97 Inspirational Volleyball Quotes to Elevate Your Game

"Over the years, I realized that if I'd done everything possible to prepare myself for matches and tournaments, it took a weight off my shoulders and allowed me to play without fear of losing. When you've done everything you can to train yourself for competition, you'll sleep well when the tournament is over, win or lose."

- Karch Kiraly

"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] 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

"It's not how tall you are, it is how good you are."

- Marv Dunphy

"I'm not the most physical person, not the tallest, not the skinniest. You can't listen to anybody. Just know your dreams. Know how hard you can work. Work hard, have fun doing it, and you can really make it places that you really never thought you would. Dedication, passion and heart gets you where you want to be."

- Lindsey Berg

"We are all going to fall short. We are going to have some bitter losses, very painful defeats and failures. We have to use those to come back even stronger. That's what makes it sweeter, when we can overcome those and figure out a way to win. The great teams can do that, and those are the gold medal winning teams."

- Karch Kiraly

"In volleyball, the little things are the big things."

- Courtney Thompson

"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."

- Marv Dunphy

"A great defensive play is worth about five points in emotion."

- Caren Kemner

"I don't like the beach. I don't like the sand. I don't like the sun. I don't like the ocean. But I love beach volleyball."

- Kerri Walsh Jennings

"The game is not over until it's over. The game is never over."

- Flo Hyman

"You're either getting better or getting worse. I don't think you stay the same in sports. If we want to achieve something special in the game, then those players have to recognize that they're responsible every day for getting better."

- Russ Rose

"Adversity, if you allow it to, will fortify you and make you the best you can be."

- Kerri Walsh Jennings

"It's important to just kind of get away from your sport until you miss it . . . It's about taking time to enjoy other aspects of life or learn new things. It helps rejuvenate."

- Misty May-Treanor

"I never went to a prom or to movies like other high school girls did. My entire life was volleyball. I'd play six days a week, with Monday the only day I'd take off."

- Debbie Green

"Breathe, believe, and battle."

- Kerri Walsh

"Be a leader. A setter should be high energy. It's important that you learn how to give positive, constructive criticism. It's crucial that you make your teammates feel comfortable. You should never be the most silent player in the gym."

- Lindsey Berg

"Effective blockers are unquestionably the keystone of a successful defense."

- Don Shondell

"There are six people around the court and it's literally like a ballet. And fundamentals are at the core of everything you do."

- Caren Kemner

"Pushing yourself over the barrier is a habit. I know I can do it and try something else crazy. If you want to win the war, you've got to pay the price."

- Flo Hyman

"A lot of people told me I would never be a good volleyball player or high jumper because I never specialized. But I always knew that I could, believed I could, so I didn't listen to what they said. I just followed my heart and did it."

- Tayyiba Haneef

"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

"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

"You have to be willing to fail, to improve."

- Al Scates

"Losers assemble in little groups and complain but winners assemble as a team."

- Bill Parcells

"I do not think about coaching as being the boss. Rather, I am here to see how all the parts fit together. I am in the middle of this storm, and that is where the calm is supposed to be."

- Mark Pavlik

"Volleyball has allowed me to travel throughout the world, to see so many interesting places, to meet so many interesting people including my husband and three presidents, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton."

- Debbie Green

"I have the philosophy that the team is going to win or lose the match. I tend to be more demanding in practice where the work gets done. During the matches, I like to help the team use what they have been trained to use."

- Mark Pavlik

"A coach should take the athletes to their limits, should go beyond the comfort zone… If you are concerned about being friends with the players, you are not going anywhere."

- Doug Beal

"The best thing we can do is take care of the things we have control of and not be concerned with things we can't. We can control our standard of training, preparation and commitment to executing our system at a high level each time we take the floor."

- Alan Knipe

"Everybody likes the guy who works hard. Nobody likes the guy who tells you how hard he works."

- Lloy Ball

"The best passing drill is pass-set-hit. The best setting drill is pass-set-hit. The best hitting drill is pass-set-hit. Anything less than a game situation, unless very well planned, has the possibility of introducing artificial situations, and complete transfer to the game might not occur when drills are constructed in this manner."

- Marv Dunphy

"Champions keep playing until they get it right"

- Billie Jean King

"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team."

- Phil Jackson

"If you want to stay fit, surround yourself with a couple of chicks who are fired up, so that the one day you're not, you can feed off their energy."

- Gabrielle Reece

"I have had to change the game to one that is a match of wits rather than brawn to give myself a fighting chance."

- Todd Rogers

"It's not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters"

- Paul "Bear" Bryant

"On the surface, a duck looks nice and calm, but underneath the surface of the water it's trying really hard to stay afloat. At Stanford, it may seem like everyone is a genius, but they have to work really hard to get there."

- Foluke Akinradewo

"Play and practice like you are trying to make the team."

- Mike Krzyzewski

"No one's ever gotten better by practicing less."

- Ron Jaworski

"Dominate the effort plays."

- Brad Stevens

"There are no magic plays. You win based on effort, unmet focus and being brilliant at the little details."

- Steve Kerr

"Good things happen to those who hustle."

- Chuck Noll

"You must accept the fact that you have flaws and will need to work every day to become a better player than you were yesterday."

- Dale Brown

"You need to work as hard to be a great teammate as you do to be a great player."

- Jon Gordon

"The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital."

- Joe Paterno

"Don't fire your opponents up. If they're down, don't tick them off. Let them stay down."

- Sinjin Smith

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

- Helen Keller

"Effort without talent is a depressing situation...but talent without effort is a tragedy."

- Mike Ditka

"There is only a half step difference between the champions and those who finish on the bottom. And much of that half steps is mental."

- Tom Landry

"To be successful, you have to learn to do things you dont like. You find ways to like the process and make the most of that time."

- Coach K

"All right Mister, let me tell you what winning means...You're willing to go longer, work harder, give more than anyone else."

- Vince Lombardi

"Everybody has to bring their "A" game. The combination of individuals being able to do that is what creates the identity of the team."

- N. Saban

"Competitive people, that's what gets you over the top. Show your teammates, the fans, your coaches how competitive you are."

- Mike Babcock

"If a person is a quitter, I'd rather find out in practice. I ask for all a player has so I'll know later what I can expect."

- Bear Bryant

"If you are going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price."

- Bud Wilkinson

"I am ready to be a winner I deserve to be a winner I am destined to be a winner I am determined to be a winner From this day forth all I know is winning"

- Eric Thomas

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."

- Tim Notke

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships"

- Michael Jordan

"It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up"

- Vince Lombardi

"The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory"

- Les Brown

"A champion is someone who gets up when they can't"

- Jack Dempsey

"You win not by chance but by preparation."

- Roger Maris

"How do you win? By getting average players to play good and good players to play great. That's how you win."

- Bum Phillips

"My general rule, which I have followed throughout my coaching career, is that everyone doesn't necessarily get treated the same way, because I'm not sure that's possible. But everyone has to be treated fairly."

- Karch Kiraly

"Coaches must be critical thinkers, not protectors of the status quo."

- Mike Herbert

"Winners never quit and quitters never win"

- Vince Lombardi

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

- Nelson Mandela

"The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning"

- Pele

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"

- Wayne Gretzky

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts"

- Winston S. Churchill

"I don't like losing. I don't accept losing, and I don't want to be a part of losing."

- Pat Riley

"If you don't succeed it doesn't mean you are a failure. If you do succeed it doesn't mean that you are king of the world."

- David Beard

"From the beginning, my philosophy has been to stake my course, show results and force others to copy me."

- Arie Selinger

"The winner's edge is not in a gifted birth, a high IQ, or in a talent. The winner's edge is all in the attitude, not aptitude. Attitude is the criterion for success."

- Denis Waitley

"In order to grow, you must accept new responsibilities, no matter how uncertain you may feel or how unprepared you are to deal with them."

- Pat Head Summitt

"I dont think anybody has a ceiling. Everybody can constantly improve."

- Chip Kelly

"It is better to anticipate than to react."

- Bobby Knight

"Failure by itself is not something anyone wants. It's the success that follows failure that we all seek."

- Anjali Sastry

"Never give up. You only get one life. Go for it!"

- Richard E. Grant

"Promise to think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best in yourself and others."

- John Wooden

"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability"

- John Wooden

"Dream big and dare to fail."

- Norman Vaughan

"You can make mistakes, but you're not a failure until you start blaming others for those mistakes."

- John Wooden

"Focus all your effort on what is in your power to control."

- John Wooden

"If you want to conquer fear, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy."

- Dale Carnegie

"Winning is everything, to win is all there is. Only those poor souls buried beneath the battlefield understand this."

- NAVY Team Saving

"It's normal to enjoy praise and dislike criticism. True character is when you prevent either from affecting you in a negative manner."

- John Wooden

"Be accountable if you want to count."

- Harvey Mackay

"Self confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings"

- Samuel Johnson

"Success is performing to the limit of your potential."

- Bobby Knight

"Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow."

- Swedish Proverb

"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self."

- Aristotle

"An effective leader allows exceptions to the rule for exceptional results or when circumstance demands."

- John Wooden

"Too many people get in a position of authority and aren't willing to get down on the floor and belly laugh with five- and six-year-olds."

- Aaron Paul