Being the Role Model.

Playing university sports can sometimes be a difficult venture.  As athletes they are constantly on display.  Imagine for a moment every Friday and Saturday everything you do that week is judge on one outcome.  Then put that evaluation on TV, radio and in the paper. It can be a challenging.

We also ask our athletes to be role models for young up and coming volleyball players.  After our matches the athletes will always take time to mingle with the young girls that come to our match.  It is a great reminder of the situation they are in.  Often we get so involved with living our daily lives that we forget how much of a hero they have become to the younger girls in Manitoba.

When we have our U15 club tournament in March I remind the first year athletes to be nice, one or two of these players will be their teammates when they are in their fifth year.  The interaction they have with them can have an affect later.

This past weekend we had split with Thomson Rivers University out of Kamloops.  They are a team we traditionally beat.  But a good recruiting year and a change in coaching staff have the Wolf Pack upsetting teams all first semester.  We won in 3 on Friday and felt good about our chance on Saturday.  But found ourselves chasing all the time.  The last couple of weeks we have found ways to overcome this and push to a 5 set victory.  But this Saturday we just couldn’t. We lost in straight sets.  As you can imagine we were very upset as a group. This was not what we had planned.

We had some teams come to watch our Saturday match.  During the match one of the young girls found out one of her Grandparents had passed away and had to leave.  Her teammates had bought shirts.  They came down after the match and explained to one of the players what had happened.  The team then brought the shirt over and had all the players signed it for the girl.  The Bobcats were extremely disappointed in our play that night, but still took time to engage with the young group. They went out of their way to make sure the player felt ok.

 I didn’t know this had gone on.  When our coaching group finally arrived in the team room the signing of the shirt was finished.  We finished our debriefing and then left as usual.  It wasn’t until I received a thank you email from the coach that I discovered what the team did.

This is the kind of role models we always hope our teams will be.  After all volleyball can seem all encompassing when our season is on, but it is such a small part of whom we really are.  I can say today I am really proud to be a Bobcat.  It is easy to be a good person when your happy and winning it takes real character to put someone else first after a difficult loss.

Power of positivity.

If you find spelling or grammar errors, they are of my own doing. I am writing this at home after finishing a good book. Called the Energy Bus. 

We are now six matches into our season.  We presently sit 5 and 1. We are also ranked 3rd in Canada.  You would think from looking at this that everything is going fine.

We have gone to 5 in every match so far this year. We have shown strong resilience during this steak.  We are finding a different ways to win each time.  The first come from behind victory was against U of C. We were down 2 sets to 0 when we decided to make a change. We subbed two players in.  Both Nikala Majewski and Courtney Roberts entered the match and brought a lot of energy which helped bring the match back. This was both their first times playing in Brandon and in front of our crowd.

The next day we were up 2 sets to 1 and let the fourth slide away. Our focus became about the outcome instead of the moment.  We talk about staying in the moment all the time but the score can be a big distraction. This is something we need to get better at.

I found myself getting frustrated with the lack of success we were having.  At one point I sat down and my body language was really demonstrating my frustration.  My Assistant Coach Teagan Hunter snapped me out of this.  She made a couple of suggestion of moves we should make and helped bring me back into the present. We and I recovered our focus and won in the fifth. One would think this would be a strong lesson for me, but it took a couple more days before I truly got it.
On Monday we were all tired. Our level of practice was starting to deteriorate. I found myself starting to yell and discipline to try to get the level back up. But realistically the effort didn’t fall. We were just really fatigued. We jumped a lot on Monday as we identified blocking as one of our major issues to work on.
Tuesdays practice was even worse.  It was as if a zombie apocalypse had taken over our team.  I again ended practice with a bit of a scolding.  Two of our leadership team and a fifth were sitting around and stretching after practice.  I decided to address this issue with them.  After I said my piece about leading by example they spoke.  I was getting really negative.  They understood that they need to be held to a standard, but when they also like to know when they are playing well.

This struck a nerve with me.  I pride myself for being positive. I try to celebrate when things go well.  I needed to find a way to get back to that.
Wednesday morning I read an article about an NCAA Football team and their Energy Bus.  I found out they were bases a philosophy on a book the group read. I immediately bought the book to read.  It was exactly what I needed.
 Two quotes right near the front hit home for me.
1. "We are Winners not Whiners".  We were 3 and 1. The team was extremely tired but no one was complaining but me. I was disappointed at our level. But when I talked with our leadership team I remembered all the extra going on for them.  We talked on Thursday about our goals again. Discussed our steps in how we were going to achieving them. We left for Edmonton on a very positive note.
2.  "Positive energy positive people create positive results". It is easy to sit back and find everything that is going wrong but our mindset is something we can control. We can choose to look at each challenge as a way to move us closer to our goal.  Each time a team finds and exploits our weakness it gives us a chance to look at this part of our game and move forward.
We have a strong positive vibe within our team. You can really feel our confidence grow with each new challenge we overcome together. It is up to me the Driver of this Bus to keep the positivity going.  That doesn't mean just throw out blank “way to go” statements.  It means teaching athletes to accept challenges. To communicate making sure they understand why things are happening.  As a coaching group we encourage our team to problem solve. We ask them to find solutions to problems that the opposition throws at us.  We want them to take risks. WE need to encourage risks.
I recommend the book to all coaches.  There are so many more things that we take for granted that it reminded me of.

All around athletes

We had a decent preseason. We were 7 wins and 3 losses in our two tournaments. The preseason is used by our team to evaluate players and to train  for different situations.  One situation we weren't actually ready for happened.  The question was  what do you do when you run out of setters?  In our last 3 matches we lost a setter to injury. Already lost one to academics and have a transfer not eligible.

When Mary (setter) went down.  We went immediately to our libs (Donata) to finish the match.  Donates did a decent job but we missed her stabilizing presence on passing and defence. Then we decided to try plan B. This is a 6-2 using the left sides as setters.

When I get the opportunity to present at coaching clinics I always recommend the 6-2 but using the leftsides as setters. They would play in back right when setting but hit leftside when in the front row.

I remembered that Nikki was a setter in her high school in grade 12. She had a sore shoulder so the coach used her in a setting situation.  That kept her playing.  Vaovai the other left side was setting in a spilt court drill earlier in the week and did OK. We talked to both of them and they agreed to try it.

 The first set both Nikki and Vai tried was a 51 or a quick middle. They said it was one thing they always wanted to try.  We lost the first match in 3 but was close the first 2 sets.  23-25 and 22-25. The third or passing broke down and the two setters had to run all over the court.

The next match against U of W we played with more confidence and understood the system We ended up winning. We played Gill at libero ams used Donata in a swing sub situation.

We want all around players.  We want them to be skilled enough that they would be confident to try this.  That is why early in  our week of practice we will use two courts.We will need the attackers to act as setters or out side players to block in the middle.  This allows us to train a specific part of the game and makes everyone to be a little more refined in their over all skill.

6-2 leftsides or 6-2 middles. Give it a try.

Bobcats 14/15

I fell off the face of the virtual world once again. I reconnected with blogging during the Pan Am Cup, but since it finished I have struggled to get back to the blog. I will try to be better at blogging through this year. I enjoy the different experiences each year brings and to be able to share it with people makes it even more enjoyable.

WHO WE ARE,

Our team is back in full swing and working hard at all aspects of being a BU Bobcats.  We have 16 players on this years team. This is the largest number we have had. 16 players make for strong competitive games in practice. This number also allows us to break down the games its different parts on two courts.

THE PLAYERS

We have 2 setters, Mary Thomson and transfer Hope Schneider. Mary and Hope have played together since they were 14, they are very comfortable around each other. They have a strong relationship which allows them to feel that they are a big part in each other's success.

 This year we have 5 middles. This is a big change from last year's only 3 middles, you never get a break mentality. This is the most we have had in Meaghan Robertson's five years. Jodie Baker our 3rd year middle came back to camp ready to claim a starting spot. She really committed to fitness over the summer and has returned in much better shape. This is making her faster and higher than she was last year. This really showed in our first exhibition matches in Edmonton. Jodie was our most efficient attacker.  This year we added a 2nd year transfer from South Dakota State, Courtney Roberts. Courtney is a local Brandon athlete, she will be pushing for playing time and has a very positive attitude.  Courtney's first CIS action was against perennial powerhouse UBC. Courtney held her own and gained some valuable confidence from that. We added two freshman from Winnipeg. Sara Barker is. 6'2" athlete with a lot of potential. She is working hard and asking lots of questions. We also added Kayla Solomon, she is also from Winnipeg. Kayla is our first music student ever. On our recent road trip to Edmonton we told everyone to bring homework, Kayla brought her trumpet. 

We have 6 outsides this year. This is our most experienced group as we only added one player to this group. Nikki Majewski, Winnipeg, is a very dynamic athlete. She was selected as Manitoba Volleyballs player of the year. She has been a great teammate and is enjoying everything about school. When we talk about classes, Nikki is so excited about everyone of them. Her passion is contagious.  Regan Dahl has also had a strong preseason. She is in her second year and returned is great shape. With a small injury to Vaovai early in training camp Regan was able to play some big minutes in the Edmonton tournament. Regan and Nikki both showed that they are ready to play at this level.

We returned all of our outsides from last year's team. These three were a big reason why we were able to be ranked 2 in Canada for 9 weeks. All three of them, Tori Dakin, Shanlee McLennan and Vaovai Aiono all returned hungry to improve on last year. It is fun to watch them train and compete with and against each other. 

We also have 3 Liberos or defensive specialists.  Donata Huebert is back for her third year. She is coming off a highly decorated year as she was selected Libero of the Year for CIS as well as First Team All - Canadian. We have asked Donata to help mentor our younger athletes. Donata's experience and work ethic is one we hope they all mimic. We have a first year libs, Jamie Campbell. Jamie is another local athlete coming from Kevin Neufeld's volleyball factory. Jamie is incredibly hard working and has a passion for the game.  We also have 3rd year specialist Gillian Leech. Gilly is our utility player, she will play left side if we need her. She is also quite confident in being a serving-defensive substitute as well as the Libero. Gilly  has been a tremendous teammate and a positive example to the first year players.  In Edmonton, Gilly played all those and was successful in all. Margy Lafaele our other NZ girl  is assisting this year as a practice player.

The start has been fun, but September is always the honeymoon phase. It will be important to remember this excitement as the season progresses...

Pan Am Cup Wrap up.

Yes I just fell off the face of the earth. I had a hard time trying to put into words the last couple of days of the Pan Am Cup.  We finished sixth place out of eleven teams. This is a respectable finish but everyone is leaving with a sense that we could have been much higher.

We played some very good volleyball through the tournament. There was definitely more good than bad. The way it ended left a bit of a sour taste with most of us. We came out pretty flat against Puerto Rico in the 1/4 final.  It wasn't for lack of willow effort, we just couldn't find our game. This group of athletes are extremely proud and take losing hard. After the match we waited for Lupo and Britt to finish their press conference. Then Britt asked if the team could meet on their own. They held a no coaches meeting to talk about preparedness and playing through adversity.

Lupo decided we would watch the match together back at hotels hat night, which meant a late night for everyone involved. Plus an early morning for practice. We did have a day off so there was time for naps.

 I likedthey way we watched video. Instead of focussing on errors Lupo contrasted our best match against our worst. We watched the first set against Cuba! Then watched the first set against PR.  There was close to the same amount of errors made in both sets, but we could really notice the difference in body language and adrenaline.  We seemed to just look more confident during the Cuba match.

With just dropping in for 5 weeks with the team I really feel that I don't have the right to judge or comment and tried really hard to stay out of the conversation. Some of these players have invested 7 to 10 years with the program. I can only go off my own mind. I feel that sometimes as athletes and coaches we forget who we are.  We remember who we were. When a pressure situation occurs I sometimes suddenly feel like the hockey guy from Killam who is just starting out. Rather than the guy who has won coaching awards. I second guess decisions and then are late reacting to it. I think the players do the same sometimes. They might think I am the middle hitter who was converted to left side instead of the pro and allstar. Focussing on the wrong things instead of building confidence we break down our own. Affirmations are so important we sometimes forget.  If we can find away to maintain our confidence we will be fine.

We ended up watching 5 sets, the 3 Cuban and the first two of PR. The message was definitely retrieved.  I think this was way more beneficial than Lupo coming in and breaking things,calling out people and truly venting.  The only person that feels a little better is the coach.  But using it as a teaching moment is, smarter in the long run.

Another interesting discussion brought out was use of subs and also being a starter.  8 matches in 9 days is tough mentally and physically. Everyone we brought off the bench played well and made a difference immediately.

Overall, this tournament was to give some players experience and to evaluate them in different roles. I think the information Lupo was looking for was confirmed.  I leave with a ton of respect to the commitment and passion that these athletes and coaches have for the game. I am an extremely proud Canadian. I hope I was able to help in the development process and to make Lupo's job a little easier.  I enjoyed working with Joey, Maren, Byron and Adam. They all are committed and are a lot of fun. 

I hope I get an opportunity to do this again.  I am extremely energized to get our Bobcats going again and begin our run.

Two for One

Again no time to proof this posting please forgive spelling and grammar. This is just free thought as we watch Germany beat up Portugal.

We had such a fast turn around from our Mexico match to the Dominican Republic match I didn't have time to update. Therefore I am writing about both matches in this blog.

The Mexico team, we have played a couple times at the world qualifier and had some idea about them. Everyone who plays sports knows how hard it is to beat a host country in their gym.  

We started Kelci French at setting, Lisa Barclay at right side, Britt Page and Kyla Richey at left side. In the middle we started Marissa Field and Becky Pavan. Becky played well in her last start, plus she was great in the final of the qualifier against Mexico.

We wanted to try and use our height and strength against them. The match started out exactly as we planned. We sided out first ball, then had three stuff block by Marissa to show the Mexicans our plan. The difference between this match and the matches in Canada was the Mexican fans started to get involved.

We continued to play well but the Mexican players were digging everything. At the beginning Lupo talked about patience and to expect some long rallies. It is hard to not try to over swing in this situation. It felt like we were in charge of the set, but every time I checked the score it was tied.  We were having some trouble scoring on the left side.  But Lisa was scoring well on the right side and on the pipe. Normally after 20 we have been really crisp, but today we seemed to be second guessing our selves. This led to a 25-27 first set loss.

I believe we were surprised by the level of compete the Mexicans brought and it caught us off guard. The second set we started the same way we finished, second guessing ourselves . This set started off bad, we fell down 8-4 at the first technical. Lupo decided to make a change. He subbed Marie-Pierre for Kyla. MP made an instant impact. She brought a ton of energy and really started to hit the ball well. We had evened the match at 18.  We traded points for the rest of the set. Mexico was up 24-23 and Lisa made a huge kill to even it up. MP went back and hit a tough spin serve we were able to transition a dig to go up 25-24. Unfortunately her set point serve hit the tape and stayed on our side. Match tied at 25. The Mexican then served tough and played strong block defence and won 25-27. 

The crowd here was incredible every time any of our Canadian players were serving there was a ton of noise, whistling screaming clapping. Every missed served that we made the fans took credit and rewarded themselves with an even louder cheer. When they have a chance to win the set the whole building is up chanting. I believe they are saying "one more" but I am just guessing.

Set 3 we started Lucy in place of Becky and left MP in.  We dominated this set all the way through. Finally playing and imposing our strength ans size on them. Lisa was unstoppable, one attack she hit over the setter was straight down. It actually silence the crowd for a couple of seconds. We won this set 25-15.

The fourth was much of the same everything went great. The Mexican coach flooded his bench at 12 to rest his players for the fifth. We won 25-14.

The fifth set is a sprint and teams need to stay focused and play each ball. It is hard not to scoreboard watch but it can be the biggest distractor in this situation. We battled hard but came up short. It was a real shock, especially after the way we played them in Canada A month before. 15-9 

Lisa had 21 points in the effort Britt and MP had 14 each. Up next the Dominican. MP was awarded the Canadian hat in. Strong speech from Dani Smith.

After the Mexican match we arrived back at the hotel at midnight. The team ate and went to bed. We went to Lupo's room to begin video. By 2 am we had the scout sheet ready for the next morning. We will meet again at 9am. to go over the rest and create the video to show the team

We are scheduled to play the Dominican at 4pm. This meant no training before and video at 11.  This is going to be the fifth match in 5 days. Players need to know its going to hurt and be tough so be prepared mentally. This explains why for two weeks the athletes were really fatigued in practice. Lupo and Scott were trying to teach them that they can still perform in this situation.

The Dominican are ranked 8th in the world. They have 3 world class spin servers. Our game plan was sound it played to our strengths and exploited their weaknesses. The struggle would be the mental capacity to maintain the systems.

We started with the line up we did against the Cubans. Kelci setting, Lisa at right, Kyla, Britt at left, Lucy and Marissa in middle. The two Libero system.  The two libs system has been working really well for us. Janine is tremendous on defence and can focus on different assignments and constantly remind the rest of their responsibility. Tesca has been passing really well and along with Britt and Kyla have really controlled the matches.

The Dominicans jumped out to a quick lead on their serving. It took us half the first set to catch up to their speed but once we did we settled in.  We were able to show a passing position trying to force a secondary serve. Then on their toss we would adjust towards this position. This slowed their serving down a bit.

We weren't playing reall crisp actually felt like we were playing in sand. Our block defence was working so the Dominicans started tipping.

We were just a second late to reacting to this.  We ended up losing 25-22.  

The second set did not go well for us. It is really hard not to let mistakes in one part of your game creep into others. An example struggling to score, so during the rally your still problem solving the attack and then miss a dig. Then this piles on to the attack you can get lost in your head. This is why I really respect Britt Page. I feel that she has figured out how to focus on the necessary skill on hand. Bouncing back and forth between left side and right side can't be easy. She kept battling the whole set digging and passing. At 19-12 Lupo pulled her to rest for the third.

Let's give Marie Sophie a chance to spark us.  We also subbed Dani in for Kelci. Dani has a tremendous amount of fight in her and plays with passion. We lost the set 25 -14.

The third set we started MP and Kyla with Britt at right side. We also started Dani. The thought was we would go with more of a ball control line up. Hopefully Britt could give us some back row presence. Dani was decided to create energy and to hopefully create some fight.  You cannot question this teams work ethic, but again it was like playing in sand.  We kept he the match close. One four point run in the middle of the set cost us. Dominican won 25-22. I think we should realize how close we are to this team. I believe it is time for this group to quit trying to play with the Dominicans and time to play better than them. We have the talent to do this. Britt page led us with 14 points and Marissa had 8. MP passed the Canadian hat to Tesca. She has led our passing group well. The two libs system really highlites her strength on serve reception.

Day off tomorrow the Puerto Rico in quart finals.

Game Day Cuba

All photos are off Norceca Website. www.norceca.org

One of the biggest things I noticed here is how hard these players hit and serve the ball. We have now players on the A team that are starting to catch up in velocity. I think the testing we do with the radar gun and the team commitment to fitness has definitely helped.  Cuba is team that serves tough spin and attack with pace.

Our day was scheduled basically the same as yesterday. In practice we started with the butterfly to get moving then Adam ran them through warmup. Our serve and pass section we had Joey Martins up on a box hitting tight spins at the passers. Working on defending the serve mostly. In this practice Kelsey French figured out her spin serve which was going to be important.

When we returned we watched video. In the video we went over each player and wha attacking tendencies they have. Of course at this level most players have many shots but we want to block and defend their more powerful  shot.  We also went over each rotation explaining our serving tactics as well as their setters tendencies. Who is the primary responsibility for each blocker. Most of the time it is our normal systems. Against Cuba they have a right side who gets a lot of back row balls so we had to adjust for her.  The fact she is 14 is incredible.

A side note here; this is a great argument for playing players at developmental levels rather than chronological. The. Challenge this athlete is getting is incredible. Do we often hold players back in our club so they can play at their age?

We also showed how other team scored against them. Cuba plays a very traditional slide defence, attack from left side the block cross, player in back right covers tips, back middle goes to line, back left digs off block and front left tries to get to the 3 meter line.  Our main goal was to establish the A ball or middle quick, then run shoots to the outside who then attacked seam. This should score in the middle back hole.  If we had to tip we would tip deeper pot.

We then went over how the Cubans serve. Most tough spin servers have a tendency and we wanted to adjust based on that tendency.  We also track this during the match. We would need to pass well to keep them honest in blocking.

Game time.

At the start of the match we chose serve and the Cubans chose sides. We had to pack up all the clothing and switch. A little gamesmanship off the start. We started with the same line up as Peru. Kelci French setting, Marissa Field and Lucy Charuk in middle, Kyla Richey and Britt Page left side, Lisa Barclay Rightside and the two Liberos.

 We started the match well with two big stuff block in a row. Showing the Cubans we were here to play. Kelci did a good job of establishing the quick middle. Lucy hit some balls before the Cuban blocker even got off the floor.  But it was A true back and forth match. Late in the match we doubled subbed again. Dani Smith and Marie Sophie came in the match. Dani first ball set Lucy for a big score.

Then Dani made a huge dig off Vargas from Cuba, Janie our libs made a great set to Marie Sophie at right side. MSN tip it deep pot and scored. We just took off after that. Marie Sophie scored another big out of system ball and we were in control of the set. We won 26 to 24

The second set the Cubans came out aggressively but we held fast. Kyla Richey and Lisa Barclay were big time players for us in this set. The Cuban served ver aggressive and we were out of system but our outsides found away to score. Lisa hit one cut shot that was about 1 meter off the net cross court. Kyla hit a couple of big shots off hands in tough situations forcing the ball out the sideline or out our end line. We doubled subbed earlier in the set and had the same effect again. It made the Cubans change their serving just a bit. As the match progressed the Cuban team got safer with their serves and we were back in system. Won the second set 25- 23.

The third set was really all Canada. It was Britt Pages turn to take control of the match with some big back row pipes and some large line kills.

Our confidence was growing as the set progressed and the Cubans started to make more errors. Our 3 passers had got in a groove and we were in system constantly. Both Kelci and Dani had lots of options. Our middles seemed to score often. We won the set on a Cuban missed serve. 25-21

The team celebrated the victory and were excited. Then the headed to the weight room to work out. It was scheduled for after the match. They know if they want to maintain their fitness this was important. After the work out Becky Pavan passed the Canada Hat to Dani Smith as impact player of the match.