If you’re anything like me, you probably look for any content related to volleyball that you can find. It’s one thing to play the game but you don’t reach your full potential until you completely immerse yourself. That means it’s incredibly important to have an understanding of how the best players in the world attack the game every single day. That begs the question, “What are the best volleyball quotes?”.  

The best volleyball quotes are the ones that inflict understanding on the players that are reading them. Whether it’s understanding the intricacies of a spike or something more “big picture” like what it takes to get to the top, a good volleyball quote needs to have a lasting effect. Take a look below at the best volleyball quotes related to things like motivation, preparation, or simply just the game itself.

Best Motivational Volleyball Quotes

When it comes to motivation, it is important to understand that everything begins and ends with a decision by YOU. Matt Anderson isn’t going to walk into your house and force you to work on your vertical to get your ready for the season. With that being said, some motivational volleyball quotes might provide the spark you need to get up off the couch. So what are the best motivational volleyball quotes?

The best motivational volleyball quotes need to do just that; provide a spark to get your started. Below are a few from some of the most prominent volleyball figures in the world. Do yourself a favor and write down one or two of your favorites. If you ever feel lazy and unmotivated, remind yourself of what it takes to be considered one of the greats!

Top Volleyball Quotes to Motivate You

1. “You have to want it bad enough to suffer the losses, to suffer the obstacles, to suffer the inevitable heartache when you put yourself out there and fall short.” -Kerri Walsh

2. “Winning is my motivation. Regardless of the competition. If I am on the court – I want to win.” -Ekaterina Gamova

3. “Be open to taking risks and operate at the edge of my ability level. If I’m never making mistakes then I’m going to be learning at a slower rate than if I am making mistakes.” -Karch Kiraly

4. “If you want to be the best of the best and compete with the best of the best then you need to understand that it’s a job” -Matt Anderson

5. “You don’t just get to win. You cannot wait for something to happen, you need to put a plan in place to try to be the best you can be.” -Reid Priddy

6. “Don’t think about the past, don’t think about the future, don’t think about anything but that moment and how can you make your best action at that time. There should be no apprehension. There should be no fear.” -David Lee

7. “You cannot buy heart. You cannot buy perseverance. I’m not in this to just show up and win a gold medal. I want to fight for it every single day.” -Kerri Walsh

8. “I’m desperate to win everything, every time. It doesn’t matter who I’m playing against.” -Michal Kubiak

9. “It reignited a fire. Instead of letting it knock me down, which it did, it got me to work on the things that weren’t good enough in the moment. It made me come back with more fire.” -Alisha Glass on missing out on the opportunity to go to London in 2012

10. “I think the biggest thing is never thinking that I know it all. I’m always trying to improve.” -Phil Dalhausser

11. “Sometimes when you’re impatient and you want to reach a goal fast it becomes easy to abandon. But you need to keep at it. It might take a while but with the right training and the right motivation, little by little you will see results.” -Margareta Kozuch

12. “To be the best, you have to demand the best from yourself. The way to do that is try to be perfect.” -April Ross

Best Volleyball Quotes about Passion

This is an interesting one because many people may confuse passion for motivation. The reality is, passion is the driving force behind motivation. To be an elite volleyball player, you need to love everything about volleyball. It is almost impossible to put the necessary work in if you aren’t passionate about what you’re doing. 

Passion will keep you going and allow you to ignore your momentary defeats. Bumps and bruises will be nothing more than temporary inconveniences. It will push you to be a better teammate because at the end of the day, better players will help the game of volleyball grow.

If you are confused as to what I mean, take a look below. These are some of the best volleyball quotes about passion and truly show the effects of caring about what you do. Learn from people like Bernadinho and Giba and use your passion to fuel your motivation!

1. “Have passion. If you really love it keep going. Prepare yourself and don’t give up.” -Bernardinho

2. “I love volleyball. I love the atmosphere. And I love the adrenaline. It’s what I will do all of my life.” -Giba

3. “People are motivated by two main things. Needs and passion.” -Bernardinho

4. “Everyone focuses on the success element of it instead of focusing on the most important thing which is the effort part of it. The guys that work hard and have a passion for what they do are eventually going to surpass the guys that are talented that don’t work hard.” -John Speraw

5. “I like playing volleyball because it’s not a game against the clock. It rather depends on your performance and how much effort you give.” -Léon Venero Wilfredo

6. “The fascination of volleyball for me is: it is an absolute team sport. It is a very tight game. One spike can change the whole match immediately. That’s why I love this sport!” -Kunihiro Shimizu

7. “I woke up with purpose and immediately got to work, excited to build myself to become a better version of myself each and every day.” -Dustin Watten

8. “Volleyball is a sport full of emotions from the first to the last point. Everybody is constantly in action, the fans cheer all the time, it’s really exciting and I encourage everybody to be a part of volleyball.” -Milagros Cabral de la Cruz

9. “I think what keeps most players motivated – certainly myself – is it’s a fun, fun game to play. A lot of other sports you don’t have as much of a social contact as you do in beach volleyball. it’s definitely a lifestyle. I think the number one thing is pure enjoyment.” -Todd Rogers

10. “A lot of people ask me what else i would do (if I wasn’t playing volleyball) but I don’t have an answer. I live for it and love this sport and can’t imagine doing something else.” -Georg Grozer

Best Volleyball Quotes about Preparation

One of my favorite motivational speakers of all time is the late Jim Rohn (youtube is filled with tremendous videos of him speaking). He was a huge advocate for always being prepared and often said, “Don’t start the day until you have it finished”. What he meant was, you need to plan your day in order to be as productive as possible.

While he wasn’t connected to the world of volleyball, his message certainly translates. You need to prepare for each day to get the results that you are looking for. Write down your volleyball goals and create a plan designed to help you achieve them. If you’re having trouble with your serve, make it your mission to serve a certain amount of balls each day. If you’re shanking passes, find some friends and get in a game of servers vs. passers. Whatever it is, do your best to create actionable goals.

Without the proper preparation, you could end up on a path that leads to nowhere. Below are some of the best volleyball quotes surrounding the importance of preparation. Listen to greats and ALWAYS BE PREPARED!

Top Volleyball Quotes About Preparation

1 . “You have to be prepared. The motivation to prepare has to be as big as the motivation to win.” -Bernardinho

2. “To win a war, 50 percent of a victory is preparation.” -Juliana Felisberta da Silva

3. “People don’t see all of the extra work that goes in. Whether it’s after practice or before practice, I wanted to work harder than anyone that I was going up against.” -Micah Christenson

4. “The more you train, the stronger your will and the faster your pace. This certainly helps you when you’re part of a competition.” -Murilo Endres

5. “Always approach each game as a big game. It helps a lot when the stakes are a little bit higher.” -Megan Courtney on preparing for a championship game

6. “The training aspect is the most important. I put all of my effort – 100% of my motivation into training so when I go to the center court to play, I just want to be there to play. I won’t need to think to play beach volleyball because I do all of the steps beforehand.” -Emanuel Rego

Best Informative Volleyball Quotes

Informative volleyball quotes are awesome because they allow you to see a play through the eyes of a professional volleyball player. While they might not be the motivational quote that you want, they are certainly what you need. By understanding what the top players in the world look for, you will begin to have clarity on the court. 

Below are some of the best volleyball quotes surrounding practical steps to take the next time you play. Get inside the head of Phil Dalhausser when he’s up at the net or Karch Kiraly while he is in serve receive. Do your best to understand what each player means so you can start putting their advice to work!

1. “Great volleyball players can be many, many different heights. You can be a great volleyball player without being very tall at all. If you see the game well, and you anticipate well, that is going to give you a much greater advantage than having some physical attributes.” -Karch Kiraly

2. “When I’m blocking, I usually look at the player. His body usually will indicate what he’s doing. If he’s coming barreling in at the net, then most likely he’s going to hit the ball. If he comes real soft, most likely he’s going to shoot the ball.” -Phil Dalhausser

3. “I wanna face where it’s coming from instead of where it’s going to.” -Karch Kiraly on passing the volleyball during serve receive

4. “I’m a real goofball. I like dancing, having a good time, joking around. When I’m on the court, I try to stay more relaxed than everyone else. Less serious than everyone else.” -Taylor Sander

5. “I believe that you should not jump serve unless you can bring a lot of heat. As a passer, controlling a topspin serve is way easier than controlling a float serve. They’re easier to read so unless you can bring a lot of heat and get it to cut one way or the other, go with a float.” -Michael Seemann on choosing your serve

6. “Volleyball is an explosion sport. It’s about quick changes of direction. Having the ability to very quickly run left or right or forward or backward to pursue a ball. Having quick jumping ability – exploding up off of the ground.” -Karch Kiraly

7. “As were dealing with high velocity spin servers, we’re trying to relieve the pressure on our passers by saying that our target has expanded. We’re okay with a ball being passed in a larger part of the court and running our offense in there because we have a high level of confidence that we can still score.” -Pete Hanson on training their offense to run with an expanded serve receive target

8. “If I’m only in a medium position, I’m going to go down with the ball as it’s being hit. I’ve got to be low to the floor so that I can put my arms between the floor and the ball in order to dig it properly. If I’m going down with the ball, the angle of my forearms is going to be facing straight ahead instead of being under the ball to dig it up.” -Terry Liskevych on staying low on defense

9. “If the server is doing a jump serve and the ball is coming very hard, it’s very important to get your arms out early and away from your body. If they’re too close to you, you can’t cushion and take speed off the ball.” -Misty May-Treanor on passing a jump serve

10. “Start the set with your elbows slightly bent. Some coaches teach to extend (your arms) all the way out. It’s tough to be deceptive like that when you want to set backwards.” -John Speraw on arm form while setting

Best Volleyball Quotes about Leadership

Leadership is a quality that separates the good volleyball players from the great volleyball players. In order to be a good leader, you must realize that the team is more important than the individual. Teams that lack leadership often fail to reach their potential because there is no one to hold them accountable for their actions. As a result, each player thinks selfishly which fosters a hostile and unproductive environment. 

With that in mind, it’s important to remember that a great leader knows when to speak and when to do. It’s one thing to tell your teammates what to do but it is completely different to show them how to act. The best way to go about being a leader on the volleyball court is to out work every one of your teammates. They will surely take notice and begin to mirror your actions. 

Take a look below at some of my favorite volleyball quotes relating to leadership. Attack each day like the leaders on this list and you will surely make a huge impact on your volleyball team!

Top Volleyball Quotes About Leadership

1. “I’m the captain of this team. I need to protect my teammates. I need to be on the front line every time.” -Michael Kubiak

2. “You can’t be a leader if you don’t actually do what you say is supposed to be happening. Are you the hardest working on the team? Do your teammates respect what you have to say because they know you’re backing it up?” -John Speraw

3. “You must help the team and prove yourself in the important moments.” -Tsvetan Sokolov

4. “Volleyball is a team sport and one player won’t be able to win the match. The team needs to work hard in order to win. That’s why I love volleyball.” -Saori Kimura

5. “Volleyball is a collective sport. Everyone needs to work together as a team and give their all to get the results that we all hope for.” -Sasa Starovic

6. “I’m just doing my best. I think we have a lot of leaders on our team so I don’t feel alone in that. I’m just doing my part.” -Carli Lloyd on being captain of USA

7. “I lean on my people to help guide me back and better on those tough days.” -Kerri Walsh Jennings

8. “We talk a lot about being selfless instead of selfish. That’s not easy to do. But if lots of people are doing it, then it helps each teammate feel special.” -Karch Kiraly

9. “No matter what you can count on me to give energy and fight until the last ball falls.” -Destinee Hooker

10. “I never give up and keep fighting till the end of the game.” -Léon Venero Wilfredo on why he is a good leader

11. “One of the most important things in a partnership is supporting your partner. Knowing that they’re there doing the best that they can do. And the other part to that is being accountable for yourself. If you make a mistake, you accept that mistake.” -April Ross