Ritual keeps Warsaw relaxed

HUNTINGTON - She may not be Phil Jackson, lighting incense and exorcising the evil spirits out of her players, but Jamie Byron takes her Tiger volleyball team through a pregame ritual of her own.

She has her players lie down on the floor and close their eyes in the final 10 minutes they spend in the locker room. They relax, and the only sounds they hear are the soothing strains emanating from Byron's voice.

Byron talks about warmups. She talks about execution on the floor. She talks about the first game. She talks about the second game. She talks about winning the match.

"It's just a very simple relaxation technique," Byron explains. "I have them visualize playing the match before we do it for real. They visualize themselves out on the floor, passing, hitting, blocking and serving.

"We don't make any mistakes."

The relaxation technique works.

When Byron played at Peru High School, her coach used it. Her team went deep into tournament play.

When Byron attended Memphis University her coach used it. Byron went on to become an All-Conference volleyball player.

Sarah Calhoun, who has been one of Warsaw's best players all season, says it works.

"All the tenseness is gone," she says. "She tells us we're going to hit the ball down, that we're going to come out and have good passing.

"It just relaxes us. It works a lot."

Now, Warsaw is playing in the semistate.

Is it coincidence that Byron just recently started the ritual?

Byron began the pregame ritual just a few weeks ago.

"For the last two weeks, including sectional," she says. "It worked for me as a player, and I thought, why not try it now?

"It's a time for them to relax and ease their minds and focus on what they're here for. I talk about the second we leave the locker room, our mission is focusing on the team on the other side of the net."