Best Volleyball Quotes [2023 Review]

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When it comes to sports, motivation is one of the best assets to hype both yourself and your team. Volleyball is no exception to this, therefore, reading the best volleyball quotes might help you improve your sports career.

The 8 Best Volleyball Quotes

Inspirational and motivational quotes are a good way of improving your mental game. This is a very important element to consider, after all, it doesn’t matter how much potential you have if you have the wrong mentality. For example, if you are an outstanding player yet you believe you will lose, then you will lose.

Players in black jerseys and black shorts cheering for their win in volleyball on a wooden court

These quotes might help you see things from another perspective, helping you to improve your mentality. After all, many of them were created by elite athletes and volleyball players, which shows how great their mentalities are.

Volleyball is a very competitive and complex sport, therefore, you need to learn the proper behavior in order to thrive. This means that you need to learn what to think during a game and how to react to certain situations. You can even learn what to say to your teammates to hype them up.

Number One

“You have to be willing to fail, to improve.” This first quote comes from Al Scates, a former volleyball player, and coach. Here, he is expressing that if you want to be the best, you need to be willing to fail, after all, it is the only way to improve.

If your goal is to become an elite volleyball player, you cannot expect your path to be full of wins and success. Even top-rated volleyball players have endured tough losses, yet this doesn’t mean they have quitted or changed their mentalities. It is actually the other way around.

When elite player suffers a loss, their mentality drives them to improve, learn from their mistakes, and get better. Therefore, if you don’t lose, you won’t be able to learn from your mistakes.

Number Two

‘’Perfection is not attainable, but if I chase perfection, I can catch excellence.’’ This quote comes from Vince Lombardi, a former American football coach. Even though Vince wasn’t talking about volleyball, this applies to all aspects of life and sport.

If you strive to become a professional player, you need to practice in order to chase perfection. While this one is not attainable, just like Vince mentioned, it leads you to excellence. Therefore, in order to achieve this, you need to work really hard every day.

Number Three

‘’Everything is habit-forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing.’’ This one comes from Wilt Chamberlain, a former basketball and volleyball player. Here, Wilt talks about how you should be a hundred percent sure about your ambition and path as a professional player.

Becoming an elite player requires a lot of time and effort, therefore, you have to be absolutely sure that you want to follow this path. Also, this quote helps you remember that this path will require you to establish many habits.

People wearing shirts and shorts playing volleyball on a brown wooden court

Number Four

‘’The will to win is more important than the skill to win. It is possible to achieve only what you actively pursue.’’ This quote is by Lloy Ball, a gold medalist in volleyball. He discusses how important it is to have enough willpower to achieve your goals.

After all, skills are useless if you lack motivation and discipline. For example, if a very talented player enters the court unmotivated, they will not perform well. A good player with a strong desire to win, on the other hand, may perform better.

This is not to say that skills aren’t important; rather, willpower will drive you to improve and comprehend them.

Number Five

‘’Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become, the hours of practice, and the coaches who have pushed you, is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back—play for her.’’ This quote comes from Mia Hamm, a former soccer player.

Mia explains how you should play and practice for yourself, after all, that is what pushed you to begin with. This is because athletes can get lost on their way to becoming professional athletes, leaving behind things they enjoy and forgetting to have fun.

If you want to be an elite player you need to always remember to enjoy the game, even during hard moments. On top of that, you need to recall your childhood dreams and work towards them.

Number Six

‘’Practice is the battle you must win.’’ This quote comes from Hugh McCutcheon, the former head coach of the US men’s national volleyball team. With these words, he explains how the real competition is between you and yourself when practicing.

This means that you need to focus on beating the best version of yourself every day. Clearly, to do this you need to practice constantly and never give up. On top of that, this quote also clarifies that you should not compare yourself to others, the battle is between you and practice.

Number Seven

‘’Be bold. If you are going to make an error, make a doozy, and don’t be afraid to hit the ball.’’ This quote was created by Billie Jean King, the former world number one tennis player in the United States. Although she wasn’t talking about volleyball, the same principle applies to this sport.

She discusses the importance of being assertive and bold when performing any movement. This is because if you doubt yourself, you will almost certainly fail. On the other hand, if you go for it, you might end up with what you wanted, even if the idea was flawed to begin with.

Many amazing plays come from crazy and flawed ideas that turned out great. This way of thinking is something that can differentiate elite players from decent ones.

Two players in shirts and black shorts blocking a volleyball on a brown wooden court

Number Eight

‘’Volleyball is one of the most interactive games going. It is a game of intuition, imagination, improvisation – but most of all, of reciprocity – of teamwork. There is no way to freelance in volleyball.’’ This last quote comes from Marv Dunphy, a former volleyball player, and coach.

With this, Marv clarifies how volleyball, unlike other games, can’t be won with egoistic mentalities, you have to work as a team. Spikers, setters, liberos, and defensive players, all need to understand each other and work in harmony.

  • A setter can’t correctly pass the ball if the spiker isn’t well positioned.
  • A spiker can’t hit the ball if the setter is not aware of his position.
  • A libero can’t correctly pass or save the ball if the blockers send them too far away.
  • A defensive specialist can’t correctly pass or bump the ball if their teammates are not involved in the play.

Related Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions about volleyball quotes.

How Do You Inspire a Volleyball Team?

If you want to inspire your volleyball team, you need to talk about their intrinsic desires; the reason why your teammates started playing in the first place. This way, you can give them a motivational speech about how they can leave a mark on volleyball history.

How Do You Encourage a Volleyball Player?

Encouraging a volleyball player can be hard, especially if the athlete is unmotivated. To do this, you need to search for the player’s dreams and ambitions and talk about them. Therefore, there is no universal way to encourage players, they are all different after all.

Conclusion

Although it may not appear so, quotes can lift the spirits of many athletes in the sports world. In this case, these volleyball quotes may teach you crucial information that will be useful to you in the long run.

Alfonso Andrade is an avid sportsman, growing up playing soccer and volleyball. He is a coach and sports analyst, studying the game to analyze performance and help create improvement.