Congratulations to Ryan Ammerman for not only winning a national championship at UC Irvine but for being named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player in the process. This is Ryan's second NCAA national championship during his tenure with the Anteaters.
For those of you who subscribe to Prep Volleyball, be sure to see the Gym Dandies feature which includes 18 Black's McCall Paynter and 16 Blue's Laura Whalen. Also appearing over the weekend was an article featuring 17 Silver's Rachel Gillcrist. See that article here.
Time For the Next Breakthrough
Congratulations to all six teams (Pink, Amber, White, Blue, Black, Granite) now preparing for the challenges they'll face at JO's.
The one thing you can depend on at Front Range is that there's more work to be done to become an even better player than you are now! Every Front Range team is going to be facing very challenging competition at AAU's and JO's in just over a month. And every player is now being challenged in the 20-20 Extreme drill that's designed to help you take ownership of the high point scoring, low error volleyball that the best teams in the country are playing.
In the silo you are again encountering what we call the Breakthrough Model, and you go through the wave several times each season. It can feel pretty uncomfortable to go through it, especially if you don't understand where it's taking you. It's taking you on the journey of becoming an ever-better player. Here's how:
The Breakthrough Model takes you through a four stage process that repeats as long as you are striving to improve as a volleyball player. The stages include 1) unconscious competence, 2) conscious incompetence, 3) conscious competence, and 4) breakthrough.
-
Unconscious competence - a pretty comfortable place where you trust the skill you bring to the court and you don't have to think about executing, you just react.
-
Conscious incompetence - a very uncomfortable place where you've determined that the skill as it exists isn't good enough to get you where you want to go and you become very aware of how it doesn't work. Worse, the new technique you're learning feels very awkward and you are wondering if you just made a big mistake in trying to change.
-
Conscious competence - a less uncomfortable place where you begin to see some good results from the change you're making. The results are still inconsistent, and it's hard to have to think so much about doing something that used to feel very natural.
-
Breakthrough - an exciting place where you're consistently getting better results than ever using a new technique that now feels comfortable and natural.
As you prepare for AAU's and JO's, your coach is taking you from stage one to stage two, an important stage now because you need to be even better as individuals and teams to be successful in the competition you'll be facing. If all goes well, you'll be at stage four (mastery) in mid-June for AAU's and JO's. Appreciate the ride, knowing that the discomfort you're feeling now is taking you where you want to go.
Tim Engels, M.A., sports psychology consultant to Front Range Volleyball Club, is a sports psychology consultant and counselor in Denver, CO. You can contact him at (303) 956-5691 or tengels@qwest.net.
Welcome Mat
Please welcome the newest additions to the Front Range family!
12 Pink's new members are (from left to right) are: (back row) Christina Perlinger, Mary White, Rebecca Page, Tara Stilwell, Jordyn Poulter, Alison Yardley, (front row) Riley MacDonald, Sarah Mullens, Anna Schweitzer, Makenzi Kissman, and Natalie Passeck (Taylor Olen is not pictured).
