E47: PETTLEP series - Volleyball

Over the course of the next several weeks, I will be taking one skill and running you through PETTLEP imagery. The series will be as follows: 1. Indoor Volleyball - Passing a serve 2. Baseball - Hitting a pitch 3. Soccer - Taking a shot on Goal 4. Basketball - Shooting a free throw and a Bonus episode: Beach Volleyball - Passing a Serve

Transcript

Laura: I've been served three times in a row. I don't even know what to do. I know this next service coming to me. Help. Hello and welcome back to the Sports Mastermind. I'm currently in the process of redesigning the podcast to make it more interactive, and we'll also be having guests on to discuss some of the topics that have come up over the last year. Did want to take this time to finish the PETTLEP series? See episode 46. Over the course of the next several weeks, I will be taking one skill and running you through PETTLEP imagery. The series will be as follows number one, indoor volleyball, passing a serve. Number two, baseball, hitting a pitch. Number three, soccer, taking a shot on goal. Number four, basketball, shooting a free throw and a bonus episode, beach volleyball, passing a serve. I will describe a scenario, explain what to focus on and run you through a sequence that you can listen to while you visualize that has key words and phrases to help keep your focus on track. This is great for beginners and those new to visualization. As you become more comfortable with the skills of visualization, keep in mind that it is important to personalize the images when doing imagery interventions. As with any skill when you first start, you want to start with a few minutes a day and build up benefits can be seen in as little as ten minutes a session. Research has shown the range is anywhere from ten to 30 minutes a session to see significant benefits with a minimum of three sessions a week. Imagery can be done when you first wake up before practice, before competition, or before going to bed. For the first in the series, we'll be looking at indoor volleyball and the skill of passing a serve. Imagery is best done in the environment in which you're going to be competing. If you cannot be in the environment where you normally compete, try to mimic it as much as possible, such as finding a wood floor to stand on. So grab your knee pads, court shoes, shorts and home game jersey and do this imagery session in your home gym or simulated environment. Are you there? Go ahead and pause this recording. I'll be here when you get back. Now that you have your game uniform, walk out to the court and stand as if you were passing a three person service. Leave out of middle back. Make sure your knee pads are up and you're in a ready position. Imagine yourself in the gym, look to your side and see the stands pulled out. Imagine the fans that are in the stands and smell the smells of your home gym. You see the team on the other side of the court. Number four, their setter is going back to serve. They served you last time and it was not a good pass. So you know that this ball is most likely coming to you feel the anticipation of receiving the serve. She has a good jump float, so you get an athletic ready position with your feet at least shoulder width apart and your knees slightly bent. The ref blows the whistle to initiate the serve with a simple and straight body position. You focus on seeing the server and seeing the spin of the ball. Since it is a flow, there is no spin so you focus on the trajectory of the ball and shuffling your feet to that spot. As the ball is crossing the plane of the net, you face where the ball is coming from and with your arms straight, you angle your platform toward your target. With your wrists and hands together, you contact the ball on your forearm, keeping your platform straight and angled toward the target. Knowing that the ball only knows angles, you finish your pass. You see the ball passed high and just the right amount of off the net. A perfect three pass to the setter. The setter sets a quick you drop to cover and it is a kill. The team comes in the middle to celebrate and you feel proud of your contribution to the play. This is just one of many scenarios that you can use pet lip imagery to practice your server seat. While this first example is good to listen to for cues and specifics, as you get more comfortable with imagery, it is important to make it as personal and specific as possible. For example, you can receive from different parts of the court whether you do a three or four or maybe even a five man service, put yourself in the different positions on the court. You can also work on seeing the server serving from different parts of the court on their side. In addition to moving yourself around the court, you can also change the emotional or level of arousal component. Let's say that it is the first set of the match. The score is zero zero. How would you be feeling now it is halfway through the match and you just shanked two or three balls. What things are you thinking? Is your focus where it should be? How is your self talk? Incorporating self talk when using imagery is important because that is the best time to practice imagining and working through highly stressful situations before you have to be in them. Now imagine it's the fifth set and you are tied 14-14. Now it's the fifth set and you're down 14-15 after just missing a pass. Notice how these changes in situations can lead to different thoughts and emotions going through your head. Think about what you would be thinking and feeling in these situations and incorporate those into your visualization and see what things you can do to help reduce your level of anxiety so that you're in a position where you can perform optimally. Here is a quick review of things to use when you are creating your own PETTLEP imagery Scenarios first, we start with the physical environment you imagined. You were in your home gym and wearing your home game jersey. Next, we examined our environment. In an ideal situation, imagery should be done in the same location as where you're competing, or in an environment as similar to where you compete as possible. We moved our focus a little more internal to the task. You imagine the details related to the tasks and your thoughts and feelings while performing the task. How long does the skill take? Imagine yourself performing the skill in real time. Also imagine yourself performing the skill from an internal perspective, meaning seeing the actions through your own eyes as opposed to watching yourself on TV. It is also important to factor in emotions to the skill. How do you feel in the specific scenario? As you get better with imagery and the physical skills involved with your movement, the things you visualize will need to change. For example, when you started with volleyball, maybe you were in a five person service eve, but now you do a four person and your club programmed as a three person service eve. Now that you have a volleyball serve receive example of PETTLEP imagery, what are some other scenarios that you want to try? If you would like me to run you through a PETTLEP scenario, email or send me a voice memo to Laura@rattoconsulting.com and yours could be used in this series. If you or your coaches or organization are interested in hosting a workshop or virtual seminar on this or any other sports psychology or performance optimizing topic, please contact me@radoconsulting.com or email me at laura@rattoconsulting.com. That's Laura @ R-A-T-T-O-C-O-N-S-U-L-T-I-N-G.com. And remember, visualization is daydreaming with a purpose. -Beau Bennett.