The schedule was a hot mess when Coach Julie pulled me into this job. However, we are getting it fixed slowly but surely. The primary consideration for the schedule is to play Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Why those days? I have no interest in playing on a Monday following Sunday with no practice. Wednesday gets marked off due to possible church conflicts for some and simply being hump day for the week. Also if we play Wednesday, it means playing back-to-back nights. I am trying to avoid that. I would consider a Friday in a heart beat, but it has to be special such as a rivalry match and tie into football. Rossville jumps to mind, but there is the no football issue. That leaves Delphi or maybe Clinton Prairie. I have tried Delphi a couple of times, but I get no reply. Oh well. That gives us Tuesday and Thursday. Saturday is tournament day in high school volleyball. But which tournaments and why?
0 Comments
Here is the agenda for the call out meeting.
Call Out Meeting on 3/22/18 carrollcougarvolleyball.weebly.com
12. Skills camp is June 11-14. $5 a session. Incoming 5-8th Limit 10 kids 9:30-11:00 Forearm Passing is Monday. Serving is Tuesday. Hitting is Wednesday. Overhead Passing is Thursday. 13. You set an example. Kids look up to you & want to be you. Be careful what you say/do. 14. Freshmen, you will be buying your backpacks. Save some money. 15. Social Media – if it involves the volleyball family, stay off it. If it involves volleyball, stay off it. 16. You are emailing me this – tell me two things you want to improve upon between now and August. Ms. DeBoer, AVCA Executive Director, reappears quickly in our blog with another article. This one about teaching/coaching volleyball. Again this is pretty heavily edited, but it gets the point across.
I am an old teacher. I teach as I coach. As just one tiny example, the good Lord knows how much kids question/dislike ISU (Indiana State U.) movement drills. Tough. We want to transition correctly, swing correctly, pass correctly, serve correctly, block, and even fall to the floor correctly. All which can we practiced in ISU movement drills. Take it away Ms. DeBoer. "Gym day!" "Lets go to the gym." "Court 2 is open! Lets go get a ball!"
Good grief. How often do I hear this as I enter the building and meet the girls in the back hallway! I do not disagree that touching a ball is fantastic; however, the four reasons we lift are nearly as important. 1.) Our work in the weight room sets the tone of our volleyball program. "Winners Work!" And we do. 2.) How hard and diligently a young lady works in the weight room tells us/me a lot about how good a teammate someone will be. If we can not trust someone to work hard in the winter, we probably can not trust them in the fall. 3.) We are getting a pipeline established of kids looking to play college. From B. Worl, L. Worl, M. Herr, and G. Filbrun, to Mia Moore, maybe Kelsey, P. Jones, and maybe Adelle. I do not want them or a coach saying they were not ready for the work it takes to be successful at the college level. 4.) We are simply better prepared to execute our skill base and compete in long matches and on long days. We came back to beat Rossville in 5 sets last season after going down 0-2. About 2/3's of the way through the 3rd set, I saw a change in Rossville's effort. I started thinking to myself, "If we survive this set, we will win the match." Yes, we did. Won the 3rd close. Won the 4th pretty easily. Won the 5th going away. We were better prepared to play a hard five. Anyway, I found this article on weight training. It is pretty heavily edited, but it gets the point across. With the start of spring sports, I want to take a moment and review where we are as a program.
1.) We need to recognize that we have lost the "winningest class" in school history in back to back years! A lot of talented, hard working and wonderful young ladies have gone out the door in the past two years. Also recall, that the three seniors we lost passed 99% of our serve receive. How do we replace that? 2.) We have a large freshmen class with ten girls playing both club and lifting on a regular basis. 3.) Changes are a coming due to that freshmen class. Think JV. As written by Kathy DeBoer, Executive Director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association
"By all rights, I told them, volleyball should have gone the way of other sports that, post Title IX, were added primarily for girls and women: field hockey and gymnastics got a boost, but today, are shrinking and regionalized; cheerleading and dance while growing are marginalized as "not real sports." Instead four years ago, volleyball became the top team sport for girls in U.S. high schools! My brother sent me this. I want to say how thankful and lucky I am to coach great kids with great families. It is crazy how society is on so many issues. Meanwhile, our kids are respectful, honest, work hard, are good volleyball players, and great teammates. They are doing so much so well. I love them for it and thank you, parents, for letting me coach them.
When South Carolina head coach Frank Martin is coaching his team, there is not a more animated coach in the country, at any level. One’s first thought would be Martin is the same when he is watching in the stands. Actually, he’s the complete opposite. He wishes parents were like that too. Let the kid play and let the coach coach. This stems from a tweet Martin sent a week ago. Frank Martin✔@FrankMartin_SCDoesn’t fail, I walk in to a gym to watch my son’s 5th grade team play and the game b4 is going on. It’s a 4th grade game, a parent ran on the court losing their mind. Then we wonder y young kids don’t act right.#pleaseDontBlameKids I stumbled across an interesting read as I am cleaning out accumulated email from the past high school season. The twelve things essential to winning in order as deemed by Jeff Janssen, an author of some note on leadership and motivation.
1.) Talent. Quoting Bobby Knight "Want to win? Get the best players." 2.) Toughness. "Championship teams have a special toughness about them that makes them difficult to beat." 3.) Togetherness. "Your athletes must willingly and unselfishly make individual sacrifices, knowing that everyone will benefit in the long run." 4.) Commitment. Quoting Tom Izzo "Many talk about what they want. But to be the best, you have to pay the price to be the best. And you have to be willing to pay the price every day. It is not easy." 5.) Competitiveness. "Competitiveness inspires them to make hustle plays and sends a message to their opponents that they are not going to give an inch." 6.) Confidence. "Confidence comes from trusting your training, ability, mental edge, game plan, and teammates." 7.) Credible Coaches. "As they say, it all starts at the top." 8.) Strong Leaders. "While leadership ideally comes from your best and most experienced athletes, it can also come from anywhere and make a big difference." 9.) Championship Culture. "The culture becomes the program's winning operating system and attracts people who best fit it." 10.) Performing under Pressure. "Athletes must block out all the distractions and focus in on the task at hand to do what they do best." 11.) Luck and Timing. "Appreciate them and take advantage of them when they come your way." 12.) Intelligent & Winning Game Plan. "Coaches must devise and execute a game plan that maximizes the team's strengths and attacks the opponents's weaknesses." |
CategoriesArchives
October 2023
AuthorVarsity Coach Denny Crum |