So you’ve all probably seen the recent Blake Griffin dunk…

Continue Reading

Volleyball’s Wizard of Westwood will be calling it quits

Al Scates is in his 50th year of coaching UCLA, with 19 NCAA titles and more than two dozen Olympians as his legacy.

By Helene Elliott, LA Times

Photographs cover almost every inch of wall space in Al Scates’ office, a gallery of faces forever young. Books, plaques and keepsakes from his travels cover his desk and crowd the ledge beneath a window framing the view he has enjoyed for 50 years.

“This is pretty filled up,” he said. Continue Reading

Bravo to USA Volleyball for taking a grassroots approach to building a semi-professional volleyball league in the United States. This is a magnificent business plan to achieve sustained successful, profitability, and a build a fan base through current players and ex-collegiate players. The Professional Volleyball League could certainly develop into a full blown profession league in the United States that so many of us have wanted.  The concept uses USA Volleyball’s 40 current regions and creates divisions within these regions. Teams will compete for their chance to win their division and play at the National Championship. A prize pool of $20,000 is already being considered. Continue Reading

Along the way, you meet good people. The people behind the Coastal Classic Volleyball Tournament are some of those good people. I met Richard Knott and Aly Pompeani through one of volleyball’s unfortunate experiences, the sudden passing of Ranse Jones.  I donated to help with Ranse’s fight and in return, got a great T-shirt.  I was wearing that T-shirt when I registered my Carolina Juniors Club Team at AAUs in Orlando when a typical Florida mid-afternoon thunderstorm came flying in. Many of the coaches were huddled under the baseball stadium when Aly introduced herself.  She recognized the t-shirt because she and her boyfriend Richard, both coaches at Grand Strand Juniors, designed the shirt and was helping to collect the funds for Ranse. Through that conversation in Orlando, Aly, Richard, and I have started one of those special friendships only volleyball can put together. People “on the outside” of our sport don’t understand why volleyball coaches and players do what we do for our sport. It’s because of bonds like these that makes our sport genuine and what we do so special. Continue Reading

Continue Reading

Soccer’s World Cup, which comes around once every four years, has a great following around the world.  Even the US had a great audience for those games.  Low and behold, Volleyball has a World Cup.  How many of us know that the USA Women just took silver at the FIVB World Cup?  Unfortunately, not enough of us know about this awesome competition. Continue Reading

Having played club volleyball at Arizona State and coached a great group of guys at Georgia Southern, I am very encouraged at the continuation of the Men’s Club Volleyball scene in the Southeast. Men’s Club Volleyball in college is very marginally (if at all) sponsored by each college. The guys have to raise their own travel, uniform, and equipment money. There is a women’s club volleyball scene for colleges that also falls under the same premise. The Collegiate Volleyball Club scene hosts a National Championship every year which can be found here: Nirsa.org. Continue Reading

For volleyball players and coaches across the country, in college or high school, preseason is here.  It is a grueling process that reveals and builds true character, introduces and solidifies fundamentals, develops team systems, and bonds a team.  The effort and commitment in preseason can often set the tone for the season.  Preseason is where champions are born. Continue Reading

This week the top junior teams of all the land will be playing in Atlanta at the USAV Junior National Tournament.  I look forward to spending the weekend in Atlanta to watch the top teams compete.  But if you can’t make it to Atlanta this weekend, the gold medal matches will be streamed live online.  Very cool.  Here is the link to watch the matches: Continue Reading

Russ Rose was in Montreux, Switzerland to watch the USA Women’s Team. It must have been interesting for him to be a spectator to his former Penn State players.

Team USA took fourth place, losing to China in the bronze medal match.  Karch Kiraly was acting head coach of the squad as Hugh McCutcheon must have been recruiting for his Minnesota team (I’m just kidding, Hugh deserves a break too).  But the team, overall, is coming together as players continue to fight for their roles as they learn to play as a team.  I’m sure Hugh will have them ready for the 2012 Olympics in London. Continue Reading

There is no better day to pay homage to our service men and women than on Memorial Day.  “Thanksgiving is a day when we pause to give thanks for the things we have. Memorial Day is a day when we pause to give thanks to the people who have fought for the things we have.”

Recently, Veterans competed at the second annual Warrior Games. The U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs hosted 220 servicemen and women who are wounded, injured or ill. The Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force, the Coast Guard and Special Operations Command all participated. Some of the athletes are soldiers you’ve heard a lot about — injured by a roadside bomb or another combat-related injury. Others are accident victims or suffering from an illness.

Sitting volleyball was a great success at the games and I wanted to share some pictures that were passed along to me. A way to honor these great men and women.

Thank you!

UCLA won the first NCAA men's volleyball championship in 1970

Don’t forget!  The Men’s NCAA Volleyball Semi-Finals and Championships will be held at Penn State on May 5th – 7th.  I’ve contemplated taking the drive north to State College to see the matches live, but a $400 round trip in gas prices for my not so fuel-efficient SUV is scaring me away.  At least I can watch them on TV or online.  Following is the ESPN broadcast schedule: Continue Reading

Ever wonder how Megan Hodge would fair playing international volleyball?  Now’s your chance to watch her play with one of USA Volleyball’s great setters, Lindsey Berg.

Megan had a stint with the USA Women’s National Team in the World Grand Prix where she earned limited playing time.  Jordan Larson (University of Nebraska) and high flying Destinee Hooker (University of Texas) played in front of her on that team.  In fact, Destinee was one of the top point scores for the tournament. Continue Reading

“To be true to one’s self is the ultimate test in life. To have the courage and sensitivity to follow your hidden dreams and stand tall against the odds that are bound to fall in your path. Life is too short and precious to be dealt with in any other fashion. This thought I hold dear to my heart, and I always try to be true to myself and others that I encounter along the way.” ~ Flo Hyman

Continue Reading

Seriously, could the NCAA not find a better picture than this for their introduction page on the first day of the tournament?

It was fun to watch a number of matches online at one time.  Although some webstreaming coverage was not as clear as others, I appreciate being able to watch any match I wanted and for free.  I look forward to doing it again tonight.  Second round matches start at 3:30 EST today.

Here is a link to the NCAA Volleyball website: http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/2010/ncaa_bracket_DI_volleyball_women.html It helps if you have Adobe Flash installed.  Click on the “In Progress” tab and then click on the little camera icon next to the school you want to watch.  Enjoy!

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for ESPN’s coverage to the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Selection Show, but I am rather disappointed in the lack of priority volleyball received.  The show was “scheduled” for 3:00pm on ESPN News, but apparently Lebron James’ shoulder bump with his head coach was more important than the over 1,000 players lives that will be immediately impacted over the next few weeks.  Come on ESPN, man or woman up! Continue Reading

There are some incredibly passionate people in volleyball.  It’s a shame our sport doesn’t get more recognition in the United States to showcase these great individuals.  I had an in depth conversation with Grant Baldwin, Director of DFW High Intensity Boys Volleyball Club in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  It is people like him that will continue to expand the reach of volleyball in the United States and continue to grow our game. Continue Reading

I’m not a big proponent of playing volleyball all year round.  Growing up in Chicago, I enjoyed being able to play indoor during the cold winter months and then couldn’t wait for the summer to roll around so I could play beach.  I also participated in baseball and wrestling which indirectly made me a better volleyball player.  Gone are the day when juniors are allowed to enjoy other sports and miss the game of volleyball.  As a college coach, I have seen way too many over-use injuries from freshman entering the season and too many surgeries, on these freshman. Continue Reading

Very impressive that 2,300 fans watched the boys junior national finals.  The match was also streamed live too!

Here’s the USA Volleyball article:

Bill Kauffman July 05, 2010

Photo: USA Volleyball/Bill KauffmanAn estimated crowd of 2,300 fans watched the USA Volleyball Boys’ Junior National Championships 18 Open and Club Division finals on July 5 at the Austin Convention Center Continue Reading

It’s nice to see more boys participating in volleyball at Nationals!!!

Bill Kauffman, USA Volleyball, June 30, 2010

Photo: Courtesy of Austin Sports Commission

Austin Convention Center

Bill Kauffman
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: bill.kauffman@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 30, 2010) – The USA Volleyball Boys’ Junior National Championships, held July 2-9 at the Austin Convention Center in Texas, will draw teams from 25 States and two countries with their own volleyball federations (Canada and Puerto Rico). Continue Reading

AAU, ESPN, Disney, Wide World of Sports, whatever you want to call this volleyball tournament, they did a great job hosting this past weekend. The tournament was also to be combine with or was the nationals for the JVA, but I didn’t notice any JVA promotional material throughout the tournament. It was a four day tournament, which I believe was at least a day too lengthy, but I’m sure Disney has to do it’s best to generate as much revenue as possible. Making this an extended tournament does a nice job with having the parents spend extra dinero. Continue Reading

At Winthrop University, we are fortunate to have a great P.A. Announcer, Mike Markham.  He is knowledgeable of the game, keeps the fans involved, and is very professional.  He has been announcing our matches for a number of years and asked me the difference between the libero and defensive specialist.  Its interesting to have a person with the experience of Mike, not clear on positional roles and it is our responsibility of the volleyball world to educate our fans.  The more educated our fans, the more likely they will get hooked on volleyball. Continue Reading

Preventing burn-out is not easy on the juniors volleyball circuit. There are a lot of underlying pressures to keep a girl playing. To prevent burn-out, your child’s volleyball goal must be identified (and this needs to be your child’s goal, not a parent’s wish for a child). Continue Reading

At the AVCA Convention in Tampa, the WNVA was announced.  A professional volleyball league in the United States based around a  reality show.  Ron Deshay, Executive Producer of American Idol is passionate about volleyball and about this opportunity.  His passion gives this league a legitimate shot at working out!

Continue Reading