This video was filmed for our AVCA Video Tip of the Week series with Andor Gyulai.

This video gives a step by step explanation on how to get in the zone quickly off serve receive as well as touches on points used when playing volleyball or sports to slow the ball down and thus slow the game down using your vision.

Important Coaching Points:

• “The Zone” is a visual sensory space.
• Switching your eyes and focus to different specific points forces you to “Center” on your visions sense.
• Players centered on “Vision” effectively reduce the influence of outside distractions. You cannot block out a sense, but you can essentially and effectively choose to focus more on a specific sense. This is what centering does!
• Players centered on “Vision” effectively stop self talk and refocus attention to the here and now.
• Centering is the start of a pre-serve passing routine – Level 1.
• Advanced players use Level 2 – AVCEx.
• Top players follow action plan A.V.C.Ex
  • A – Analyze the task ahead and what you need to do and only what you need to do. (Most athletes focus their attention and vision on things that don’t matter!)
  • V – Visualize the task. Your mind cannot tell the difference between visualizing the play as a mental rehearsal and the real thing. By visualizing you essentially create a “Mental rehearsal,” of the play before it happens.
  • C – Center by visually switching between two or multiple points. This forces you back into the correct sense which is vision. Players must avoid thinking (Like visualization), feeling or hearing. By centering players get back into vision and back on reading and the ball.
  • Ex – Execute, meaning focus only on the here and now. nothing matters but what you are doing now in the play! Execute the play!
  • If you can teach players to do this it will dramatically improve consistency.
  • Warning, this takes a tremendous amount of mental effort and like all things needs to be practiced in order for you to become great at it!

Please let me know your thoughts below? – Andor Gyulai

If you like this be sure to check out: Volleyball1on1 OODA Loop Volleyball Vision Coaching Blueprint and Vision Training for Sports Paper

Also there are more resources on Slowing the Ball and Game Down – HERE!