A methodical approach to mental training may help, but it’s ultimately up to the individual to determine what works best. 

That process takes time, and 18-year-old Barbara Coppelli of Chile admits that she hasn’t quite figured it out.

“I have really bad concentration problems,” Coppelli says. “In training, I get yelled at ALL the time. Sometimes I’m listening to the coach, but I’m actually just seeing her, not paying attention to her.”

Coppelli, who does double-duty on the junior and senior national teams, says, “Right now, I’m just understanding when I am getting distracted. It’s like, ‘Okay, you’re dissociating. Pay attention now.’ Sometimes I do understand but I don’t do anything about it.”

Unfortunately, resources are limited. “Being a tiny country,” she says, “we don’t have the financial stuff. You see all the big countries bringing physiotherapists, massage people, photographers, psychologists [to a competition like the World Cup in Canada]. It’s, like, we were fighting to get both of our coaches here. It’s very challenging. That’s kind of stopping us a bit from moving forward in our sport.”

Japan’s Tomoka Sato, 23, says that her mental fortitude comes from “repeated practice.”

“I do image training. I close my eyes and imagine the underwater scenery,” says the 2023 world champion in mixed technical duet. When the competition grows near, “I imagine judges and spectators at the match venue, too. I add that.”

Then, just before the performance, she will incorporate music and envision a supportive atmosphere.

“I swim thinking everyone is watching, including judges, coaches and the audience is on my side. This helps me relax,” she says.

Then, in the water, “even when I think, ‘It’s no good, it’s no good,’ I have to push myself. I will swim with faith in the accumulated practice I have gained,” Sato says. “If I’m nervous, I believe in my practice and keep swimming.” 

Still, Sato admits, there have been moments when pressure has reduced her to tears. When that happens, she says, “I write in my diary.” And, she says, “I call my younger brother, Yotaro, who understands me the most.”  (Yotaro is also her mixed-duet partner.)

After switching nationalities from Mexico to the US, Ana Martinez, 23, says the mental game is harder than ever.

Due to a three-year waiting period to represent her new nation, Martinez says, “Last time I competed, the sport was called synchro, had different rules, and no base marks, so I have been preparing a lot. I’ve been visualizing what I need to do. When you’re eight people in the water, you have to think in patterns.  Maybe it’s a line. Maybe it’s two lines.

“You also have to be tighter on the counts. We count one through eight. Sometimes we move on every count, or maybe we move on one count, then hold it for another two counts. It depends on the choreography. But the judges are very strict. If we’re not on count, you can get a ‘minor’ [error which carries a 0.1 penalty], an ‘obvious’ [error which costs 0.5 points], or a ‘major’ if it’s too off,” which yields a 3.0-point deduction.

As a result, she says the team works on visualization every time it swims through the entire routine. And when they do, Martinez says,  “Some people visualize themselves – like how do I want to look in the water?” so they imagine how high they want to be, how a limb should look, or maybe their facial expressions.  In contrast, she says, “Some people visualize what they’re looking at when they’re swimming.”

Many athletes choose one point-of-view or the other, but Martinez – whose role as a “pusher” means she’s at the bottom of every team structure – does both.

“If it’s a new routine,” she explains, “I like to look what I’m looking at [in the water]. But if it’s a very worked [out] routine, I like to look at myself.”        

In addition, the US team has studied and established breathing exercises.

“When you exhale fast, it makes you ready to perform,” Martinez says, “versus if you inhale fast and exhale slow, then it relaxes you. I don’t know if you’ve seen this – but that’s why, when swimmers are about to go on, they go, “HA!”

American flyer Elle Santana, 19, says it helps to be able “to feel your team – even on land,” so she appreciates when the US does its group breathing together “to calm ourselves and stay in our little bubble. It doesn’t matter what other teams are doing in the pool; as soon as we walk into the competition, we’re very honed in.”

Sometimes, switching the brain off can also be effective. The key to staying mentally sharp “for me,” says Canada’s Halle Pratt, 25, “is downtime, making sure you’re well-rested. I try to sleep 8½ hours every night, and a little more towards competition. But I’m not afraid to take a nap in the middle of the day. I think that’s super-helpful.”

Mental training, however, is not universal.

Mexico’s mixed duet specialist Diego Carrillo Villalobos, 20, is an ex-diver who went from complete beginner to world championship silver medallist in just three years.  “I don’t have any special mental training,” he says. “I visualise a little bit, but I think it stresses me. I just trust in my work, and that relaxes me.”

Ultimately – whatever the method (or non-method) of mental training – most artistic swimmers agree on a few universal truths.

Martinez, the Mexican-American says, “I think confidence is key. The first step is to believe you can do it, right? Then, you look at the details.  And, of course, trusting your preparation and all the training you have.”

After spending eight hours in the pool six days of the week, and about 80 run-throughs of a routine, it becomes second nature.

TEXARKANA, Texas — The Texas A&M University-Texarkana athletic department has announced that the overall GPA for all student athletes in the Spring 2025 semester was a 3.25.

There were 319 student athletes enrolled at the university during the spring semester that ended on May 7, 2025. There were 45 student athletes who earned a 4.0 for the semester and qualified for President’s Honors, 101 who finished with a GPA higher than 3.5 and earned University Honors, and 239 who finished with at least a 3.0, which will earn them a spot on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.

“We are exceptionally proud of the dedication our student athletes have for their work in the classroom,” said A&M-Texarkana President Dr. Ross Alexander. “To have so many of them qualify for academic honors while competing at a championship level is a testament to their work ethic and drive. We have made adding additional sports and student athletes an integral part of our growth strategy at A&M-Texarkana, and this is precisely why. These are strong students who we know will excel not only during their time with us, but in their careers as well.”

“Our student athletes had an outstanding year both in the classroom and in competition,” said Ryan Wall, A&M-Texarkana Director of Athletics. “With over 40 students earning a perfect 4.0 GPA across multiple sports, it’s clear they’re excelling in every area. This success is a reflection of their hard work and discipline, as well as the commitment of our coaches who continue to recruit high-character individuals and hold them to high standards on and off the field. Kudos to both our student-athletes and coaches for setting the bar high and representing our institution with pride.”

Texas A&M University competes in the NAIA’s Red River Athletic Conference and currently fields 17 varsity sports including men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, cross country, track and field, and tennis, as well as baseball, softball, women’s volleyball, women’s beach volleyball, competitive cheer, competitive dance and esports. The Fall 2025 semester will see the addition of four new sports, with men’s and women’s bowling and golf joining the program.

John Pyatt had 17 kills, and Vinny Silon had 15 kills and eight digs to lead third-seeded Western Wayne to a 3-1 (25-21, 25-14, 18-25, 25-23) win over No. 6 Nanticoke Area in the District 2 Class 2A boys volleyball quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Braden Laity added five kills and four aces, and Theo Black had 33 assists for the Wildcats (13-4), who advanced to play second-seeded Crestwood in the first match of a semifinal doubleheader at Holy Redeemer on Thursday night.

Zack Zubritski had 12 kills, Ethan Yendrzeiwski added 10 service points and eight blocks, Braeden Isaacs had 20 assists and nine service points, and Jayden Teron had blocks for Nanticoke Area (9-7).

Crestwood 3, Valley View 0: The second-seeded Comets (13-3) powered their way into the semifinals of the Class 2A tournament with a 25-20, 25-13, 25-22 win over No. 7 Valley View.

Crestwood advanced to face third-seeded Western Wayne in the first match of a doubleheader at Holy Redeemer High School on Thursday.

Kyle Liparulo had five kills and two blocks, Jagger Roe added five kills, Mike Shemonski had five kills, and Antonio Farina had 18 assists for Valley View (10-6).

Holy Redeemer 3, Dallas 0: Joshua Rocha continued his outstanding season by recording 41 kills to lead top-seeded Holy Redeemer to a 25-19, 25-15, 25-11 win over No. 8 Dallas in the quarterfinals.

The Royals, who are ranked No. 5 among Class 2A teams in the state by the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association, advanced to the semifinals and will host No. 4 Berwick 30 minutes after the first game of a doubleheader on Thursday night.

Jack Wasiakowski had 39 assists, four blocks, four digs, and nine service points for the undefeated Royals (17-0).

In addition to the two heavy hitters for Holy Redeemer, Max Mohutsky had 10 service points and seven digs, Hayden Fleegle contributed four digs, four assists, and six points, and Jack Broda had three blocks.

Berwick 3, Blue Ridge 0: Fourth-seeded Berwick knocked out defending two-time champion Blue Ridge (25-20, 25-23, 25-16) in the quarterfinals.

Carlos Guzman had 20 service points, 15 kills, and 14 digs to lead the Bulldogs (12-5). Jackson Matash had 26 assists, 13 digs, and six service points; Sage Bankes had six blocks, seven kills, and seven digs; and Jayden Charles had four aces and 10 service points and added five kills and 16 digs.

Parker Glasgow had nine kills, Landon Bishop had seven kills and 12 service points with six aces, and Owen Martin had six kills for Blue Ridge.

Riley Phillips added 11 service points and Bruce Conklin had 21 digs for the Raiders (11-6)

Originally Published: May 20, 2025 at 9:38 PM EDT

One team reappears in the latest 2025 USA TODAY Sports/American Volleyball Coaches Association boys volleyball Super 25. As the action moves toward Memorial Day Weekend, Mira Costa continues to dominate, with the Mustangs making it nine weeks in a row at No. 1.

Josh Rocha had another big night, and the Holy Redeemer Royals are back in the District 2 Class 2A semifinals.

Rocha had 41 kills, and added three aces, as the Royals swept Dallas, 25-19, 25-15 and 25-11, in the quarterfinals Tuesday night.

Redeemer will host Thursday’s doubleheader and will face off with Berwick in the nightcap.

Jack Wasiakowski added 39 assists, four blocks, four digs and nine points, and Max Mohutsky had 10 points and seven digs. Hayden Fleegle added four digs, four assists and six points, and Jack Broda ended with three blocks and two kills.

Crestwood 3, Valley View 0: At Crestwood, the second-seeded Comets used a big game from JJ Stec to advance in three sets past Valley View, 25-20, 25-13 and 25-22.

Crestwood will face off with Western Wayne in the opening match of the semifinal doubleheader at Holy Redeemer on Thursday.

Stec had 15 kills, 10 digs and 11 service points to pace the Comets. Tommy McLaughlin added seven kills and 10 blocks, and Clark Groth ended with nine blocks and five kills. Crestwood libero Luke Joseph finished with 15 digs.

Berwick 3, Blue Ridge 0: At Berwick, Carlos Guzman had 20 points, 15 kills and 14 digs to pace No. 4 Berwick past No. 5 Blue Ridge (25-20, 25-23, 25-16) in the District 2 Class 2A quarterfinals.

The victory puts the Bulldogs in the semifinals against No. 1 seed Holy Redeemer on Thursday.

Jackson Matash had 26 assists and 13 digs for Berwick, and Sage Bankes added seven kills, seven digs and six blocks. Jayden Charles added 10 points, five kills and 16 digs in the win.

Western Wayne 3, Nanticoke Area 1: At Western Wayne, Nanticoke Area rallied to force a fourth set, but the Trojans fell to No. 3 Western Wayne (25-21, 25-14, 18-25, 25-23) in the District 2 Class 2A quarterfinals.

The third-seeded Wildcats will face off with No. 2 Crestwood at Holy Redeemer in the first semifinal on Thursday.

Zack Zubritski had 12 kills to pace the Trojans. Ethan Yendrzeiwski had 10 points and eight blocks, and Braeden Isaacs had 20 assists and nine points. Jayden Teron added six blocks.

Originally Published: May 20, 2025 at 10:04 PM EDT

Each passing point generated gasps from the stands, those on court digging just a little deeper as the fourth set offered one climatic moment after another.

In its desperation to stay in a match with the nation’s best boys’ volleyball team in Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, Huntington Beach staved off four championship points in an extended set.

When Colin Choi polished off the second of back-to-back kills to claim the marathon game, the Oilers poured onto the court. It hadn’t decided the match, and yet it had been met with the sort of reaction as though it had.

Huntington Beach’s Colin Choi (10) puts a ball past the blocks of Mira Costa’s Alex Heins (99) and Andrew Chapin (15).

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Huntington Beach had waited since the first week of the season to get another look at Mira Costa, and in the rematch the Oilers delivered a heart-and-soul effort to send Friday’s final to a fifth set.

Mira Costa pulled out the decisive set, a late run taking much of the drama out of the conclusion of what had been a riveting back-and-forth affair in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship match at Cerritos College.

Grayson Bradford’s match-best 25th kill ended it, as Mira Costa beat Huntington Beach 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 29-31, 15-11 to give the Mustangs a ninth section title in program history.

Mira Costa rushes the court after defeating Huntington Beach in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys’ volleyball final at Cerritos College.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Mira Costa won a championship a year after appearing in the final and losing to Los Angeles Loyola.

“It’s not a good feeling to come so close to your goals and not make it,” Mira Costa coach Greg Snyder said. “I think that motivated us, for sure, especially the boys that were on this court last year and didn’t quite get the job done. … They took those lessons, and I think they applied them this year, and it showed, I think, in their maturity on the court, that they were never really rattled.”

Snyder said that he felt “a lot of weight off my back” in winning the CIF title, adding that “a lot of people were expecting” the Mustangs to win as the top seed.

Huntington Beach’s Nick Ganier Jr. (32) puts a kill past the block of Mira Costa’s Wyatt Davis (11) on Friday at Cerritos College.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Huntington Beach (34-4), the second seed, was after its sixth CIF title and first since a run of three consecutive championships from 2013 to 2015.

The Oilers won a CIF State Southern California Division II regional championship in 2021. They will now take aim at the inaugural boys’ volleyball state championship, the brackets for which were released on Sunday.

State playoff openers were scheduled for Tuesday, with Huntington Beach’s path beginning with a home match against Redondo Union (27-10).

Huntington Beach head coach Craig Pazanti, left, has a word with an official after a call during the CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys’ volleyball final against Mira Costa on Friday at Cerritos College.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“We’re going to come back to work and see if we can get another chance at these guys,” said Huntington Beach coach Craig Pazanti, quickly turning the page to the state playoffs.

Mira Costa (32-2) jumped in front by winning the first and third sets. Huntington Beach had impressive answers to each deficit. Kai Gan stepped up to the service line in a rotation that saw the Oilers rattle off seven straight points to open the second set.

In the fourth set, Huntington Beach received match-extending kills from Ben Arguello, Nick Ganier Jr. and Choi on championship points for the Mustangs.

Huntington Beach’s Kai Gan (7) blocks a ball, with Nick Ganier Jr. (32) and Colin Choi (10), from left, against Mira Costa.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“The character that this team showed in set four was unbelievable,” Pazanti said. “You know, could have given up several times in that match, and just kept battling, kept battling, kept battling. It was just a great effort, and I just think we ran out of gas.”

During the crucial stretch, Choi was blocked on an initial hitting effort, fell to the floor and then got up in time to rise for a bump set from a teammate and win a point.

“He’s probably our most tenacious player,” Logan Hutnick said of Choi. “He really just sticks through anything, and he never gives up on any point.”

Huntington Beach’s Justin Bulsombut (2) blocks a ball from Mira Costa’s Alex Heins (99) during the CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys’ volleyball final on Friday at Cerritos College.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Aiden Atencio, Choi and Hutnick came up big in back-row defensive efforts against a Mira Costa team that had a considerable height advantage. Justin Bulsombut was also credited with contributing to six points on blocks.

“We didn’t want to play Mira Costa’s game,” Pazanti said. “We wanted to play our game. Our game is different than those guys. They can afford to chuck it to the ceiling and go hit it over the block. We got to rely on playing great defense. We got to rely on passing the ball. We got to rely on putting service pressure on people from the service line.”

Hutnick had an up-and-down evening as a hitter — 22 kills and 11 errors — but he handled the lion’s share of opportunities in serve receive, committing just two miscues in 55 chances. The sophomore outside hitter also had a team-best 13 digs to go with 2½ blocks.

Huntington Beach’s Logan Hutnick (11) digs a ball against Mira Costa in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys’ volleyball final.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Harvard-bound setter Kai Gan had 53 assists. Arguello accumulated 13 kills, Ganier Jr. had a dozen kills, Choi contributed nine kills and 10 digs, and Atencio produced 11 digs.

“We wanted to really have that mindset that ‘we’re the underdogs, and we have nothing to lose,’” Gan said of facing the finalists from a year ago. “Real standpoint, though, obviously, they have huge height, and we knew that we have smaller guys on our team, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t still be effective in the offense.

“I think kind of positioning ourselves into establishing the middle and then also using all of our options, back row and front row, really helped us get to that fifth set.”

Huntington Beach’s Kaegan Ramdhani (0) blocks a kill by Mira Costa’s Thatcher Fahlbusch (0).

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Mira Costa put itself on the brink of victory with a 6-1 run to move within a point of the title once more at 14-8. It was academic at that point for the Mustangs, Andrew Chapin (57 assists, 12 digs) connecting with Bradford after the Oilers had fought off three more match points.

“I can set him every single ball of every single game and trust him that we’re going to go out there and win this game,” Chapin said of Bradford. “In crunch time, the fourth set, he had a swing to put it away, and he got dug, and I never ran away from it because I knew that he’s a big-time player and he makes big-time plays.”

Mateo Fuerbringer had 17 kills, three total blocks and two service aces for the Mustangs. Alex Heins had nine kills and nine block assists, Thatcher Fahlbusch also had nine kills, and Wyatt Davis chipped in with six kills and 3½ blocks. Justin Warner had a match-best 14 digs.

The Sage Hill boys’ volleyball team poses with the championship plaque after winning the CIF Southern Section Division 4 final at Santa Barbara on Saturday.

(Courtesy of Sage Hill School)

Also in the CIF Southern Section boys’ volleyball finals:

Sage Hill 3, Santa Barbara 2: Jackson Cryst had 31 kills, as the Lightning rallied past the host Dons 15-25, 25-14, 18-25, 25-20, 15-8 on Saturday in the Division 4 final.

Sage Hill (19-11) captured a section title for the second straight year. The Lightning earned the first CIF title in program history in winning the Division 5 championship last season.

Ryan Manesh pounded out 11 kills, and Ethan McNutt turned in 19 digs defensively.

Sage Hill, the top seed in the Southern California Division III regional, drew a home match against Fresno Sanger West (26-15) to start the state playoffs.