CIA 17Black

2015 Schedule

January 10th and 11th	M1 Elite Scrimmage	Rochester, MN
January 17th and 18th	Winter Classic	Milwaukee, WI
January 30th-Feb 1st	January Thaw	Minneapolis, MN
February 8th	All Iowa Attack Qualifying	Ames, IA
February 14th-16th	NE Elite President’s Day	Omaha, NE
February 27th-March 1st	Colorado Crossroads Qualifier	Denver, CO
March 20th-22nd	Mid-East Qualifier	Indianapolis, IN
March 28th and 29th	Iowa Regionals	Cedar Falls, IA
April 3rd-5th	ShowMe Qualifier	Kansas City, MO
*June 24th-27th	USAV Junior National Volleyball Championships	New Orleans, LA
*June 16th-19th	AAU Junior National Championships	Orlando, FL
*will attend one of the two Championships

                                                                             

This is my club teams schedule for this season. As you can see we travel a lot and only have 2 tournaments in Iowa. We travel a lot in order to play different competition, to get us ready for nationals and to be seen by college coaches. If you play a bunch a tournaments in your state you will not be looked at as often. College coaches from outside of Iowa are not going to come just to watch a few Iowa teams play each other.

I am really excited to play in Colorado Crossroads because I have never been to that tournament. Overall I am pumped for this season and I can’t wait for our first tournament. My biggest goal this season is to win a qualifier and get a bid to nationals.

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2014 NCAA Volleyball Tournament

            This is definitely my favorite time of the year. It’s almost Christmas break, club just started and it’s time for the NCAA Final Four! This year Penn State, Stanford, Texas and BYU will battle for the championship title. Stanford is ranked 1^st, Texas is ranked 2^nd, Penn State is ranked 5^th, and BYU was not ranked in the tournament. So the final four this year was surprising to a lot of people. Stanford is predicted to win but I don’t agree.

            On Thursday Stanford will face Penn State and Texas will face BYU. I think it will end up being Penn State and Texas in the championship game. I watched Stanford play Oregon State Friday night at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. Stanford won in 4 sets and it was an incredible game to watch. I also watched Penn State play earlier this season at the University of Iowa. I think these teams are pretty evenly matched but I think Penn State has the advantage. First of all Micha Hancock (senior setter for Penn State) is getting the opportunity to play in her home town, Oklahoma City, for the last time she gets to wear a PSU jersey. I don’t know about you but that would make me want to win more than I ever had before. Penn State also won the National Championship last year, so winning 2 in a row would be pretty sweet. Lastly Penn State is the underdog here so they want to prove themselves and win another National Title.

            The Texas vs. BYU match will be interesting I think. BYU has beat 3 ranked teams already in this tournament. They defeated Arizona (#11), Florida State (#6) and Nebraska (#14). They have definitely proved themselves and what they capable of. I’m assuming Texas did not think they were going to play BYU, so they are probably happy and a little nervous about it. I mean playing an unranked team in the Final Four? That is very unlikely.

            Overall I think Penn State is going to take the title home. Yes, I am obsessed with Micha Hancock and the whole Penn State team but I honestly think that they can do this. I know they can.

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15 Things a Volleyball Player Should Know

Always play your hardest, you never know who is watching.

You are going to lose 5^th sets and it sucks. Learn from it, remember what it feels like and move on.

Be thankful for your parents who pay for everything, are supportive and drive you all over the country so you can play.

NEVER give up.

Always thank your coaches, without them you wouldn’t be the player or person you are today.

If you want to play in college 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.

Enjoy the moment you are in right now. You can’t play volleyball forever so don’t the opportunity to play for granted.

 If you make it to state or nationals be proud. So many girls dream of getting a qualifying banner or a bid.

 If you get to watch your idol play (mine is Micha Hancock) ask for a pic 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.

 Your teammates will pretty much become your fam 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 is awesome. 

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Sponsored by NIKE

            This year my club will be sponsored by Nike. I am really excited because Nike is by far my favorite brand. We get Nike knee pads, spandex, volleyball shoes, and jerseys, warm up pants, warm up jacket, and a backpack. I can’t wait to get all of our sweet gear. In order to keep our sponsorship with Nike we can’t wear anything but Nike at practices or tournaments, because if someone was to post a picture on Instagram with let’s say an Underarmour headband on we could lose the sponsorship.

            I have Nike volleyball shoes and I love them, so I am glad we are wearing those. Nike spandex are definitely my favorite so that’s a plus too. Nike also makes some sweet socks that are CIA colors (Volt and Black). I have never worn Nike knee pads but some college teams wear them and they look comfortable.

            My team is also thinking about ordering our own customized Roshes that we can wear to tournaments. Plus they would match all of our gear.  I’m pretty excited for all of this Nike stuff we are going to get. I also ordered a Nike sweatshirt that says WE ARE CIA on the front. 

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