The psychology of the warm-up, and why it's the only time you can tell if your team is ready

By Ryan Maloney, assistant women's volleyball coach



"The only thing that can consistently prepare you is the warm-up." ~ Anson Dorrance

Warming up used to be a 2-minute jog, followed by 10 minutes of stretching on the ground.

Then it became more "dynamic", where athletes lunge, twist, turn, and crawl their way to preparation.

Now there's a growing focus on "play", encouraging athletes to enjoy the warm-up.

In the last seven years, I've learned that the intent behind the warm-up means much more than any specific exercise or drill. Anson Dorrance, who's given us ideas on team chemistry, being happy as an athlete, and goal-setting, has a wonderful method of preparing his team for competition at North Carolina:

"I have learned over time that if you are not prepared in the warmup, there is nothing you can do in the game to recover. So the warmup for me is critical. Even where I stand is important. I like to stand right in the edge of the center circle, close to the other team's warmup so I can assess both teams. If I can get a sense that their focus is greater than ours and they're doing a better job warming up, I will bring the group together. If I bring the group together, I have gotten a sense that the other team is better prepared for the match. I will say something like, "Right now your focus is so poor you are preparing to lose. If the game were to start right now, you would lose 3-0 or 4-0. You either change your mentality right now, or basically decide you are going to lose this contest.

[...]

I can tell if my team is ready in the warmup, and that is the only time I can tell. No one else can tell, unless they are really studying the warmup and every player in it. It just surprises me that so few people understand what is involved in winning consistently, or in winning period. As if an event, a game, or a team automatically prepares you. It doesn't. A championship game does not prepare you for winning. A great opponent does not prepare you to be focused or competitive. The only thing that can consistently prepare you is the warm-up." ~ Anson Dorrance, Training Soccer Champions

It's worth noting that when Dorrance was advised by his trainers to end static stretching in favor of dynamic, high-tempo warm-ups, he found his team chemistry suffered. Stretching on the ground was the players' only time they could relax and joke with each other without a hovering coach nearby.

That's what I thought of when at the end of our first spring weight-lifting session on Tuesday, our girls were largely unfocused in the last 15 minutes. Small groups chatted and laughed as others' were finishing their final sets with the dumbbells.

Instead of rushing in to increase the tempo, I chose to let them enjoy themselves, to let them form a new team chemistry for 2016.