Recent 2016 Committments

I have met so many awesome people from playing club volleyball, it is crazy that we only have 1 more year left. I always get really excited when someone commits because I know how hard all of these girls have worked for it. The recruiting process is fun but it is an awesome feeling being able to say you have committed. I just wanted to recognize the girls that have committed in Iowa in the 2016 class, that I know. I am blessed to have been able to compete with all of them these last couple of years. There is so much volleyball talent in Iowa and I really wouldn't be the player I am today without the opportunity to compete with these extremely talented players. I wish all of you the best of luck in your college careers.

Brinley Milbrath: Northern Illinois University

Danielle Pennington: Loyola University Chicago

Elle Tubbs: Drake University

Megan Sharkey: Rutgers University

Josie Herbst: University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV)

Mac Conlon: Creighton University

Haley Poula: Upper Iowa University

Mykal Sadler: University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC)

Abbi Staack: University of Northern Iowa (UNI)

Karlie Taylor: University of Northern Iowa (UNI)

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Loyola Men's Volleyball

National Champs 2014. MIVA Champs 2015. Be ready for another National Championship for the Loyola Men’s Volleyball team, as they head west to Palo Alto, California to compete in the NCAA tournament. They have had a great season with an overall record of 25-2, both losses coming from Lewis who they recently defeated to win the MIVA for the third straight year. They go into the tournament ranked 3^rd, matched up with Pfeiffer (Ranked 6^th) in the first round. In the semi-final they will face #2 seed, U.C. Irvine.  

In the match against Lewis Peter Hutz recorded a match-high 51 assists to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team along with teammates Thomas Jaeschke, Cody Caldwell and Ricky Gevis. Jaeschke had a match-high 20 kills and a .486 hitting percentage. He also had three assists and two service aces. Gevis matched his career-high with 13 kills and Caldwell had 11. Jaeschke was also named MIVA player of the year and Off The Block/Springbak Inc., National Server of the Year.

I have never watched them play in person, only online but they are amazing. It is incredible watching guys play. It is so much different than the girls’ game, but at the same time has so many similarities. It is awesome to know that there are guys out there that share the same passion with volleyball that I do. It is going to be awesome going to Loyola and having support from guys that play, and supporting the natty champs :)

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Loyola v. Lewis

Thomas Jaeschke named Off The Block/Springbak National Server of the Year

NCAA Tourney

Off The Block Article

Jump Serving

Last week a 4^th grader emailed me and asked if I could answer a few questions for her project on jump serving. I thought it was really cool that she chose that as her topic, and I was so happy to help. This is what I sent back to her, answering her questions and giving her some advice for her future volleyball career.

I think it's awesome that you are doing your project on jump serving. Here are my answers to your questions :)

1. There are 2 different kind of jump serves, the jump float and the jump top spin. I will explain how to do both.

Jump Float:

This is the serve that I use in games. It is really effective, but it takes a lot of practice. The most important thing about this serve is your contact. You want to contact the ball with a strong hand and solid wrist. You want to make sure you contact the ball with mostly just your palm so you can get it to float. You don't want to follow through on this serve, you want to stop your hand once you contact the ball. This serve is meant to make the ball move or float back and forth, so the other teams’ defenders have a hard time passing it. It is tricky to get this serve right away, it takes a lot of reps. So right now, since you are so young if you just practice the toss, footwork and jump you can worry about getting the ball to float once you have the other stuff down. It is awesome that you are thinking about jump serving right now. I don't think I started to jump serve until 8th grade!

Jump Top spin:

This serve requires a toss that is out in front of you so you can have a big approach and attack the ball. People who use this serve usually toss it with the same hand that they are going to be serving it with. While tossing you want to have some spin on the ball that will carry over into the serve. You want to contact the ball high and follow through with your arm, creating a spin on the ball. This one takes a lot of practice and I still haven't perfected it yet. 

2. The steps to do a jump serve are just like doing your approach for attacking. If you are right handed its left, right, left. If you are left handed its right, left, right.

3. In practice to get better and more consistent with my jump serve I focus on my technique and take my time on each serve.

4. For a jump top spin you should throw the ball pretty high so you have time to do your approach and still contact the ball high. For a float you will toss it lower because you are not jumping as high. I will attach some videos of each serve so you can see what the tosses are like.

5. If you step over the service line before you contact the ball then the other team gets the point. When you are jump serving you can jump over the line and contact the ball as long as you don't land before contact. 

6. Some advice for you would be never give up. I had a dream of playing Division 1 volleyball since I was your age and I never gave up and the hard worked paid off. I just recently committed to Loyola University in Chicago to play volleyball. Just always believe in yourself and keep working hard. Play whenever you can, even if it's just passing or setting the ball against your house, if it's ok with your parents :) Just getting extra touches on the ball will improve your skills.

Hope this helps and good luck with your project!

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Iowa Teams Competing in Nationals

Iowa has very good competition when it comes to volleyball, and this shows by the amount of teams that have qualified for Nationals in New Orleans. There are 4 different divisions at Nationals, Open, National, USA and American. To qualify for open you have to win a national qualifier in the open division. To qualify for a National bid you have to win regionals (all teams in your state). To get a USA bid you have win (sometimes 2nd and 3rd places receive one too) a National Qualifier in the USA division. To receive an American bid you have to get 2nd in your region, or you can also earn one in a National Qualifier in the American Division. 

There are a few exceptions to these rules. Let's say if your team is really good and have competed in the gold bracket in NQ's but you came up short of a bid there is still a chance that you can get one. This is called an at large bid. Also let's say you get third at regionals and the team that gets first receives an Open bid after they won regionals. That team can decide if they want the bid to go back to the region, so therefore the 3rd place team would have a bid now. My team (CIA 17 Black) got 2nd at regionals, so originally we had an American bid. We just got offered a National bid and we accepted. 

12s	Attack 121	National
	CIS 12M	American
	Rapid Spikers 12 Black	American
13s	Six Pack 13	National
	Iowa Rockets 13 Black	American
14s	Six Pack 14	National
	Iowa Rockets 14R	American
15s	CIA 15 Black	National
	All Iowa Attack 15 Red	American
16s	Iowa Rockets 16R	National
	CIA 16 Black	American
	All Iowa Attack 16 Red	Open
17s	IPVA 17 Black	National
	CIA 17 Black	American
	Iowa Rockets 17R	USA
18s	All Iowa Attack 18 Red	National
	Six Pack 18	American
	CIA 18 Black	Open
	IPVA 18 Black	American
Boys
14s	Johnston 14u Boys	Open

All Iowa teams that have qualified

All teams that have qualified

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Kennedy Volleyball Poster and Fun Shirt Ideas

Every year we have a poster with a fun saying or a quote on it and seniors and returning letter winners get to be on it. It is going to be my senior year this season (which is crazy) so I wanted it to be an awesome poster. A couple days ago all of the seniors had a meeting and we thought of some ideas for the poster and our fun shirts. Fun shirts are usually what we wear to school on game days, or we wear them over our jerseys to warm up in. They are usually a bright color and have Kennedy Volleyball on them. After discussing about a million options for the poster we decided on a pretty sweet one.

On the bottom of the poster will be our schedule and the freshman, sophomore, and jv teams’ pictures. Right above that we are going to have a picture of all of our forearms in a circle with a volleyball in the center. We are going to each pick a word to write on our arms that represents us, or is important to us. Above that picture is going to be a full body picture of us. We are going to wear dark skinny jeans, a black shirt and black heels. The picture is going to be taken downtown in front of a brick building. On the very top of the poster we are going to have the saying “Inhale confidence, exhale doubt”. I am really excited about the outcome of this poster, I think it will turn out really cool.

For our fun shirts we decided on a black shirt with neon blue writing. It is going to say “Bring ‘Em Out” on the front and have a faded out volleyball behind the text. On the back it is going to say “Don’t worry we are just wearing our warm ups”. I can’t wait to see how this turns out, because it should be sweet. We were also thinking about making a spirit jersey to wear as warm ups this year, just to have something special for our senior season. This is what a spirit jersey looks like. 

I am really excited for this season, our goal is to make it to state and I think we can definitely do that this year. We have worked really hard the past couple years, and have just come up a little short. This year we are coming into this season strong and determined to get that state qualifying banner, and possibly win a state championship. 

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Beach Volleyball

Since beach is starting soon, I thought I might as well go over some of the main concepts and rules of playing in the sand. 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). So when you are setting your partner your best option is to forearm pass it. It takes some time to get used to controlling the ball that way but you will get the hang of it after a while. 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 on 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. 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.

Beach is such a fun sport, I can’t wait for practices to start so we can get back out in the sand!

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Iowa High Performance 2015

It’s almost summer and you know what that means… High Performance time! Tryouts are over and results are going to be posted this week. Every year it amazes me how much volleyball talent we have in Iowa, both girls and guys. I think a little over 400 athletes tried out for HP camp this year. It was really cool to see a lot of guys at the tryouts I went to, men's volleyball is growing as a sport and that is exciting! The next step is to get it at the high school level. I’m getting off topic but it is always awesome to see that more guys are trying this awesome sport. Anyway HP this year is going to be a blast, we are hosting the tournament for the second time in 4 years in Des Moines, Iowa. Last year it was in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the year before that Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

The first year I made an HP team the HPC’s (High Performance Championships) were in Des Moines. It was an incredible experience. Teams from all over the world, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Hawaii came and competed in both women's and men's. Being surrounded with people from all over that share the same love for volleyball as you is an indescribable feeling. My favorite part about that year was a picnic we held that all of the teams came to and we got to talk to each team, learning some things about where they came from and if they had liked there stay in Iowa so far. We learned a dance from some girls in Hawaii and got a group picture with all of us in front of the Old Capital.

                

This year if I make a team and get the privilege to play in Des Moines again I will be pumped. Last year my team won a silver medal in Oklahoma, so I really want to win gold this year. It will also be a chance to meet new people and since it is only 2 hours away from home my family and friends can come watch. 

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Kennedy Volleyball Senior Year

Senior year is a big deal, especially senior volleyball season. I am super excited and I have already been coming up with ideas for the poster, jerseys, warm ups, shoes, etc. Jerseys are probably the most important thing because that is what we wear while competing. This year for club season we have Nike jerseys and they are really comfortable. 

For our warm ups we want to all look the same and be comfy at the same time so sweats and a sweatshirt or zip up jacket is what we usually do. This year since it is my senior year I thought we could have some cool long sleeve spirit jerseys, which a lot of teams seem to be getting right now. We could wear these to school, over our jerseys or just whenever. I think they look pretty sweet if everyone on a team is wearing them. 

Finally the poster and the fun shirt are other important factors in vball season. Last year the saying on the poster was “Rise as One” and that saying was on the fun shirt too. This year I have thought of a couple of ideas that I think would be cool for the poster and our shirt. My first idea was saying “Bring out the best in each other” and have “Bring em out” on the shirt. Every year in the locker room before games we warm up to the song Bring Em Out. So if our shirt said this I think that would be sweet. The color of the shirt is a hard decision too, last year it was light green. This year I think if we did a magenta color that would look good if we got green or black jerseys.

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Committing to Loyola

My biggest dream has come true. A goal that I have had since I started playing. A dream that has been looked over by many people. A goal that I have never gave up on. Playing Division 1 volleyball. About a month ago I committed to play the sport I love at Loyola University in Chicago. After going there on a visit a little over 3 months ago I knew that Loyola was the right fit for me. 

It is an awesome school, with a great biology program. I want to be a pre-med major so picking a school with good academic opportunities was important in my decision. Loyola also has a brand new campus and it is right on the lake. They have the coolest library I have ever seen, it is all glass and 1 of the floors is all computers. The best view of the lake is out the library window and it is amazing. I got to see where they play and it is the perfect size. It is so sweet and I can’t wait to play there. I met some of the team and they were all extremely nice and seemed to really like it at Loyola. I watched them practice and I could see myself practicing with them. I just got an awesome feeling watching it and being in that environment. The coaching was very 1 on 1 and I liked all of the positive feedback the players were getting. The coaches are awesome and I love their coaching style. That was really important in my decision too. I think this is really something that only you can know if it is the right fit for you.

Loyola also has the #1 men's volleyball team in the Nation. Men's volleyball is so much different than Women’s and if you have never watched guys play, you should. It is so fun to watch and the coaches at Loyola said that the men's and women's teams are very supportive of each other and sometimes will even practice with each other. So I am looking forward to that, having a men's team that is representing the same school as me will be sweet. Another plus about going to LU is that Michigan Ave. is 20 minutes from campus, so whenever I have time outside of volleyball I can shop at all of my favorite stores. Beach volleyball is something I wanted to be able to continue in college, and at LU some of the girls either play in beach leagues or coach club teams which would both be awesome opportunities. I am so pumped to go to Loyola I can’t even contain my excitement.

The recruiting process for me was fun because I met a lot of awesome people but it was a great feeling when I committed, I still can’t believe I accomplished that dream that I have had for so long. Hard work really does pay off. The biggest thing I would say to younger athletes is never give up on your dreams. If you truly believe that you can reach your goals and you don’t have any doubts in your abilities, you will get there. Just know that you will have to work really hard until you get there.

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Regionals Part 3

            The championship game. It all happened really fast, we won the semis and right away we were playing in the finals. That was our 3^rd game in a row and I think the game against CIS took a lot of energy away from us. In the finals we were playing IPVA, they came in ranked 5^th and they already had proved a lot of people wrong. They beat the #1 ranked team, Adrenaline in the semis. In the first set of our match against IPVA you could tell we were a little worn out. We let them get to many runs and put ourselves in a hole. We picked it up a lot at the end and fought back to tie it at 25. The score went back and forth until IPVA ended up winning 33-31. It sucked losing that game especially with the score being that close. In the second set we didn’t have our best game, and there were just a few big points for IPVA that I think took the momentum away from us. I don’t think we gave up but I think IPVA played consistently solid throughout the whole match. Not sure what the score was but we lost the second set. Props to them for going in ranked 5^th and winning it all. It was an awesome game, and overall awesome weekend.

            I think one thing I learned from that weekend was that if you truly believe that you can accomplish something, you will, but you can’t have the slightest doubt in your mind. I also think it is important for young players to know that making a goal and working hard everyday to achieve it and accomplishing that is the greatest feeling. But once you achieve 1 goal don’t just be satisfied with that. Make another one and go work for it.

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Regionals Part 2

            First set. Very tough battle, points were pretty much back and forth the whole time. In the middle of the set I remember thinking to myself we got this. The score was very close and I think we might have been losing, but we were playing so well and I could tell everyone wanted this so bad. Despite the pressure we were putting on ourselves we stayed calm and pushed for 1 point at a time, which I think was huge for us. I think CIS went into that game expecting to win and when we started to push ahead they played more uptight, afraid to make mistakes. We won the first set 26-24. I don’t really remember any certain plays or points I just remember feeling like we were playing the best we ever had.

            Second set. It was similar to the first game, in which the score was very close the whole time. The only things I remember in this set was when I stuff blocked probably their best hitter and just the atmosphere in the gym. I can’t even explain what it felt like. There were so many people watching us and it was such a fun and intense game to be apart of. I don’t even know what the final score was but I remember winning the last point and I immediately started crying. The next 5 minutes after that was so emotional for all of us because we had finally done it. We had accomplished our team goal of making it to nationals and it was the first time I had ever qualified. I was so excited, I will never forget that feeling. After that it was time for the championship game. At Iowa regionals there are 2 bids, 1^st place gets a USA bid and 2^nd place gets an American bid. After winning in the semis we had landed a spot in the finals at regionals with a chance to get a USA bid.

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Regionals Part 1

            Regionals. A bid to nationals is on the line and you are playing close to home. A lot of tough competition and only 2 teams get their ticket to nationals. Playing in your home state means playing in front of family and friends, which might be added pressure for some girls. Regionals can be fun and stressful at the same time. My experience at regionals this year was awesome.

            This year regionals was in Cedar Falls, which is about an hour away from my house and it is also where my team practices. So it felt kind of weird waking up in my own bed on the day of a national qualifier. Usually we are 5-15 hours away. Driving to Cedar Falls on that Saturday morning I had all kinds of emotions running through me. I was more nervous than usual and I think was because I knew that that was our best bet at qualifying. In the back of my head I was thinking about last season and what went down at regionals then. Last year we were put in a tough pool the first day and ended up getting 3rd in our pool and playing in the bronze bracket on Sunday. It just wasn't a good weekend for my team, but we are a whole different team this year and I knew we could do it. I just had this feeling. I wanted that bid so bad for so long I was going to do whatever it took to get it.

            On Saturday we were put in a pretty easy pool and won all 3 of our games in 2 sets. Sunday was going to be the real test of what my team could accomplish. I was pumped and I couldn't wait to go get that bid. On Sunday our first game wasn't until 10:00 so we got to sleep in a little but and that is always good. We played Rockets 17 Black in the quarterfinals, which was our first game. In the first set we started off kind of shaky but we fought back and didn't look back from there. We won in 2 sets and now faced CIS (Central Iowa Select) in the semi-finals, and the game to get a bid. The time was finally here, playing for the bid. We were so close I could taste it. We knew this game was going to be a battle, but we were up for it and we wanted revenge because we lost to them in pool play last year. I knew a couple girls from their team from High Performance and playing them in school season and they were a very talented team. We were going to have to play our best and not let up if we wanted to beat them.

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NIKE

            This year my club is sponsored by Nike, which is by far my favorite brand. We got Nike knee pads, spandex, volleyball shoes, jerseys, warm up pants, warm up jacket, and a backpack. 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.
          Nike volleyball shoes are my favorite volleyball shoes, so I am glad we get to wear those. I just got new ones but a lot of girls have started to wear basketball shoes for volleyball. I am not sure if they are more comfortable or what, but they have some cool designs so I might have to look in to that for next club season or maybe this school season. 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) so I wear those at tournaments. I have never worn Nike knee pads before this year, but I really like them and I would definitely recommend them to other players. I really like our warm ups this year, too. We got skinny (Soccer pants) sweatpants that work really well to warm up in, and cool white zip up jackets with CIA embroidered on the front.

          For next season my team was thinking about getting long sleeve warm ups (they are called spirit jerseys) that have the big arched letters on the back. I think they would be more comfortable to warm up in, compared to our zip up jackets this year. I also customized some Nike Roshes that have my name and number on the back of them that match our colors. My team got team tennis shoes too. They are just plain black and white roshes. I have gotten some pretty sweet stuff from being sponsored by Nike, so if you have a choice I would say choose Nike :) 

Spirit Jerseys: Examples

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Most Important Things to Remember as a Volleyball Player

I have learned a lot about myself as a person and an athlete from having a passion for volleyball and following my dreams. Spending so much time working for a goal, and having that hard work pay off is the best feeling ever. I have been playing volleyball since I can remember and I have looked up to players that have gone on and played in college and even professionally. It is crazy to think that younger girls might be looking up to me as a player now. I can remember when I was that age, doubting my abilities and wondering if I could ever be as good as the players I looked up to. There were probably some times when I didn't want to stick with it, but I loved the game so much I never stopped. Throughout all of these years playing, I have figured out some things that I think are important to know as a volleyball player.

It is weird to think that I only have 1 high school season and 1 club season left, but I am so excited to be able to continue playing at the D1 level at Loyola in Chicago. I have learned so much from working towards my dream and making it become a reality, I thought I would share some of these things. I think the biggest thing I would tell younger athletes is to never give up, no matter what anyone says about your abilities. If you start to doubt yourself that is when you will not be successful. People will tell you your dreams are too big, or you will never get to where you want to be. You have to learn how to ignore these comments and focus on improving your skills and becoming the best player you can be. One day when I was watching a division 1 college match I asked myself "why can't that be me?" and from then on I knew I was going to work harder than ever to get to that level.

Trust me you will be knocked down multiple times, whether its not making a team or something someone says, but just remember to always believe in yourself. If you set a goal, no matter how high it is, I guarantee you that if you work hard every day and truly believe that you can reach that goal, you will. You can't have any doubts and you have to work your butt off, but you can do it. Don't ever give up on something you have that much passion for.

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Blocking

Blocking in the game of volleyball is a very important part of the defensive side of things. To really understand the concept of blocking you should understand the point of blocking. A lot of people think that a block is only efficient when the ball is stuffed and doesn't come on the defenses’ side of the court. This assumption is wrong. A block is used to take up space on the court, and to make the hitter attack to a certain spot. For instance let’s say that your setter is right back and you libero is left back. The other teams’ middle comes in to hit a 1, what side should the middle and left blocker take away? If you answered right back you are correct. You would much rather have your libero dig the ball than a setter. That is why blocking or taking away the right back zone will help funnel the ball to the libero. This works the same way on the pins. For example if your libero is left back and the other teams’ right side is attacking on the pin, your blockers should be leaving line, forcing the right side to hit to your libero.

Once you understand the concept of blocking then you can get into the mechanics of it. In my opinion, the most important part of blocking is making sure you are pressing your hands over the net to zone 6. If you are not pressing the ball will land in front of you on your side of the net a lot. If you are not pressing to zone 6 and the hitter is smart they will tool you, having the ball come off your hands and land out of bounds. Other important pieces to blocking are footwork and timing but you have to get a ton of reps to get those things figured out.

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Mid East Qualifier in Indianapolis

This weekend my team was competing at the Mid East qualifier in Indianapolis. MEQ is a national qualifier so if you place in the top 3 you get a bid to nationals which are in New Orleans this year.  We played in the open division against some really good teams. We weren’t really expected to do well but we did better than we were ranked. It was a three day tournament and we played in the Indianapolis Convention Center. 
The first day we were in a pool with the third ranked team overall. We played really well against them and took them to a third set. We went 0-3 the first day, which was tough but we played hard and left it all on the court. After we were done playing we went shopping in a huge mall and then went out to eat at Granite City. The second day were in a pool with another Iowa team, Iowa Rockets 17R. We hadn't played them before, but we knew they were going to be tough competition and we really wanted to win. We won the first set, lost the second set and it was going to 3. During the third set we got a couple of stuff blocks which I think really brought the momentum to our side and helped us get the W. During that game I was a little nervous because it was the first time my coaches at Loyola were watching me play since I committed there, but after the first couple of points I was all good and I think having them there actually made me play better. It was a sweet win and it helped our regional ranking for next weekend. We ended up 2-1 the second day, and overall I thought we played well.
The final day of the tournament we won our first game in 2 and then we played OP2, who got 2nd place in the open division in Omaha. They are a really good team and we didn't play as well as we could have, so we lost to them in 2. We ended up getting 33rd out of 48 in Open. I was really proud of us for never giving up and proving that we were better than our ranking. 

MEQ Website

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Colorado Crossraods

I was counting down to the day we left for Colorado for a long time. Getting to play my favorite sport in my favorite state with my favorite people was something to look forward to. My dad and I flew out of Chicago and arrived in the Mile High City on a Thursday. We went to Colorado over thanksgiving break last year to ski and it was the best vacation I have been on so I was pumped when I heard we were going to be playing at Crossroads this club season. I had never been to Crossroads before this year, but I had heard nothing but good things about everyone’s experience there. Walking in to the convention center on Friday before we played I could see why everyone said this was their favorite tournament. Everywhere you looked it was either sweet volleyball clothing, everything you can think of that is Nike, every different food vendor, or courts. It was like a volleyball players dream in a big convention center.

            We went 2-1 the first day, which made us a second seed in our pool the next day. The second day we went 2-1 again but we were in a 3 way tie for first. We thought we might have had to play a challenge match but we ended up getting first because we had the highest winning percentage out of the other teams. We were pretty excited about that, because we were now in the gold bracket and had a shot at qualifying for nationals. After we were done playing on Saturday, some of my teammates wanted to go see some mountains in Vail because they had never seen them before. I decided to go with, even though I knew it was going to be hard seeing the mountains and not being able to ski. I am obsessed with skiing and being in Colorado and not going skiing is really hard let me tell you. It was still awesome driving around through the mountains, and afterwards we went to a pizza place that had been there for over 200 years!

On Sunday we played at 8 in the morning against a pretty solid team from Florida I think. We won the first game, and then lost the second game. In the third set we fought hard and everyone really wanted to win but we just had a few too many mistakes and some bad calls. We lost 12-15. Losing sucks and I don’t think there is a worse feeling. It was not the way we wanted to end that tournament but I think we became more of a team experiencing that tough loss. We realized how much we all wanted it and the next chance we had to qualify we were going to take it.

Colorado Crossroads Website

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Being Committed to a Team

Teamwork: the combined action of a group of people, especially when effective and efficient.

Playing for a competitive team in any sport is a big deal and a huge commitment. Knowing that you are going to be a part of a team where everyone wants to be there and loves the sport just as much as you do is a factor in many athletes’ decisions to join a team. A lot of other factors go into playing for a team but the commitment level of every single person is one of the most important.

            When you commit to a team you need to make sure that everyone has the same intentions and goals for the team as you do. If what you want to accomplish is different than one of your teammates it might not be the right team for you. This goal could be making it to nationals, winning regionals, etc. You also should be informed of what conflicts your teammates will be having with practices or tournaments. If some of your teammates are going to be missing practice a lot or won’t be able to come to a tournament that could show you their dedication towards the team. Also you should find out what your teammates are giving up or sacrificing to be on this team, which could also show how dedicated someone is.

            Before you commit to a team you need to take in to consideration a lot of different things. Especially how your actions are going to affect your teammates. If you are going to miss a big tournament where college coaches are going to be watching that might affect what coaches watch your team if they are missing players. If you are going to pick a high school sport over your competitive club sport that decision is going to affect more than just yourself.

A team is a group of people that can rely on one another to accomplish a common goal. If you aren't willing to do this you shouldn't be a part of a team.

Word Count: 350

            

Watching My Sisters Play

            This weekend I got to watch both of my sister’s play, which is rare because usually we have tournaments on the same weekends. It was awesome to finally get to see my sisters play. While watching I realized a lot about how much younger players look up to older players and what younger girls are thinking about when they are playing or after they lose.

            On Saturday I was in Tiffin, Iowa watching my youngest sister, Mara play. Her team is 11U but they were playing in a 12u tournament. On our way there she said “I am so glad you can finally come and see me play.” This made me realize how much it means to her that I could go watch. She was telling me how excited she was, but nervous at the same time. I told her not to be worried, you have nothing to lose. During the first game, whenever her team would get a point she jumped up and down and gave everyone high fives and it was so cool to see how much she was enjoying it. Her team ended up getting 3^rd place which was really good considering they were playing an age division up. After they lost in the semis Mara was upset and I could tell how much she wanted to win that game. It was weird because I could totally understand what she was feeling because it has happened to me many times. It’s crazy how much potential she has and I can’t wait to see what her future holds.

            On Sunday I went to West Branch to watch my other sister, Claire play. Her team is 13u and they played in the top division of 13’s with probably the best teams in the state at that age. Claire is more like me when she plays, sort of quiet but pays attention to details and is always thinking ahead. She is a libero and I was very impressed with her ability to keep the ball alive, and how consistent she was with her serve receive passes. Her team got 1^st place and I was so proud of Claire. She has things to work on but she has improved so much already since the beginning of the season and I can’t wait to see what the upcoming years have in store for her.

            After Claire’s tournament was over my mom told me that one of Claire’s teammates mom came up to her and said that her daughter looked up to me and loved how I talked to Claire’s team and got to know them and gave them compliments. This was probably the best thing anyone has ever said to me. I have always looked up to college players, but I never thought someone would look up to me like that. It was just really humbling to hear that.

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Volleyball Drills to try

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 :) 

Word Count: 487

Day 2 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Today our first match wasn't until 3 in the afternoon, so surprisingly we got to sleep in. For breakfast I went to a place called George Webb with a couple of my teammates. After that we watched Divergent and just hung out until we had to check out of the hotel and head to the convention center. Our first game was against Skyline, but it was postponed for a little bit because they were reffing a different game so we started playing Nukem, a game where you can catch the volleyball and take 1 step then throw it to the other side and try to score. When we started playing it other CIA teams asked if they could play and pretty soon there were around 30 girls (some of 12 Black, 16 Black, my team and 18 Black) playing. It was pretty awesome because a ton of people came to watch and asked where we were from and thought it was awesome that our club was so close to each other.

When skyline was done reffing our match started and we beat them in the first set easily. It was a little weird because 18 Black was reffing us and if we beat Skyline we were going to have to play them next. We ended up losing the second set and having to play a third. I don't know why but we are really good at third sets so I wasn't worried. We beat them easily in the third and now it was time for the real test, playing 18 Black the team that we practice with every practice and the team that we look up to. It was a little weird knowing that we would be playing them but I was excited for the challenge. In the first set we did not play well at all, I don't really know what it was but we just couldn't stop them from getting runs. So during the second set we knew we had to step it up and we definitely did. We were ahead until the last couple points, it was 24-23 and we were losing and they won on a bad call. That second set was one of the best games we have ever played so I was proud of my team.

After losing in the semi's to 18 Black we played another 18's team called Capital. They were a tough team but we should have beat them. I think we were still upset about losing to 18's and we just weren't really focused on winning that last game. We lost in 2 sets, both of the scores being close and ended up getting 4th out of 16 teams overall.

I think this weekend showed us what we have to continue working on and what we are doing well, but most importantly it showed us that we can compete with the open division teams and we are going to have to fight for every point in upcoming tournaments.

Word Count: 503

Day 1 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Tournament time is finally here and that means playing my favorite sport with my favorite people almost every weekend. This weekend was no exception and we competed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the open 17 and 18's division. We faced some pretty tough competition but overall it was a great weekend.

On Friday at 4 I left with my parents and headed to Milwaukee. 5 hours later we arrived at our hotel, which was connected to the convention center where we would be playing the next 2 days. The hotel was really nice and once we got there I unpacked and then hung out with some of teammates that were there. Some girls on my team had basketball games Friday night, so they didn't get to the hotel until 2 in the morning!

On Saturday we played at 9 so we had to be at the convention center at 7:30 to watch the teams that we would be playing compete. I was pumped to play. Our first match was against Wisconsin Juniors and we beat them in 2 sets. After that we played right away and beat New Wave in the third set. During the game against New Wave the Wisconsin head volleyball coach was standing at the end of our court. I was a little nervous, but I knew I just had to play like I always do and I wold be fine. Winning the third set of that match was awesome. We played West Power Bend in our last match of the day and beat them in 2 sets.

After we were done playing we headed back to the hotel and took ice baths, showered and changed to go watch 16 Black play. Once they won their match we headed back and then went out for dinner as a team. when we got back to the hotel we hung out until it was time for "CIA's Got Talent", It was a team bonding activity that consisted of mini competitions that each team competed in together. The first competition was who could make a paper airplane that flew the furthest, which 18 Black won. there were probably 10 competitions overall and after the last one my team was tied with the 18's. So the tie breaker was an individual dance off. We lost and we were pretty bad but it turns out we were going to get a chance at revenge against them the next day, on the court.

Word Count: 415

Importance of Setting Middles

            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.

Word Count: 415

First Club Tournament

           My favorite time of the year is here, club season. That means long car rides, missing school Fridays and Mondays, ice baths, late nights, early mornings, and playing the sport you love with your best friends. This weekend was our first club tournament in Rochester, Minnesota. I was looking forward to this tournament for a long time so that I could finally play in a real match with my team. We have 4 new girls on our team this year so getting comfortable on the court and used to how they like their sets takes time, but this weekend definitely helped that a lot.

            We played 3 matches Saturday and 3 Sunday. On Saturday we played Milwaukee Sting 16’s, Northern Lights 16-1, and Fusion 17 Black. All 3 teams were very good competition. This tournament is more like a scrimmage because it doesn’t count on our record but we still kept score. We played for 50 minutes and usually got through 2 games to 25 and then a third to around 15. We did pretty well, I think our best game overall on Saturday was against Northern Lights. On Sunday we played Minnesota Select, SMV 18-1, and Crossfire 18-1. We played well, our second game was a little rough but we picked it up at the end and finished strong.

            Most importantly we figured out what we need to work on in practice, and what we did well. We need to work on serve receive, more consistent serves so we can get more runs of 3 or 4 points, different shots when the set is off the net, back row attacks, and being in the right places on defense. Personally I need to continue to work on being more of a leader, setting my middles in transition, my connection with each hitter, being stopped on defense, tipping deep in zone 5 with my left hand, not drifting on my block and a more aggressive serve.

            I think we did really well on playing as a team, never giving up, blocking, running fast plays and our hitters were aggressive and never afraid to swing. Overall I think it was a very successful tournament and we will learn from our mistakes and work on them in practice. I’m already looking forward to our next tournament in Milwaukee, WI. We are playing in the open division so it will be really good competition and experience playing in open before our qualifiers. 

Word Count: 412

Reffing and Scoring Online Clinics

            Everyone’s least favorite thing about volleyball season is having to go through the online reffing and scoring clinics. They take a long time and when you are 17 and have been playing volleyball since you were 10, it is mostly stuff I already know. But, this year they changed some things that made it go faster.

            The past couple of years you have had to go through every section and then take a test afterwards, if you didn't get a certain amount of questions right you had to retake it. This year before you have to go through each section they give you an option to take a pre quiz, and if you get at least 90% which is missing only 1 you get to skip that whole section. This is a really option until you miss 2 questions and realize that you now have to go through 25 minutes of listening to how to ref or score. This happened to me I think 3 out of the 8 sections, because some of the questions in the pre-test are about something that rarely happens in a game like a sanction. I mean I know that you need to know how to deal with those types of situation in a match, but they shouldn't put those in the pre-test. They should make a section of commonly missed concepts during reffing and scoring that is mandatory for each player to watch.

            After going through the online course I have a few tips. Take the pre-test and make sure you are 100% sure on your answer before you submit it. If you really have no idea what the answer is and you have already missed a question, look up online the subject that the question is asking about and try to find an answer. Make sure you read the section on the topic you are having trouble with so you understand what to do if you are faced with that situation in a game. Reading a couple of paragraphs is better than listening to a 25 min video of things you already know, trust me. Good luck with your online clinics, and hope your seasons are off to a good start!

Iowa Region Reffing and Scoring Clinic: http://www.iavbreg.org/index.php/clinics/referee/

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