We have all been in intense games where you just feel like everything that could go wrong, is going wrong and on top of that this is a must win game for your team.
Sometimes when leading by example just isn’t cutting it to spur your team on, you may need to switch to some words of wisdom or some motivation quotes to give your team the drive they need.
One quote that never ceases to fail when it comes to motivating a team is:
“A good team can win a volleyball game when they are ahead, a great team can win when they are behind.”
I would love nothing more than to credit the genius behind this quote, however, currently the source is unknown.
However, this certainly isn’t the only quote that can motivate or inspire a team to perform a miraculous comeback or give the team the fighting spirit they need to keep hold of the lead and win the match.
With that being said here are 50 quotes you can use to light that fire in your team’s belly.
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“Volleyball is life; everything else is details.”
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“There is no glory in practice, but without practice, there is no glory.”
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“I would like to instill in people just to work hard. As long as they keep at it, their dreams will happen.” – Misty May
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“Everybody likes the guy who works hard. Nobody likes the guy who tells you how hard he works.” – Lloy Ball
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“Don’t let the ball hit the ground without a body hitting the ground with it.”
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“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” —Steve Martin
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“A good setter is like a waiter” – Julio Velasco
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“Once you get the taste of ruining somebody’s great hit, it stays with you. And it changes the game. A great defensive play is worth about five points in emotion.” – Caren Kemner
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“The Pessimist Sees Difficulty In Every Opportunity. The Optimist Sees Opportunity In Every Difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
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“One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke
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“You can hit on us . . . but you can’t score.”
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“I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don’t do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results.” —Michael Jordan
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“Volleyball is not like a formula so we must give players some freedom.” – Karch Kiraly
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“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” – Archie Griffin
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“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” – Muhammad Ali
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“The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.” – Lewis B. Ergen
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“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” – Billie Jean King
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“On beach volleyball: You touch every other ball and, if you screw up, you only have one more person to back you up. You can’t go hide in the corner.” —Kerri Walsh
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“The Six W’s: Work will win when wishing won’t.” – Todd Blackledge
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“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” – Michael Jordan
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“Nothing is impossible the word itself says I’m possible” -Audrey Hepburn
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“It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.” – Muhammad Ali
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“If you don’t do whats best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end” – Julius Erving
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“And somehow, somewhere, there was that little girl who picked up a volleyball and fell in love with the game”
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“It’s not how big you are, it’s how big you play!”
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“Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and 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.” —Mia Hamm
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“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” —Darrel Royal
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“Good players rarely look like the game is stressful for them, and they never seem rushed because they adjust their position all the time based on what’s happening. They’re always compensating for the movement of their teammates and the movement on the other side of the court, whether it’s blocking or back court.” – Doug Beal, Team USA Coach & CEO
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“Adversity, if you allow it to, will fortify you and make you the best you can be.” – Kerri Walsh
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“Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them. But do not let them master you.” – Hellen Keller
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“Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates.” – Magic Johnson
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“The winners in life think in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have done, would have done, and what they can’t do.” —Dennis Waitley
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“The will to win is more important than the skill to win. It is possible to achieve only what you actively pursue. Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. Keep your head high and work hard every day, because you’ll never get that day back.” —Lloy Ball, Volleyball Hall of Fame
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“Anyone can support a team that is winning – it takes no courage. But to stand behind a team to defend a team when it is down and really needs you, that takes a lot of courage.” – Bart Starr
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“All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, “There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.” —Ted Williams
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“Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records.” – William A. Ward
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“Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.” – John Wooden
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“Be bold. If you are going to make an error, make a doozy, and don’t be afraid to hit the ball.” —Billie Jean King
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“Teamwork makes the dream work.”
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“The only thing that makes a good day better is volleyball.”
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“Volleyball anchored me at a time in my life when I needed it. It gave me a reason for being this big, big girl.” —Gabrielle Reece
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“No volleyball play can begin without a serve, and the serve is the only technique that is totally under your control. In other endeavors, you cannot succeed without believing in yourself, and that belief is completely under your control.” – Karch Kiraly
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“A hard practice makes an easy game.”
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“I don’t need the glory. I don’t need the fame. I don’t need the spotlight. I just need the ball.”
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“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all-time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while—you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” — Vince Lombardi
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“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.” — Marv Dunphy
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““Volleyball rules are simple. If it is on the floor, pick it up and get it into the air. If it is in the air, keep it off the floor.” — John Kessel
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“The (volleyball) player is not a soloist, but a member of an orchestra. When that player begins to think, ‘I’m special,’ (The player) is finished.” ― Bernardo Rezende
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“There’s nothing worse than the feeling of wishing you had another chance at a play because you weren’t ready. Every athlete has those feelings to mull over, and over and over … Don’t even expose yourself to the possibility to being caught off-guard.” – Karch Kiraly
There you have it.
50 inspirational, motivational or just out right relatable quotes for all volleyball players.
Now you will have noticed that many of these quotes did not come from Volleyball players specifically, however, as athletes we all often all share the same goal.
