All good things must come to an end…even the Minnesota winters.  It’s time to bid farewell to a great opportunity as Volunteer Coach at the University of Minnesota.  “The opportunity was priceless”.

The coaching staff was incredible Continue Reading

After settling in to my new abode in Charlotte (my cousin’s house), another stroke of good fortune came my way learning that there is satellite TV here!  Awesome!  So not only did I have the great opportunity to watch Chicago Cubs’ Alfonso Soriano smack a game winning grand slam in the 13th inning last night, but I also watched the USA play the Continue Reading

Last night, the annual Torchlight 5K Run kicked off Minneapolis’ Aquatennial Celebration.  I’m not exactly sure what Minneapolisians are celebrating with Aquatennial, but its basically a 10 day party.  I think they are celebrating the one week a year when the weather is actually warm ;-)

This is the first time I did not participate in a run and acted as a spectator.  As I watched hundreds of people cross the finish line, I saw several people bent over in pain, dry heaving, wobbling on their legs, and sweating profusely.  Not one smile.  Are people actually enjoying themselves?  Why do people do this? :)

Bravo to the runners.  I know it is a personal satisfaction to compete within yourself to accomplish a goal.  I know its a natural high, but it was an interesting perspective looking from the outside in.  Coaching is the same perspective…an interesting perspective.

If anyone would like to rub in how great this past weekend was in Manhattan Beach with the AVP and the 6 Man Tournament, please do…I unfortunately wasn’t there!

Logan Tom in the July 2009 issue of Volleyball Monthly:

“In the end it’s not the talent that it comes down to; it’s about will and character.   The physical part has little to do with being successful.  Of course you have to be athletic.  For myself, I’m average physically.  There are girls who jump higher and hit harder.  But it’s mentally how you react in different situations.”

Marv Dunphy wrote a great article in the January 2009 Coaching Volleyball Magazine on how the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team won the Gold Medal.  Much overall praise goes Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon’s vision and system.

Following are coaching points of interest by Marv Dunphy:

• How a coach says “no” is more significant than how a coach says “yes”.
• All teams strive to be good in all phases of the game, but the great teams usually have one or two things that they are fabulous at doing.
• The U.S. players individually, or by position, seemed to take turns playing well.
• For the U.S. offense, they scouted and studied every server technically – what kind of arm did he have, how much heat did he have, did he have heat with range, where was the primary location of that heat, did he change depths, did he keep the speed up and did he cut it, did we need to save our timeouts for this server (the smart teams did that with Clay Stanley), what did he do when we adjusted our serve receive pattern (show and take), could we take a jump float with our hands or did we need to pass with our arms, what did he do after any kind of delay, who was their first server, did we need to stay out of our rotations one and two against a certain server, did we need to cover the tape, was it a true spin or did it tumble, etc?
• For offensive tactics, the coaches analyzed what every blocker and defender did on a perfect pass, good pass, medium pass and bad pass.  Mostly, they wanted to know what the opponents tended to do on a perfect pass, and we made tactical plans accordingly.
• The U.S. had a great error-to-block ratio – the team committed 56 hitting errors and was blocked 70 times.  You always want the number of blocks to be higher than the number of errors.
• The U.S. had 12% serving errors, which is very good by international standards.  In collegiate athletics, a good number is 10%.

Marv Dunphy is one of the few coaches with the privledge to coach Karch Kiraly and 2008 Olympic MVP Clay Stanley.  Karch brought the whole game to the court, as he passed, where Clay did not.  But I would like to know from Marv’s point of view the similarities and differences between Karch and Clay.  It’s gotta be an interesting perspective.

When Cynthia Barboza graduated from Stanford University, she had one full additional season of practice and playing experience than most college volleyball players.  The NCAA Final Four is about one month after the end of the regular season.  Add one month per year Cynthia played (4 years) and that equates to 4 extra months.  The typical collegiate season lasts 3 months (September through November).  This extra experience at a high level of play, helps the best to get better.

In South Carolina, the USAV Palmetto Region for juniors, typically starts after the high school season, sometime mid-November.  The Palmetto Region Championship usually takes place just after the Big South Tournament in Atlanta, about mid-April.  After the Region Championship, indoor volleyball seems to fade away in the region until summer camps.  There are a few elite teams that practice and play through USAV Nationals in July, but those elite teams are not playing in tournaments at the same intensity as those from larger, more successful regions.  Local competition and tournaments are just not available in those spring time months.

Players in regions of Chicago and Minneapolis, regions that are already great, continue to get better through competitive practices and tournaments.  For 2 additional months per year (May and June) over a four year period, that’s over a half a year’s experience those best players are getting.

If you look further at our elite athletes, on the USA High Performance or the top elite athletes, on the USA Junior National Team, they train at a higher level for more time out of the year.  In addition, they are getting international match experience that is invaluable, especially when it comes to playing in front of a packed arena in say, Nebraska (2008 Final Four – Penn State vs. Nebraska).  Megan Hodge did okay there ;)

People wonder why some teams or some regions perpetually struggle while others are perpetually great.  I think playing experience and the culture in which one grows-up is one of the piece of the puzzle.

Volleyball Monthly’s July 2009 issue states:

• Volleyball has become the second-most-played sport in the world.  On average, nearly one out of eight people on the planet play volleyball at least once a week.
• Volleyball boasts the world’s largest sports federation.
• 47.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the U.S. win gold in the last Olympic beach final.

Even the Pope knows volleyball – sweet hands!

Check out the article on Volleyball Magazine.

In almost 25 years of coaching in the Big Ten, Coach Mike Hebert finds ways to keep life on the road interesting by asking his rookie volunteer coach (me) their favorite Big Ten Volleyball Arenas.  So here is my rank of the Big Ten Volleyball Arenas:

#1 The University of Minnesota Sports Pavilion

Maybe I’m a little biased, but the Minnesota Sports Pavilion is at the top of my list.  This a great arena for a spectator and a great place to play/coach a match.  Even though the ceiling is a thousand feet high, there is still an intimate and personal feel.  Even the seats in the upper deck have a great view.

The Minnesota fan base provides incredible support and is consistently in the top five in attendance.  When then #4 Cal came into town, the ”Pav” was packed and electric.  They certainly helped Minnesota to beat Cal in three straight sets.  And when Penn State made their annual visit, we had over 10,000 fans in the adjacent Williams Arena (all part of the same building).

There is also the Gold Diggers Booster Club that fills up the club room overlooking the court, and the Team Room and Coaches Room (redesigned with funding from the Bachman family) is second to none.  It is a very special place to play.

The enormous building (the combined Sports Pavilion and Williams Arena) was originally built as an indoor football practice facility; thus the incredibly high ceiling.  We attempted on a few occassions to punt a ball to the ceiling, but not a chance of reaching the ceiling.  When the building was split, the volleyball portion, now called the Sports Pavilion, was the original ice hockey stadium.  Volleyball moved into the Pav after the hockey stadiums were built (yes plural, as there are a separate men’s and women’s ice hockey arenas at Minnesota).  I bet the football team would like to have the indoor facility back for themselves again.

#2 The University of Wisconsin Fieldhouse

The Fieldhouse is an old building that is a great venue for a volleyball match.  The place, originally knicknamed “The Barn” has a history about it that includes boxing greats.  Rumor has it that Cassius Clay fought there in his early days.  There is plenty of room around the court for players to chase down balls, and the fans offer great support.  During the grueling 5 set match when Minnesota visited Wisconsin, I think the fans were as exhausted as the players when it was over.  That was one of the best matches I have ever been a part with the scores: 18-25, 25-18, 25-27, 31-29, 19-17.  Those last three sets were awesome with Minnesota winning!  Wisconsin certainly has a home court advantage at the Fieldhouse.

#3 The University of Illinois Huff Hall

I’m one for tradition and old school buildings.  Huff Hall reminded me of my high school gymnasium at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL.  It’s tough for a Chicago-guy to rank an Illinois arena below Wisconsin’s, but the biggest drawback to me was the lack of playing space surrounding the court.  The outside hitters on the side adjacent to the bench could potentially be tripped up by the feet of fans.  Otherwise, the coziness of the old school building certainly has its appeal.

#4 Ohio State St. John Arena

This place is enormous and I believe it is the largest gym in the Big Ten.  I climbed the steps to the top of the arena and felt as if I was a mile from the court.  I assume it was the old basketball arena, but I like the potential of that place being filled up for volleyball.  It would be great for volleyball to have that type of support.  One day it will.

#5 Penn State Rec Hall

Penn State’s Rec Hall is a mix of old and new.  Penn State has done a nice job renovating the old building to make the arena feel new.  I can’t say the visiting team locker room or the surrounding areas of the arena have been renovated (although I assume the Penn State’s locker room is quite nice), but overall its a nice venue with a solid fan base.

#6 Purdue Intercollegiate Athletic Facility (IAF) Stadium

This is one of the new facilities in the Big Ten.  These new facilities feel like a high school gymnasium, but it is nice that they are a volleyball only facility. Just not much tradition or history to them.  I will admit the fan support at Purdue was good the night Minnesota came in town, but it seems as if fan support at most stadiums that Minnesota visited was impressive.

#7 Northwestern University Welsh-Ryan Arena

This was actually the first place I ever saw a volleyball match as I grew up not far from Evanston, IL.  I was really young and believe the USA Women were playing the Russian Team.  It is a converted field house and I believe it is a volleyball only facilty, but it just has a choppy feel to it.  Nothing smooth or consistent with the court layout, ceiling, seating, etc.  I can’t put my finger on why its #8 on my list, it just didn’t do it for me.  Maybe it was because Northwestern had a slumber party with the Northwestern players and all the kids that attended the match.  It was a great draw for the match, but the high pitched screaching between points was deafening.

#8 Michigan State’s Jenison Field House

It’s the old school feel that I go for and the field house has been converted (in part) into a volleyball facility.  The volleyball floor sits atop an indoor track and there are portable bleachers.  The worst is the portable net standards that jut out into the landing area of a slide hitter.  There is just no flow or consistency with the arena.

#9 Indiana University University Gym

This is another new facility, very similar to Purdue’s IAF, but a little smaller.  It is also located away from the main part of campus and seems to be part of an old converted junior high school.  In addition, the ceiling height is not high and occassionally comes into play.  Again, there just isn’t much tradition or history to a place like this.

#10 University of Iowa Carver Arena

Carver Arena is also where basketball plays and is a large stadium, but the volleyball is squeezed onto one of the ends of the basketball court.  The volleyball court is then sectioned off with a large black canopy held up by poles.  Unfortunately, these poles aren’t too sturdy, as they fell upon our bench during the match.  I just didn’t get overall great feel in the arena.

#11 University of Michigan Cliff Keen Arena

This was my least favorite of the arenas.  Maybe its because Minnesota didn’t play a good match there, but the court feels like you are in a pit.  The court is surrounded by elevated seating on two sides and then there is a wall that the benches back up to.  The ceiling is low which can come into play.  I heard the gym sits atop an old pool which gives an allusion of a hollow floor.  I just didn’t get that warm and cozy feeling in the gym, probably what makes for a good home court advantage.

I purchased a last minute ticket for $350 from Minneapolis to Miami, quite a deal, but I can only imagine the additional expense for those teams traveling from the west coast, especially in today’s economy.

I had a great time watching my little club that could, Low Country Volleyball Club that has a total of 3 teams in the entire club (not three teams per age group like many of the teams they faced).  The team won its region for the second straight season in the 18s age group and played in the National division (the middle division) at the USA Volleyball National Championships.  From the win/loss column, you might think the team did not play well, but overall, Low Country had their best ever showing at Nationals in the 18s age group.  I’m proud of their accomplishments :)

As always, it was a joy to watch the teams from larger clubs and larger metropolitan areas, especially the Minnesota teams, as I have some familiarity with the players that will be moving on to the University of Minnesota.  The Northern Lights 17s team with Tori Dixon and Ashley Whittman had a nice tournament as well as Minnesota Select’s 18s team with Katherine Harms.  I never did get a chance to watch Briana Haugen, as our schedule always seemed to conflict.  All I can say is the University of Minnesota will be stacked with great talent over the coming years.  I look forward to watching them!

As for the tournament overall, I felt as if many of the players in the upper age groups (17s and 18s) played emotionless.  It seemed as if the players are just going through the motions, as if they have to be there to play.  Many of the players looked burned out.  These girls play all year long.  They don’t have a break from volleyball.  I remember when I played indoor, I would get bored with it, but just as the indoor season ended, outdoor would come around and I could play on North Avenue Beach in Chicago.  The mix from indoor to outdoor really kept my interest.  Players today don’t have time to switch from indoor to outdoor or have time to miss the game.

Many of these players just played at AAUs in Orlando a couple weeks ago, followed-up by USAV Nationals or JVDA Championships.  Next these players will visit camps to “try-out” for their respective colleges of choice.   After camps, high school practices begin followed by the high school season.  The never ending volleyball cycle then turns over again, as the high school season is immediately followed-up by club tryouts, then the club season…all the way until July.  Its too much.  Players are coming into college with over-use injuries and need surgery after their first season.  Many players play in pain or are simply burned out.

I was under the impression that part of the reason for the inception of the JVDA was to help limit playing time.  The JVDA could make a great impact into the schedule of these players if they moved their championship to May, but unfortunately, that has yet to happen.

Anyway, I always enjoy watching the Hawaii teams play.  They prove that height doesn’t matter.  And the 12 year old teams are always fun.  Some of the players on those teams are so advanced already.  The really good 12 year old teams look like they could step out onto the court with some of the 16 year old teams and hold their own.

Even though Miami must have been quite an expense for some, it was a great venue to host a tournament.  I was able to get down to South Beach between matches and catch a few outdoor games with some old friends.  As much as the game changes, it still seems to be the same.