Mental fitness to drive beach volleyball team

By LESLIE OMARO
PAPUA New Guinea beach volleyball coach Kila Dick believes physical and mental preparation will put his team in a good form to win the second Olympic qualifiers.
PNG are looking to make their first appearance in the sport at the London Olympics in July and will take on New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu.
The event is the second round of the Olympic qualification tournament for the Oceania region and top two teams will progress to the third and final round in China.
And the PNG mentor is positive the five-man team of Ravu Mahuru (VAVA), Gerea Kila (VAVA), Ake Walo (Tatana) and Pacific Games duo Moha Mea and Manly Kapa will get them through.
“I am quietly confident and humble and I trust this team will get through to the next qualifiers,” he said.
Dick said Walo would team up with Mea in the Mt Maunganui international series which was a separate event which would be held in Auckland a week earlier.
“Ake (Walo) is a promising young player and it will be good exposure for him to overcome the endurance and pressure.
“He featured well for his association (TA’AVA). (However) beach volleyball is different and it is a good opportunity for him to experience playing on the beach.
“The two main areas we are focusing on in our preparations are physical and mental preparations.
“I have been a coach for some time and those are the principles I base my training on because I believe those are the two important elements that make up a person.
“The team has been training for the past three weeks. The emphasis is on endurance and I am teaching them to apply it to stay longer in the game.
“They must stay focus to withstand and maintain the pressure.
“Their mental ability to stay focus and their composure in the game are paramount because many times players are under pressure and panic and it costs them to make silly mistakes which determine the outcome of the game.
“Mental readiness and strength are important to withstand pressure in any game and beach volleyball is no different.
“Another aspect is on ball skills and I am trying to divert from indoor to the beach because it is a different ball game all together. Beach volleyball requires a lot of energy and skills and its challenging.
“Moha and Manly have the experience from last year’s Pacific Games.”
 Moha, especially played in the first Olympic qualifiers in Northern Mariannas with Richard Kila, Bobby Batari and Garry Udia.
Dick said that beach volleyball should be given a serious thought and competitions should start in PNG.
“We need to work hard in PNG and put a competition in place and embark on this sport of beach volleyball.
“Other wise, the door is open to tap into it and get a local competition going because it is good for the players.
“We need to also move away from the more traditionally indoor volleyball and divert to beach volleyball because there are many opportunities out there for our young players.
“We can work hard and I am sure we can advance in this discipline and get many people involve in the sport,” Dick said.