Success in volleyball comes from a number of different attributes including both physical and mental. Both seem to have different impacts on a players value and the topic of whether physical or mental attributes are more important has been a topic of conversation for decades. Over the course of this article, top college volleyball coaches from around the country have been interviewed to give us their take on the topic. A small snippet and each of the coach interviews are below so that you can hear them personally. 

Coaches

Rob Chilcoat: Assistant Women’s Volleyball Coach at the University of Southern Alabama. 

Bruce Atkinson: Head volleyball coach at Delaware State University.

Michelle Cole: Head Women’s Volleyball Coach at Seattle University in Seattle, Washington.

Zach Weinberg: Assistant Women’s Volleyball Coach at Tennessee Technological University aka Tennessee Tech.

**Videos Below

Rob shares a story about a past team and their successes. He dives into what made them successful and how the mental side of the game has a positive role in that success. **Video Below

When asked about his opinion on what makes a team successful, talent or mental toughness Bruce told that he thinks both are equally as important. He says that along with mental toughness and talent he believes team chemistry to be just as important to a team's overall success. **Video Below

Michelle shares a story about her college team and what made them successful in order to make it to the Elite 8 two times in the 4 years she was there as well as having multiple athletes in the A&M Hall of Fame. While they had some solid talented players, they were also rabidly competitive and mentally tough and that made the difference. She also brings up “roles” on the team and taking those and running with them even if it wasn’t the role you wanted. **Video Below

Zach talks about his UNLV team that made it to the NCAA tourney. They were underdogs and wanted to prove others wrong. They worked really hard and definitely showed how mentally tough they were. Listen to the rest of the story here! **Video Below

As we can see from the coaches, success in volleyball has to do both with the physical and mental attributes. They both play an equal part in player development and success and in the future, will still be a topic of discussion for years to come.