COMPLETE COACH: Brennan Dean is a high school and club coach who helps his players excel in the
classroom by stressing the importance of time management and group study sessions. (Photo: Peter Brouillet)
“Players say they get more done in study hall than they do on their own. In a study group, they tend to lose that thought pro- cess of, ‘What else could I be doing?’ because they see all their friends doing the same thing that they’re doing.” — Brennan Dean
off, so it made me want to write down every little thing so that as I did it, I felt like I was accomplishing something when I checked it off.”
Williams groups her list by weeks, then individual days. She writes down tasks in the order she wants to complete them. On an individual weekday, an item on her list might be: “Leaving campus for Oregon at 2:15.” “I write down everything I’m doing – practice, classes, weights, traveling – and I’m constantly checking it, making sure I’m on the right task.”
For Stanford Head Coach John Dunning, the night before is a great time to write down goals for the next day. Like Williams, he feels good every time he checks one of them off, and he says that planning is often the ticket to a good tomorrow.
“The more you put into planning your
day, the better your day tends to come out – even if you don’t get to everything,” he says. “I think a lot of people don’t understand the value of planning a day. The better orga- nized you are, the easier everything is.”
COUNT YOUR HOURS, COUNT YOUR MINUTES When you’re filling out your calendar and compiling your list, spend a few minutes thinking about how long each task will take. This process helps you get a realistic picture
34 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
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of what you will be able to accomplish each day and if you’ve allocated enough time to finish a project or study for a test. Whether you tackle the big stuff first, then move on to the small stuff or do it the other way around is a personal preference. Williams likes to get the big stuff out of the way. Lowe favors building momentum by knocking out the little stuff first. There’s no right or wrong as long as the work gets done.
FIND TOOLS THAT WORK FOR YOU For both organizing your schedule and studying, there are all kinds of great resourc- es. Williams says she takes all of her notes in Evernote, an increasingly popular online service that allows users to categorize written information, photos, memos, Web pages, etc. For research, Google Scholar is a starting
point for Williams. That’s a destination that Lowe recommends too, and she also likes JSTOR and YouTube.
“In high school, when I was taking more math and science classes, I found tons of YouTube videos that would explain things really well and guide you through stuff,” she says. “They were really helpful.” Reminder: Be sure to credit your sources, whether they come from academic articles or video tutorials. If it’s not your original idea, the teacher or professor needs to know whose it is.
SEIZE THE MOMENT
Simple enough. If you have a free period or are at the gym early waiting for warm ups to begin, check off a task. The more you can get done early, the less you’ll have to worry about later.
Along those lines, Lowe suggests picking a specific time for doing a task and sticking to it.
“You have to do it right then or you’ll just procrastinate,” she says. “Finding time slots for specific things is how I get everything done.”
STUDY IN A GROUP
Brennan Dean, head coach of the Torrey Pines High girls’ varsity team in San Diego and owner of Wave Volleyball Club, has implemented study halls at Torrey Pines and is pleased with the results.
“Players say they get more done in study hall than they do on their own,” he says. “In a study group, they tend to lose that thought process of, ‘What else could I be doing?’ be- cause they see all their friends doing the same thing that they’re doing. It also helps because it’s a support system. We have players who may have already taken a class that a younger player is taking, so you see peer tutoring.” Sometimes the Torrey Pines study ses- sions are planned – on a road trip last fall, the team studied together for two and a half
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