Coach Sarah Lindstrom has been the girls varsity volleyball coach at Walled Lake Central for four years. Under her coaching, the team has won three district championships and two Conference championships.
Lindstrom incorporates psychology in her coaching style to build both mental and physical strength on the court.
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“As a coaching staff we push our athletes each and every day but we prepare them mentally. Our teams do lots of bonding, fear facing exercises, self-talking, and we try to connect with them on a personal level so they trust us,” said Lindstrom.
Throughout her coaching experience, Lindstrom realized that being a coach requires more than just improving the girls' skills and teaching them the game she loves so dearly.
“I found over the years that I was feeling like my job title merged more from 'coach' to 'coach and psychologist' said Lindstrom. “After having three student deaths in my first four years as a varsity coach at Divine Child, and simply dealing with girls' breaksups anxiety from school, and troubles at home, I started to realize they needed a safe place to be.”
Studies have found that sports psychology is a powerful and dynamic practice that can bring upon great performance from players and impact them in many ways.
“My sister has a master’s in psychology and I was often reaching out to her for activities or ways to help my girls,” said Lindstrom. “The direct correlation of these outsides factors would show not only in their performance but their ability to push past tough losses, big matches and high-pressure situations.”
Facing fears is something that Lindstrom places great emphasis on for the team. It is a way for the girls to bond and overcome obstacles that life throws at them; together.
“I had the girls write down daily fears, fears in volleyball, etc. They had the option to share with the group and everyone would raise their hand if they felt any of those same fears. This allowed them to realize we are all the same!”
Lindstrom does not underestimate the power of believing in yourself and your abilities. She has the team perform this exercise to teach them how to put their fears behind them and move forward.
“We then taped the papers to a pinata and everyone took a wack at it to try and put those fears behind us. I have had teams every year that pull off wins that we never had a reason to, and I chalk almost all of those wins up to the fact that these girls work on positive thinking and fear facing all season long. We remind them in huddles that it is never over, and we constantly push them to believe.”
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