching in national programmes 66.7% indicated they will be applying for national coaching roles as they arise as part of their next steps.

Grow your coaching knowledge with the Level II Grow Coach Course! 

We have two exciting sessions coming up—one in North Harbour, co-facilitated by Rob Tarr and Shaun Matthews, our Coach Development Manager, and another in Otago, led by Shaun himself. These sessions provide a fantastic opportunity to connect with fellow coaches in your region and gain practical, actionable takeaways you can immediately apply in your own coaching environments. Don’t miss out on this chance to grow your expertise and elevate your coaching game. 

Upcoming! 

North Harbour: Saturday 2^nd November – Click HERE to register

Otago: Saturday 9^th November – Click HERE to register

For any questions please email shaun@volleyballnz.org.nz 

Level III Te Whanake Coach Course takes the sand in 2025!

The Level III Te Whanake (Develop) BEACH Coach Course is a newer initiative that provides coaches with the opportunity to enhance their skills and grow in their craft. For those coaching beach volleyball or transitioning into beach coaching, this course offers a more tailored experience, focusing on the unique demands and strategies of beach coaching.

it’s awesome to be able to offer beach specific support for coaches who are passionate about developing their craft on the sand’.

Details  for the Level III Te Whanake (Develop) BEACH Coach Course – Registration Form

Participant: Te Whanake is the ideal course for beach coaches of competitive players (club, senior sec school, IPC). Coaches are encouraged to complete Level II Te Tipu (Grow) Course OR show evidence of prior learning/experience with coaching.

What will I learn? Coaches will learn about attacking, defending, and advanced volleyball tactics, as well as generic coaching material such as performing under pressure, developing decision makers, motivation, and much more. 100% of coaches who provided feedback from the 2024 programme indicated that they would be ‘very likely’ to recommend this course to other coaches!

Cost: $139.95 + GST. If your club/school/region is willing to cover/part cover the cost of the course, please indicate so on the registration form.

Dates:

Session 1: Sunday 16th February OR Sunday 23rd February, 9:00am - 12:30pm via Zoom 

+ Midweek Online Forum in March

Session 2: Saturday 12th April and Sunday 13th April (Auckland)

Session 3: Sunday 15th June OR Sunday 22nd June, 9:00am - 12:30pm via Zoom 

+ Midweek Online Forum in March

If anybody has any questions, please touch base with Shaun Matthews (Coach Development Manager at Volleyball New Zealand) – shaun@volleyballnz.org.nz