The Default Hit

Sand volleyball is back in full swing. I love it so much!! Of course, being the introspective person that I am, I'm always evaluating how I (or we) play and looking for strategies to improve. Usually, I end up stumbling across some lesson or reminder for the bigger "game" of life.

Here's something I noticed last night. Aside from the serve, there are three basic hits in volleyball. There's the "bump", the "set" and the "spike". Each person usually has one that's more natural for them...(with the exception of the few that are so body-smart that they can comfortably do all...Grr!). Well, when the play speeds up and the tension rises, we tend to default to the hit that's most comfortable. Not a bad thing really...we choose the realm of our confidence when we are nervous. The bummer is that it's not usually helpful if it's a hit that doesn't work in the moment...i.e. trying to bump something high or set something low. The default choice can actually be the wrong one. So a good player learns to slow the spinning in their mind, to think critically and to make the right move that matches the circumstance. Doing this over and over and over actually builds comfort and confidence with a greater variety of positions. And that's a well-rounded player.

So...I've been thinking about that with the whirling of life too. I notice how I tend to default to particularly "comfortable" or "natural" actions when the pace speeds up. Not always are those defaults the best match for the situation. Being that I want to contribute to the best of my ability, I've been trying to slow the spinning in my mind to evaluate the best "move" or response and allow purposeful action to come out of that resting place. The more practice...the more I increase the number of "tools" in my belt.

Defaults are sometimes the right move...but sometimes it's necessary to discipline one's self to grow, expand, stretch...and become an even better team player.