Stephon Marbury is a Posterchild of What is Wrong With Sports.

Quick rant while I wait for my friend to get back from work: All I hear about on ESPN today while watching basketball on the little news ticker is how Stephon Marbury and the Knicks are quarreling. Apparently, Marbury (who had been riding the pine all season due to a me-first mentality) was asked to suit up for an upcoming game due to people getting traded and having a thin bench. The Knicks suspended him for disagreeing to do so. Although he hasn't come up with a defense, he simply said that those EXACT words didn't come out of his mouth, and "the marriage is over, it's done" regarding his relationship with the team.

THEY PAY HIM $22,000,000 THIS SEASON.

I don't care if his feelings are hurt. I don't care if the organization has blackballed him up to this point, and are only using him out of necessity. The man is making more money than most people will see in a lifetime, and if the organization that is paying him says jump, he should say how high. Frankly, money aside, I don't think any athlete should be able to refuse to play for the organization THEY SIGNED THE CONTRACT WITH based strictly on principle, let alone when you're simply being a spoiled brat.

More and more, you see athletes today focusing less on championships and more on getting paid. It's uncanny how well players will play in a contract year (meaning this is the last year before they are a free-agent again), after having terrible years previously. On the same note, it's amazing how hard some guys work, then as soon as they get that big contract, they start mailing it in, playing without the passion that got them paid in the first place.

On top of that, agents are no less to blame. Scott Boras is the devil - I realize it's the nature of his job to an extent, but his greed is in a level of its own. The thing that boggles my mind is the length of the contracts. 6-10 years for men that are in their early/mid 30's, where statistics show they are going to begin to fade within the first few years. How does this make sense?

I don't understand why contracts can't be year-to-year (actually, I do, but the answer is so political and far away from the integrity of the game that I just can't bring myself to accept it). It should be that way anyways! If the player is going to be as good as the agent says they are, then it shouldn't be a concern of theirs to be able to go one year at a time on the negotiating table. Injuries happen. Aging happens. Unfortunately, I can't really sympathize for someone for only making $2 million one year instead of $10 million. It's a privelege to play a sport, something kids do for the love of the game, for an amount of money that if managed correctly will set these people up for the rest of their lives, and they should be put in a position not to forget that.

As for this volleyballer, if I can graduate, head overseas, and make enough to pay off my college loans and bank whatever's left over to possibly put a down payment on my house when I move back to America, I'll consider myself to be the luckiest man on the planet.

Screw you Stephon Marbury.

Home Stretch Before Home

Thanksgiving never ceases to please me. I think of all the holidays out there, Thanksgiving is the one I can always depend on to be exactly what I hope for it to be. I have celebrated it in four different locations in each of the last four years, but the atmosphere almost never changes. Good food, couple drinks, a strong family environment, and sports on the TV. The perfect way to get a break from the normal grind. Especially with what is going on overseas with the terrorist attacks, it is a time to truly be thankful that although we do have to keep our eyes open, we are lucky to not have to worry about that from day to day.

I haven't touched a volleyball in three days, which slowly but surely gets my mind moving in a thousand different directions. At the moment, I find myself thinking about a couple things specifically.

The first is relief that I'm finally starting to adjust to the new physique I'm working with. The first couple weeks I struggled keeping the ball in the court, dealing with a bit more of a pop on the ball than I normally have. Lately, things have started to get more consistent, I've adjusted my snap to compensate, and although I'm still getting comfortable with my shots, I'm confident that I'll be good to go for the tournament at Boston University next weekend.

I had thrown 10 pounds on before preseason due to a pretty strenuous workout regimen. Although the power has stuck around, the weight has not, toning back down to 170 in the last two weeks. It never fails, no matter what I do in the off-season, the weight is coming off once I'm on that court daily. Still haven't figured out whether or not I want to adjust my eating habits to try and counter this, as I know less weight equals less strain on the knees, which I want to preserve as long as possible. Perhaps I'll hit up my physical therapist for a diet after the season.

I can't help but wonder what my role will be on the team this year. Although I've been playing on the outside so far, coach isn't against the idea of me hitting opposite. I want to do what's best for the team, and there are so many pros/cons to both moves, it is difficult to tell she'll settle on. So many players can play multiple positions this season, I suppose it's a good problem to be dealing with when versatility gives a team almost too many options.

I can't wait for the starting line-up to get some reps in together this week. We've been split the entire pre-season, but we're going as one full squad to the BU tournament. That being said, I'm sure we'll be finally putting the starters together to get some chemistry going, and I really think it's gonna go well. We didn't play in the tournament last year, and Rivier ended up winning it, but I look forward to the opportunity to bring the title back to Brookline this year!

Individually I feel this will be a strong season for me. I don't like to put goals on quantity of numbers, so as for kills/blocks/digs, I don't worry about it. However, hitting percentage and errors per attempt are two categories I do keep my eyes on, and I hope to continue the increase on my efficiency. Freshman year I hit .232 at opposite, and after a strong off-season re-habbing a weak arm I boosted that to .288 last season. I feel that I worked harder this off-season that I've ever worked before, and hope that the team's results end up showing that.

I talked with someone high up at the school about a scholarship fund in Coach Dave's name a week ago, and preliminary talks about it went well. Still needs a lot of research/work, but I want to do whatever it takes to make this happen. This is the last team Newbury will have with all his recruits, and I know I'll be using it as fuel to keep moving forward no matter what obstacles we hit all season.

I think that's enough rambling for now. Have a good Black Friday, more updates to come in the next few days.

Being Thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I am writing from Wilbraham, MA, as I have been welcomed in to my teammate's family for the weekend, and so far it has been the rest I desperately needed. Although I'm homesick and miss family/friends back in Chicago, I have felt at home here. His parents are funny (his dad is an AMAZING cook - it's going to be hard to go back to cafeteria food upon my return), his siblings are polite, and the 4 year-old twins are just adorable - shy the first day, always laughing and playful ever since. It makes me miss my little brother that much more, but I know I'll get to see him in a couple of weeks!

Our last two practices were a bit unorthodox - due to people's tests, as well as out-of-state players traveling home early to beat the rush, we only had 4 players both days! Both coaches hopped in, and we played some backrow triples both days. Funny thing is, I felt the level of intensity was higher these practices than the previous one where we were full force!

A couple thoughts have crossed my mind regarding pre-season so far. I will start with as a team. We are definitely searching for an identity at the moment, and I had a good talk with coach Tuesday that confirmed my initial feelings regarding the first couple weeks of practice. She admitted that she isn't coaching now how she will coach in January, and supposively a couple of guys were not happy with how difficult the first week of practices were. Looking at it from an outside perspective, I believe we need something in the middle.

The first week of practices were high-intensity, hard conditioning, and relentless. I had worked out 5-6 days a week for a good 2 months before pre-season to prepare, and it was taking its toll on me as well. However, I didn't mind any of it. What I think wore people down was the fact that we had 4 days of practice, a day off, then the toughest tournament we've played during my time at Newbury, as well as the fact that we did it with split-squads.

It is easy to get discouraged going a combined 2-10 your first pre-season tournament, especially coming in on your high horse after finishing last season ranked 6th in the nation. I think the frustration for some was that practices were being conducted in a manner that dealt with the big picture, which didn't necessarily prepare us for the upcoming tournament. Since then, practices have not had the conditioning, and when we're in a scrimmage-type drill, if one team starts pulling away, it seems that the other side mails in the remainder of the drill, instead of pushing back as they did the first week of practice.

I hope that the second half of pre-season finds a happy medium. I do feel that more emphasis can be on volleyball than conditioning, but not at the risk of the crispness of the drill, if that makes sense. I'm very optimistic for this, I feel like this semester has been heavy on many of us, and the break will recharge the batteries so we can hit the ground running come Monday.

Yesterday Mark and I hit the YMCA, did some exercises/stretching in the heat pool, hit the sauna, showered and headed back. We talked about the team and this season more than we have previously, and it was a pretty good conversation. He's got a great head on his shoulders, and match that with his physical ability, he has a great shot of getting All-American this year.

Time to shower up, call family back at home, then enjoy the festivities of the day. I hope everyone has a good holiday, and will update in the next couple of days!

Patience is a Virtue.

Laundry on a Monday morning... time for a blog!

I find myself hesitating to write daily due to the difference it makes waiting a few days to let things clarify themselves. It is easy to get caught up in the emotion of events as soon as they happen, but it's amazing how quickly one's perspective can change after letting things calm down for a day or two. That being said...

Thanksgiving break is a day away, and personally, I cannot WAIT. This semester has been the most difficult one I've encountered by far on so many levels, and a week to recharge the batteries sounds pretty good to me! Shout out to my teammate Mark Thomas and his family for taking in this homeless kid for the holidays - plane tickets were absolutely ridiculous to go home, so this is a nice Plan B.

Practices have been... different to say the least. I think I'm coming to grips with the concept of this being a "transition period". When I knew Dave would no longer be coaching us, I continued to tell myself that it was important not to make that the case this season, but I realize how unfair that would be to expect the new coach to pick up right where he left off. That being the case, I've been just observing things in practice, getting used to the new situation just as she has.

Still, I can't help but find myself wishing things were a bit more competitive. The first week, everyone was firing on all cylinders, happy to be back on the court, looking to show coach what they could do. Now? It's more for fun, goofing around, lots of laughing, but also quite a bit of sloppy play. I think that part of the reason is because a couple players are already home for Thanksgiving, but its still well below the level that the remaining players can hang at. We were supposed to go three hours yesterday, and practiced was called before the 2 hour mark, because it was just getting worse and worse.

For now, I guess I'll continue to do my best the next couple days, enjoy a nice break, and see how things go when we all get back.

Battling the Inner-Demons.

It's been 3 days since my last post, and believe me, there have been plenty of things to write about. However, one of the difficulties of writing a public daily blog is making sure to avoid letting emotional thoughts overcome the logical and reasonable ones. Had I written the last two days, it probably wouldn't have been pretty, and I most likely would have had to edit it as it was all simply the initial reaction of events that occurred.

I will say this: It has been a battle coming off of this weekend. As noted in the previous blog, despite the rough results of the first tournament, I was in high spirits and ready to work out all the kinks in our system. However, when the first two days back in the gym were mostly goofing around and sloppy play, I found myself in a mental funk about it.

I have been on many teams with many types of different coaches. This is the first time I've been on the same team with a coaching switch though, and that being the case, I find myself battling thoughts that I've never had to deal with before. You find yourself comparing drills/methods of instruction to the previous coach, and the worst part is in the end you realize how unfair that is.

So far, coach has done a great job with us, and I realize that it will take her awhile to get used to us, just as it will take us awhile to get used to her. So far I'm a bit impatient, but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. She sees things that haven't been addressed before, like our offensive plays mostly shifting to the leftside of the court, instead of mixing it up to keep the defense honest. We've never had someone with the ability to see things like that before, and I'm excited for her to start implementing a system that addresses things like that.

Although I was disappointed with the caliber of the last two practices, she admitted that she had been mostly observing up to this point, but will start being more vocal on things she wants to fix because frankly some things have been pissing her off. She also made a comment referring to how she wanted us to have fun and thats why she had been easy on us up to this point, but things need to change. I think both sides will be fine with that, because most of us have fun anyways with harder practices that are more competitive.

We have today and tomorrow off, and Friday we go back to work. I look forward to getting down to business, working on getting things fine-tuned so that we can show people at the BU tournament that the Springfield results were a fluke. Individually, I've struggled a bit physically as my lower back is bothering me from the strain I put on it this weekend, and the result is a lack of snap to my jumpserve/swing. As the core is where you get most of your power from, I haven't been able to really generate the normal force I get when attacking the ball. More importantly though, I find it affecting my movement when serve receiving, which is what concerns me the most. However, I've been stretching every morning and evening, and icing after practice, so perhaps the two days off are all I need to get back to where I want to be.

Off to dinner, then writing a paper and finishing a take-home midterm. I may not write until Friday, but perhaps something will pop in my head tomorrow and I'll throw it on here.

Losses on Paper, Gains Regarding Intangibles.

I was hoping to put up a post earlier, but frankly I've been too busy to do so. After the tournament yesterday, I uploaded the video and watched it a bit, took hitting stats, and made some assessments that I couldn't really focus on while playing.

Although the other team split with Elms and Springfield B, they finished 3rd in their pool. Still, that was better than our 0-2 losses to Set Me Boston (Strong, tall, great blocking AA USAV team), Springfield A (Filled with most of their starters from last year's national championship team), and Boston College (A decent club team, but had we not ran out of gas we should have won the match).

I feel like as a player I'm growing. I probably haven't gone 0-6 on the day for a good 4 years. Even the last 2 years, I feel like I'd be focused on what everyone else wasn't doing right, or the overall results at the end. However, I find myself focusing on the things we did well, the improvements I can make individually, and the things I learned as a whole for the day. I found myself hanging with teammates last night, goofing around and laughing it up. Last year after losses? Forget about it. Sit by myself, listen to music, reflect on my own. I'm really doing everything I can this season to not do that, and so far, so good!

As a team, we did have some strong points. Our coverage was EXTREMELY strong, which hasn't always been the case during my time at Newbury. Although our defensive coverage was a bit off as we haven't really had time to work on it in practice yet, I felt the block was closing, and although we weren't getting a TON of stuff blocks, we did force the hitters to go where we set the defense up. Although we didn't end up winning any of the games, we kept the majority of them close, and had a few strong 4-5 point runs. I look forward to building on all of these things, as well as fine tune the rest.

Individually, it was a tough one. I'll nit-pick to start: WAY too many hitting errors. However, watching the film, my arm swing is MUCH stronger after an off-season in the weight room. I always have swung deep as it was, and now I'm finding myself hitting out of bounds a lot more. Of all my hitting errors (19 to be exact), only two were in the net, the rest were sailed out of bounds and being blocked. Also, my jump serve was TERRIBLE, I felt myself getting "conservative" by not following through with my arm swing, which resulted on sailing the ball out of bounds about 5-10 feet each time. The few times I went full-tilt, they stayed in bounds. Lesson learned: Go hard or go home. Defensively, I felt like my positioning was a bit shaky as well, but hopefully once we start going over our system again, I'll avoid making those mistakes again.

My hitting line was 34-19-90, which is a .167 percentage. I hit .288 last season, so it's a far cry from where I'd like to be. The good news is, my shoulder feels like I didn't even play, and of those 90 swings, AT MOST 10 of them were off-speed. For 6 games, a 5.67 kill per game ratio is well above what I'll be doing this season, when the starters are together. Frankly, I'm relieved, because I'll take a 3 kill per game average with wins over 5.5 with the loss anyday.

Springfield looked strong, but if that's the national champions, I'm optimistic that we can give them a run with our starters. They beat us 30-18 each game, but both of them we were neck and neck til about the 20 point mark, and with our big guns in the game, I have a feel we could have even swept them. Actions speak louder than words though, perhaps we'll get our chance in the Final Four come April!

Anyways, enough rambling about the weekend. It was rough losing all day, but I feel it was a good learning experience for the team, and I'm excited to get to practice tomorrow!

Waiting...

Very brief update, because I need to get to bed. Day went well overall, met the guys at Roggie's for some team bonding, and when we got to the Stadium for the Celtics game one of the guys couldn't find his ticket. I was a bit tired anyways, and so I gave him mine and headed back home. They ended up losing, I watched on TV, I'm sure I'll get other opportunities in the future to see them play.

So once I got back, I did a little film, watching some clips from last season, as well as some footage I had of strong outsides (Gustavo Meyer, Victor Batista), as well as my favorite libero playing left back (Ryan Stuntz). Heated the back/calves, stretched, then took a shower and organized my bag/clothes for the morning.

Looking forward to tomorrow. Mentally I'm where I need to be, and feel like tomorrow will be a good day regardless of the outcome. Just excited to get on the court with the boys and begin playing! Update tomorrow night if I'm not dead with the results. Wish us luck!

Last Practice Before Springfield, Celtics, Overall Thoughts.

Well, I sit here early Friday morning with no interest in going to bed. After a good day Thursday, and two more coming up, my mind is racing a mile a minute. Let's begin with a recap of our final practice before the big tournament!

I had been a bit sore earlier in the day, and my calves were a bit tighter than normal. I felt like I wasn't getting too good of a jump on Wednesday, so I came in early to heat and have the trainer stretch out my hamstrings and calves. I could tell before I even got out of the trainer's room that it was going to be a big improvement from the day before, and luckily that turned out to be the case.

No conditioning today, which was nice, because I was tired of playing after 100+ pushups! We did a couple "hitter's challenge" drills, then moved on to a straight-up scrimmage between the two squads that are playing in Springfield's tournament.

It's an interesting split. On one team, you've got three of the top hitters. The team I'm on seems to have stronger serve-recieve, as well as the starting setter. We end up playing very evenly, using two completely different styles. However, both sides are extremely competitive. We won the game 32-30, but it could have gone either way. I think it'll be a tough tournament, but both teams should get some great practice out of it.

I enjoy it, because it pits me against arguably the two best blockers on the team, both who touch higher than 11 feet. The first couple days I was getting roofed pretty badly as I struggled to find my timing, and today I did get blocked a fair share of times, but overall I found myself being much more effective. I realize that Springfield are the defending National Champs, but I honestly think my two blockers can't possibly be stronger than what I practice against. I look forward to sparring with them all season!

Serve receive felt MUCH better today. Maybe they cleaned the floor, or perhaps I was just anticipating better, but I felt my movement was much better today. The outside on the other team ripped a couple jump serves I didn't pass all that clean, but overall it went well. Defense felt good too, although it's going to take me awhile to get used to blocking the middle from the outside again. Practicing against a monster doesn't help, but to be the best you have to beat the best. Hitting timing was on for the most part, although on freeballs I found myself getting a bit too aggressive and over-running the set. Still, there's definite progress, and I should be good to go Saturday!

Tomorrow we're going to dinner as a team, then going to the Celtics game! I can't wait for a couple reasons. Not only have I never been to a professional sports event in Boston, but I get to finally see one of my favorite athletes, Kevin Garnett. Although his stats don't always show it, his intensity and ability to boost his teammates is virtually unmatched in sports. I'll probably end up watching him the entire time! He's one of those athletes you hear about where Television doesn't do justice for what they bring to the table. Hopefully I'm not setting the bar too high, I'm optimistic about it.

So a good practice today, Celtics tomorrow, and the tournament Saturday! Time to get some sleep, but I'll have an update Saturday on how things went.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly - Day 3

The Good - The team's energy/overall play. It's the third day of pre-season, and we haven't shown any letdown on intensity. Today was the first day coach unchained us, with one conditioning drill to start, followed by scrimmaging the rest of practice. The guys are really starting to come along, with blocking being strong, setters starting to mix up hitting more, and VERY strong serves. I think our serving will be a huge asset to our season, as a lot of us have strong jump serves, with some guys mixing in some tough float serves. Hitting is still a BIT shaky, but there are a few guys that have played much better than expected at the net, and I think the people that are struggling a bit will be fine with more repetition.

The Bad - Lower back/Shoes! Although I know it's gonna be fine, I did feel it was a bit tighter than normal today. Add the fact that we've been doing a ton of sit-ups, which kill my spine as it sticks out and grinds against the hardwood floor, and I find myself just a BIT conservative on my swing/jump-serve. After taking IB Profun virtually every day to fight shin splints last season, I'm really working hard not to take anything unless absolutely necessary this year, and so far I can't complain for the most part.

More importantly though, my shoes have virtually NO traction left. We've ordered new shoes, but our tracking # isn't really updating us right now, and I have no idea if we'll get them before the tournament, which worries me because I can't really change direction on defense quickly, let alone take as aggressive of an approach as I'd like. I can't wait for the new shoes so that I can move a bit better on defense.

The Ugly - Timing! At the end of last year, everything was clicking with the setter, no matter where I was taking the approach from - outside, rightside, or backrow. Although I realize that a) It's the third day of practice b) I'm making the move from rightside to outside for the first time in about two years, and c) We're still working on finding the right set, I can't help but be a bit disappointed with how slow I've come out of the gate in regards to hitting. There are a few times where the timing's just right, and I'm ripping the leather out of the ball. Overall, I find myself INCREDIBLY early, jumping straight up as a result, and almost always finding hands with my swings.

It's slowly getting better, but with the tournament coming up Saturday, I find myself struggling to be patient with the process. Although I'd love to bore readers with the technical jargon that flies through my head regarding the mechanics, I'll save that for another blog, and just say that I look forward to shaking off the rust and picking up where I left off last year.

Off to bed, last practice before the Springfield tournament tomorrow, need to get some sleep so I can make it count!

Day 2!

Second day of pre-season was today, and although I was a little sore this morning, I didn't feel as bad as I had originally feared I would. I remember last season my shin splints started about the 2nd or 3rd practice, so I made sure to do extra stretching to try to avoid the same fate this year.

Conditioning: Still a lot of push-ups/sit-ups. My abs are burning tonight! Still, everyone talks about how important the core is when playing volleyball, so I don't say that as a complaint. We had a lot of drills tonight that involved chasing down freeballs, but their purpose wasn't COMPLETELY efficient as for whatever reason it seems a lot of our pro-touch volleyballs are missing... That's as much complaining as I'll do about that. It was still nice to do some sliding across the ground, although I skinned my hip already with one sprawl. It is what it is.

Playing: Actually did some passing today, so that was a nice change of pace. Nothing in-game though. I really hope we do serve-receive tomorrow, because we're only 4 days away from the Springfield tournament! Started the scrimmaging hitting outside. Was attempting to work on the shoot, but just wasn't happening, and the block was having a field day with me. The ball was a little inside the antenna, which I was struggling to adapt to, as I take a very sharp approach when running shoots. However, I started to heat up a bit once we went back to a hut-like ball to the pin. I suppose it makes sense to start with a higher ball, then speed it up as the timing comes back. Blocking went alright, although there weren't all that many opportunities to do so. It's gonna be awhile before I get used to that, as I blocked MUCH more frequently when I played opposite.

2 more practices, then an off day, then the big tournament at Springfield! We're splitting into two even teams for it, and it seems like as coach gets to know us, she's starting to figure out how she's going to do that. I'm just excited to get on the court and see what Springfield is bringing to the table this year. Off to bed, I'll have an update tomorrow night.

First Practice - Recap

Well, I'll have to keep this one short, as conversations with people back here have already kept me up way longer than originally intended. After what seems like an eternity of waiting, we got together for our first preseason practice of the year!

Conditioning: Although we didn't do too many conditioning drills, the ones we did were pretty strenuous. One of them lasted about 10 minutes and consisted of 120 pushups and 200 sit-ups. Yikes? I could barely hit the ball for the next 10-15 minutes as my arms worked on un-flexing. A couple sprint drills here and there, as well as some jumping drills. I didn't hydrate enough, because towards the end of the 3-hour practice I could feel my left calf begging to cramp up, and about 5-6 others had the same problem.

Playing: We did a couple passing drills, hitting lines, then scrimmage-like scenarios. With this being the first time coach saw everyone, egos were in play and the competition/energy was FIERCE. I felt everyone looked very good, and the chemistry/team bonding seems better on this team than the previous two years.

Personally, I didn't get to do much backrow work. Coach wanted me hitting in every drill, which I didn't mind, but I could tell my approach was getting fatigued towards the end. This year I've transitioned from opposite to outside, and although I played outside most of my career, we run a very fast offense and it's going to take me awhile to get it down. I was VERY early on my shoots today, which led to jumping straight up and having the block get a lot of playable deflections. I'll stay patient though, it's only day 1, and overall I was pleased with how I played.

I'm off to bed for now. We practice for only two hours tomorrow, so hopefully we focus mostly on volleyball, as the tournament at Springfield is Saturday and we need all the repetition we can get. A quick stretch before hopping into bed, then hoping my body isn't broken when I wake up!

At Last!

Only 6 hours before practice. I doubt I'll be able to focus in class.

Went to an open gym with a couple teammates Friday night. Was really pleased with how everyone played. More importantly, the team just gels better this year than the previous two. Last year, we were ridiculously deep, but we were practically split into two cliques. This served for good purposes when we would scrimmage, as neither team would be willing to take a play off to give the other team an edge. However, it saddened me to realize we went an entire season without one team get-together with everyone... that's just not healthy in my opinion. I think this year's team will be much more close-knit, and that will most likely help in our cause.

Individually, I'm very excited for this season. I feel like I'm in better shape than the previous two seasons, and not by a small margin. The things that normally concern me, my blocking and shoulder stamina, have been really strong. The irony is, my passing feels a bit shaky, and that's normally my bread and butter. I think that the time away from playing to work out had a small effect on it, but I hope that with 6 practices a week, it comes back quickly.

It'll be interesting to see how the body holds up this season. Although I haven't had an injury that's kept me out of any matches in my two years here (knock on wood), I did deal with a weak shoulder all Freshman year, and shin splints last year. I'm hoping that this off-season will keep me from dealing with anything like that, but I'm certainly not getting any younger, and although I'm only 23 I do put quite a bit of mileage on the body.

Anyways, I should start my day. I'm sure I'll have an update tonight on how it went.

Calm Before the Storm.

Well, we're heading into the home stretch before preseason, and I couldn't be more excited. Unfortunately, the season for the women's team I coach came to an end yesterday, which was sad to see. They worked very hard, and it was sad to see the career of the seniors come to a halt. However, with 10 returners, I know they'll be even stronger next year.

It'll be interesting to see where I fit in the equation. Being a 23-year old student, I'm pretty easily replaced from an administrative perspective. I feel that I brought some good things to the table, but ultimately it's not up to me to decide. I suppose time will tell. Regardless, I enjoyed my time with them and am happy I was able to hop on board with them halfway through the season.

That being said, time to start focusing on my own season. I put in a strong fall in the weightroom, bulked up (you'll sense the sarcasm in a second) to about 175, which is 10 pounds above my typical playing weight. Played in a couple open gyms, and it didn't seem to have any negative effect on my game, plus my shoulder felt as good as it's ever felt.

It seems as if all the drama about fundraising is coming to a halt, and the team can finally concentrate on volleyball. I find myself visualizing it more and more, getting on the floor, stretching with the team, working on drills, and building chemistry with the lineups. Coach seems to have a pretty good head on her shoulders, I'm interested to see what she has in store for us.

4 more days!

Missing Coach...

This post is a day late, but frankly I didn't have the energy to write it. Unfortunately there was a scheduling error and although my schedule said the girls' practice was from 6-8, it was from 8-10. Wasn't too pleased about it, but actually had a great talk with the trainer for about an hour and a half. We have pretty similar philosophies for sports in general, and it was nice to talk shop with him until practice.

Yesterday marked the 3-month anniversary of Coach Dave's passing, and I still find myself struggling to come to grips with it. If it wasn't for Dave, I have no idea where I'd even be. After watching a highlight video I put on myspace, Dave messaged me and asked if I was looking to play college ball. Although I was on the fence about it, he flew 1000 miles to watch me play at an open gym, and afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat, and just started to talk about the school. He clearly had a passion for the team, as well as a vision.

He had already taken them from losing 55 straight games to being nationally-ranked, but continued to bring in more talent from all over the nation. Dave may not have a ton of individual success as a player, but I'm convinced he recruited better than anyone in Division III (sorry opposing coaches, just my opinion). His energy made me beleive, and with that, I verbally committed to coming to Newbury.

Since coming to Newbury, I've found myself with more direction/motivation than ever before, and a large part of it was due to Dave. I used to sit in his office for hours talking about whatever was on our mind that day, and although we had VERY different philosophies, I probably have never had a better "agree to disagree" relationship with anyone, and it's probably why I found myself in his office so often.

Although I felt I was handling it alright this summer, I found myself wandering around campus the first few weeks of school like Ron Burgandy walked the streets with a carton of milk, disoriented and unsure where to go in my free time. I'm finally starting to cope with it, although I don't think I'll ever be the same.

Showering, heading to lunch, class, then off to the 4:30 bus for the girls' quarterfinal match of the conference tournament, then homework if I have any energy left.

R.I.P. Dave, you're never forgotten.

Busy Week: Head Coaching Debut, Raffle Tickets, and the Upcoming Preseason.

It's already midnight here, and I feel like the minutes moved like seconds today. Sundays are usually my day of rest, which is probably why I wish they were longer. We had Open House today, so the campus was a bit more lively than usual. A recruit from Northlake, IL was in town for it and gave us a verbal commitment, so that's exciting. I look forward to hitting a couple open gyms with him this Christmas break. Pretty crazy to think that next year we'll potentially have 5 people from Illinois on the team!

Tomorrow I'll be missing the compliance meeting with our Athletic Director, and this concerns me, as supposively our trip to California is in jeopardy. Although I'm sure we'll come to an agreement to make it work, he's concerned with the effort of the guys selling raffle tickets to fund the trip. A little under half have stayed on track, while others have strayed from the plan. Part of it is because half of us are from out of state, and it simply takes time for the money to come in the mail. However, I'm sure we could be working harder, and as long as we give him some sort of proof that we're doing our best, we can make it work. I'd love to be there to say that, but I'll have to rely on the teammates to do so. Not too worried about it, they all have good heads on their shoulders, I'm sure they'll make it work.

Had my first official head coaching experience yesterday, on account of a family situation with the regular coach. It was definitely not what I expected. A complete roller-coaster of a day, with just about every situation you could imagine. Losing the first set 25-13, proceeding to win the 2nd and 3rd (the latter being 25-9), then proceeding to go up 17-10 in the fourth set only to have the other team rattle off a 15-2 run to send us to a fifth game, which they pulled off 15-12. We ended up getting swept the next match, but proceeded to play better each game.

It's a tough situation, especially when you're simply filling in. Also, there's just so many things you can take for granted as an assistant. Do I take a timeout when the other team is up 5-1 to stop the bleeding, or do I risk burning them too quickly so that I need to resort to subs late in the game? How are girls going to react to substitutions? How are the girls going to react in general to certain tones? When you don't have a second coach for them to turn to in the event that they don't agree with you, there's a risk that they'll shut down on you.

All that said, the girls worked hard and I'm pleased with the effort they showed. They made the conference tournament, and with the head coach returning for it, I have high hopes for it.

One week from preseason! I'm excited to get started... I'm still a bit concerned about my lower-back, but as long as I continue to stretch a couple times a day I think it'll keep me out of trouble. I hit an open gym Friday (I know, quite the wild Halloween for me) and everything felt great, although the serve receive was a bit rusty. The guys have been buzzing about this year, and it'll be nice to get back to work. It should be a pretty competitive season, as most of the guys I've talked to from other teams have been boasting about strong recruiting classes. Although some people would look at this as a bad thing, I think the more talented the teams we play, the better prepared we'll be for the tournament at the end of the season, so hopefully they live up to the hype!

I need to wrap up some homework, more updates later this week.