EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State volleyball is partnering with renowned mindset and peak performance coach Seth Makowsky in 2023, adding another wrinkle to the program’s mental training regimen that also includes high-performance mentality training with Dr. Molly McQueary of Michigan State athletics. The Spartans are the first collegiate women’s team in the country to partner with Makowsky and his program, Poison Pawn.
Makowsky uses chess as a vehicle to help top performers throughout the world get better at what they do, with his client list including NFL quarterbacks, MVP caliber baseball players, Olympians, CEO’s, NCAA champions and now Michigan State volleyball. Makowsky’s training is geared towards transforming how athletes think and make decisions in real time, helping athletes become a player in their own game, not a piece in someone else’s.
“As I was thinking of what our team needed, I wanted it to be something that didn’t demand much from our bodies and instead focused on our minds,” said head volleyball coach Leah Johnson. “I started researching and came across Poison Pawn. We invited everyone that participates in our program, including support staff, because we don’t win alone. As the first collegiate women’s team Seth has worked with, we are setting the standard.”
Johnson’s goal is for Poison Pawn to help the team make quicker decisions, implement game plan and in-game adjustments faster and communicate in match under pressure.
We are so pumped to be working with Seth and Poison Pawn this season to take our game to the next level! #GoGreen | #SetTheStandard pic.twitter.com/GjFMVl8T20
— Michigan State Volleyball (@MSU_Volleyball) July 10, 2023
In the first session on July 10, student-athletes, coaches and support staff learned the basics of chess, including proper board set-up, rules, piece movement and basic strategy. Makowsky walked the team through a strategy he calls CDP (Control the Middle, Develop the Players (pieces), Protect the King).
To learn more about Poison Pawn, click here.
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