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Volleyball is a great sport to teach life lessons that last you your entire life. Any sport will help you build character and diligence, but volleyball has unique moves that give you mental, physical, and emotional skills to take with you outside the court. Of course you learn great time management skills, sportsmanship, responsibility, and teamwork, but there’s so much more you can learn within the game.
Play Hard, Play Well
First of all, don’t forget to stretch! All Volleyball lists the 10 muscle groups every volleyball player must stretch.
Don’t be afraid to hit the ball. Swing at everything. Even if it goes out of bounds or gets blocked, you went down swinging. If you don’t play the game, you don’t get those great moments of getting an ace. This translates off the court into taking a chance when you get the opportunity. You’ll never know what you can do unless you play the game of life.
You get better shots when you look for angles. Not every shot is going to come right to you, so you have to look for the right way to keep the ball in play. The road will get rocky out in the real world, and you have to look for the path that takes you to where you want to go.
Court boundaries are for your own good. Blockers are the first line of defense. It’s okay to say no to manage your own life. Keep the toxicity out of your life by blocking what drags you down.
Watch the setter. Pay attention to the key players who give you cues as to the ball’s trajectory. Being a great observer of people and opportunities in life will take you far. Learn to look for nuances and non-verbal cues from others to get their full intentions. Trust your gut when you feel as if something is off.
Keep focused on the game and don’t watch the bench. You miss key plays when you aren’t watching what’s happening on the court. The bench is not where the game is happening. Making a mistake doesn’t take you out of the game unless you lose concentration. Have the confidence to trust in your decisions. Even if it doesn’t work out like you planned, learn from it.
The End of the Game
Losing builds character. Mostly, though after losing you just want to hang your head in shame. You’re fueled to come back and win. Losing sucks. Winning is a great feeling. Everyone wants to win, and the real lesson in volleyball is that not everyone can win all the time. You just have to get back up to play the next game. But winning is amazing, and once you’ve experienced it you want to stay on top.
[Photo Credit: J R]
Jon Dulin is the passionate leader of Unfinished Success, a personal development website that inspires people to take control of their own lives and reach their full potential. His commitment to helping others achieve greatness shines through in everything he does. He’s an unstoppable force with lots of wisdom, creativity, and enthusiasm – all focused on helping others build a better future. Jon enjoys writing articles about productivity, goal setting, self-development, and mindset. He also uses quotes and affirmations to help motivate and inspire himself. You can learn more about him on his About page.
The parts about angles and court boundaries are fantastic. If I forced myself to follow a linear path through life, there’s no way I’d have been able to have all of the great experiences, adventures, and memories that I do now. And as for the toxic, the less, the better!
I agree Alex. As much as I like to stay on course, it’s those times when I wander off that create the best memories!