The Invisible Curriculum: 5 Things Your Practice Plan Doesn't Show

This is something that a lot of my mentors, um, have done, and the, the very one is very simple, and it's lead by example.

Now, when you hear that, don't-- it's not just general lead by example.

I'm saying, okay, strength training is an important part of every volleyball program.

I think there-- it's safe to say that you, if you don't have strength training in your program, you're leaving a lot on the table.

Okay, unless you're maybe eight years old or nine years old where it's not as significant, but once you get into competitive youth volleyball, 100% strength training is important.

We wanna build a weight room culture in your gym.

You wanna w- you wanna build that, the-- not, not just, "Hey, we're just doing it because it's volleyball season." We want our athletes to start realizing that weight room culture strength training is a part of your life.

It is not something you just do for the three months you're playing volleyball or the five or six months you're playing volleyball, and then you stop strength training until the next season.

This is a lifelong, healthy, um, routine.

It's something that you have to be doing for your life, okay? Because we know when you're, when you stop moving your body, your body's gonna disintegrate at, at a rapid pace.

As you get older, you're gonna get-- you're more prone to injuries, health complications, et cetera.

So as volleyball coaches, I think that is s- that's something in itself that we need to make sure that we are doing.

We are leading by example.

So, and, and I'll tell you what, when I-- before I started doing this, right, strength training was part of our program.

It always was.

But when I started showing up to the weight room with my team and I started lifting, just-- It doesn't matter what you're doing, as long as you're in there and you're doing something.

Just that players would st- It, it's, it's a relationship builder as well.

You get an opportunity to, to deepen your relationship with your players when they see you in the weight room.

You get a chance to show them that you understand how important strength training is, and that you're doing it for yourself, for the betterment of your health and your life because strength training is a, is a lifelong thing.

It's not a part-time thing you do just for a v- a volleyball season or a basketball season, okay? It's a lifestyle change, and you ask anyone that understands the true meaning of strength training, they'll tell you that, that you don't just do it because you're trying to improve your athleticism.

You do it for your life.

So when your athletes see you in the weight room doing your workout, taking your body seriously, it i- it's, it's just a natural byproduct that they're gonna start looking at it differently as well, and just that little bit of extra motivation will help your team.

It's something that I think is important.

So leading by ex- Another thing that I know that all these coaches do is if practice starts at 7 AM or 8 AM or whenever, they're there half an hour to an hour earlier always.

They're always there earlier.