Training for any sport is a huge factor determining whether or not an athlete will be successful. One of the biggest mistakes an athlete or a coach can make is not utilizing the principle of specificity, where the training must match the physical demands of the specific sport.

Volleyball is an anaerobic or stop and go sport requiring quickness, jumping, agility and explosiveness. These types of activities require fast reaction time; movement speed and utilizing fast twitch muscle fibers. The physical training for volleyball needs to match these demands, so jumping activities, sprints and agility drills are important for success. However, I have seen many athletes and coaches train the slow-twitch muscle fibers by doing mostly long distance running and slow drills where the athletes are not challenged by the intensity and speed they will most likely encounter during a competitive match.

Another mistake athletes and coaches make is spending most of the training or practice time on their strengths instead of identifying and working on weaknesses. Everyone likes to play and have fun at practice, but no one likes to work on areas that need work. Trust me, any weakness you have will most likely be exploited by another team during competition. Also, with the rally scoring utilized in volleyball, errors count now more than ever. The team that makes the most mistakes usually loses. Athletes not only need to reinforce their strengths during training but also identify their weaknesses and work on resolving them at practice instead of having these weaknesses determine a match

A final area many athletes disregard is eating for performance. The body needs to be properly fueled in order to perform optimally. Eating junk food, sugar, and soft drinks will not fuel an athlete and could ultimately cause damage because the nutrients are not available when needed during the competition. I’ve seen many athletes crash, cramp or get injured because they ate a bunch of junk food before the game, or didn’t eat anything at all.

Healthy-Eating-athlete

So the bottom line to avoid these training mistakes is to use specificity in your training so your body can meet the demands of the sport, work on the areas of your game that need the most work, and to fuel your body for success with natural whole foods, high quality protein, whole grains, and lots of water!

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Sharkie Zartman is a former All-American volleyball athlete and award winning

Sharkie Zartman Volleyball

Sharkie Zartman Volleyball

college and youth club coach. She is currently a professor at El Camino College, a radio host at Healthy Life .Net Radio, and the author of five books. Visit her new book site at www.soyouthinkyoucancoachkids.com and also check out her Facebook page, Sharkie’s Pep Talk.