Video from Qualifier

I'm still figuring out to do some stuff on YouTube, but I'm getting there! Here is a link to a Game 3 match in Spokane that was a real nail biter, with ITVC Blue prevailing!

http://www.youtube.com/user/bstone1959#p/a/u/0/2n9peU3USi0

Club Volleyball: Spokane 2011 Wrap Up

8 am Sunday morning came quickly after a fantastic team party at the Onion in Spokane. The food and service was outstanding. There was video from the earlier matches showing on a laptop, the NCAA games were on 3 bigscreens, the parents were having fun, and the girls looked great in their street clothes. Having just come from a team outing viewing the Justin Beiber movie, they were in good spirits and a wonderful time was had by all.

Sunday's match was over quickly. though we played well in game 2, losing 24-26.

We finished the weekend 4-3 albiet against some weak teams, but the overall experience was very positive and Maddie had a great time. The Club did a great job with the hotel, and it was a good warm up for the upcoming Minnesota trip.

We also got Maddie signed up for the WWU camp...so this is the first week of July:

3-6 Individual Camp
6-9 HS Team Camp

So, a week playing volleyball at Western. Awesome!

Next up, the last Power League of the season!

PNQ - Saturday Update

Let me recap my weekend in Spokane:

Thursday: Dinner at Longhorn BBQ
Friday: Volleyball at EWU followed by dinner and drinks at Heroes and Legends Ale House
Saturday: Breakfast at Molly's followed by lunch at Northern Lights Brewing with the team dinner at Onion.

So...lots of volleyball, lots of food and IPA and lots of NCAA hoops.

We were at the Convention Center today, and it was another nice venue with lots of room and they even had a big screen out in the food area showing basketball. Nice touch! We took the first match 2-0 and struggled a little in the 2nd match but pulled it out 3-2. Last match was against the top seed in our group today and after losing the first game, the girls turned it up a notch to win the second. In Game 3 we were down 14-12, but rallied to tie it then pull it out 16-14 to sweep the day and put us in a good spot tomorrow.

Maddie is beat up. With a 5-1, she plays every single play of every single game; literally twice as many minutes as anyone on the team. She sprained a finger, her elbow is still sore from the bursitis, and she banged up a knee. I am so proud of her tenacity and endurance. She is truly a warrior.

Hope all of you here are having a much fun as I am! Let's hear your stories!

PNQ - Friday Update

Day One at the PNQ is Spokane is in the books and I am taking a breather at the lovely Airway Heights Days Inn before meeting up with some dads at Northern Lights Brewing for some IPA's and NCAA basketball this evening. ITVC is playing out at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, a quick drive from Spokane. They have 20 or so courts set up around campus and they have done a nice job. Good viewing areas for the parents, free parking, and lots of good VB action.

Sadly, we lost quite badly to the darn ThunderChickens who had a great little (and I mean little) Libero and a couple of strong middles who could elevate and pound it to empty spots. Our defense, shaky to begin with, simply can't compete at that level. We also lost a closer to match to the Spokane Splash but finished the day by beating Eastside Vollyball out of Issaquah (a team Maddie was asked to play for, but thankfully didn't). Hoping that the seedings will be a little more even tomorrow; the girls look pretty good this weekend, but it's kind of a broken record talking about unforced errors, serves into the net, etc. We seem to be our own worst enemy. Still, a fun first day and looking forward to Saturday!

Northwest Qualifier Time!

Off to Spokane in a couple of hours with a first round matchup at Eastern WA University against the mighty ThunderChickens out of Denver at 8 AM Friday. I hate to admit it, but that name is growing on me. Still, I hope we roast 'em. Hope everyone drives safe!

Let the Recruiting Begin!

Some good motivation by Maddie today as she reached out with an introductory email to Western, Central, Eastern, Montana State-Billings, Portland State, Western Oregon and UC Irvine. We know coaches can't communicate back until September, but we thought it wise to at least introduce Maddie to the programs she is interested in playing for. A more formal resume and some video will be sent starting during the HS season after the summer, and Maddie and I hope to visit some coaches and see some games when college cranks up this fall.

Scary moment the other night after practice. She knocked her elbow diving for a ball and while we were sitting here at home watching 'V' (hate those aliens!) she said in a stressful voice "Dad, look at my elbow!" And indeed, we could see a bump growing in real time and it was pretty scary. I jumped on the Internet and quickly diagnosed bursitis and we followed the RICE protocol of Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation and the ping pong ball sized lump went down. By the next day she had a pretty good bruise, and it's still pretty sore, so we may avoid too much setting at practice tomorrow but she'll be fine for Spokane next weekend. Any, Dr. Club Volleyball Dad did a pretty good job considering he works in the library industry. Those docs at Overlake got nuthin on me!

Looking forward to our first Qualifier and I'll provide some updates next weekend for sure.

Good morning, Bad afternoon

Once again, we took care of business in the morning only to see it land out of bounds in the afternoon. We are developing a very bad habit of getting beat by inferior teams in important games, and some frustration is setting in. I could spend pages discussing what I think is wrong, but then I take a deep breath and know I should be proud of the girls for having a fine overall day and trying their best. Next up, a weekend in Spokane.

Blaze Extinguished

Another match to 3 games but we managed to finish strong and set ourselves up nicely for this afternoon.  Next match against Jammin makes a difference in who we play later but our two wins so far mean we will be in the gold bracket with yet another chance to move up a flight. The team looks better than the last tourney and i was happy to see some sloppy play resulted in a mid game benching. We seem to sometimes stick with girls who shank three or four balls in a row. Now I am off to riad team tables; there was chili at the OPVBC table and some sushi at the YMCA spread.

Live from Power League

sunday finds me live from Washington HS in Tacoma where we just beat a feisty Sudden Impact 15 team. trying this from my new Kindle and its kind os slow but startimg to get the hsng of it.  Next up will be Blaze and Id like to take them out as Maddie was all set to play for them until ITVC called. More later.