The Role of Mental Toughness in the Sport of Volleyball

Most volleyball players generally think that they should only focus on physical practise to
improve their skills and performance on the court. According to their opinions, the longer and
harder they do volleyball practices – the better! Apparently, that’s not true.

In fact, athletes must be prepared for volleyball competitions both mentally and physically.

Actually, mental fitness is as important as physical fitness. It’s important to note that
psychological skills help volleyball players improve their physical performance significantly.

It’s common knowledge that athletes need to develop different types of volleyball skills during
practices. Obviously, volleyball players have to focus on mastering blocking, digging, setting,
passing and serving skills. In addition, every athlete should work hard to increase a vertical
jump, build strength and improve endurance on the court.

However, it’s not enough for volleyball players to be physically fit. Mental fitness is very
important for athletes as well. This is why mental toughness has to be a key part of a volleyball
training program. In this blog, we’ll explain to you what role mental toughness plays in the sport
of volleyball.

Mental Toughness Give Volleyball Players Confidence They Need

The lack of confidence is a big problem for an athlete. Let’s imagine that a volleyball player
constantly makes mistakes during volleyball practices and matches. In this case, he/she may lose
confidence and things may become even worse over time. Actually, this happens because an
athlete is afraid to repeat a mistake again and again.

Under confidence has a big negative impact on volleyball player’s performance. That means that
gaining the confidence should be the top priority for under confident volleyball players. So, it’s
incredibly important for coaches and volleyball players to support under confident members of
the team and help them overcome difficulties on their way to success.

On the other hand, overconfidence may also negatively affect a volleyball player’s performance
and success. Overconfident volleyball players don’t work hard during practices and, therefore,
they don’t develop their skills. The reality is overconfident athletes often relax and don’t prepare
for important volleyball competitions properly. Oftentimes, talented athletes lose matches due to
overconfidence. And of course, such athletes have to do something about their overconfidence.

That means that it’s best for volleyball players to have optimal confidence. In other words,
athletes shouldn’t be either under confident or over confident. Optimal confidence is the golden
mean between under confidence and over confidence. Optimal confidence is something that
motivates volleyball players to work hard, analyze their mistakes carefully and do everything
possible to improve their skills.

There is the evidence that mental thoughtless helps athletes gain the optimal confidence that they
need to succeed in the sport of volleyball. If a volleyball player feels confident he/she will be
able to perform much better on the court during the games and practices.

Mental Toughness Improves Concentration

Staying focused is vital to the success of every volleyball player. A volleyball player should
concentrate on the ball and the opposing team’s volleyball players during the game. On the other
hand, an athlete needs to know where other players of his team are located on the court.

However, if athlete gets tired then he/she is likely to start losing focus over time. Stress
situations have a negative influence on a volleyball player’s focus as well. So, teaching how to
maintain attention during the game has to be a part of a volleyball player’s mental fitness
program. It’s important to know that there is a direct link between mental toughness and a good
volleyball player’s concentration.

Mental Toughness Gives Volleyball Players a Chance to Get the Most Out of Imagery Technique

There is no doubt that visualization is a very important component of a mental training program.
There has been a lot of talk about the benefits of mental imagery for volleyball players. It’s
important to point out that the help of mental imagery in the process of mastering volleyball
skills is immeasurable. Mental imagery also helps volleyball players deal with stress situations and improve their performance on the court.

If, for example, an athlete finds it hard to do something on the court then he/she can easily take
advantage of the imagery technique. All that an athlete has to do is to visualize the situation prior
to practicing the skill.

Visualization technique helps athlete perform specific tasks on the court successfully. It’s a great
idea to benefit from mental imagery to master blocking, hitting, digging and serving skills.
Volleyball players may face a lot of challenges during the game. So, athletes should have an
understanding of what to do if problems arise. For this reason, it makes sense for volleyball
players to visualize different types of situations ahead of time. If similar situation happens during
the game in the future an athlete will know he/she has to do to overcome challenges.

Visualization is something that volleyball players need to do on a regular basis. Imagery helps
athletes improve their mental fitness dramatically and prepare for volleyball matches in the best
possible way. Finally, volleyball players will be able to take their skills to the next level and start
making a progress.

Mental Toughness Teaches Volleyball Players to Understand the Game Better

Every volleyball player should be able to understand the game properly. It’s worth noting that a
volleyball player will definitely get tired quickly without relaxation. That means that an athlete
should relax during the game from time to time. However, a volleyball player should be able to
find the right moment for relaxation during the game. On the other hand, volleyball players need
to work hard and perform at their peak when it’s necessary. Mental toughness is about teaching
volleyball players how to find the balance between relaxation and arousal during the game.

Mental Toughness Helps Athletes Go Through Stressful Situations Easily

Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned and that’s why athletes may have problems
during a match. It’s worth noting that volleyball players may experience stressful situations
many times during the game.

If any kind of stress situation happens during the game volleyball players shouldn’t panic! And
of course, if things go wrong then athletes should try to do everything possible to take the
situation under control. Mental toughness is something that helps volleyball players take things
easily and go through stressful situations during the game successfully.

Mental Toughness Helps Athletes Prepare for Very Important Matches

Oftentimes, highly experienced volleyball players find it hard to demonstrate their abilities on
the day of the competition. Even extremely talented athletes, who constantly do great job during
practices, may start feeling nervous and perform badly on the court during the important
competitions. That’s the reason why coaches always have to pay a close attention to mental
toughness while preparing volleyball players for important matches. Coaches have to teach
athletes how to cope with worries and play successfully in stress situations. By doing so, they
can prevent these kinds of situation from happening.

Mental Toughness Allows Volleyball Players to Fight Till the End

It’s fair to say that the success of volleyball players depends a lot on their ability to fight till the
end. Let’s imagine the situation that two equal teams are competing against each other. In this
case, a team that’s capable of fighting till the end is likely to win the match. So, it’s crucial for
volleyball players to get some kind of psychological training. A coach has to encourage
volleyball players to fight till the end and never give up. As a result, volleyball players will do
everything possible to win the match. Mental toughness will definitely help volleyball players
win difficult matches.

Thank you so much for reading our article. We have just outlined the importance of mental
toughness for the sport of volleyball. It’s clear that mental toughness provides volleyball
players with a number of significant competitive advantages. The bottom line is mental
toughness plays a major role in the development of athletes and building a strong volleyball
team. Without a doubt, mental toughness is a very important thing that shouldn’t be
overlooked by volleyball coaches as well as athletes!