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.

Volleyball: A Good Choice

As Maddie and I were leaving her practice today during a cold and windy downpour, we crossed paths with a coach lugging a bag of soccer balls toward the frozen tundra of THEIR practice facility and I realized how thankful I am that Maddie has chosen volleyball as her sport. I spent 2 hours today in a lawn chair reading a travel magazine on a nice warm court while some poor club soccer dad spent time out freezing his rear end off. Good choice, Maddie! It was good to be back at practice; our first since the President's Day debacle. Some tough love and fundamentals were the order of the day. One thing that kind of bugs me is when we don't have all 12 girls at a practice. Maddie and I wanted to go to Palm Springs over Spring Break, but it would have meant missing a practice before a Power League, so we're not going. I guess I think that if you are going to play at this level, you've made a tacit agreement with your coach and teammates to show up and work hard to be the best at EVERY opportunity. I wonder how many WVBA girls miss practice? Hats off to all the DD's who have never missed a practice.

I got Maddie registered at the NCAA Clearinghouse today and plopped down my $65. Maddie wants to play college volleyball at a Northwest school, and as long as that is her dream and she keeps giving 100% in pursuit of that dream, mom and dad will do their parts, whether it's club or clinics or camps or tutors or campus visits...whatever it takes. Trying to become a college athlete means you are meeting certain academic requirements, continuing to improve, making sacrifices and learning to lead. And if the playing part doesn't pan out, at least you have learned to pursue your goals and become a better person doing it. Next step: reaching out to the schools she is interested in (which include Western, Central, Eastern, Montana State-Billings, Portland State and Western Oregon.) We may add some and we may drop some, but the important thing is to let them know you are there and to that end, Mads will be creating a flyer and mailing a 'Get to Know Me' letter to each of those coaches. The jorney begins.

Next up: Power League on Sunday!

Millard Fillmore Volleyball Tournament

On Saturday morning, this was the President's Day Tournament, but the way we played will be remembered in the same way that our 13th President's term will be remembered: forgettable. He co-founded Buffalo University and we moved like a herd of buffalo on a frozen lake. All Presidential joking aside, it was a completely dismal weekend, with the girls going 1-7 and taking the term 'taking a step backwards' to a whole new level. Moxie might have wiped us out. But...it's over now and I guess we just have to refocus and relearn some fundamentals....like passing. We were beat by only one team this weekend; we beat ourselves every other time. Unforced errors on simple serves and free balls, hits out of bounds and into the net, bad serves and a lack of desire and BOOM. 1-7. We're a good team, but there was nothing in the tank. Everyone needs to look in the mirror and decide if they care or not, because it looked like a recreational league, not a club team who wants to be competitive. And this is a good test for our coach who will soon be coaching a Jr College team...how do you motivate? How do you bring out something in a player that ratchets their game up a notch? Do you sit folks? Do you start really looking at stats? Last year with Moxie I think we had a group of girls that were limited in skill but gelled as a team to exceed expectations. This year, at least early, it seems like we have a group of athletic and capable girls who are just underachieving. It's not too late to get back on track by any means, but it's time to shake things up. I don't mind losing. I do mind losing like we lost this weekend. Let's be Lincolns, not Fillmores.

Club Volleyball Dad: Should YOUR DD Play Club?

Happy Valentine's Day!

As we exchanged Valentine's Day greetings this morning, I took a moment to reflect on how much I truly love this DD that shares my life. I can't believe that she has only been playing competitive volleyball for a little more than a year now. And what changes they have brought to her! I remember a year ago with Moxie and they made them run lines and do the plank and it drove her to tears. And now she's in a program called FUEL that is really just an hour where we pay for her to be tortured and she eats it up. And it shows! The girl LOOKS like an athlete. Last week she did her 90 minutes of FUEL and went directly to a scrimmage where they played some crazy game with points only after free balls and girls were running all over and there were no breaks and Maddie (being the setter) was involved in every play. At the end of it all she collapsed on the floor and I marveled at how much she has changed. Club has brought her new friends. It has taught her about competing and responsibility and setting goals. So if you ever wonder, as a parent, if you should make the commitment of time and money to let your daughter play volleyball or soccer or swim, do it. You will watch her change before your eyes. And what better Valentine's Day present is there than the knowledge that your child is learning all these lessons and having a good time to boot.

Now only if we didn't have to face WVBA in our pool in this weekend's President's Day Tourney!

Long Volleyball Day at Kentwood HS

For those of you out of the region, I am now going to attempt to explain Power League without taking up too much of your time. Start with 96 U-15 and U-16 teams from Olympia to Mt. Vernon. Start with 2 weekends of pool play and you end up with the 4 best teams off in their own rarified  grouping, then break the remaining 92 teams into roughly 12 'flights' of 8 teams each. Hold 3 more day long tournaments with the 2 best teams in each flight moving up and the worst 2 teams moving down and hoping for some parity and good play along the way. It's actually a pretty cool set up and each site where play takes place is run by a Director who manages everything and from what I have seen, do a very good job at it and put in many hours along the way. Which brings us to yesterday's event which found ITVC Blue in Flight 4 and ranked 29th out of the 96 teams.

An 8 team tournament is made up of 2 groups of 4. Each team plays the other 3 teams in their group and the top 2 teams from each group make up the afternoon Upper Bracket and the 2 bottom teams from each group make up the Lower Bracket. In the upper bracket, the top finisher in group A plays the number 2 finisher in Group B and the top finisher in Group B plays the number 2 seed from Group A. Same in the lower group. The 2 winners from the upper group have thus finished 1 and 2 and will move to Flight #3 next Power League. The 2 losers from the Upper Level stay in Flight #4 and play each other in a single game to determine who places 3rd and who places 4th. In the Lower Bracket, the same scenario plays out with the top 2 teams staying in Flight #4 next time and the bottom 2 moving to Flight #5. Got all that? Bottom line is that you want to place first or second and move up, or at minimum place 3rd-6th and stay in your flight next time. Worst thing to do is get bumped to a lower flight.

The beauty and perhaps the curse of PL can be summed up by following along with me as I take you on a journey undertaken by 2 teams: ITVC Blue and Space Needle VBC. Both teams made up part of Group A which also included Jammin and OPVBC 16's. ITVC mowed through all 3 teams, winning each match 2-0 and finishing the 'morning' 3-0 with the other 3 teams finishing 1-2. Space Needle claimed #2 by virtue of tiebreaker rules. In the other group, the OPVBC 15's finished first while High Velocity finished second. I put 'morning' in parentheses because it was not until 6 PM that our 3 matches were concluded. Let me say that again: 3 matches in 8 hours. That is truly ridiculous. I have no recommendations for a solution, but I do know that it was a long day, and we did not wrap things up until 9 PM. Dumb. Anyway, we wrapped up the morning 3-0 after beating Space Needle (we also beat them at the last Power League). And yet there they were beating the #1 seed from Group B (OPVBC 15's) and moving up to Flight 3 next time. Right after that, we matched up with High Velocity and lost the first game before winning the second and forcing a Game 3 which we lost 15-13 in a heartbreaker. And thus, in one fell swoop, the team we beat 2-0 is advancing and we're staying put. and to rub salt in the wound, we lost to OPVBC 15's and ended up 4th. Not a great finish after such a great start.

The girls played well early but succumbed to too many unforced errors in the afternoon....but they have to learn to win the important games. A couple of serves over the net instead of into it, a couple of kill shots into the court instead of over it, a couple of good passes instead of shanks..and this team moves up instead of staying in place...but a nice effort by all the girls yesterday, and a fun, if not overly long, day for dad!

Mini Break is OVER!

After 3 weekends in a row, we had a bit of a break but it's right back to it on Saturday for Power League #3. ITVC Blue remains in Flight 4 and is currently ranked 29th out of 96 teams. Good opportunity to move up. Really proud of Maddie as she is already giving back to the sport she has fallen in love with as she will be helping out with the Rose Hill Jr. High volleyball team. A year ago she was playing there and now she's mentoring the younger girls...as if she didn't have enough on her plate already! I showed up a bit early at Jr. High practice to pick her up and it was almost surreal to be back in that gym after all that has happened in the last year. And you can read all about it right here on the blog!

And nice job by the ITVC in hiring the photographer that took the team pictures which are up in http://goitvc.com

Off to a scrimmage with Blaze and more on Sunday!

Power League Day 2

A Saturday Power League date meant BIG things for Club Volleyball Dad:

1. NFL viewing would be UNIMPACTED as both divisional playoff games will be played Sunday. (Don't get me started on the fact that we have a practice scheduled right at game time on SuperBowl Sunday; luckily, DD is with Club Volleyball MOM that weekend and will therefore not be forced into missing practice. My friend, ex-Club Soccer Dad, used to complain about his DD's soccer practices on SBS by yelling "Are they crazy? Who doesn't watch the Super Bowl? It's like a National Holiday!")

2. PL2 Flight 4 was in Lake Stevens, a decidedly easier drive from Kirkland than say...Kitsap or Olympia.

3. The girls needed to get back on the court after the meltdown at MLK

Alas, the day was inconsistent with early losses to High Velocity and Blaze 15. A rebound against NW Juniors Elite left us in position to make a run, but we fell to an inferior Sabotage team and the DFQ (Dad Frustration Quotient) was rising before we won our one game rematch against HV to salvage the day and (I think) remain in the 4th Flight for PL3.

My pet peeve is service errors. We have a very aggressive-serving team which is all fine and good, but we're averaging 6-7 errors per game. That is like giving the other team a 6-0 lead PLUS it absolutely kills momentum. Is there anything worse to be in 20-20 tie and have consecutive serves go into the net? Instead of possibly being up 22-20 with momentum, you're down 22-21 and the other team is serving. Teams at this level make lots of mistakes. I think you need to just have a consistent serve and give yourself a chance. One of things I am most proud of Maddie for is her consistency on serves. At one point, she got over the first 8 serves of the game and we built an 8-0 lead. She nailed the last 2 serves of the final game to secure the 25-23 win. They weren't aces, but they were in and they gave her team a chance. She's at more than 90% at delivering in bounds serves. I'd like to see us come up with a service PLAN and then work on that consistency. Thanks for listening; I feel better now.

The Lakes VBC training facility is in a light industrial area and has 2 courts separated by a large net. One end of the building had room for the teams to gather and warm up. Seating for spectators is along one side and there always seemed to be room. The club provided many plastic chairs which I thought was a nice touch. There was a good sized room upstairs for the teams to set up food tables which kept everyone warm. 2 individual bathrooms were for the girls, and boys (just like at the Puyallup facility) had to use the porta potty outside, but all in all, it was a nice venue and worked fine for 8 teams. Parking was tight but available. They said there was a Subway nearby but I survived on cheese sticks and a nice Asian Chicken Salad made by one of the moms. I wish I understood how a team in Lake Stevens can afford a 2 court dedicated facility and we can't, but that's why I didn't major in finance or accounting.

A couple of weeks off now until PL3 and finals are over for Maddie, so it will be a good time to re-energize and practice serving (hint!)

MLK Day 2

A bit of a meltdown today as we lost 2 really close matches and got dominated by Puyallup Juniors...but perhaps a good lesson in having to really fight to win those close matches. I think it was funny that I was so excited to be close to home, but I took my chair and when IT wasn't playing, I just read the paper or watched other matches...but I will say the 5 minute drive home was fantastic! Time to put Sunday behind us and get ready to go out and battle on Saturday at Power League #2!

MLK Tournament Day One

OK. I'm pretty smart. I have a college degree and I work with libraries all over the world. I've studied Shakespeare and Hemingway. I've designed ads that have appeared in real magazines and on television! But for the life of me, I cannot figure out how a damn tournament works. Here. YOU look:


ROUND 2 PLAYING SCHEDULE
DIVISION 1  DIVISION 2
TIME  ROUND  PLAYING  REF   ROUND  PLAY CT 5  REF CT 5 PLAY CT 6  REF CT 6
3:00 PM 1 1 VS 3 2  1  FF1 VS GG2 FF3 FF2 VS GG3 GG1
4:00 PM 2 2 VS 4 1  2   FF3 VS GG1 FF1
END OF PLAY FOR SATURDAY:  POOL PLAY RESUMES AT 9:00 AM SUNDAY
TIME  ROUND  PLAYING  REF   ROUND  PLAY CT 5  REF CT 5 PLAY CT 6  REF CT 6
9:00 AM 3 1 VS 4 3  3  FF3 VS GG2 FF1 FF2 VS GG1 GG3
10:00 AM 4 2 VS 3 1  4  FF3 VS GG3 GG2 FF1 VS GG1 FF2
11:00 AM 5 3 VS 4 2  5  FF1 VS GG3 FF3 FF2 VS GG2 GG1

Are you kidding me? I know we got revenge on KJ 15's and took them out. I know we won our pool and our only afternoon game. But do I know who we play on Sunday or how we win the tournament? Uh...no. I am FFing confused.

All I know it was a good day and Maddie and I shared some Crab Ravioli's with friends at Cafe Veloce in Kirkland and then watched the "Social Network" and now she's crashed out and I'm following soon because tomorrow we play someone! And to wrap things up, look at that girl SKY!

MLK Tournament

On the way to see ITVC play a weekend tournament only FIVE MINUTES from the house. Heaven. Lots of time to go to the store to pick up more string cheese AND catch NFL playoffs right from my couch. 2 straight games to begin then the schedule is dependent on how we do. First matchup with those dreaded youngsters from Kent. If yo want to come down at some point this weekend and visit us at Juanita HS, give me a call or email and I'll talk you in. Go Blue!

Club Volleyball: Power League #1 in the Books

My alarm goes off at 5:30 every weekday morning, so when the weekend rolls around, it feels pretty good to wake up WHENEVER....but when that familiar beeping started on a Sunday morning, I leapt out of my warm bed excited to drive to PUYALLUP, and let me tell you, no one is ever excited to be driving to Puyallup. But soon, in the freezing darkness, I was on the road with hot coffee and classic rock and by 7:15 I was in a giant barn that held 4 volleyball courts, sported Wi-Fi, and even had a TV so the football fans could keep track of the playoffs. It was a little cramped with no side viewing (which makes it difficult to take pictures) but I've been in worse venues. Maddie looked pretty cool in her new duds (extra special thanks to my folks for supporting Maddie's Club experience by paying for all the ITVC gear):

The girls, pre-ranked at #43 out of 96 teams, had a tough task by starting right out against the #11 Sudden Impact 16's and the 22nd ranked Kent Juniors 15's. Soon the warm-ups were over and Maddie was ready to make the first serve of the 2011 Club Season:

In those first two matches that only went to 15, the girls just didn't seem to gel and 90 minutes later we were 0-2 and reeling a little...but a break of a couple hours, some food and a pool which included a couple of lower ranked teams, helped us break out of the doldrums and play some pretty good volleyball. By late afternoon, we were on a roll, going undefeated in 6 games to win the pool and play one more game against a struggling (yet 27th ranked) OPVBC 15 team that we killed in game 1. Feeling cocky, us dads were high fiving and breathing a sigh of relief only to be melancholy wrecks 15 minutes later as the girls seemed to wilt after the long day and play like kids on a playground. I think the final was 25-10. Now the dads were nervous wrecks. One game to 15 to make or break the entire day and somehow the girls dug deep and Maddie came out with a 4 point serving run to start the game and we never looked back, winning handily and moving decidedly up from our pre-tournament ranking. Lots of high fiving now! It was a nice drive home and 14 hours after leaving, I was back on the couch.

Maddie played really well. She was the only girl on the team who never came out. In 13 games, she missed one serve. I like this team. They're solid on fundamentals. What they lack in genetic fortune, they make up for with grit, spirit and teamwork. I think it's going to be a fun year. Maddie woke up sore and bruised, but fired up because JUMP and EXPLOSIVENESS training begins tonight with FUEL. The girl wants to be the best. Here's to ya, babe.

Club Volleyball: Let the Games Begin!

'Twas the night before Power League
and all through the region
We all are anticipating
the start of the season.

Come KJ, come Blaze, Rain City and Moxie
Come Skagit and my favorites, the ITVC
Let us all drive to Puyallup and Highline
and with a grin on our face, point to our girls
and say "that one is mine."

Power League U16 begins Sunday! 96 teams, 8 sites, and by the end of the weekend, there will be a more natural order to the rankings. I personally think we got hosed a little on our seeding, but you have to win games, whether it's now or later. We match up right away with Sudden Impact 16's and KJ 15's, so not much room for error...but I think we may surprise a few folks.

Blue will be down at the Five 12 courts in Puyallup, so if your team is down there, find me and say hello. I'll be watching Blue and wearing a blue baseball cap and (most likely) taking pictures.

Maddie is setting and wearing #11.

Good luck girls!