Famous Volleyball Quotes

Famous volleyball quotes to inspire and motivate athletes to success. 

Quotes by Olympians

Based on what you know now, what are three things that you would remind yourself if you were beginning your volleyball career again? 
One thing that has helped me is to do more than the coach expects. Besides my workouts with the team, I would also go and do jumps – sometimes with a coach – or I’d do aerobic stuff. 


Just extra things. Two: Be open to feedback. Three: Be willing to try new things. 
– Danielle Scott-Arruda, Four Time Olympian Women’s Volleyball National Team 

The idea is to win you guys, the idea is to win. 
—Doug Beal, 1984 U.S. Olympic men‘s head coach on coaching a drill 

Doug Beal, USA Volleyball Hall of Fame Coach


If we control the ball, they pay. 
—Mary Dunphy, 1988 U.S. Olympic men‘s head coach 

Approaching a match too emotional doesn’t help me much, so I try to find a happy medium through music. 

Despite the random lists of songs, each song carries the same message: Have Fun. 

If you are going to put a lot of time and energy into something like volleyball, you might as well enjoy it. Your desire to succeed should be your primary motivation. Music, I find, is an excellent aid in helping you get there.
– Makare Desilets, USA National Women’s team 

“Searching for funds to continue my skating career when I was 17, I called the Women’s Sports Foundation in New York. 

The intern who answered the phone suggested that I might be a great candidate for the Travel and Training fund, and she sent me an application form. 

I applied for a grant. With the funds I was awarded, I bought a new pair of skates and a plane ticket to the 1988 National Championships, where I achieved my highest national finish. 

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Famous Volleyball Quotes by Olympians…

Four years later, I won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games.” 
– Kristi Yamaguchi 

“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 

The most important thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else – it has to be yours. 

That is all that will justify the hard work needed to achieve success. 

Compete against yourself, not others, for that is who truly is your best competition. 
– Peggy Flemming, Olympic ice skater 

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Famous Volleyball Quotes by Hugh McCutcheon…

Hugh on the setting position in volleyball… “Know ahead of time what to set your hitters. Decide what you’re setting your hitters before the serve. This makes it easier for the setter and then they can just focus on putting up a hittable ball. “

How setting is like a quarterback throwing a football… “The setter is like a quarterback that is trying to hit their receivers. The setter needs to understand the relation to the hitter. Don’t just set the ball, be aware of the timing. “

Hugh McCutcheon, USA Volleyball Olympic Gold Medal Coach

Famous Volleyball Quotes by Other Successful People

The answers to three questions will determine your success or failure. 

1. Can people trust me to do my best? 

2. Am I committed to the task at hand? 

3. Do I care about other people and show it? If the answers to these questions are yes, there is no way you can fail. 
– Lou Holz, college football coach 

Teamwork is what makes the dream work. 
– Volleyball T-Shirt 

A part of control is learning to correct your own weaknesses. The person doesn’t live who was born with everything. 
Sometimes he has one weak point, generally he has several. The first thing is to know your faults. 
And then take on a systematic plan of correcting them. You know the old saying about a chain only being as strong as its weakest link. The same can be said in the chain of skills a man forges. – Babe Ruth, baseball player 

Produce more than you consume. 
– Mary Lile, College Volleyball Coach 

Famous Volleyball Quotes

Everybody knows how to complete the sentence. There’s only one way of doing things, the right way. 

Anything worth doing, is worth doing right, if you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all. 

As parents we show the world how adequate we are through the performance of our children. We focus on their behavior and their behavior is a reflection of our competency as parents. And as children learn, they are going to make mistakes. We know how to celebrate our victories, but not our defeats, losses, mistakes, and failures. We don’t know how to celebrate the learning that’s earned through the mistake making process. We tend to cover them up and not share them with each other. That’s the way the culture functions. 
– Bowen White, Board Member of The Institute For Play 

Be hard-well conditioned 
Be tough-mentally prepared and confident 
Be yourself-know your strengths and weaknesses 
Be patient-listen to criticism, understand the value of creating discipline. 
Be fair-to yourself and others 
– Dave Cowens, NBA player 


Famous Volleyball Quotes

Over the years I have pushed myself mentally and I have pushed myself physically. 

A lot of people say, “John Havlicek never gets tired.” Well I get tired. It’s just a matter of pushing myself. 

I say to myself, “He’s as tired as I am. Who’s going to win the mental battle?” It’s just a matter of mental toughness. 
– John Havlicek, NBA player 


Famous Volleyball Quotes

That which has carried me through a very trying period of my life is the psychological factor of always thinking positively and looking forward to the best thing happening to me all the time. 

It seems to me that if you think negatively, you can condition yourself to expect negations, and usually end up with that. 

And I think back to one saying that I constantly shoot forth with when my team is laying down a little or feeling sorry for themselves. 

At this time, I give one of my real winners. “You want to lose, go ahead and lose; anyone can lose. 

Tough guys find some way of winning the game. So get tough. 

No matter what happens, you can’t expend energy worrying about what people think. I have to face things head-on. To overcome any adversity, all you need is time-just make sure all your steps are forward. 
– Jack McKinney, basketball coach 


Famous Volleyball Quotes

I hope I epitomize the American dream. For I came against long odds, from the ghetto to the very top of my profession. 

I was not immediately good at basketball. It did not come easy. It came as the result of a lot of hard work and self-sacrifice. The rewards, where they worth it? One thousand times over. 
– Bill Russell NBA basketball legend 

Mental toughness is essential to success. You’ve got to want to be mentally tough. 

Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. It’s qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind-you could call it character in action 
– Vince Lombardi, NFL coaching legend 


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