The USA Men upset #1 ranked Brazil to win the FIVB World League Championships. As Cody Kessel called it, the Volleyball Superbowl! Unfortunately, my wedding was a week too early and we missed the opportunity to watch professional volleyball in Italy on our honeymoon in Florence.  I’ll have to be sure to let me new wife know that she should better plan things in the future Continue Reading

The NCAA has partnered with Northwestern Mutual for the first online NCAA Bracket! Enter for a chance at a $500 gift certificate of NCAA gear.

Click for the bracket http://ow.ly/f3WEk

Have you filled out your bracket?

NCAA-womens-volleyball-bracket-2012 click to download pdf

Wednesday Night Volleyball – the best night of television. Tonight, October 24th:

Florida vs Florida State on ESPN3 at 6:00PM EST

Missouri vs Georgia on ESPNU at 7:00PM EST

Penn State vs Iowa on Big Ten Network at 8:00PM EST

Arizona vs Standord on Pac 12 Network at 10:00PM EST

This was my live match rundown on facebook of the USA vs South Korea match:

Match assessment:

S. Korea had a great gameplan. Hats off to them. High hands on swings and their passing kept them in the match. Their third set was likely their best ever as their other sets showed they can be error prone.

USA is just too physical. Our block, although showing some weaknesses at the pins, is so big it allows for some great defense (sound like Penn State perhaps?).

The double sub worked to perfection. 6’7″ Park was too big and Thompson got the jitters out and ran her middles well. Just a slight change in rhythm. Continue Reading

It’s funny, last night I was watching the USA Mens Team take on Italy in the World League (and congrats to the USA Men for earning a spot in the finals), and was listening to Kevin Barnett talk about Head Coach Alan Knipe not having his line-up set for the Olympics. New-comer Paul Lotman is battling it out with veteran and 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist, Riley Salmon, on the outside. Why I find this amusing is while Kevin Barnett was disappointed the USA Mens Team roster wasn’t set and that “winning the World League was more important”, the USA Women’s Team played a “2nd string” line-up throughout half of the World Grand Prix.

You think Alan Knipe has an interesting dilemma on the Mens Team, how about Hugh McCutcheon on the Women’s Team? Megan Hodge was named World Grand Prix MVP and Best Scorer, but she probably will not start on the Olympic Team. Jordan Larson and Logan Tom will likely start ahead of her (oh yeah, and that leaper, Destinee Hooker, will play opposite). The main reason, the game comes down to serving and passing. Jordan and Logan will start over Megan because of passing. In addition, both players are smarter, more effective hitters than Megan. Continue Reading

I’m really enjoying watching the USA Women’s Team play this year. Great chemistry and smart, physical, consistent play. They are ranked #1 in the world. Following are some highlight clips and things to take note of:

Blocking – watch the discipline posture. Loaded and square to the net. Very efficient movement. Great hand position (including middles when they are late to get the pins). Great reading and closing to the outside blocker (hip-to-hip). Continue Reading

So awesome to be able to watch these great players continue their career AFTER COLLEGE!  this weekend in Salt Lake City, UT. Many volleyball players don’t hit their physical prime until their late 20′s and it will be a joy to watch the players grow.

Here are the rosters for the teams competing: Continue Reading

Yes, there is a professional indoor volleyball league in the United States. There is no glitz or glamor of the NBA, not even the WNBA, heck not even attention like the Cross Fit Games, but we have to start somewhere. The old business model of dump a ton of money into a league and the fans will come has been proven time and time again to be unsuccessful. The new business model is to build a professional league from the ground up using the current infrastructure of USA Volleyball Regions and support from some formidable clubs across the country.

Bravo to the USA Premier Volleyball League for hosting the first PVL Championship of 12 teams this coming weekend in Salt Lake City, UT being held in conjunction with the US Open Volleyball Championships. You can track the progress on Advanced Event Systems throughout the weekend.

Congratulations to all the players of that have stuck with their teams throughout the season and into this Championship. 100+ years ago, baseball players played the sport because they loved it and never would have imagined the lucrative opportunity to play a game. 100 years from now, that same opportunity will be available to volleyball players in the United States.

Yeah, I wish I could get up THAT high and over the net THAT far.

Anyone else notice the Misty May picture in the background when she was a setter for Long Beach State?

NOT FAIR!

What are you doing today?

Just a little reminder of how lucky we are to have these great guys on our side and how great our sport is to bring us together. Thanks to John Kessel of USA Volleyball for not just the picture, but continuing to provide opportunities to help share and grow the game. Check out his latest blog post here: http://usavolleyball.org/blogs/growing-the-game-together-blog/posts/3639-coaching-by-fear Continue Reading

A monumental day for NCAA Volleyball and volleyball in the USA. The first ever NCAA Women’s Sand Championship was held today in Gulf Shores, AL, yes Alabama. “The Hawaii people and the California people were like, `Are you kidding? We’re going to Alabama to play beach volleyball?”’ said Kathy DeBoer, the Executive Director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association, which is running the event. “But this is an absolute hidden gem.’ I guess it took the USA Volleyball Teams, four Olympic Gold Medals, for the US to wake-up and recognize the great sport of volleyball. It’s only one of the most popular events of the Olympic Summer Games and across the world. As a great French player, Winthrop Volunteer Assistant Coach and friend of mine, Francois “Frenchy” Hertwig, posted on my Facebook status, “It’s about time.” Pepperdine won the first ever NCAA Team Championship Trophy as well as the Doubles Trophy. Continue Reading

Such an interesting day.

Pat Summitt steps down from coaching,

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

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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

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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