I hear Jamie Morrison from Texas Volleyball and appreciate his sentiments…

“I care less about mistakes and more about responses”

And this is fine and fair…but we also have to care deeply about mistakes. Quality of action-execution at the adult elite level of sport matters.

I’m being purposefully facetious- I know he knows this and I know he cares about this. I highlight it because I want to suggest a way to show you want to minimise mistakes in your team.

Attention…

It starts with focus of attention.

Attention is arguably the most important mental skill in high performance sport. Actions are heavily mediated by it…in fact they’re constantly mediated by its duration, direction, and strength. Technical actions, tactical actions (decisions), and physical actions constantly mediated by attention.

Coaches should be greedy with relation to attention. They should place high demands on players taking control of their attention, executing with attention, guiding it appropriately and robustly. By doing so players lessen a propensity to make mistakes.

My thesis here is obvious – many (but not all) mistakes are as a result of low attention – a disconnection from the game. High performance sport requires a high attention – focused and connected to the game no matter what.

So…

Whilst it’s understandable to give players leeway for error (especially as such an approach promotes freedom and creativity)…coaches would do well to drive player attention – it’s control…it’s duration and direction.

…more

BACK TO MOUNTAIN WEST ACTION:  After a brief break for the Christmas holiday, the San José State women’s basketball team returns to action this Sunday with a Mountain West game against Grand Canyon at the Provident Credit Union Event Center. Both teams enter the game looking for their first conference win of the season. The Spartans fell at Wyoming, 83-60, while GCU fell to UNLV, 61-60, in a home game for the Lopes.

Sunday’s game is the first of three SJSU plays this week. The Spartans play at Utah State Wednesday afternoon to end 2025. The team starts 2026 with a home game against New Mexico on January 3 at 2 p.m.

ABOUT GRAND CANYON:  The Lopes enter Sunday’s game with a 1-10 overall record and 0-1 mark in the Mountain West. The Lopes opened conference play by pushing defending champion UNLV to the brink before falling 61-60 in the final minute of the game. The team’s only win of the season came against SMU, 76-60, on November 18. Head coach Winston Gandy is in his first season at the school.

Series Record – First meeting

M. ANDERSON LEADING THE SPARTANS: 

Anderson also leads the team with 71 rebounds, 5.9 per game. She has led the team in boards in four games – 8 at BYU, 9 against UC Santa Barbara, 12 versus Cal State Monterey Bay and 7 against Sacramento State.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Through December 22, the Spartans rank in the top-100 nationally in five categories.

Blocks PG – 51st 4.6 pg

Three-Point Attempts PG – 62nd 24.3 pg

Rebounds – Defensive – 90th 27.0 pg

UP NEXT: San José State finishes 2025 with a game at Utah State this Wednesday, December 31. Tip time is set for 1 p.m. MT/12 p.m. PT at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

#AllSpartans

PELLA — Central College track and field junior Gabe Feldmann of Mount Pleasant hasn’t let cystic fibrosis slow him down on the track or his generosity off the track to raise support for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

An inherited genetic disease, cystic fibrosis impacts the lungs, digestive system and other organs in the body. A build-up of thick, sticky mucus can lead to breathing problems, infections and digestive issues by blocking ducts and airways.

Depending on the weekend, Feldmann typically competes in races that range from the 200-meter dash all the way up to the 800-meter run. His focus is on the 400 meters, an event he has completed 13 times in his first two years at Central.

Breathing is an important part of all running events, but especially the 400.

“You breathe hard in a 400,” he said. “You feel it right in the chest.”

He completed the lap around the track in 51.62 seconds at the American Rivers Outdoor Championships in 2025, placing 22nd. He also was on the fifth-place 4×400-meter relay squad at that same meet.

Feldmann was approached by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation about using his college athletic experience as a platform to raise money. Starting earlier this fall and running through the end of the Dutch season in early May, Feldmann is posting content on his Instagram account (@gabetracksdowncf) and thanking supporters who have donated to the foundation.

“It was the option that really stuck out to me,” he said. “I work out every day no matter what for track, but I’m still raising money doing what I do normally.”

He’s working towards clocking in at 48 seconds in the 400 this year.

“My goal is to run a 48 this year,” he said. “If I’m able to do that, I’ll be able to tell everybody who supported me in this that they were there with me.”

Raising money for the foundation is not new to the Feldmann family, who ran fundraising events in Mount Pleasant from 2016-2023.

Money isn’t the only motivation for Feldmann, who also wants to inspire other people with cystic fibrosis to chase big goals.

“I said I was never going to let being born with cystic fibrosis limit me.” he said. “I’ve been an athlete my whole life. If I could show any other kid that having cystic fibrosis doesn’t have to hold them back, that would be super cool. It’s the entire goal.”

RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky University’s volleyball team has added two transfers for the 2026 season – Audrey Hudson, an outside hitter transferring from Wright State University, and Alexis Bull, a middle blocker/right side transferring from the University of Texas at Arlington.
 
“I’m so excited to add Audrey and Alexis to our program,” EKU Head Coach Johnna Bazzani said.  “They both come from championship programs.  That alone is going to help elevate and raise the standard in our gym!”
 
The 5-foot-10 Hudson will be a junior in 2026.  In her first season at Wright State, she played in five matches before suffering a season-ending injury.  In 2025, Hudson played in 18 matches and started three times.  She averaged 0.83 kills and 1.62 digs per set.
 
Hudson, a Fort Wayne, Indiana native, played high school volleyball at Bishop Dwenger and club volleyball for Munciana.  She helped Bishop Dwenger capture a 3A State Championship in 2020.  She was a second team all-state pick in 2022 and a first team all-conference selection as a senior in 2023.
 
Bull will be a senior in 2026.  She played in 42 matches over three seasons at UT Arlington.  As a junior this past season, Bull averaged 1.03 kills and 0.66 blocks in 19 matches.  She led the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) with an average of 0.41 aces per set.  Bull had a season-best six blocks at Louisiana and a season-high seven kills against Jackson State.
 
The 6-foot-2 Magnolia, Texas native was a 4-year member of the AVCA Phenom Watch List during her high school career at Oak Ridge and Magnolia.  She recorded 878 kills, 280 blocks and 123 aces during her prep career.  Bull was chosen as First Team All-Montgomery County and as the District 19-5A Offensive Player of the Year in 2022.
 
EKU tied for second in the Atlantic Sun Conference standings this season and advanced to the ASUN Tournament championship match.   The Colonels have won 20 or more matches in three straight seasons, the first time the program has accomplished that since 2003-05.

Taylor Gashi just needed to find the sport that gave her the best chance at achieving the goals for her future.

High-level youth gymnastics competition gave way to years of work on the volleyball court that continued even after a development in Gashi’s freshman year at Wyoming Area pointed her on the right path.

“With track and field, I kind of knew a few years back,” said Gashi, who on Dec. 15 formalized her commitment to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and compete in the sport. “Volleyball has been a part of my life longer than track and field. Freshman year, I placed second in district for triple jump so that was kind of a wake-up call for my coaches and my family that this could probably go somewhere far.”

Gashi expects to concentrate on the long jump and triple jump while competing at Army West Point, but her overall athletic ability means she could potentially help the team in the heptathlon, a combination of events she tested and did well at with a Lehigh Valley club team last summer. As a junior at Wyoming Area, Gashi finished 20th in the state in Class 3A in the triple jump after taking silver medals in District 2 in the triple jump and discus and a bronze in the long jump.

Once Gashi realized track and field was her best option for a college sport, the rest fell into place.

“That same year, I also got to experience going to West Point for a football game,” she said. “One of my good friends brought me there. Both of my parents had been in the military, so the military was never something I was opposed to doing.”

Gashi learned more about the athletic program’s status on the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I level, leading to her verbal commitment in September.

“It was kind of everything I had been looking for and track and field was something that could get me there,” she said.

Gashi will report to West Point for plebe summer, beginning her military duties before academics start next fall. Accepting her nomination to the academy means a five-year military commitment after she is done with school.

While at Wyoming Area, Gashi has kept busy not just in multiple events in track and field, but in multiple sports.

In volleyball, Gashi was a four-year starter, earning first-team, all-star status from Wyoming Valley Conference coaches this fall after previously receiving honorable mention.

After taking last year off, Gashi is back on the swim team this winter, specializing as freestyle sprinter.

Unsure of a major, Gashi has interest in looking into military intelligence and aviation.

“Those are the two that really strike interest for me,” she said.