The now philanthropic Bill Gates starts this TED talk by saying, “Everyone needs a coach.” In Bill’s riveting speech about teachers, he provides information on why the United States is performing so poorly in all education subjects in comparison with the rest of the world. Shanghai, China ranks #1 in the world in Reading, Science and Math. Part of the reason Shanghai is #1 is because younger teachers get the opportunity to watch master teachers. Continue Reading

At the AVCA Convention in San Antonio, I enjoyed dropping in on a session by Russ Rose and Terry Lyskevych. As fascinating as it was to listen to two fellow Chicagoans give their perspective on the lay of the volleyball land, I enjoyed as much watching the crowd. John Cooke sat in front of me (although he looked as if he was sleeping…as he sometimes does) to take in their words. I wondered if he were there to enjoy the conversation, to learn new ideas for their own team, or to take a nap. In any case, I found it fascinating that the elite of the elite coaches were present.

Continue Reading

Will you be there?

I look forward to a couple new teams this year, Oregon and Michigan, while the experienced teams of Penn State and Texas will have to battle it out in the semi-finals. I think it will be Penn State and Oregon in the Finals, and I hope it’s another great one!

I’ll also be presenting at the AVCA Convention to the First Time Attendees on Wednesday at 4:30pm followed by a reception at 5:45pm. Come by and heckle me. If you’ve been to Convention before, we are looking for Big Brothers / Big Sisters to pair-up with a First Time Attendee. You can do so at the Reception.

Five years ago, I attended my first AVCA Convention in Sacramento, CA.  I was excited and anxious, but I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.  I, along with 3 First Time Attendees from the 2010 AVCA Class, Brian Swenty, Kyrsten Becker, and Mary Leventis, are here to guide you through one of the greatest volleyball experiences you will attend, the 2011 AVCA Convention in San Antonio, TX! Continue Reading

Today, I listened to an audio recording of USA Volleyball’s Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon’s Q & A presentation at last December’s AVCA Convention in Kansas City.  A question raised to Hugh was, “How does the world perceive the success of USA Volleyball when it does not have a professional league?”.  Hugh’s response was based on the United States’ culture of “fighting until the end”, competitive advantages, and coaching methodologies.  Of which I agree, but these are small pieces of a larger puzzle.  An Open Source puzzle. Continue Reading

This past week in Kansas City at the AVCA Convention and Final Four was thoroughly enjoyable.  It was 24 hours of volleyball.  Blissful.

Even though volleyball is one of the most popular sports in the world, we, in the United States, are fortunate it has not blown-up yet (it will).  It provides us the accessibility for legends Continue Reading

Today is the day of my first presentation at the AVCA Convention here in cold Kansas City, MO.  The presentation starts at 4:30 (CST) in Room KCCC 2503AB.  The topic is AVCA Convention 101: What Every First-Time Attendee Needs to Know.  My intention is to make this the best convention experience for you.

Even if you have attended the convention before, it wouldn’t hurt to have your input for the new-comers as well as make them feel welcome on this initially overwhelming experience. (I believe I already have a couple returning conventioneers in the crowd to heckle me).

Come meet the newest members of the AVCA Convention!

The most wonderful time of the volleyball year! After a great weekend of sweet sixteen and elite eight matches, it leads to the AVCA Convention, held in Kansas City this year, and the Final Four matches.  The year of volleyball parody is evident with only one of the top four seeds making it into the Final Four.  Should we be surprised it’s Penn State?  We should stop doubting Russ Rose and his ability to coach and recruit, but Continue Reading

For the past few days I was fortunate to travel to Tampa, FL for the American Volleyball Coaches Association Annual Convention.  In addition, I watched the NCAA Final Four Championships and one of the best volleyball matches ever played between # 1 Penn State and #2 Texas.  I hope you also had the opportunity to watch this amazing match and could imagine yourself on the court. Continue Reading

This is it…the Most Wonderful Time of the Volleyball Year. The NCAA VolleyMadness is in full swing, the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight are this weekend. Certain matches of the Sweet Sixteen will be viewable online and the Elite Eight matches will be shown on ESPNU (NCAA Volleyball Championship Schedule).  The following week is when volleyball mayhem Continue Reading

I was looking at your resume and trying to figure out how you made the jump to college coaching. I would love to coach at that level, but am not sure when and how is the best way. Obviously the competition is steep. Continue Reading