100 wins

February 13th, 2017 could be a record setting day for women's sports and really sports in general. The University of Connecticut is women's basketball team goes for 100 straight wins in NCAA D1 basketball.

   What an amazing feat. As a coach I am always happy with back to back wins but to think about 100 in row! Wow. This record didn't happen over night. UCONN just didn't win 99 games in a row in one week or even month. We are talking since 2014 they have been working hard to get these wins. UCONN has graduated players, added new players, and are playing in big games or normal games. 

The coach is one thing that has remained the same. Coach Geno has become one of the best coaches in the sport of basketball if not the best. If he coached men he would be the all time greatest coach of basketball. Sadly, he coaches women therefore may people say he doesn't have competition he would have if coaching men.  That just sounds like sour grapes to me. He has played within the same rules and guidelines that all other teams both male an female have in the NCAA. 100 wins. Just take time to count to 100! Even that takes time. If UCONN wins tonight they will have won 4000 minutes of basketball.  Let that set in. Good luck tonight UCONN! 

Kind of like picking out fruit

When selecting a travel team for your child what should you look for?

A question I get asked a lot of times just reworded. Volleyball is my thing so I always get parents asking me to tell them about my club or my favorite way it's worded... "so what do ya'll do?" I am in the south so we get the "ya'll" thrown in there. I am never sure how to answer this question. The sales rep inside me wants to give an answer fitted to who I am talking to but the coach in me wants to tell them about all the smart hard work we put in to volleyball. I end up giving the parent a general overview of what my club does and gives to the athletes.  The reason for that kind of answer is parents don't know or don't know how to phrase what they are looking for in travel sports teams.

Recently I learned about the joys of cooking with bananas.  I knew about banana bread or banana pudding (again, I am in the south) and like everyone else I knew about just eating them! For the three ways I just listed to use bananas for cooking or eating, all require a ripe to very ripe banana; therefore, when going banana shopping you would look for the ripest ones the store offered. What about soup? Banana fries?  There is a whole world of dishes that require green bananas and would require you selecting the greenest bananas the store had to offer. If you didn't find the kind of banana's you wanted at one store you would simply switch stores till you found what you wanted or made a compromise.

Bananas are a easy metaphor for us to see. When picking out a travel team you have to know what end product you want to make. You don't pick up green bananas and make banana pudding with them.  If you want your child to be a great shooter in basketball then you have 1. ID that is what you want. 2. Find a team that has coaches that focus on shooting. 3. Will allow your child the chance to get to shoot. 4. Alumni or teams that scored a lot of points. 5. Will take your child.

Figure out what you are looking for in a club. Ask your child what he or she wants to do with the sport. If they are just wanting to be a team and have friends... don't waste $$$ on that. Look for cheaper clubs.  If your child wants to be the next Mad Bum (MLB pitcher) then you better find a team that has good pitching coaches. Don't just ask directors or coaches what they do in general terms. Ask particular questions and have reasons for asking. Picking a travel team is kind of like picking a fruit. You don't pick the rotten ones and you know what you want to do with it when you buy it.

Blaming the wrong people

"Our coach just sucks"

Many parents get upset when their team isn't winning. They get mad at the coach for not winning. The coach gets blamed for not pushing the players harder and sometimes for pushing the players to hard. He or she gets undercut and verbally chewed out by frustrated parents in shadows or in the bleachers. The coach maybe can't focus on the right fundamentals or maybe doesn't know the game... I will even agree that the coach might play favorites the whole time BUT why be mad at them? If club, you are paying to be there so after the season ends move on to another club. In school, go to the AD or administration.  The school administration is who hired the coach in the first place right? The coach maybe doing the best job he or she can do. There is no point to be angry at the coach. Demand better from the AD. Chances are all he or she does is hid from anything that might make them uncomfortable or look like work. You don't like the coaching choice and you complained then pull your daughter. Vote with your feet. Let the school know that you don't need them or care what the heck happens the program. I know most of you won't do that.  "My daughter just likes playing" will be the defense for allowing her to play on a team that you think the coach is a moron. Complaining to kid about it doesn't help either. The only people who can help you in the time of frustration is the AD and administration. 

Here is the key to all that I am saying. The school thought that who ever they hired to be the coach was good enough for your kid. They didn't go find a good coach. They found a warm body to do it. They most likely didn't care much about what knowledge of the sport the person hired had or how they would man the helm of the program. They wanted someone to do the job. So don't be mad at the coach you are convinced of can't spell libero much less knows what one is. Go voice your anger on the people who made a poor choice. Remember, they would never hire a high school football coach who was a volleyball player in middle school. Let that sink in. 

Just not impressed

This fall, I have been officiating middle and high school volleyball. This has given me a great chance to see players from all over the area. Gaston, Lincoln, Cleveland, Iredell, Burke, and Caldwell Counties in NC have I been in. So far... I am not impressed. The most impressive team I have seen all year was a middle school team who was spot jump serving. They crushed the little team they were playing but I truly believe they would beat ALL the high school teams I have seen this year. Here is why I have not been impressed overall. Let me state up front that there are good players on teams but I am addressing the WHOLE team not being impressive.

        Reason 1. Clubs: I watch familiar faces in warm-ups and I know these girls play club. I know they have played for years yet these players are still struggling with the basics. Passing, serving, talking, and moving their feet. Serves should always be made. If you aren't up by 5 plus then you better not be serving the ball out or in the net. There is never excuse NOT to talk while playing however I see team after team chalked full of club players that will not talk. I say that the clubs these girls play for are a reason the teams aren't impressive because they should have taught these skills. 

         Reason 2. Coaches: There was one coach I dealt with as an official that if I could have thrown a rule book at I would have. Sadly, in high school the coaches just aren't the best in every school. Big reason in that is schools don't want to pay these coaches anything and they expect them to deal with tons of drama.... that is another blog for another day.... Coaches are allowing players to be lazy. They maybe don't have the best players but they can make their players hustle to the ball. Allowing players to be lazy to the ball is going to give you poor results.

          Reason 3. A mix of players: Players that haven't sold out to volleyball enough to play all year are always on a high school roster. Nothing wrong with that except most of these players who add in are called upon to be key roles in starters. These girls might be great athletes but they don't have fine tuned volleyball skills. Sloppy play as in net calls, carries, two hits, or four hits can happen more offend with players who don't play yearly vs ones who play do play yearly. This goes back to the coaches and they have to get all players on the same page to prevent sloppy play.

I gave three reasons why I am not impressed with teams this year. I hope we can all work to bring about better volleyball next season and that starts now. 

Motivation Monday: Blocking Tools

Attention hitters! As school season kicks into high gear and play is underway. Here is a good tip for getting kills when you are facing a big block. Tooling the block is when the set is trapped inside the hitter has nothing left to do but get blocked or use the block.  Check it out!

Click on the AVCA Tooling the Block below to watch about how to complete this task.

AVCA Tooling the Block

Happy hitting

Work hard. Work together

Did you see it?

The Olympics have come to a close just like they have for 1000's of years. There were tears for victory and tears for defeat. Some athletes were injured and some set world records. The fastest man to ever live proved himself for the 3rd time leaving his footprint on all of sports. Another Micheal through his name in the ring of all time great "Micheal"s and to the tune of 21 gold medals. A child abandoned by her parents and saved by her grandparents showed us all that size doesn't matter and hard work does. Who the world picked as the top women's soccer team lost their breathe when the ball like water slipped in to the back of the net. The rebirth of the dream team had moments of a nightmare but closed the deal. Bikers biked and runners ran but did you see any of that? Fighters fought and jumpers leaped but did anyone see that?

Did you see any of that? 
According to ratings... No... no you didn't. I believe we witnessed the greatest athletic display under the sun but very few watched. If you didn't get to watch for whatever the reason maybe I encourage you to google some finishes and enjoy the show! 

Work Hard and Work Together

Do you have the heart?

Last year I met  Carolina Costagrande who is a member of the Italian national women's volleyball team. She shared her story with the players I was with and myself. She was born in Argentina and moved to Italy to pursue her career in volleyball and have a better life. She explained that she at a young age knew she had to move away from her family and friends to be the best she could be in volleyball. If you didn't know, Italy is one of the strongest countries in volleyball and as a lot of professional options in the sport. 
          Carolina Costagrande added about how she had to get out of what was easy for her. She had to push herself out of her comfort zone and step out on her on. There were lonely times and bad days she added. Days that she wanted to quit and go home however she knew that to be the best she could be in the sport she had to press on. She had the heart for it. The heart to step out on her own and to be great. 
          Do you have heart to step out and be great? Do you have the heart to leave your comfort zone and do what it takes for you to be great? Most of you don't. Some of you will think you do. Only a few of you will. No one wants to be uncomfortable and don't want to fail. As the saying goes, "no risk no reward" is very true in a lot of areas. Take the risk to get the reward...Risk by putting yourself in a place to fulfill your dreams. That maybe the risk of feeling uncomfortable and maybe it is fear of failure. 

         Do you have the heart for greatness? Do you have what it takes to be the best you can be?