The Desperation Drill

The following is an excerpt from Brutal Training’s Dynamic Athletic Training Manual:

“DAT’s key performance indicator is the Desperation Drill. The objective is to keep the ball from touching the sand at all costs. The rules are explained as follows,"

“The only rule is that the ball mustn’t touch the sand. If it does, get it back in the air on the first bounce. If it comes to rest then kick it, grab or do whatever you have to in order to get it in the air ASAP.”

This drill will provide all the information required for an instructor to gain an understanding of a student. It also allows an instructor to view a participant’s progress in terms of increased speed, power and stamina.

The primary objective however is to create an environment where all participants become immersed in the collective goal of keeping the ball alive. By establishing an environment of encouragement and enthusiasm where the only thing you have to do is go hard, participants are able to enter that unique state of mind that is the ‘zone’, single minded intent. We are trying to give the student an experience of the zone every session.”

The Desperation Drill is performed on sand and with the use of a beach volleyball. It’s often hilarious to watch 15 people diving, sprinting and thrashing about with one simple objective in mind. The point of this article however is to answer a question I recently received at one of these sessions.

How do I get into the zone while doing the Desperation Drill?
First of all there needs to be an understanding of what the ‘zone’ actually is. For most modern day sports psychologists, athletes and philosophers the ‘zone’ is well defined. It is an ideal state of effortless perfection that is sought after as the ultimate ‘frame of mind’ for competition. The problem with these people is they think that the ‘zone’ is a place you must get to, or a frame of mind you must foster. Well I have some news…

The Zone is your Natural State
There is nowhere to go and nothing to do in order to arrive at what the Japanese term ‘mushin’ or ‘no-mind’. The problem is that ego mind interferes. Always seeking to control and guarantee outcomes the ego mind seeks mechanism and structure instead of practicing non-resistance.

The point is that the ‘zone’ finds you; you don’t find the ‘zone’. Because the ego can only observe through the mechanism of duality it will always feel like it was watching without interfering when in mushin. But the mind cannot put you into the ‘zone’. What you must establish is what I call ‘pure intent’. It is that same as saying single-minded focus or intense concentration with no regard at all for the ‘how’ of the process.

The Desperation Drill has no rules as to form, only that you must keep the ball in the air similar to ‘hacky sack’ but using any body part. This allows for freedom of expression and all participants are encouraged to have single-minded intent on keeping the ball alive. What this does is what I call ‘putting you on the edge of falling in’. You see, because the mind can’t make you get into the zone, the only thing you can do is put yourself on the precipice and you might fall in. The zone might find you but you have to be ready.

So, when performing the drill the last thing you want to be doing is ‘trying’ to get into the zone. Instead your entire being should be consumed with keeping the ball in the air. Perhaps then, at some point, your mind will become quiet enough because your intent is pure and the controlling grip of ego mind will fall away and you’ll find yourself in the zone. Your mind can’t make you mind quiet. Nothing that you can think will help you. I suggest that if really want to get to the heart of the matter that you research the underlying philosophical principles behind Transcendental Meditation. You don’t have to do it per se but it will help you to understand the zone by understanding the premise upon which it is founded.

Good luck, and we’ll see you on the beach for a beating and some ball chasing.