PHOTO: FIVB
INSIDE THE G AME
Training your
THE NAME MICHAEL GERVAIS COMES UP frequently when you talk to Kerri Walsh Jennings, April Ross or members of the U.S. Women’s National Team about how they prepare to play great volleyball. Gervais is a licensed psy- chologist who has worked closely with them – as well as with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and many high-level business executives – to learn how to “thrive under pressure.” According to U.S. Women’s National Team
Michael Gervais
Head Coach Karch Kiraly, Gervais has helped the team in many areas during the past three years, including assisting players and coaches in deter- mining their “ideal competitive mindset, what we
stand for as a team and what we can do to get to a positive mindset and be aware of our thoughts.” VolleyballUSA interviewed Gervais recently to give you a better un- derstanding of strategies that lead to success on and off the court. Here’s what he had to say:
VolleyballUSA: Why is it important for athletes to understand that what they do is not really about topping somebody else but about discovering what’s possible in their own lives?
Mike Gervais: There are a number of paths toward success and as many definitions of what success is. Certainly, one of the primary goals for world-class athletes and teams is to win. However, when we pull back the curtain, what we often find is a deep commitment to what’s within their control and clarity of what’s possible for the individuals on the team and the team as a whole. Since winning is not 100 percent within your control, relentless focus on mastering what you can control is one of the hallmarks of world-leading athletes. If winning is the primary focus, the natural emphasis will be on being better than others. Focusing on beating a cross-city opponent can help you work hard and dig deep and do the boring and difficult things that others might not be willing to do. But that aim might mean you fall
54 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
In the opinion of psychologist Michael Gervais, staying cool and focused when the going gets tough is a learned skill, and he’s teaching a lot of great volleyball players how to do it Interview by Don Patterson
brain for success
short of pursuing your potential. Imagine if Michael Phelps or LeBron James or Karch Kiraly had decided to just be better than their competi- tion. They would have never known what they are truly capable of.
How important is it for future success for athletes to reflect on how they feel when they’re at their best? Why?
The primary emphasis of technical, physical and mental training is
to provide a stable foundation for sustainable high performance. One of the primary focuses for mental training is to generate both the tools to adjust when things are not going according to plan and, equally impor- tant, the insight of what it’s like when you’re at your best. When athletes know their ideal competitive mindset and the thoughts that facilitate that state, they’ll have a competitive advantage.
What are some good strategies for teaching yourself to move on quickly from a mistake? The primary strategy is to work on training one’s mind to be pres-
ent. Sport happens in real time, which means that focusing on a past mistake (or focusing on a past moment of success) detracts from the likelihood of meeting the demands of the upcoming moment in practice or competition. When our mind gets stuck on one thing (a past mistake or a past moment of excellence), we thrust ourselves behind schedule. Think about two musicians playing together. Assuming they are both skilled, when they are “on time” together, the music sounds great. If one of them is just a bit behind the rhythm of the song, it naturally sounds off. This is the same effect for athletes who are a fraction of second behind the rhythm of the game. The greatest strategy is to become deeply skilled at living and per- forming in the present moment. It is the activity of our wandering mind (which is totally natural) that pulls us from the present moment (which is where excellence takes place). Therefore, the disciplined mind (which is rare) is a hallmark of elite athletes who are able to treat both excel- lence and mistakes as the noise that hides the signal that allows them to be fully present (in both life and competition). Becoming more present
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