Good Coaches (492)

           Having a good coach can really affect the outcome of a team. I have had so many coaches so far in my volleyball career but the best coaches have common qualities. A coach that is positive, calm, determined, and a good communicator is key to having a successful team.
          Positivity is important because if a coach doesn’t have a positive mind set and outlook on the game your team won’t improve or be able to realize the ultimate goal for your season. Also having a coach that believes in your dreams and wants to help you reach your goals is very important. If you meet a coach that sees potential in you and tells you that, don’t take that for granted and continue to work hard until you reach your full potential. They told me what they were going to help me improve on and what I needed to work on. The biggest thing they said to me was they see potential in me and they can’t wait to continue to work with me. I think when someone hears that from their coach they are motivated to work even harder because they realize that someone other than themselves wants to see them succeed. That is an awesome feeling.
          A determined coach is important because with the determination to win anything is possible. If you have a coach that wants to succeed as much as you do, great things will happen. A coach that remains calm in tight situation is also very important. If you are in a close match and you make a mistake most players don’t want a coach to yell at them and tell them what they just did wrong. Instead a coach that stays calm and tells you how you can improve what you just did wrong on the next play would be more helpful. Volleyball is a game of mistakes, who makes the least mistakes is who wins the game. Therefore, a coach should understand that everyone is going to make a mistake some time and getting mad at a player is not going to help the situation at all.
          Having a coach that communicates well is also important. Communication can range from letting you know ahead of time when practices are cancelled or there is a change in practice times, to choosing the right words to say in a team huddle just before your team is going to face a tough opponent. They also set a good example of how you can communicate to your teammates on and off the court.
          I have been blessed to be coached by the coaches I have had. I have learned so much not just about volleyball, but life in general from them. I can’t thank them enough for helping me continue to grow as a person and an athlete. I truly believe that with a great coach and players that strive to be successful an awesome team can be formed.

Setting Middles (408)

 In the game volleyball it is very important to set your middles for a lot of reasons. It is also one of the hardest things to do. You need to set your middles to keep the blockers on the other side honest, leave your outside and right side 1 on 1 as much as possible, keep your opponents defense off balance, and allow your setter an open tip or attack.
            Keeping the other teams’ blockers honest means making sure they are staying with their hitter (Outside with outside, middle with middle and right side with right side). For example say that I never set my middles, the middle blocker would cheat to the outside or right side and would cause them to have a double block almost every time. This is why a setter needs to run a smart offense based on the blocks. If your left and right side are facing a double block every time they swing that probably means you need to run your middles more often or mix up the offense that you are running. This is why running a fast offense is very important, the faster I can deliver the ball to my hitters the less time the other teams’ blockers will have to get in the right position to block. So mixing up my sets often and running fast plays gives my hitters a better opportunity to get a kill.
            On the other hand running quick middle offense often is one of the hardest things to do as a setter. There are many factors that determine whether I can set my middle or not. The pass is most important. If the pass is more than 10 feet off the net it is very difficult to deliver the set the way it should be. If I’m that far off the middle will hopefully call a 31. I can set a 31 if I’m off but it takes a lot of practice to figure out how far off and how fast you can push the ball so that the middle will be able to get a good swing. The other factor that goes into setting my middle is the positioning of the blockers. If I see that the middle blocker is following my middle I will push it outside or back. If the middle blocker is cheating towards the outside I can set my middle and she will have either 1 or no blocks.

Choosing a Club Team (390)

Choosing what club team you want to play for is stressful sometimes but if you keep a few things in mind you should be good to go. When choosing where you want to play you should keep in mind, who your coach will be, how many players will be on the team and how it will affect your playing time, how far away you want to travel for practices and tournaments, what your team chemistry will be like, and the costs involved.

To determine if you will like your coach and his/ her coaching styles make sure to attend all player and parent meetings and ask questions.  If you have a club in mind attend a match and watch the coaching style of your potential coach.  Ask friends who have played at the club for their opinion of the coach and their philosophies. Search online for records of teams played under the coach you may have. Are they at the top the region or near the bottom? Make sure the coach’s style fits your personality. Is the coach too demanding or too laid-back? How many years have they coached? What position did they play? Do they play everyone or do they play to win?

Some club teams are more competitive than others, and this usually determines how far they travel for tournaments. Club volleyball tournaments range from in town scrimmages to national qualifiers with over 200 teams for each age division. If your club team is going to try to qualify for nationals you will more than likely compete in tournaments all over the country. Club practices usually take place in the city where your club is based. Before you try out for a club you should decide how far you want to travel every week to practice.

Team chemistry is a very important part of picking a club team. If your team doesn’t get along and connect well together you probably won’t get to where you want to be at the end of the season. In order to ensure you will have good team chemistry make sure you talk to the girls that could potentially be on your team. Get to know them before you commit to playing for the team.

If you are not sure about where to play club I hoped this helped you make your decision!

Crocs are Great (453)

If you are an athlete and are looking for some comfortable shoes I have the pair for you. Crocs are made from rubber and are very durable. They clean fvery easily so you can walk through mud and wash them off the next day. These easy to slip on shoes will become your best friend in a matter of minutes.
One reason I absolutely love Crocs is because they are extremely comfortable. Put a pair of fuzzy socks on and slide them on and you are good to go. There are also fuzz lined Crocs which are especially nice in the winter! They fit your feet very well and do not slide off easily. The morning after a game you are just going to want to be comfortable, so put on some sweats and slide your Crocs on.
There are many different styles of Crocs, but my favorite are the classic ones or striped ones. They both are the most known style and have holes for jibbitz. Jibbitz are little rubber images you can put in the holes of your Crocs to style them up a bit. Athletes can personalize their Crocs with their favorite sports teams on them or cute little smiley faces. There are also cartoon characters from popular movies and TV shows for kids. There are so many options to choose from when it comes to jibbitz. While there are many different styles to choose from there are also a ton of different colors as well. These things just personalize your Crocs and make them unique to yourself.
Crocs are somewhat a fashion statement that tells other people you don't care about their opinions. If you wear Crocs you might get some rude stares, but who cares when you are wearing the most comfortable shoes? Wearing Crocs is a way to put yourself out there and provide for your comfort needs. Your peers will soon become jealous of your Crocs when they realize just how great they are.
I strongly recommend athletes get Crocs to wear because they are the most comfortable thing for their feet, in my opinion, especially after a long practice or game. They make each person unique and can even become a team thing. My entire volleyball team has their own pair of Crocs and it is just something fun we do together to bring us even closer. There is no shame in having a little fun, especially when it is a quality, comfortable shoe you are buying. Even if the shoe wasn’t that great, other people’s opinions don’t matter. We don't mind the stares, we embrace them. It lets people know we are confident in ourselves and do not care what others think of us.

Example Profile (385)

After you have sent an introduction letter to a college coach they might want to know a little bit more about you, and learn what experiences you have had with volleyball in your past and any cool awards you have been given. It is very helpful to make a "Profile" of yourself just to keep all of your successes organized and so you can get back to the coaches that are interested quickly. This shows a college coach a little more about you that is easily accessible to them. This will help the coaches get a quick look at you so they can see if they are interested by things like your academic achievements, athletic achievements, height, reach, video, etc.
Here is what an example profile might look like:


First Last name


Height:
Weight:
Approach:
Standing reach:
Position
High school name
class of _____

Academic achievements:
GPA:
ACT or SAT Scores:

Hudl Link: (Insert link to Hudl)


YouTube Link: (Insert link to YouTube)


Junior Year accomplishments:
EX:
Metro Sports Highlight Player of the Week


Summer before junior year
EX:
Selected to play in the High Performance Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma with the Iowa Girls Youth National team
Selected through USAV HP to go to the A3 training camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Earned a bid in the Great Plains Open in Omaha to the USAV Junior Beach Tour Championships in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Earned a silver medal in the High Performance in Tulsa, Oklahoma


Sophomore Year accomplishments:
EX:
Selected to play in the High Performance Championships in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida with the Iowa Girls Youth National team
5-1 setter for Club Iowa (CIA) 16 Black
5-1 setter on varsity for Kennedy high school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
1st team all Mississippi Valley conference
1st team all-metro
Varsity lettered
High Honorable Mention - Soph 79
Summary of season and athletic accomplishments. Can add quotes from coaches.


Freshman Year accomplishments:
EX:
Selected to play in the High performance Championships in Des Moines, Iowa with the Iowa Girls Select National team
Named offensive player of the year on Kennedy’s sophomore team
Competed in the GJNC in Dallas, Texas with Iowa Rockets 15-1


(Include here your contact info., your coaches contact info, and a current picture of yourself

Fav Drills (485)

Coming up with drills to do in practices is sometimes hard because they have to involve all positions, be productive, and be fun at the same time. Some of my favorite drills are Pra-ja, Columbia, George, Baseball, WIN, and Split Court. All of these drills are fun, productive, and everyone gets a lot of touches.
          Pra-ja is a game I learned at HP this year. It is definitely my favorite drill because it involves a lot of quick thinking and communication between you and your partner. Pra-ja is a 2 on 2 game with 2 balls being played at the same time. You and your partner are allowed 3 touches on each ball like normal but you can let the ball bounce in between each contact. In order to get each ball in play one partner from each side will serve one ball to the player on the other side who is not serving. After each ball is in play you play normally but you can let the ball bounce once in between each contact. If one team wins both points they stay and the other team waves through, but if both teams win one point they are both off and two new teams come on. I like this drill because it tests how well you can communicate with your teammate and it trains you to look across the net to tell your partner where he/she should attack the ball to. A hint for this drill is to never tip short. Tipping in the drill is an easy pass for the other team because the short tip will bounce up directly to a player on the other side.
          Columbia is another awesome drill. Columbia is run with 4-6 players on each side of the net. The scoring and rules of a normal game apply, the only thing that is different is that every player rotates when your team attacks the ball over the net. I like this drill because you get to experience playing every position. George is similar to Columbia with 4-6 players and regular rules/scoring applies, but if you make a mistake you are out and the next person in line on your team replaces you. I like this drill because it puts pressure on you to not make a mistake. Volleyball is a game of mistakes, every point is caused by a mistake. So everyone is going to make mistakes at some point in a game but it is the team who makes the least mistakes that will come out on top. When you are playing the game George it really makes you focus on the position you are playing because if you want to stay on the court you can’t make a mistake.
          These are just some of my favorite drills I have played. I hope this helps if you are looking for fun drills for a practice :)

Things to know (355)

Here are some things to know that apply to volleyball and I'm sure other sports as well:
Always play your hardest, you never know who is watching.
You are going to lose 5th (or 3rd) sets and it sucks. Learn from it, remember what it feels like, and move on. There will be other matches.
Be thankful for your parents who pay for everything, are supportive, and drive you all over the country so you can play the sport that you love.
NEVER give up.
Always thank your coaches, because without them you would not be the player or person that you are today.
If you want to play in college, you should start the recruiting process early. Email and call coaches at schools you are interested in and fill out recruiting questionnaires.
Pressing the call button will be the hardest thing to do when you call a college coach, but trust me it is not bad at all once you start talking to them.
Follow your dreams, no matter how big they are. If you work hard and have the confidence in yourself you can do it. Do not limit yourself.
Enjoy the moment you are in right now. You can't play volleyball forever so do not take the opportunity to play for granted.
 If you make it to state or nationals be proud because you worked hard for it. So many girls dream of getting a qualifying banner or a bid, but never get that opportunity.
 If you get to watch your idol play (mine is Micha Hancock) ask for a picture with them… you will regret it if you don’t.
 You WILL have days where you feel like giving up or where nothing is going right. It WILL get better I promise. Every one has bad practice or game days every now and then.
 Your teammates will pretty much become your family and it is awesome.
Find a friend group that is supportive of you. You will be gone a lot for tournaments and finding people that care how your team is doing and come to your games to support is awesome.

Commitment (381)

In sports, commitment is huge. Not only are you making a serious pledge to yourself, but you’re making a promise to the team. By joining a sports team, each player and their family commit to each of the other players and their families. Not only does commitment mean caring about your work, but as part of a team, it means caring about the team’s work, as well. As explained in any tryout, it’s the expectation that each player, and their parents, maintain their commitment to their sports program. By committing to the team, you as a player are setting the team up for success. We can only be successful and each player may only succeed if we can rely upon one another to keep the commitment everyone has made.
Commitment means you knowingly and willingly give up things you want in the short-term to potentially gain something of greater value in the long-term. Sometimes we’d rather take it easy all night, but we have practice. A weekend away with friends at a water park sounds like a great time, but we have a tournament. There are many times when athletes have to give up those times with their friends and family to stay committed to the sport they love. Ultimately, committing to a team involves sacrificing fun non-school activities for what is best for the team.
Success starts with commitment. We give ourselves an opportunity to succeed if each and every player devotes themselves to the greater good of the team. Traits like hustling and a good attitude are essential to achieving your goals on and off the court or field, but without a solid base of commitment, without being fully dedicated to the team, we will not succeed.
When the season is over, you’ll look back at all of your achievements and the sacrifices you’ve made. You’ll remember the good times and the bad and all of the times you could have been doing something else, and realize it was definitely worth it. At that point, you’ll experience a distinct feeling. That feeling is called pride, and you’ll feel that because you sacrificed, you cared and most of all, you committed.
In the long run, you commit to being part of a team and became a better person for it.

Beach Volleyball (472)

        Beach volleyball is totally different than indoor. Different rules, different strategies, and different skills to learn. Although there are different rules you have to have the same mindset to compete in either sport. In order to be successful in beach volleyball you need to know the important rules and learn some of the strategies.
         The rules involved in beach are very different from indoor. The main difference is the rule about setting. In beach you are not allowed to set the ball unless it has absolutely no spin (which is pretty much impossible). You also can not open hand tip the ball like you can in indoor. The other main rule is that if you are blocking and you touch the ball you and your partner only have 2 contacts to get it back over the net, where in indoor you would have 3 contacts.
         Obviously in beach volleyball you are playing in the sand and usually you are playing doubles with a partner. This leads to some strategies that can help you succeed in this awesome sport. The first tip is to either serve/ hit to the player that can’t pass or the player that is the least offensive threat. This will give you a better opportunity to score that rally. Serving and attacking to the person who is not as good at passing will most likely make their side become out of system, giving you a free ball. Serving and hitting to the person who is the least offensive threat will give you a better chance at digging their attack. If you are playing a team where both players can attack and pass decently then you can try serving in between them and that will usually get them out of system. Other strategies include blocking, going over on the second ball, and using smart shots. In beach blocking can be a little tricky and it takes a lot of practice to get used to it, but it is really fun when you stuff block someone in beach J If you and your partner decide to block, the person blocking tells the defender what part of the court he/ she is going to be blocking. The defender is then responsible for the other part of the court. For example if I was blocking the cross court shots for both hitters I would hold up 2 fingers on each hand (1 finger on each hand means I am blocking the line shots) and my partner would defend the line shots. Some smart shots in beach are a short pokey (tipping it with your knuckles) or a high roll shot to the deep corners. These shots will cause the other team to scramble for the ball and give you an easy ball back over.
Remember to stay hydrated when playing in the heat!
       

Importance of the ACT(428)

Most athletes that want to play sports in college seem to always focus on their skill level and if they are good enough to make a team. They worry about the facilities, coaches, teammates, ranking, and their playing time. Athletes seem to be blind to the fact, sometimes, that their grades actually matter too. In order to get into college there are some requirements you must meet, no matter how good you are at sports. One of the things that might be necessary is a high ACT score.

There are many opportunities students have to take the ACT throughout junior and senior year. There is a test date almost every month, or every other month. A student can take the ACT up to as many times as they want, but of course it is going to cost you a lot of money. This is why it is better to just do well on your first or second time taking it.

As it is important to do well on this test, because it will ultimately affect the college you choose, there are many ways you can prepare yourself. The people in charge of the ACT provide students with the option to order a book, or take online practice tests. This will help students see what they need help on and give them an idea of what the test will be like.

Preparing for the ACT can be extremely stressful, and athletes might not always have the time to prepare. This is why many students, like myself, study lightly for the first test to see what they need to work on. If my scores for the math section are low, while the science scores are high, I then know that I need to work on math a lot more than science. This will take some stress of you for the first time, but later on you will really need to dig in if you don't do well the first time.

Always remember that it is not always about if you are physically fit for the sports team at your college, but your grades need to be in tact as well. Some people even have to commit to other places simply because their grades weren't good enough for the college's criteria. School is very important and most athletes in college aren’t going to become professionals. You are going to college to get an education and it just so happens you get to play the sport you love as well. Unless you are seriously focused on going pro, focus on the academics.

Systems and Strategies (531)

In volleyball there are many different options for an offensive system. Whichever team adjusts quicker to the other teams system usually has a better chance of winning the match. An offense is chosen based on how many setters your team has, who is in the front row, match ups on the other side of the net and what defense your opponent is in.
The number of setters that play on a team determines if you will run a 5-1 or a 6-2 offense. A 5-1 means that there is 1 setter and he/ she will play all the way around, setting in the front row and the back row. In order to run a 5-1 your setter has to be able to block, play defense, serve, be an attack option in the front row, and be a leader. A 6-2 means that there are 2 setters and they will both set from the back row only. This will allow your team to have 3 hitters in the front row all the time.
What players are in the front row on your side of the net determines what plays the setter decides to run on offense. The sets an outside hitter can call for are a 5: the highest set and slowest tempo out to the pin, a 4: a quicker antenna height set, a shoot: pretty self-explanatory but it’s the fastest tempo set for an outside and is just above the height of the net. The sets a middle can call are a 1: quick in the middle right in front of the setter, a 2: a higher set about 2 feet in front of the setter, a 31: a fast tempo set 3 feet in front of the setter, a 32: same location as a 31 just a slower tempo and a higher set, a gap: like a 1 but the setter should push the ball away from them to create a “gap” in the other sides block, a 6: same as a 1 but behind the setter, a 7: same as a gap but behind the setter, an a slide: behind the setter, all the way to the pin, slides can vary in height and speed. The sets a right side can call for are a 6, a 7, an 8 which is usually the same as a slide, or a 9: which is the same tempo as a 5 but just behind the setter. These are what I use as a setter for my play sets but some teams could differ in what they call each set.
What offense the other team is running should also influence the offense your team is going to run. For example if the other team is running a 5-1 and their setter is short and can’t block, your setter should realize that and utilize his/ her outside when the short setter is in the front row. Another example is if the setter is not a strong passer your team should attack to him/ her when he/ she is in the back row, to get there team out of system.
I hope these explanations helped you clear up any offensive questions you had!

Dominican University (465)

This weekend, I went on my second college visit of the season, to Dominican University. Dominican University is a DIII college just near Chicago by about twenty minutes. For this visit, my dad and I left at about five in the morning to get there on time for my campus tour which started at 10:15 in the morning. When we got there, we drove through big gates at the entrance near the soccer field, parked the car, and went to meet the coach, Jeanne Czipri, right off the bat. She was very nice, as I am sure all coaches are when meeting athletes. First, she got us set up for the campus tour and we went on a tour around the campus with one of the players. She showed us all around the campus. We saw almost all of the different buildings that classes were in, dining halls, dorms, and other facilities. Their campus is really nice and my dad made the comment that it reminds him of the Notre Dame campus since the buildings are kind of old but pretty. The campus is a comfortable size where everything is close together and the city of Chicago is only a short 20 minute car ride away.
This college also is the only college that I have looked at that has Neuroscience as a specific major, which is something that interests me. After the tour, we had lunch with the volleyball team and the coach. There were also two other recruits there with me going on the same tour and visit. One was also a setter and the other was a middle. After lunch was over, it was time for team time and questions. We walked over to a different room with some of the girls from the team and the two other recruits. It was now time for question and answers. We also got to meet with the coach one at a time, so while one person was talking to the coach, the others were talking to the team. We got to ask them things about being on the team, the coach, and get an answer from a student athlete perspective. When it was my turn to talk to the coach, my dad and I went into her office to talk to her. This was a time where we could ask each other questions. We had a long conversation and afterwards we went back to the room with the team and let the last girl know we were done and it was her turn. After meeting with the coach, we were done with the visit, so we left the building and went back to the car. We did make a stop at the campus bookstore before we left and I got some sweatpants from Dominican. 

Hair Choices for Sports (363)

How many athletes do you know, wears their hair down when playing a sport? There aren't too many when reaching the 5th grade. Little kids for some reason love to play with their hair down, in their face keeping them from seeing. I don't understand why they would want to do that, because what benefit does that bring to the athlete succeeding at the sport?
I would never let my child wear their hair down when playing a sport. There are some circumstances where wearing your hair down is okay, like dance or show choir. Any sports that involve contact or having a quick reaction time should have to be required to tie their hair back in either a bun or a pony tail. When you reach middle school, wearing your hair down in a physical activity is considered weird and different. Playing volleyball with your hair down means there is no way of seeing what is going on. A ball could be coming at you and not even know it, because your hair is in your face blocking your view. You could perform SO much better, by just tying your hair back in a pony tail or a bun.
There are lots of different ways you can wear your hair, especially if you have longer hair. You can have a ponytail, bun, braid, fishtail braid, french braid, french fishtail, pigtail french braids, a ponytail with hair ties going down it, and much more. If someone is worried about their looks while playing, then any of the braids look cool and they could always straighten their hair and put it in a ponytail, but my opinion is that if they are playing a sport they should not really care what their hair looks like while they play. Personally, I do not care what my hair looks like as long as it stays out of my face and is comfortable. For me, buns do not work because they do not stay in and they fall out and get loose, which is not comfortable to play in since it gets in my face. I usually have a ponytail or a braid in when I play.

Powder Buff (451)

Here at Kennedy High School, we do not have a boys volleyball team. Most people would say, "Well, of course we don't!" That is because in Iowa, there are very few boys teams and boys volleyball is not very popular. There aren't any boys high school teams in the whole state, and only a handful of club teams. Our high school coach, Michelle Goodall is really involved in trying to grow the boys volleyball game in Iowa, and for a fun way to get more boys involved in volleyball, she puts together Powder Buff every year. Powder Buff is where we have a day that boys from Kennedy High School can form teams and play volleyball against each other. This usually is on a half day so that they have time to go get lunch, then play volleyball in the afternoon. The guys form teams and enter into the "tournament" and Coach Goodall makes brackets and they end up playing all of the teams. By the end of the night there is a tournament champion. The girls who play volleyball aren't supposed to play with them, but we help ref and keep score. It is kind of funny to see all of the guys playing volleyball that have either never played before or have only played once or twice in their life.  Powder Buff is mostly just for fun but it is also a good way to let guys have a chance to play volleyball, and if they are interested in playing more they can talk to Goodall about boys club teams, boys HP, and more. We usually have powder buff once a year, but when the guys have a lot of fun we try to schedule more. In the past they have been on the Wednesdays that we have half days, but next year we will probably have to move them to Fridays since we will be having half days every Friday. The other funny part is that the guys can get pretty competitive and take the games pretty seriously. That's mixed with them not really knowing how to play makes a funny game to watch and ref, although sometimes reffing is difficult because they don't know all of the rules. Sometimes we will make calls on a team and they will argue, for example net calls, under the net calls, and rotation calls. There's been times where the same server will go back to serve in multiple rotations and we have to explain to them that they have to rotate servers as well as the people on the court. Powder buff is one of the fun things about school volleyball season and I hope we continue to do it!

Northern Lights (498)

Earlier I had written about my club team's tournaments and how we could not add the Windy City Qualifier, which meant we only had one qualifier other than regionals this season. Well, there is good news. We got into the Northern Lights Qualifier! We were first on the waiting list to get into the tournament, which means that if a team dropped out, we would be the first to get that spot. We got the spot, so a team must have dropped out! Our team first found out when we were all at school. We were texting about it in our team group chat and we were all very excited about it. We did not think that we would actually get that spot because we did not think that anyone would want to drop out.  We would never drop out, but we are glad that someone else did! Before we knew we were going we scheduled two JVA tournaments, one in Des Moines and one in Kansas City. Now, with the addition of the Northern Lights Qualifier, we have three out of town tournaments in a row. This is great and fun but at the same time it can be exhausting. That is a lot of travel all in a row, and not to mention missing school. Three weeks in a row we will be missing one or two days for the tournaments. Even though it will be a little bit of a struggle, I am still glad that we made it into the Northern Lights Qualifier and have another chance to qualify for nationals with a open bid. We were very close last time, finishing only two sports away from a bid.
Northern Lights Qualifier is hosted in Minneapolis by the club team called Northern Lights, who would have guessed. It is in a huge convention center with lots of courts and multiple age groups and divisions. There are so many teams that come and play that they have to split the playing into a morning and afternoon wave. On the first day the morning or afternoon waves for pool play are random. The second and third day they give the morning wave to the teams who did the best the day before. For example, if you win your pool and get to move up to the gold bracket you will definitely play morning wave the next day. That is just how it works. Personally I like the morning wave better because you get done earlier and you are not playing later in the evening. That gives you time to do stuff after you play, whether it be team bonding, taking a nap, shopping, or going out to eat. Courts can be behind schedule if the matches beforehand took a long time, so sometimes the afternoon wave goes really late. One time last year at a qualifier we got done playing our last match at about 10:30 pm and we left the convention center at about 10:45.

President's Day (532)

On President's Day, there are lots of tournaments all over. I've been to President's Day tournaments in Omaha and Chicago, but there are many more places as well. The President's Day tournament is very big, just as big as a qualifier, and set up the same way too except you can not earn a bid from this tournament. This year our club team went to the President's Day tournament in Chicago, which I have never been to because in all of my past years playing I have gone to the President's Day tournament in Omaha. This tournament is a three day tournament, which means missing school for one or two days, depending on when you leave. I always like to leave somewhat early the day before we play, so I usually end up missing two days of school for three day tournaments. This time, I had a college visit, so I actually left very early in the morning the day before we played so that I could get to my visit on time, which was at about 11 am. I had a campus tour, meeting with the admissions office, lunch with the volleyball team and coach, and a meeting with the players, then the coach individually. After all of that was done, we went to the hotel we were staying at for the tournament and checked in. Of course, I was one of the first ones from my team at the hotel along with Shannon, who was also there for a college visit earlier that day. That night, the night before we played in the tournament, all the people who were already there hung out as a team at the hotel. There were some people who were not there yet because they left later, maybe after school or their parent's work. Those people get in at around bedtime, or past it.
In the morning, we all agreed to meet in the lobby and walk down to the convention center together. We can walk because we usually stay in hotels that are fairly close to the place we play at, thanks to Tim (our club director). We were one of the first teams to arrive because we had the 8 am match, and our club policy is to be there and hour early, so we got there at 7 right when it opened. Once they let people in, we went to our court to get our gear on and start warming up. That day we played a total of three matches, all in pool play. These matches would determine if we move up or down for the next day and how we are seeded in the bracket we are put into.
The next morning we met as a team again and walked to the convention center at the same time. That day we played in bracket play, which is where if you lose you are either done or play for placing, but you don't have a shot of winning the tournament anymore. We ended up getting 7th out of 40 teams, which is good, but we definitely could have done better. This tournament gave us things to work on and improve in practice!

Activities @ Qualifiers (329)

When teams go to big three day tournaments like qualifiers, there are many things that they can do for fun when they are not playing. Many teams like to do team bonding activities all together, but sometimes they also like to do things with just their families, or parts of the team, since everyone can't always come or does not always want to come to everything. A lot of people like going to the mall if there is one nearby to shop. Our team has gone to the mall several times at tournaments, both all together and in groups. We will probably make a trip to the Mall of America when we go to Minneapolis for the Northern Lights Qualifier. Our team usually always goes on at least one team dinner when we are at a tournament. This is easier to do when we have the morning wave, but when we have the afternoon wave and get done later, the parents will order food to our hotel and we eat as a team there. Other things to do are go to fun places as a team, for example, there is a thing called Escape Room. Escape Room is a place you go with a group of people and literally try to escape. I have never been in one (we haven't gone to one yet) so I do not know exactly what is in them, just that they are supposed to be scary. Another fun place that I have been to during a tournament is the City Museum in St. Louis. The City Museum is less like a museum and more like a big jungle gym, but with very unique stuff. Most of the time what you can do while you are at tournaments depends on what city you are staying in. Like when we were staying in Orlando for AAU Nationals last year, it felt more like a vacation when we weren't playing because of the pools and weather.

Parent support (459)

I love playing volleyball and being involved in sports, it has always been a part of my life. I can thank my parents for that since they always had me involved. I remember my mom and dad getting me into dance, cheer, gymnastics, softball, basketball, soccer, and finally volleyball. My parents always made sure I was doing something with my time whether it be sports, friends, or other things. Without them, I would never be where I am today with volleyball and I would never have played soccer for 8 years. I am really glad and thankful that they got me involved with all the things that they did!
When playing a sport, parent support is very important, not only just getting their kid into that sport, but also everything that comes with it. Parents do many things that are appreciated and go unnoticed in order for us to play our sports. When we are little, they get us started in sports and get us excited when we go to play them. Our parents also buy all of our equipment needed to play the sports, buying new supplies every time you grow out of them. This can be really expensive because for some sports, there is a lot of equipment needed, but for others, not so much. They also drive us to all of our games, practices and tournaments before we are able to drive ourselves, and even when we can drive ourselves, they still take us to the out of town tournaments. For out of town tournaments, they also have to buy a hotel room which can also get pricey. Parents are there to cheer you on and support you in the thing you are passionate about and they love to see you succeed. A lot of athletes not only get to play school sports, but also club sports. Club is even more intense than school and your parents have to pay for it. Club sports have club fees, tournament fees, and you have to pay for all of your equipment like shoes, jerseys, etc. Some teams' parents even go as far as to plan who brings food for all of the athletes at tournaments and games. If players want to go play volleyball in college, the parents are also supportive of that as well. They help with the recruiting process, video taping matches, helping with highlight videos, taking players to their college visits, and helping their child pick the right school for them.
Parents do so much for players, and sometimes they are under appreciated. They are the ones making sure you have everything you need for your sport and even if they do not come to every event, they make sure that you can get there.

Competition (380)

There is competition everywhere you look. In sports, school, and work. There are always people wanting to be better than others. In sports, you are fighting to be the best so you have that starting position, or trying to show that you are better to get the spot on the team you are trying out for. Things people do to beat their competition are coming in early to practice, having extra training sessions, working out to get stronger than your competition, and more. Sometimes all it takes is giving more effort in practice and having a better attitude than your competition. There are also things you can do to get in better shape so you can be more athletically inclined than your competition. You can eat better and do things like work out and run to get in better shape. If you do these things, you have to stick to a set plan or schedule and not quit or only do it sometimes.

In school you want to do better than others and get the best grades. There is always a push to do better in school. People that do their homework and take time to study for the tests usually do better than those that do not. Also, if you are struggling, or just want to raise your grade, you can do things like extra credit if it is offered, staying after school for help, going to tutorials for help or make up work, and talking to the teacher to see if there is anything else you can do to raise your grade or anything they can do to help you understand the class better. 

 In work, you want to be better than your co-workers to earn a pay raise that they might not get, or maybe just to not get fired. Things people might do in their work are making sure they are there on time or early every day, staying later for extra work, or being more efficient with their time while they are at work. 

Most importantly, do not give up. Whatever you are doing or trying to get better at is not going to be easy, but if you give up you definitely will not make it, so do not give up and keep pushing. 

Car rides (386)

When you play sports, especially club sports, you tend to go on a lot of long car rides for out of town tournaments. When people hear of long car rides, most think how boring they are. While this is somewhat true, there are many things you can do in the car to spend the time. First it depends on how long your car ride is, because that can limit what you can do during your car ride. Sometimes your car ride is only about two hours or less, or they are really long rides that are about 9 hours or more, and everything in between. If you want to be productive, you can do homework that you are missing to be on the car ride or that you are behind on, that is if you have any. You could also do work in the car if you have a job and it is possible to do your work in the car. You could read a book, because when else are you going to have time to read right? If you do not care to be productive, you could do other things. You could watch movies or TV shows on Netflix, and if your car ride is long enough, have a marathon of the show of your choice. You could also have a long conversation with the people you are in the car with if you have a lot to talk about. Another thing to do with the people in the car is play any games you can think of, but that might get boring fast since most people can not think of a lot of fun games for the car that last a long time. Another thing that you can do, and I do all the time, is sleep! I love to sleep in the car because it makes the car  ride go by so much faster. One nap and you have already spent two hours of the ride! One more thing people can do in the car is listen to music. Some people might get bored of this since you are not really doing anything, but I can listen to music for a long time and not be bored. People could also listen to music while they are doing other things, like napping and homework.

Adding the Windy City Qualifier (390)

On our club team, we enjoy competing in big tournaments. Every year a team gets a certain amount of these big tournaments and qualifiers. This year we were supposed to have two qualifiers and regionals for qualifying tournaments. The two qualifiers were Mideast Qualifier and Northern Lights Qualifier, but we didn't get into the Northern Lights Qualifier, so that leaves us with only one qualifier. In the past, I have gone to three or four qualifying tournaments, but this year we only have two. Our team was somewhat disappointed with that, so we tried to add another qualifier. We wanted to go to the Windy City Qualifier in Chicago. One of our parents, Crystal May, organized all of the information and let all the players and parents on our team know about it. First, we had to make sure that everyone could go that weekend and we all could, except later one of our girls said she couldn't, but we still had nine people who could go, which is enough to play. We were excited for this new tournament that we were going to add because this tournament was another chance for us to earn a bid and qualify for nationals! This is a big deal because right now we only have one chance to earn an open bid from a qualifier because at regionals they do not give out open bids, just national and american bids. We asked our coach if he could go and he could, so the next step was to ask our club director. We let him know about the tournament we wanted to add and waited for a response. Unfortunately he did not have us go to the tournament, because apparently there were multiple families who could not go. We were disappointed by this because we really wanted another chance to qualify for nationals and to play really good competition. All of the girls on this team are really dedicated to playing and are always up for more playing! As of now, we are on the top of the waiting list to get into Northern Lights. This means that if a team that is currently in the tournament drops out, that spot will open up to us and we can be in the tournament. Hopefully that happens so that we can play in another qualifier!

JVA Hawkeye Cup(398)

The JVA Hawkeye Cup is a power league that is hosted at the Adrenaline gym (which is also a basketball facility). It is spread out over three weekends in a few separate months. The dates are January 9&10, February 20&21, and March 12&13. This league is set up so that the first day of each weekend is the pool play, where you play all the teams in your pool first. Then the second day is the tournament, or bracket play. That is where you play the teams that did similar to you the day before in their pools and if you lose a match you are moved down or done. Each weekend they take in the rankings from the previous weekend to create the new pools for the next weekend, similar to seeding at a regular tournament.
We have already had the first weekend of the power league and we won it. Since the gym is only 3 minutes away from my house, which is very nice for practices, some of the girls stayed at my house the night before we played the first day for convenience, especially for the girls who live really far away. Some of the girls live almost two hours away from where we practice every week! They make that drive two or more times a week for practices and tournaments.We also have a food schedule for all the tournaments that tells us who's turn it is to bring breakfast, lunch, snacks, and drinks. We do this every tournament to make it easier on the players and parents. This makes it so that the players or their parents don't have to leave the gym to get food during a tournament or buy food ahead of time, because the concession food is not that good. At the Adrenaline gym, it is really easy for us to have our food set up at our camp because we get to go into the upstairs level where there are tables and chairs just for us and not the other people there. We are looking forward to the rest of the tournament in the future, it will be fun and I think we will continue to do well.

 It is cool to host a tournament where lots of teams from around the state come and play, and it is a great way to get started for the season. 

Creighton Visit (364)

Out of town tournaments are very convenient for scheduling college visits. They are perfect for visits specific to volleyball too, since you are in traveling for volleyball in the first place. You can go to a college in the town you are traveling to for the tournament, or you can go to one on the way to the tournament. Although you will have to miss even more school for visits, it is still a good experience to see different campuses and can help you with your college decision. This weekend I visited Creighton on the way to the Nebraska Elite Invite in Omaha. The college was right next to Omaha and wasn't out of the way at all. I didn't go to school at all on Friday because we left at 7 am. I would've left at about lunch time or after school if I wasn't going to a visit. We got to the college at about noon and had lunch before we went to the visit. It was supposed to start at 1:15 but we got there a little early. First, I had a meeting with the admissions office where we talked about almost everything there is to talk about the college. Anything from class size to sports to applications. We talked for a long time and I didn't have many questions since this was one of the first visits I've had with an admissions office. After the meeting, we had a little time to look around the bookstore before the campus tour. The tours were led by one of the students, which was nice because they can tell you a more honest and true opinion about the campus life and classes. The campus tour was very good; the campus is nice and it seemed like averyone there was very friendly and there was a good sense of community there. I think that it would be a good choice for me if I were to chose either not to play volleyball in college or just to play club volleyball in college, which I don't think will happen but I think it is good to keep and open mind so I have many options.

Start of club season (471)

The start of club season is one of the most exciting times of the year. Everyone is happy to be on their new team and waiting with anticipation for the upcoming tournaments. The energy is high in the practice gym, preparing for the first tournament of the year, wanting to start off with a bang. The first tournament is important to most players because they want to show everyone else what their team's got. If a team does well at their first tournament it gets them really pumped for the next tournament and the rest of the season. However, if they did not do so well, or not as well as they expected, it can be good for indentifying what things they need to improve so that next time they can do well. The first few tournaments are good for setting goals for what they want to accomplish and improve on during the season. During the time of the first few tournaments everyone is waiting with anticipation for the big tournaments like qualifiers- out of town and at huge convention centers. Having success early on in the season is a good way to prepare for bigger tournaments later in the season. These tournaments are also where the team starts to bond and become close, which can be important for team chemistry while playing.

Our team has done well so far this season. We started off good and won our first tournament at the Six Pack Invite. Then, the next weekend we had the JVA Hawkeye Cup at our facility and won all our matches there too. We were playing great with each other on the court and getting along great off the court. After that we had a couple off weekends, so we just trained hard at practice is preparation for the next tournament. Then we had the Nebraska Elite Invite, and we won that tournament. There was tough competition there and we had good teamwork. With those tournaments, we have not yet lost a match this season, which I think is a great start to this season. This has us all very excited for the upcoming tournament, President's Day Challenge, our first tournament in a convention center, and also the rest of the season. This motivates us the work extra hard at practice so that we can be as prepared as we can be for these tournaments. We each have things we individually can work on, and there are also things that the team as a whole can improve on. I also feel like everyone on our team has the type of mentality that is motivated to work hard to improve and reach goals for themselves and the team. Our team chemistry is also pretty good, with no drama like some other teams I have been on or heard about. 

Qualifiers(486)

One of the best parts of the club season to me are the qualifiers. They aren't just regular tournaments, they are usually bigger and teams can earn bids to nationals. At qualifiers, you get the opportunity to play better competition and teams that you have never played before, unlike in state tournaments where you play the same teams from your state every year.
Qualifiers are always held in big cities with a lot of people and attractions, and the tournament is held in convention centers and sports facilities. These convention centers are huge, some have over 100 courts inside. It is really cool to play in these places because you are surrounded with tons of other courts all playing at the same time. It is also very loud so you have to play with the constant background noise of people yelling, whistles blowing, and crowds cheering. It is not only fun to play there, but to watch other teams playing as well. If there is a good match going on, other people that come to watch surround the court, making it even more intense of a match. Last year my team and I were watching the 18 Open boys finals match at President's Day Classic and it was such a great match that there were about 200 people surrounding the court to watch.
The tournament is divided into different divisions for skill level. The divisions from highest to lowest are Open, USA, and American. When teams register for the tournament they pick which division they want to play in based on their team's skill level. If a team wants to play really good competition, they might play in a harder division, and if they want to secure a bid to nationals, they might play in an easier division than they normally would. It is also possible to play in a higher age group for better competition. In each division there is a different number of bids given out, for example the top three teams in Open get bids, and only the winner of American gets a bid. All the teams there are competing to be on top for those bids. Also, if a team gets a bid through a qualifier and not their regionals, they will probably get a higher seed at nationals since qualifiers are harder than most of the regionals.
Qualifiers have so many teams that they are usually three day tournaments, which means getting out of one or two days of school! The tournaments are set up so that there are two days of pool play and one day of bracket play. The first two days of the tournament will determine where you are in the bracket play and if you are in the gold, silver, bronze, etc, bracket. So even though losing your pool play games won't send you home, they are just as important as the games on the last day.

Strength Training (407)

If you are serious about your sport, you want to be the strongest and fastest you can be, right? A way to do that is to strength train. Most athletes do some sort of lifting or strength training either one their own or with a program. Here at Kennedy High School we have several different PE options, one being Performance PE where you can do a combination of lifting and agility & core. If students do not take advantage of this class that might be  because they are in a strength program outside of school, or they do not care about getting stronger. Lifting weights and strength training help you be the best athlete you can be and the best player you can be in your sport because training will make you stronger and quicker, which helps with almost everything; jumping, hitting, kicking, swinging, throwing, running, changing direction, etc. Most coaches, whether it's highs school, club, or college, want their players to lift or do some sort of strength training because they can see that it helps them play better. A lot of the time when a player is being recruited to play in college, the coach wants to know what they are doing to strength train and might even ask how much they can lift. For most sports in high school, the coaches have the players lifting and training during the preseason, and lifting during the season. Some coaches even want their players lifting in the off season so that they are staying in shape, with the exception of players who are playing other sports.  In college, that will continue. During our school volleyball season, I had a zero hour lifting class and lifted, and everyone on the volleyball team had to lift during the season. Now that my lifting class is over, I decided to do workouts at Crossfit 2.2 to stay in shape and get stronger for my club season, which is in full swing in the spring. I want to continue this through my club season and continue it after club is over, which will be preseason time for school volleyball. Some players strive to be the best and set goals and break records. Others just want to better themselves and don't really worry about other people. For me, it is about my personal gain, and not being better than other people. I want to get stronger and stay in shape for volleyball. 

Better students(383)

One plus side to being an athlete or playing a sport is that it can make you a better student, and even a better person. Playing a sport teaches you quality things you will need later in life and to be a better student. You learn to be punctual because you have to be early to every practice and game that you have in your sport, which makes you hate being late anywhere you go. You learn to be accountable for your actions, or for your mistakes on the court or field. You learn to take criticism from your coaches without getting your feelings hurt which can be useful in school and work from your teacher or boss. You also constantly look for new things to improve on so that you can be the best you can be because you are competitive, which helps in your workplace as well. You learn to push yourself past your comfort zones to get better or be better than your competition. You understand that being part of a team isn't all about you; you have to think about what is best for the team and support your peers. You are willing to work hard for something you want instead of being too lazy. There is also motivation to get good grades, because for school sports you can't play when you have bad grades, in highschool and college. If you are on a travel team, you learn to be proactive and try to get things you will miss ahead of time and learn to use your time wisely and work on them when you can, instead of coming back from your trip and being behind. You learn discipline and having consequences for your actions, even when it wasn't you, but someone on your team. You also have great friendships with the people on your team and you can learn to get along with just about anyone. You learn to set your personal differences aside when you are on the court or field and work together for the same goal. Playing a sport also makes you louder, or less shy and more willing to talk or meet new people. All of these things will help you in high school, college, work, and many other life situations in the future.