I had a funny experience at the Monument City Classic Tournament. My Carolina Juniors 16s Team played the early match on Sunday morning. Our team arrived first at the court, chose the bench, and I sat down to sip my tea. On the adjacent court, a father turned around and stared at me awkwardly.  He exclaimed, “You’re Coach Rey!”. I said, “Last I checked.” I was taken aback. He went on, “I couldn’t sleep last night. Our team was playing well yesterday, but we just couldn’t buy a win. I thought, maybe some statistical information would help. So, I started looking up volleyball statistical software online in the middle of the night and came across your blog. And POOF, now you’re here!”. He said it was a bit surreal Continue Reading

Alex Chappell, of GoTickets.com and a fellow reader of my blog, brought to my attention a helpful webpage of Team Management Tools.  I really think some of these applications and software will help in managing both my Division I team at Winthrop University and my juniors team at Carolina Juniors Volleyball.  Alex’s been friendly enough to let me share the list his team put together:

50 Team Management Tools John Wooden Wished He’d Had

1. Google Apps Team Edition – Though this is an application more for office work, the easy-to-use Google interface and familiar tools make it a no brainer when it comes to distributing emails, calendars, and more. Free trial for 30 days, but not too expensive after that.
2. Scrumy – Here’s a free application perfect for managing upcoming events for your team roster. Scrumy is easy and even fun to use. The interface is pared down to the bare bones, which makes it a real no frills deal, but good for what it does.

3. Sportsvite – This web-based application is the perfect tool for managing local teams and getting all your teammates in a row without having to do a lot of set-up. It is made for this, actually. What makes it even easier is the fact that you can connect with Facebook, allowing you to log in without having to go through the clunky sign-up process. Create events and even find teammates in your area.
4. Tom’s Planner – This planner is a bare bones, but powerful piece of online software. The interface is about as flexible and intuitive as this sort of thing gets, with right click and drag-n-drop functions, it couldn’t get much simpler. You can even give it a test drive without even having to sign up to see if it is for you.

5. TeamSnap – This is the definitive tool for anyone looking to be able to organize their team using online tools. TeamSnap offers specific templates no matter what your sport, and Continue Reading

The Winter Olympics started this week and I am always inspired by the performances of all athletes at the games. To be the best in their country is awesome. I enjoy cheering on the underdogs as much as a dominant performance by the USA. I get such a sense of pride and loyalty for the USA Continue Reading

Do you let your kids smoke?  Then why do you let them eat french fries?

Maybe I’m somewhat of a food nazi, but I believe proper nutrition is essential to the development of volleyball players.  Equally as important is eating right during long tournament weekends.  Unfortunately, food choices at convention centers are usually terrible and even “healthy” fast foods (subs, burritos, etc.) are often laced with unhealthy Continue Reading

Each week I provide my team little reminders to help keep them focused on our goal.

After a first great week of practice, it is easy for each of us to fall back into our old routines, to go our separate ways over the next four days, fall back into our own worlds, and “forget” about each other (this is what ordinary teams do).  Or we can make the extra effort to become a more than ordinary, an extra ordinary, an extraordinary team! Continue Reading

Darren Baker is a friend of mine that’s been playing beach volleyball for years.  Darren began playing volleyball at a competitive level since 1998.  Cutting his teeth on beach/sand volleyball while also playing club volleyball at the University of San Diego before returning to the Augusta, GA area.  He has played numerous outdoor tournaments at an Open level, including Columbia: AVP, Clash and Crown, EEVB, and Fudpuckers events.  Personal highlights are having played against or with Olympians Jose Loiola, Ricci Luyties, Alan Alan, and Phil Dalhausser.

By: Darren Baker

Looking at the statistics of doubles beach volleyball one might say to me: “But Darren, look at the number of blocks vs number of championships in last season’s AVP tour.  The top two blockers, Phil had 2.11 blocks per game and Sean had 1.71 blocks per game this translated into nine (9) championships, first on tour, and Hyden-Scott had four (4) championships second on tour.  You said that this isn’t important in DRILL Continue Reading