Tennis Coaching

Applying the Overload Principle

The overload principle generally states that if the body, or mind, is exposed to more stimuli than it is used to, it will adapt to accommodate and be stronger because of the adaptation. Weight lifters apply this principle everyday when they force their muscles to push more weight than they are used to. The muscles soon adapt and the body is stronger. In volleyball, we wish to adapt our body and mind to performance on the court. By adding additional stimuli to a skill we can fine tune the player to perform better.

Physically

Overloading the body physically helps the athlete to become stronger. Weight lifting and plyometric exercises are obvious examples of overload. Some volleyball specific exercises are as varied as the coach’s imagination. An example would be to have the athletes perform a strenuous task, such as 10 push ups or 3 wind sprints, then have them per-form a skill, such as serving to a specific zone twice in a row. Players would not normally have to do this in a match, but adding the physical exhaustion forces the body to compensate and adapt. Other physical overloads could be to raise the net 2 inches when attacking, use a weighted ball for setters, or tie the feet of a middle blocker together with surgical tubing (rubber band material) when the player is performing blocking footwork.

Mentally

Overloading the mind helps athletes to focus on particular cues that are necessary for the skill to be performed. By presenting too much stimuli, the mind figures out what is important and applies its capabilities there. A direct application is performing in front of a large hostile crowd. Players know that the crowd doesn’t matter, yet the noise and seeing the people in the stands tend to distract the average player. Training athletes to focus on pertinent cues is quite simple, yet mentally demanding. An example of a mental overload passing drill is having your players doing a simple free-ball passing drill and having a coach stand to the side of the court flashing hand signals. The coach flashes the signal only after the ball is initiated from the other side. The coach can give numbers, rock-paper-scissors, etc. The players must identify and call out the signal while passing. Make it easy at first by standing in front of the player and giving the signal early, then slowly begin to move up the side line so you are more to the side of the player, and give the signal later and later. Other mental overloads are playing loud music during a drill that requires lots of communication, having setters identify hand signals on the other side of the net while watching a pass come to them, or call out two numbers and have the player multiply the numbers while performing the skill.

By forcing your players to mentally and physically adapt to overloaded stimuli, game time environments will not seem overwhelming. The body adapts by becoming stronger and faster so that the pace and physical demands of a match are much easier to deal with. Mentally, the mind will adapt by being able to focus on important cues and disregard others. Soon your players will be performing at a higher level and hopefully become more successful because
of it.