I'M BACK!!!

Well for the past, oh, 8 months or so I have been a horrible blogger. I have been so wrapped up with school, volleyball, family/friends, etc. i haven't had the time necessary to blog. BUT i have decided to start blogging again!

Today was the first day of coaching! I am still coaching 13 year olds at Cincy Classics, which means i have a whole new team! I am very excited for this season. I love the challenge of coaching all different types of girls. Believe me, these girls are much different than the girls i have coached before. They are so much more quiet than prior teams (for now). I am also very excited because my friend Jamie will be helping me out a lot this year. We work really well together on and off the volleyball court and we posess many of the same qualities. It's going to be awesome!

AT PRACTICE:
Today, I basically went over proper passing, setting, hitting, and serving form. Learning basic skills is so crucial at this age. You can do drills over and over again but if you aren't using the proper technique, there is essentially no point. It's all about developing skills!!! Next practice i plan to work in some serve recieve and build on each of the basic skills and demonstrating them in game-like scenarios.

till then ...

this year so far..

The semester is winding down and it is getting a little hectic around here. Everyone is panicking to get papers done, studying for finals, and putting their finishing touches on projects. Well at least I hope everyone is doing these things! I know I am! This semester has been full of so many changes, new beginnings, challenges, fun, and achievements. I feel like i have grown so much as a person.
At the same time I felt this semester went by so fast! Probably due to the fact that I was busy 24/7 with school, homework, co-op, coaching and volleyball. I can honestly say this is the life of a college volleyball player!
I can't wait for this summer! I am hoping I get this amazing internship, I can't wait to get started with open gyms for volleyball, and getting in shape forthe upcoming volleyball season. Hopefully I'll get to relax a little bit too!

Update

So, this weekend I have to coach all weekend. My girls play in the NKJV aces challenge in Northern Kentucky. I am so excited because I know they are going to face a lot of good competition. They are getting so good! I just hope we have a really good practice tomorrow because last weeks practice didn't go so well. I had three girls leave early, and one couldn't make it. So, I had to make due with what I had. Tomorrow we need to work on coverage! They are so good at digging just not the reaction part of reading, which is a big part of defense! I just want to try to get them to the point where they don't have to think about it, and that it is just natural. I also want to try to get them to be more consist ant hitting and their approach. I want to get them to the point where they are all doing the same exact approach. One girl, poor girl haha she has backwards footwork, and she tries so hard to fix it. But I have to admit it does work because she's pretty dang good.
But anyhoo, I will keep updates throughout the weekend on how we finish in pool play and how practice goes tomorrow.. wish me luck :o]

Sand Volleyball becomes a Collegiate Sport!!!!

This is soo exciting! I've just read an article that states that, "The NCAA Division I Legislative Council added sand volleyball to the list of emerging sports for women, it was announced today, clearing the way for schools to use the sport toward minimum sponsorship requirements and minimum financial aid awards." Division II has already voted to add sand volleyball to the emerging sports list in January.
The NCAA plans to capitalize on the recent success of the USA women's and men's beach volleyball teams, which I don't blame them. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics made the recommendation for the addition of the sport last summer.
I think that this is awesome! I think this will help beach volleyball become more well known and will help the sport grow. Not only does it help the sport grow, but I believe it will give women a better opportunity to play professional volleyball. This will eventually make the AVP more competitive, which will eventually give the U.S. a competitive edge in the Olympics in women's beach volleyball.
The addition overall increases the opportunities for women and allows more of them to get the education and career that they desire. If I had the opportunity to play both beach and indoor I would in a heartbeat. I would absolutely love it!

STRESS

So, these past few weeks have been extremely busy! Between class, homework, papers, projects, reports, coaching, co-op, looking for a job, and looking for a new place to live next year, I have been swamped! I have been trying to find time to continue my volleyball training, but it hasn't been working out too well. I've gone at least twice a week, but it's not enough. It also doesn't help that I have tons of finals these next few weeks. Oh the life of a college student!
It's only about two weeks left of classes, hopefully I will survive and not stress out too much. Oh goodness who am I kidding, I'm always stressed. To top it off I can't do all of my work on the weekends because every weekend till schools out my girls have a tournament. And I have my first final tomorrow. AHHHH. I need a break! If anyone know of some good ways to deal with stress that don’t take up a lot of time, please, please, please let me know!

D4K

For this blog I wanted to take a look at an AWESOME non profit organization called Dig 4 Kids (D4K). This is an organization that empowers kids to reach for their goals and dreams and how to work hard to achieve these. D4K also teaches them the importance of education and exercise. Their overall project includes a concept known as "Digging Education". This is the primary activity for D4K. The project combines after school tutoring and mentoring with exercise and volleyball lessons. Not only do they receive assistance with their homework but they receive life-lessons,counseling, and volleyball instruction/training for all different types of kids in all different ages, places, and socio-economic classes.
I think this is a great program because not only does it get kids excited about school and volleyball but it responds to a need of POSITIVE after school activity and keeps kids out of trouble. Any program that influences an appreciation and involvement in education, hopefully encouraging a pursuit in higher education, and a healthier lifestyle is a great program and money and time well spent.
Many USA volleyball players and AVP players help out with this organization. High school volleyball players are also a huge part of why D4K is soo successful!



for more information on how to get involved go to : http://www.digforkids.org/

spring season comes to an end..

Saturday was our official last day of spring season. :o[ We had our spring tournament and it was soo much fun. THe tournament was at Cedarville which is NAIA. We might have gotten lost on the way there? haha But, we still made it there in time :o] . We had the opprotunity to play some division two schools and we played really well against them! We won both of those matches. The tournament matches were all timed 45 min. You play as much as that amount of time allows for, which was roughly 2 1/2 games. I didn't like not being able to finish the last match, but it worked out in the end I guess. We played a total of 4 matches, and I was the only setter for most of the time(running a 5-1) and needless to say I was exhausted after we were finished!
I love playing in the spring tournament because it allows everyone to play, ability for people to try new positions, and the ability to try new things like play sets. It also gave us and our new coach an opprotunity to see his coaching style and for him to see how we play together and individually in a game. Overall I think the tournament was a success and it just made me so much more excited to play in the fall!! I can't wait! But... until then I will be in the wieght room 3x a week and running everyday... hopefully :o]