Haikyuu is one of my favorite stories of all time. In my opinion, the author did a great job intertwining real life messages in a fictional story line, full of relatable characters and emotions.

One of my favorite match ups, which has yet to be animated, is Karasuno vs Kamomedai. 

One of the reasons I like it is because we see more of Hoshiumi’s backstory, who is one of my favorite characters. I resonate with him a lot, because I am also short yet very ambitious when it comes to sports. Hoshiumi is fictional yet still a relatable example of someone who made success through failure and effort, despite their limitations.

One of his most important lines in the story:

But the real reason for this post is to highlight the lessons from Kamomedai’s coach, who we also learn about during this match up:

“I’m not feeling it today. No more of that. Make a habit of success.”

Making a habit of success is such a mental game. In my experience, the strongest thing holding me back from success is always my own mind. ‘Not feeling it’ is the start of a spiral that, over time, becomes the easier choice to make. So instead, I use this quote to remember that I can’t avoid ‘not feeling it’, but I still have work to do. No more relying on my feelings when I need to persevere. Instead I focus more on building the self discipline to complete habits even on the worst day.

“In order to make good plays at any time, you should work on the way you think.”

This is an incredibly important part of sports performance that I think many people overlook. Even if you are strong, smart, or any positive attribute, the way you think can completely derail your performance. Athletes, and honestly anyone doing performance of any sort, would benefit immensely from mental training. 

In volleyball, this mental training is in the form of simulating the highest pressure moments and replaying them over and over again. But this approach can be easily adjusted to any sort of goal in mind.

What’s great about the lessons from this coach, or even the arc in general, is it can be applied to any sort of situation. To be honest, I didn’t fully ‘feel like’ writing and posting this article. It’s because I’ve learned concepts through all sorts of places: books, podcasts, manga/anime, etc., that I push through difficult moments in pursuit of my goal. So, this is also a lesson to take the information that stands out to you and do something with it!