Mick Haley's Winning Strategies: Positive Self-Talk & Mental Conditioning

As a former coach and current Sport Psychology consultant in the sport, Mike Voight has experienced and seen first hand "the power of positive." Whether it is self-talk for individual pressure from within or external pressure from a coach, or other aspects of team play, a player and/or coach should always have a plan to overcome the negative and accentuate the positive. In this presentation, Dr. Voight takes you through eight different volleyball situations that present mental challenges for players and coaches alike. In an insightful presentation, the first six situations take you into the mind of a player as she is faced with six of the most common challenges in the sport: 1) Fear of Failure, 2) Making a Run of Mistakes, 3) Receiving Constructive Criticism, 4) Dealing with Fans and Opponents, 5) Entering the Game as a Substitute, 6) Serving Under Pressure. In each of these situations, you will hear what is going through the player's mind in a negative self-talk portrayal followed by a positive self-talk portrayal. Voight offers strategies to assist in avoiding negative self-talk and how to program one's self for positive self-talk. In Situation 7, Refocusing After Breaks and Time-outs, Voight shares ideas on how to come out of each situation with a positive focus. In Situation 8, Speed of Play, Voight shares strategies for both players and coaches on not letting the game become a mental blur to a player, and how to slow down emotionally and focus on one play at a time. This presentation offers a unique and highly effective way to allow a player to witness firsthand how they can take control and realize "the power of positive."

45 minutes. 2006.