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Episode #121

“Mastering Performance Mindset with Morgan Hentz”

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 Stef Today we are talking with professional volleyball player and Stanford alum Morgan Hentz. Morgan was a three-time NCAA national champion and a three-time Pac 12 libero of the year during her time at Stanford, making her one of the most decorated liberos in collegiate volleyball history. Beyond her collegiate success, Morgan has played professionally overseas in Germany, competed with the national team, and is currently playing for the Pro Volleyball Federation team, the Atlanta Vibe.

She has earned multiple professional accolades, including the best libero and defensive player of the year in 2022 with Athletes Unlimited. Morgan is also an incredible part of our Voice in Sport community as a VIS Mentor on the platform. Today, we're excited to tackle all things performance mindset related. Morgan shares game-day mindset tips and speaks about her pregame routine.

Morgan What I like to think about going into those big matches is I've prepared for this. I've prepared for this in my practices, I've prepared through this in the matches leading up to this moment. Let your body take over. And then secondly, I would be open about how I was feeling with my teammates because oftentimes you're not alone and because oftentimes they'd be like, Hey, I feel the same way. I got your back. Give me a little hand squeeze, and I feel like I could breathe a little bit more. 

Stef Morgan will also discuss the power of controlling the controllables.

Morgan I always wrote down in my journal before a match: effort, attitude, focus, being a great teammate. Those four items you could always control. And if I can give it my all in those four things, then I truly can't ask anything more of myself

Stef And how adopting what Morgan has coined the goldfish mentality can help athletes stay focused.

Morgan I don't know if you've ever heard of the goldfish mentality. Goldfish have like short-term memory loss. And I feel like that's perfect for volleyball because pretty much every ball ends on a mistake.  And if you're holding on to that mistake or that last play, it's really hard to move forward. So in matches, I tell myself have short-term memory loss whether you are playing well or not, keep moving forward. 

Stef Today's episode is packed with advice for athletes looking to strengthen their mental game, manage performance anxiety, and develop routines that build confidence. Morgan also shares valuable insights about team building and what coaches, players, and parents should and shouldn't say on game day. 

Before we get started, if you love this podcast, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And don't forget to sign up for our community at voiceinsport.com. Welcome to the Voice in Sport Podcast, Morgan. We're so excited to have you here with us today.

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Morgan Thanks for having me. Just as excited.

Stef Well, it's always a pleasure to have a VIS mentor on the podcast, and your background is really incredible. You have been at some of the best schools along the way in your journey, won three national championships, gone on to play overseas also have joined Team USA in world championship matches overseas as well.

So it's, It's really incredible what you have accomplished so far in this sport. And today, we're really going to dive into a subject that's really important at VIS and our community, which is mental health and really the performance mindset side of the game. So we're going to go way back and really talk about your journey in the early years, because I know when I was a young athlete myself, I wasn't maybe always thinking about the mental side of the game.

But as I got older and got into college, it became such a critical part of my success. So let's talk about what that journey was like for you and start with really back in your very first moment of when you realized that you wanted to stick to volleyball. Talk to us about that moment where you said volleyball is my sport and why you initially fell in love with the sport.

Morgan Yeah. So I think I started playing competitively when I was about 12 years old. My best friends at the time, they were triplets and they were like, you should try this club volleyball thing. And I was like, well, I'll do anything to spend more time with you guys. So at first it was, So intimidating they kept using all this volleyball specific lingo and I had no idea what I was doing.

But everyone was so gracious and helped catch me up to speed and I just was having a blast with it. So, it was probably going into high school where I decided that I really wanted to stick with it. And pursue it at a really high level. I think just being around such great people in the sport, it's the epitome of a team sport, so I think that's really why I fell in love with it, and especially the defensive side of the game. I think it's the best feeling in the world when you make a great dig or a big block both sides of the ball. It's really fun.

Stef Well, and I want to get into the kind of the mental side and really the effects of like getting into sports, especially team sports as a young athlete. And we know that scientific research has repeatedly shown that if young people, especially teenagers, get into sports and team sports in particular it can help them manage stress, elevate their moods, and build resilience. There's a study that , we want to call out in today's episode by California State Researcher Matt Hoffman, whose specialty is really in this area of sport and exercise psychology, and in 2022, he finished a study that explored the association between the participation in organized sports and mental health challenges among young children and adolescents.

And what was really interesting about the study was, I think we always talk about the benefits of sports. And we all like intrinsically know it, but this research came out and found that the participation in team sports compared to non sport participation was associated with lower scores in the following categories: anxiety, depression, withdrawal, social problems, and attention challenges. The study also reinforced that participation in team sports further develops essential life skills such as empathy, confidence, and teamwork, while also really promoting you know, mental health outcomes. So as we think about the study and then like your younger years in sport and reflecting on all of these benefits did you ever think about the mental side or the mindset of like what sport was giving you when you were, you know, really young in your high school years?

Morgan No, I don't think I was thinking about it at all because I was just enjoying the benefits of being a part of a team. I felt community. I felt like I was growing in a lot of relationships with my friends. And I feel like I was finding my voice. I was kind of a quiet kid. I was always a little bit nervous to raise my hand in a classroom setting or even if I knew the answer.

So I'm really grateful to volleyball for giving me a voice and then also the teamwork aspect. I feel like with volleyball, I've learned to work with so many individuals not just on the court, but off the court as well. And also it's given me really great perspective taking that everyone comes from all different walks of life. And it's really important to put yourself in other people's shoes before passing any judgment on anyone.

Stef At what point did you think about actually doing professional volleyball as like your lifestyle? Was that in high school? Did you have a moment where you're like, I'm going to become pro or was it really just all about having fun in those early years in high school?

Morgan In the early years of high school, definitely focusing on having fun, and I just wanted to win, like really badly, whenever I was playing, I'm like, we're gonna win and while I was in high school, the only options to continue your playing career post college was to go abroad. And so I wasn't really familiar with those opportunities until I got to college. So I didn't even know it was a possibility.

I'd heard of national team, but that is a very select group of people. But I did not know you could go play in countries in Europe. You can go play in South America, in countries in Asia as well. And I didn't know those opportunities existed when I was in high school.

Stef So when you think about like that high school experience, how much were you, you know, practicing mental performance tools, tips, and like integrating that into your weekly routine. Like, you know, now you are one of the best volleyball players in the world. So I think it is great to have the perspective of looking back at like, what did you actually do in high school? Were you focused on those things? And then what would you have done differently? Now you know what you know about becoming a professional athlete.

Morgan Yeah, I think I definitely lacked a lot of the tools and knowledge of mental skills performance. I think I would have loved to have pursued journaling a little bit more. One, because I think it would have helped me on days where I was struggling. And just to, instead of repeating a practice in my brain or getting distracted by volleyball or not being happy with my performance to get that out on paper. I think that's just nice not to keep spiraling in your own head. I also think I would have loved to have talked with a sports psychologist when I was in high school, just because I'm a really intense individual and I'm hard on myself, but. what I've benefited most from when talking with a sports psychologist, like in now that I'm, I think I started when I was 24 years old is that volleyball is not my identity. It's a part of me. It's a big piece of me and it's something I still really love, but it's not who I am as a person. So I think I would have loved to, you know, practice some of those tools and skills that I've now learned in high school. Yeah, I think that would have been super beneficial for me at a young age.

Stef Yeah, I think there's a lot of us that would have said the same thing. You know you end up learning these tools, I feel like too late. And that's really what we're trying to do at Voice in Sport with our mentorship program and access to all the experts that we have on the platform is like, let's, let's expose some of these tools a little bit earlier because they can be so beneficial to not just your performance, but also just like who you are as a person outside of sport.

So. Let's get to, I guess, when did you get to your actual mental performance training? What was the moment that you, you know, where were you in your journey where you started to sort of work on your mental performance?

Morgan Yeah, I would say when I got to school, I went to Stanford University and we were first introduced as a team to the resources available at school, which were several sports psychologists, and my sophomore year of college, I tried going to see someone just to talk about some of these skills I could implement into my game.

It's equally important to practice physically as it is mentally. But I didn't really connect with that sports psychologist. And so I thought, okay, I'll figure it out on my own. I kind of gave up on that, which I wish I hadn't. And it's really normal, I think, for people not to click with someone originally. Maybe you just need a couple more sessions or it's maybe I just need to see somebody else. But I was kind of stubborn and I was like, you know what? I'll just figure this out on my own, which was not the solution, but I did have an amazing support system. My family has always been there for me in pursuing volleyball. My mom and dad, they're kind of my go to people whenever I was struggling in college. They're like my rock and they would give me the best advice in terms, they're just always, we want you to be happy. So you need to figure that out for yourself a little bit But they were always pushing for me to be a whole person not just a volleyball player, which I needed to hear sometimes 

And then they would also be like hey, this is what you chose you kind of need to figure it out as well so that was like some tough love at times too, which I definitely needed. But in college, I started to journal a little bit more. And especially before matches, I had some performance anxiety. And I think the best thing that I did learn in some of our generalized sessions at school with the sports psychologist was the controllables. And that for me, I always wrote down in my journal before a match: effort, attitude, focus, being a great teammate. Those four items you could always control. And When I thought about just focusing on those things going into the match, I said, if I can give it my all in those four things, then I truly can't ask anything more of myself.

If, maybe if I'm not going for a ball or I'm not being an encouraging teammate, then I can give myself a little kick in the butt and say hey, you probably could have done better. But if I truly empty the tank, give all my energy into those things, then it's kind of hard to be mad at yourself and say I could have gave more.

Stef Wow. Okay. So really college is like the moment where you started to sort of dabble in a lot of aspects of the mental health side of sport. You went to a sports psychologist, you started thinking about your support system differently, and then you started some mindset training by thinking about what you could actually control and thinking about those tools like journaling.

So you started to kind of dabble in all that stuff. I want to go back to like that experience as, you know, trying to support psychologists because that's actually one of the reasons why I started VIS is that if you have one bad experience or you don't connect with the one person that is assigned at your school, then you feel like then it's not for you. And that's like a common mistake that people make and we want to encourage everyone to almost to think about it like dating, like go and try like lots of little, you know, 15 minute, 30 minute intro conversations with sports psychologists. That's why we have over 100 on our Voice in Sport platform so that you can have those like mini conversations and see to who you connect with.

And then once you find someone that you connect with, that's where you can go deep because you're not going to go deep with somebody unless you feel really comfortable. And sometimes that means that person has a similar experience as you, or they're from a similar place in the world from you, or they look more like you or, or, you know, there's just an energy about that person.

And, and I think your story about your experience with your first sports psych is the story that so many of our young people at VIS end up experiencing. So thank you for sharing that. But you ended up finding your way back to a sports psychologist later in your professional career. So let's dig a little bit deeper into like what you have learned from that sports psychologist and how you eventually got yourself to finding somebody that you're like really passionately now working with.

Morgan Yeah. I think buying into the idea of opening up with my sport psychologist was something that I needed to, like I needed to bring that barrier down. I think it's really easy in sport to say everything's okay. Like I'm okay. Because you're naturally a fighter. You want to be an individual. You don't want to have to rely on anyone to be successful at what you do. And I think once I kind of got rid of that idea, I was able to open up more with the sports psychologist and just let my guard down. And I think that was for me, that was a big first step. And I think the second thing was just being open to learning skills and tools that the sports psychologists were offering.

So for me in my sessions with the sports psychologist, I really like to just take notes because I feel like they just give you so many useful tips that I didn't want to forget at all. And it's also really important whatever they're telling you to give it a try. You know, maybe it's not the first or second try where it works for you, but maybe on try number three you're like, Oh, this could become a part of my routine.

But I think for me, Now that volleyball is my job. I think the biggest lesson that I've learned from the sports psychologist that I've been working with is that it is not my whole identity. You know, it's so easy to get caught up in what you're doing because I love it. But it's also like you're toeing a line between this is all I think about and leading a balanced lifestyle.

So for her just hearing that this is not the only part of you. For me that's like a, Oh wait, yeah, that's the light bulb that goes off in my brain. But yeah I love taking notes. I think that's part of the student in me that still wants to learn and grow as a person. But I think that really helped me develop a routine and take everything that I was listening to and implement it into my daily routines or at least give them a try.

Stef Well, I want to go back to that, that comment that you made because oftentimes like somebody will say something like, Hey, you know, sport is not your whole life and it's not your whole identity. And in that moment you can feel it and like, take it and be like, yeah, I agree. And it helps in that moment. But I guess, how do you then apply what you hear from your sports psychologist into your like weekly routine, especially something like that, where it's like, A little bit more like about your entire life, you know, how have you found your way through reminding yourself of that as you think about your whole week, you know, a week of training?

Morgan I think for me, it's been working on balance and investing in my other interests. So I have started doing research on just things that I really love. I love listening to music. I love just trying to find new songs to listen to. I love, I've recently really enjoyed reading. Especially, I think my first time getting back into reading, it was just like cheesy, romantic comedy novels. But like super easy reads. And now I feel like I can read more diverse novels. And then I just recently got a dog. And I feel like he has helped me get outdoors a lot more. And just being in the sunlight, going for walks is something that has really helped me and feel like I am a more full person and investing in other parts of their life.

So I think just doing the research, seeing what you like, trying new things. I think I, I even tried crocheting, I tried knitting, you know, just giving things a try and I didn't love it, but I gave it a try and you know, I think that's the most important thing. Saying yes to more things and not just shooting them down.

Stef That's a great, great piece of advice, especially if you've been an athlete for so long and that has been like your core focus and you're just now realizing maybe why listening to this podcast that, okay, maybe I should think about the other things I love to do outside of sport. It's, it might take time to find those things that you love.

Morgan Yeah. It definitely has taken me a lot of time and something that I'm still working on. I have not perfected it by any means. I have my low days. I have my high days. And I'm still looking for new hobbies and new explorations because I feel like I, I'm, I don't know. We can always keep growing as people.

Stef We're absolutely all still work in progresses. Speaking of which, you know, every match can be pretty intense, right? When you're getting ready to go into a competition. And for you in college, you ended up getting to some pretty high level competitions because you won three national titles when you were in college at Stanford.

So three out of the four years, we're not gonna talk about that one year that didn't happen at the moment because I really want to dive in on to performance anxiety. This is something that you know, a lot of athletes face, especially when you get into those bigger matches that are really important and in college, you know, we haven't yet quite mastered the mental side of the game and this is something where sports psychologists and mental performance tools can be so useful, but usually, like, we haven't really developed all of those skills yet when we're in college.

So can you bring us back to like those, those big matches in college and how you would actually prepare for those matches and reflecting on what you know now as a professional athlete, like what would you, what would be your advice for all of those women in college today to really manage performance anxiety for big matches?

Morgan Yeah, I think the first thing is find a routine for yourself prior to a really big match. And you know, what I like to think about going into those big matches is I've prepared for this. I've prepared through this. In my practices, I've prepared through this in the matches leading up to this moment.

So sometimes our brain wants to, you know, sow those seeds of doubt in the back of it like you're subconscious, but I usually would come back to Let your body take over you have prepared for this and then secondly I would be open about How I was feeling with my teammates because oftentimes you're not alone your teammates are feeling the same pressure Some of the similar performance anxieties and when I was able to vocalize them and talk about them with my other teammates It felt like a weight off my shoulders a weight off my chest I felt like, and because oftentimes they'd be like, Hey, I feel the same way. I got your back. Give me a little hand squeeze and I'd be like, I feel like I could breathe a little bit more. 

And then the third thing was actually like breathwork, like just closing your eyes, taking a few deep breaths, trying to center yourself, finding a spot on the court, like visualizing yourself, doing the things that you've already done so well throughout the entirety of the season. I think a combination of. Visualizing, breathing, being honest with your teammates, and then trusting in the preparation that you put in. I think those were things that helped me during the tournament because emotions are heightened and your brain is definitely heightened, telling you, feeding you lots of thoughts.

Stef One of the most important things to with like showing up on those days and performing well as a team is also about like the team culture and, you know, what the team dynamics are. And, you know, unfortunately, I've been part of teams where there was bullying and maybe not the best team culture.

And it really does affect us. Like how you perform on those really big days. So when you think about back to like the importance of having a team culture, that's like positive and like going to lift people up did you have any experiences where it wasn't great? And, you know, what did you learn from those, those moments about like how and the type of teams that you want to be on?

Morgan Yeah, I think I my sophomore year in college, we had moments of weakness. I still loved every single teammate. But we tended to be a little individualistic. Like we were just thinking about like me, like how am I performing? How am I doing this versus how can I lift my teammate up next to me?

And I think we had that more in the gears that we ended the season on a high. I think team culture is a huge piece of mental performance, actually. I think. When your teammates are encouraging you and they tell you they have their back, you, you feel more confident. You feel like you can go out there and do your thing and not think twice about it. So I think it starts from day one in the gym when you're with your team. We always talked, we always sat down as a team, created team goals. And then we also had our individual goals, but we would vocalize those goals in front of each other. We would sit in a team circle. It would probably take two to three hours.

It was long. It was grueling. But we would get those together. We'd put it on a poster, and that would be in our locker room. And we would be able to look at it every day and this is where we're trying to get to. So I think creating that team culture is huge. And it starts with just being vulnerable and open with one another. And suspending judgment, too. So, 

Stef What happens if you, like, have a, maybe a coach that's contributing to that team culture that's negative? Have, you know, what, what piece of advice would you give to young girls to, like, if they see the team culture isn't great, like, how do they approach their coach about what to do to fix it?

Morgan Yeah, I do think just being honest with your coach is a good thing, but if they, maybe they don't have the best feel for what it's like to You know, be with the girls that you're actually with. I think they can try to set boundaries. They can try to create a nice how do I say it? Like a plan even for the team, like holding space for the team to talk about, Hey, maybe there actually is an issue with us.

Let's take this time. Like the first. 20 minutes of practice and hammer this out. Maybe it's just a one on one conversation with two teammates But like I think a coach creating space for that to talk about hey What do we need to work on from a team cultures piece? Not just like on court play. I think that's really important and Sometimes we would even talk, write our goals on the board beforehand, both going into our practice so that your teammates could see what you were working on. They can try to support you and make sure that you're staying on track. But I think, again, it does start from the coach at the top and making sure that they're supporting supporting players and making sure that they're open to just having that conversation and not being combative or just putting whatever your players are saying like down right away. Just being open to having those conversations is super important.

Stef After graduating Stanford, you know, you went on to play overseas in Germany as part of the German Women's Volleyball League. That's a huge transition to make too, you know, from a top elite program in the United States to a completely different country playing professional sports. So how did you manage that transition?

And when you think about the, the mental side of like, you know, being away from some of that support system that you talked about, your mom and your dad at this point, you still hadn't quite found a sports psychologist that you really connected with. So when you went overseas for that first time, tell us about that transition, and what did you work on on the mental side that helped you be successful in your first year overseas?

Morgan Yeah. So the first year I went overseas was August of 2020. So it was right during the middle of COVID. Super strange time to be leaving the country. And I struggled a lot being overseas. Mostly because I struggled with the life or the balanced lifestyle. Partially because of COVID, like I wasn't allowed to go out, explore. Try new foods get to know the new country that I was in. It was just go from your apartment to practice, apartment, practice. And that was mentally exhausting. And I felt really isolated too. Not being around my family and friends and just loved ones. The German girls were super kind and supportive.

And I'm really, I feel really grateful that they spoke almost perfect English as their second language. It was so awesome. They were amazing. But it was also hard because I didn't get a chance to play a ton either. I went from playing a ton in college to stepping into the professional world. And it was a nice wake up call that I had a lot of things to work on.

And but that on top of feeling a little bit lonely it just felt like it all hit me at once. And so I started journaling every day. That was my way of being like, okay I'm not getting a chance to play in a lot of matches. But here are ways I can still get better so I would go in with each day with a goal I would write down that goal And then I would write down another goal like how do I be a better teammate?

When I started focusing more on the relationship aspect of volleyball, that's My joy in the game and it made me feel a lot happier and it helped me, you know Survive the nine months that I was over there But it was the transition is really hard and any athlete that goes abroad and plays overseas it Props to you.It is it's not an easy thing to do. You have to really love the Sport, you're making a lot of sacrifices in your life, and I think having a sports psychologist to talk about these things with is super key. And I wish I would've had that a little bit sooner or found someone prior to going overseas just to have these, some of these tougher conversations with.

Stef You bring up such a great point that like the environment of what you walk into and any sort of team set up, it really can affect your mental health. And like you, you talked earlier about finding your identity outside of sport, but when you're unable to go and do a lot of those things that puts a, Really heavy burden on the mental side, but I love that you focused on journaling.

This is something that we love here at VIS, and goal setting is part of that. And I find it so interesting, you know, it's the new year, everyone's setting goals. But it's not something that actually is a one time thing. thing. You just mentioned how every day you are writing down a new goal. And there's outcome goals that might be kind of big and think, or, you know, of time constraint, that's something at the end of the year you want to achieve in your season.

But then there are performance goals and process goals that help you get to that outcome. Can you break down a little bit sort of how you approach that mindset of like goal setting and daily thinking about those process goals versus just focusing on like a big outcome goal.

Morgan Yeah, I think the overarching goals are good to have. You still wanna create those, but then you have to think about the tangible steps to get there. It's not just. Okay, we're going to win a national championship at the end of the year. There's a, there's like a, there's a ton of work that goes in behind it to achieve that.

So for me, it was more of a specific Hey, I want to be more aggressive and serve receive today. So I'm going to, you know, to pinch a little more, or take, or try to cut off more balls, or just take up more space. Or the next day it might be like, hey, I felt a little hesitant on defense. My goal is just to go for it. No hesitation whatsoever. But yeah, just small things, and most of the time if it was something I didn't do well in practice the day before, and I'm like, okay. I want to do better at this thing today. And that goes for mental health too. I, video is a great tool to learn, but you can also get a little bogged down by it too.

So for me, I'm like, I set a rule for myself. Okay, you can only check video twice a week. And then as soon as you're done with video, you gotta go do something else. So it's smaller goals that help you achieve those larger overarching goals.

Stef And it's so important to have like those smaller goals but will be both physical and mental 

Morgan Yes, absolutely.

Stef Let's, let's talk about then like that transition from like, okay, 2020 starting your first professional career in Germany to then 2022 where you joined Team USA, which must have been a really amazing accomplishment to, to be, you know, announced as part of that team to travel to some of the events. Take us back, I guess, to like that time around 2022 when you, when you joined Team USA and then you started to see a sports psychologist more consistently, how did that really affect, I guess, your, your mindset and your, your skill level on the court by, you know, I guess getting a lot of confidence by getting to Team USA. Huge confidence booster. But then you also shifted sort of your support system at that time. So maybe take us back to that moment and like, what would you want young girls to know about sort of that transition?

Morgan Yeah, I think in February and March leading up to the national team summer, I competed in athletes unlimited, which is a shorter season stateside. And it has a different kind of format to the league. Your teams change weekly. It's. Five weeks total. You have three games each week. And I was coming off an injury prior to that. So I was a little bit nervous to play in Athletes Unlimited. But the players in that were so welcoming. And it just brought a lot of joy back to the game that I felt like I had been missing after coming back home from overseas. And so that was a huge blessing to me heading into the national team season because I felt like they gave me a lot of confidence and trust in myself.

In addition to talking more consistently with a sports psychologist, I think the biggest thing was trusting myself. I'm a hard worker. I know I'm going to put in the work in the gym and there are times where I just need to trust that and let my body take over and not my brain. I think that was one really big theme that summer because I was walking to the gym with these people that I looked up to growing up like really talented players.

It was an older group of players and I felt oh my God, do. Should I even be here right now? This is crazy. You know, just again, being able to talk through some of those insecurities or doubts with a sports psychologist and giving me the tools like continuing to journal to find your voice even when you feel like It's an intimidating environment. Volleyball is such a team sport. Like everyone who is on the court matters and you're contributing to the team in some way. I think when you can look at it like that, like you feel part of something bigger than just yourself.

Stef And now when you're getting like on the court in some of these big games, whether it's with Team USA or in one of these professional leagues that you're, you're playing in what, how does it come to life on the court? Like using those mental performance tips? Is there something that you pretty much always do either right before a game or during a game where maybe you have a bad play or you're down on something? Walk us through what you do now in those games.

Morgan Yeah. In those big games, I still go back to the controllables. I remind myself of them before. every match because that's what brings me some peace of mind. And then there's this phrase that I will always tell myself before a big game that I still do, like every single game do your best, forget the rest. So almost like this, I don't know if you've ever heard of the goldfish mentality. goldfish have like short term memory loss. And I feel like that's perfect for volleyball because pretty much every ball ends on a mistake. Someone makes a mistake in some way. And if you're holding on to that mistake or that last play, it's really hard to move forward. So in matches, I tell myself have short term memory loss, whether they like, whether you are playing well or not, keep moving forward and that's just gonna help you get out of your head. And then the second thing is, how do I give to my other teammates? Especially if I feel like I don't have a strong start in a match. I don't feel like I'm playing like myself. I'm like, okay. This person is playing super well. How can I keep giving more to them? And then when I get out of my own head I start being more vocal on the court. Then I forget what I'm doing and just start naturally playing a little bit better.But for sure that goldfish mentality in the middle of the game is Is the most important thing to have because I'm able to move forward.

I'm able to focus on my teammates and then after the match, then I can go back, say, okay, I could probably could have done this better or whatever. But like in the moment, the goal is to win. The goal is to help your teammates do whatever it takes to win. And I think that goldfish mentality or that short term memory loss is really helpful for that, especially in the sport of volleyball.

Stef Such a great analogy. We thought it would be really helpful also to go through sort of a rapid fire here at the end of this episode, just really to think about what's like helpful things and unhelpful things that coaches, parents and teammates can say on game day. To each other, you know, to players that are about to go into the match or are in the match. I'm sure that there's a lot of really like well intentioned statements out there from coaches, parents and teammates, but sometimes you say something and it really like can like bring a teammate down. So let's, let's have your opinion here on these rapidifiers. Are you ready?

Morgan Yeah

Stef Okay, what are some helpful things a coach can say on game day?

Morgan Going through the preparation beforehand, talking about, Hey, this is what we might expect from another team. Here's our game plan. I love just talking about a game plan. I think that's super helpful for the team to be on the same page. I think also encouragement, just being like, Hey, we've worked our tails off this entire week at practice. You guys have put in the work. Trust that work. Let's go give it all we got on the court. I think I, I like when a coach gets fired up and is yeah, let's go. Giving me some high fives. Also just saying like, Hey, go do your thing. Giving you that like you're just establishing that trust between a player and a coach. I think plus the tactical stuff. I think that combination is really helpful for me personally.

Stef What are some unhelpful things a coach Could maybe avoid saying on game day.

Morgan I think a lot of don't statements like don't do this. We've been doing just reminding players we've really struggled with this all season long, or let's not do this. I think just reinforcing statements are so much better than the negative ones, putting a positive spin on it.

Just being like, hey, I know we can do this, versus We haven't executed this all year long, or I don't know, I think those or saying well this team's on a hot streak, this team's gonna bring all they got at us there's a balance to that. You can say, hey, this team's coming off a couple wins, let's bring an end to that.

Just reframing some of the negative statements that coaches can make. I think it's a coach's job to criticize, to give feedback, but making sure they frame it in a way where they instill belief in their players.

Stef What are some helpful things a parent can say on game day?

Morgan I think for me, it's just like, can't wait to watch you do your thing. I'm excited to cheer you on, go have a blast and do your best. I think that keep it simple.

Stef What are some unhelpful things a parent should avoid saying on game day?

Morgan I really think any, any sort of criticism or feedback I know it is a parent's job to keep their kid humble, but I think prior to a match, I think just be encouraging, be supportive, just let them know that you're there for them, either way they're gonna love you no matter what.

Stef Okay, last one, teammates. I feel like this is a really big one because you guys are on the court together, you know, I love the sport of volleyball because you're always like huddling. So I'm sure during a lot of those huddles there must be like a thousand every match. Like, there's some really helpful and unhelpful things. So what's a helpful thing a teammate can say on game day?

Morgan On game days, sometimes it's not even the words that are said, it's the body language or I like, I love a little hand hug. I'm like, just give me a little hand hug, a nice little squeeze. I like, Hey, I got you. Or Hey, let's go do this. Like we're in this together. Because you really are in the sport of volleyball, like no one person can take over a match.

And that's what I love about the sport. So just like encouraging statements, staying together and in the huddles, it's often. Next ball. Let's forget about that play. Or, Hey, we got this. Or just those encouraging statements. I feel like I've said the word encouraging a billion times, but it, even if things are going wrong, when you can kind of fake it till you make it or put a spin on a negative situation, like you're going to feel so much better than saying we have to get this next play. Like we have to, we must statements. It's more of I know we can do it. Like I believe we're going to win this match.

Stef Okay, last one. Unhelpful things teammates should avoid saying on game day.

Morgan I think also criticism and feedback that can come from coach. You can say, Hey, I'm seeing this. What are you seeing? Let's make this adjustment. And I think just the tone in which whatever a teammate is saying to you is super important. Cause I could say, To a teammate you need to get that ball, or you need to get that ball up. Or, I could say hey, you're so fast, you can touch that ball. I know you can. I think it's very different in the way that your tone can be so impactful when it comes to talking with another teammate.

Stef So we've talked a lot about what other people should or shouldn't say. Now let's talk about the last topic of this session, and it's really about self talk. So, in your experience, like, how has self talk been a really important strategy for you to be successful, whether it's in training or game? Morgan Yeah, I think, oh my gosh, my self talk has been a rollercoaster throughout my career. I think it's like when I make a mistake, it's, unfortunately you say, been saying a curse word, which is so awful. You say it in your brain, you're like, oh my God, what am I doing? Or like statements like that. What am I doing? I don't know what I'm doing. Versus like when I can find the quiet in my brain eliminate the noise. And say, deep breath. I often say in the middle of the game, it's just like practice. And for some reason, it's just like practice. It seems to settle me down. And then, I like to visualize a lot. Instead of using words to overwhelm my brain, sometimes if I just take a deep breath, and think about a, I don't know, a good play I made in another match, or another game, then that kind of settles my nerves, or helps me be in a better headspace.

Stef To wrap our conversation around mental health and performance, I'd love for you to really think about that whole journey from when you started in high school, where you weren't really thinking about your mental health, to college, where you started to dabble in a lot of different things, to then the experiences that you've had across, you know, overseas professional life, U. S. professional life, and making Team USA. What are those three big things that you would think you'd want to provide advice to young athletes in terms of developing you know, skills on performance mindset, but also just general mental health.

Morgan Yeah, I think the first would be give journaling a try and with journaling small goals and big goals. We can create these overarching goals, but then what are the tangible steps? That we can take to get to the big goals. I think that for me Is was super helpful and just narrowing my focus and then with journaling too if I didn't have a great practice Sometimes instead of spiraling in my head replaying all my mistakes just getting out on paper was something that just relieved me of spiraling more in my brain The next thing I would say is focus on the controllables There's so many things in life that are just out of your control, but you can always control your effort, your attitude, your focus, and how you are as a teammate.

I think when you give it your all and all of those four things, you can't ask anything more of yourself. And then the last thing I would suggest is Try talking with a sports psychologist as much as I love my mom and my dad and they have been my support system through and through. I don't want my only relationship with them to be just about volleyball.

A sports psychologist has helped me in so many ways in terms of just, you know, providing me with guidance and tips. And mental health is ever evolving. Once I feel like I have one thing solved. Something new pops up or yeah, so I just think having someone there to talk about Your sport with is super important, especially someone that Has the amazing education to provide you with the things that you need.

Stef  Incredible. Well, thank you. Thank you for walking us through your journey around mental health and performance tools. And I'm excited to continue to watch you out there playing professional volleyball, but also as a mentor here at voice and sport where girls can sign up for sessions with you and, and learn more about some of the tips that you've talked about today.

So thank you for joining us today,

Morgan

Yeah, so grateful to be here. Thank you.

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Stef This week's episode was produced and edited by VIS creator Elizabeth Martin. Morgan's journey teaches us how to navigate high-pressure moments, embrace the power of mindset, and build confidence through mental performance tools. She reminds us that controlling the control walls, effort, attitude, focus, and being a great teammate can help any athlete perform at their best.

At the end of the day, Morgan shows us that the mental preparation is just as important as the physical preparation and that trusting in our training, leaning in on our teammates, and staying present can make all the difference.

Please click on the share button in this episode and send it to another athlete who you think might benefit from this conversation. And if you enjoyed our discussion with Morgan, please leave us a rating and review on Apple and Spotify. We're grateful to have Morgan as part of our VIS community as a VIS mentor on our platform.

You can also follow Morgan on Instagram @morganhentz. And if you're logged into The Voice in Sport, head over to the feed and check out our new article on how VIS Mentor and PWHL Goalie Nicole Hensley protects her mental health as effectively as she protects the goal. 

Check out the session page to search for Morgan and any of our incredible mentors at Voice in Sport. We encourage you to sign up for one of our free or paid mentoring sessions with our over 400 mentors and 100 VIS experts. If you're looking for more podcast episodes on mental performance, you should also check out the episode with Chari Hawkins around her journey with sports psychology and mental health.

See you next week on the Voice in Sport podcast.  

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