"I talk about it being a blank slate," explains Papillion La Vista South volleyball coach Katie Tarman. "Truly, it is. It's a new season, and the kids in their roles are different - they've grown a little bit. So in my mind, it's like I'm starting as a brand new coach; they're starting as brand new players."
The team starts the season with a new motto, a new book to study together, and eyes fully forward. Though they know the competition is working hard to put a stop to their championship run, to the Titans a championship mindset is something you carry regardless of the previous year's results. Their theme this year, "Power With, Power To, Power Within," nods to the importance of strong relationships (with), physical training (to), and internal work (within).
"There's another whole element to sports, and that's our brains and how they function, and how they overcome adversity," Coach Tarman explains. It's the not-so-secret sauce of this third element that helps these student athletes become the best versions of themselves across all aspects of their lives and performance. This intentional psychological integration has shown clear results over the course of Tarman's tenure at Papillion La Vista South.
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The PLSHS volleyball seniors and Coach Katie Tarman reflect on the work of starting a new season with a fresh focus.
"We see our girls show leadership in a better way," Coach Tarman expands. "They bring others with them. They're more confident in themselves. They're more confident in their ability to overcome whatever is happening on the court, whatever is going on in their personal lives. They're stronger."
It's not just something she observes in the athletes; it's something the girls see in themselves as well, and the team's five seniors set the standard of vulnerability, hard work, and mental resilience for the rest of the team.
"I tore my ACL my freshman year and my meniscus," shares senior Kambria Bails, "and I think our mental trainings are really what helped kind of overcome that and to be able to accomplish something I never thought I'd be able to accomplish again."
Senior Lyric Judson explains how the book study, journal work, and team focus on internal toughness sticks with her off the court. "It helps no matter what I'm doing," she says. "It could be schoolwork, it could be in a class, at work, anywhere, with my friends even. I have to have a tough mindset and just be able to get through hard things. And I think that really helps us in the long run."
"I have to have a tough mindset and just be able to get through hard things. And I think that really helps us in the long run."
The team's work to create the championship trifecta builds bonds that are essential to team function and long-term success. According to the athletes, they hold a high standard for each other as well as themselves. As a historically strong program with many championships to the school's name, they feel the target on the Titan team's back, but their mental training and team focus helps put that external pressure behind them. The team is clear: they're feeling the positive impact in their lives, whether in the classroom or extracurricular activities.
"My self-confidence has grown a lot," adds senior Maddox Graves. "Realizing that I'm powerful and I have a whole group of women supporting me, everywhere I go."
"I've learned how to take criticism and feedback a lot better in volleyball and outside of volleyball," shares senior Makenna Sanders. "Somebody is giving you feedback because they want you to get better. So, whether that's my family, people at work, I can adjust to that more because volleyball showed me how to do that."
Senior Finley Moone explains that the mental work helps her not to fixate on her mistakes. Exercising the brain is one part of the work ethic and hunger that the team demonstrates daily.
"We want to work harder than everyone else because we know everyone else is working," Moone concludes, "but we also have a clean slate."
With athletes who are active in academic life and activities outside of volleyball, Coach Tarman sums up the importance of approaching a new season with more than just physical training.
"Volleyball is just the avenue that we get to try to teach these life skills. We're trying to raise young women to be confident and ready to take on whatever comes at them in life."