Stay tuned for more info on tryouts and the coaching staff for 2011…VIVA!!!!

Highlights for the year included 14-1 knocking off a power MAVA 15’s team in Indy and both 14-1 and 14-2 making the gold round of the Dunes April Classic.  14-1 finished 3rd in both the Motor City Madness tourney and the Dunes April Classic, narrowly losing out to the eventual champs each time.  14-2 also had a nice showing going 7-1 but finishing only 5th due to some “interesting” formatting.  The 14-1 Team finished in the middle of the pack at nationals while 14-2 knocked out 4 wins in some very tough pools!  Between Michigan, Louisville, Indy, Dunes, and Orlando we saw some great competition and improved every time out.

I’m so pleased at some of the club development this year; 7 different coaches helped out with the two teams, girls headed to 7 different high schools played on our teams, and we proved again that the periodization format can and does work!  The girls all developed physically through the workouts with Maryellen in January and February, they all improved their skills during the training period, and we saw very little burnout and zero drama within the teams as was the case in year one.   

A big thank you goes out to all of the coaches, parents, and players for another great year at TR.  There are MAJOR plans for the 2011 season including teams in all age groups, adjustments to the training, and some fantastic new coaches coming on board.  Stay tuned!

Viva!!!!!

There will be another meeting this sunday October 25th at 7:00 in the gym at NDA.  Things are looking good for multiple teams.  Lot’s of interest at 13’s, 14’s, and 15’s with possibilities at 16-18.  Again once we get our interest lists compiled we’ll work with our partners to determine our best course of action for tryouts or referrals to other teams.

Please take a few minutes and read through TR Theory and About pages and let us know what you think about our ideas on what club ball can be!

Hope to see you at the meeting…Viva!

Also I’d like to address a statement I made in the last post in which I offered to put my reputation and track record up against anyone in the volleyball world especially the OVR Board.  I’ve recieved a few emails from OVR board members that were upset and felt attacked.  First off, it’s nice to know you are watching us like a hawk even though we’re not a part of your organization, I hope you are watching everyone this closely…   Secondly, offering to match reputations is a defense of mine, NOT an attack on yours.  I still have a lot of respect for various individuals on that board and know that several of their track records would stack up very well and I have a number of years before I could be considered up there with some.   My goal has never been to get into a war of words with the OVR.  This is the first time I’ve made any public statement in my own defense and that one line in a blog post doesn’t even register when compared to the way my kids and I have been treated.  I consider this the end of that issue, and will move on without any further involvement with the OVR.   Good luck to the OVR and USA volleyball in the upcomng season.  The volleyball world is big enough that we can both move on.

Let it be known here that I, Scott Mattera, am suspended from the OVR.  I’m not ashamed of  this in any way.  I stand by our actions last year and truly believe that through this experience, some volleyball people in the area showed their true colors.  I have recieved nothing but support from around the state and even nationally from coaches who heard the entire story.  I’ll gladly put my reputation and track record up against anyone in the volleyball world, especially the OVR board.  

What this means for our club is that I am not allowed to participate in anything sanctioned by the OVR or USA volleyball.  As much as some other people in the area would like to, they can’t stop me from owning a company that trains kids in volleyball.  The JVA has teamed up with the AAU this year and they will have plenty of dates that our teams can play that aren’t USA/OVR sanctioned.  We went to JVA nationals last year rather than the USA nationals and the generaly feling was that the JVA event was BETTER than USA nationals.  We would also have the option of me having no involvement with teams that still want to participate in OVR events.  We’ve had offers from three clubs that would “umbrella” us as we did last year. 

All of these items and more will be discussed at the meetings, so please come check us out!  We had a great experience last year with every athlete getting 2 months of professional conditioning, 3 months of quality coaching, a very competitive scheudle and ZERO burnout for less than $1500. 

Finally, in addition to the meetings, if you know you are interested please drop me an email at ndavballcoach@hotmail.com.  It’s not a committment of any kind.  I’d just like to know asap how many are even considering TR.  The sooner I know the level of interest, the sooner I can make plans!

Thanks, Viva!

I need all of my TR people there at NDA at noon to help me get the gym set up.  We are only having three teams so we’re going to set up the main court and pull out the bleachers.

Play will begin at 12:30 with TR playing against CVC Black.  That will go from 12:30 – 2:00  At 2:00 Blackswamp will come in to play CVC until 3:30.  At that time CVC will eat and get on the road while Blackswamp will stay on and play TR from 3:30 – 5:00.  At 5:00 Blackswamp and TR will eat dinner and call it a night.

Fans are more than welcome to attend as this will be the only time we play in Toledo this year.  Please drive around to the back of the building and enter the main entrance back there.  Don’t bother with chairs as we will have the bleacher pulled out.  There won’t be an entry fee or concessions.  Also, the teams may not play games that keep a normal score.  I have already discussed running some different drills with CVC and they agree that might be more useful than actual games. 

In terms of expectations, i’m encouraging everyone who comes to understand what this is.  It is our first chance to play against anyone other than ourselves and we managed to get two of THE BEST teams in the region.  I expect our techniques to be solid, but we’ve barely scratched the surface on installing our offensive and defensive systems.  We are still in the technique development period of our schedule until after Motor City Madness.  Our goal has never been to peak in March.  We want to play well at bid and peak at the end of the season.  Saturday just gives us a chance to see where we are, what we need to work on, and who can play where effectlvely or at least shows potential in positions.

Thanks to those who made a point to mention that they missed the updates.  Some even wondered in public chat forums!  It’s good to feel like people are paying attention.  These girls deserve it!  There just wasn’t much to write about unless you want details of the workouts…those might be trade secrets for Maryellen though

Well, the conditioning part of our training ends with a final workout on Saturday.  Maryellen has done a fantastic job of working with these girls in a way that’s targeted, fun, and most of all, athleticly beneficial!  You can actually see a major difference in the way that they move, their balance, their strength, and even in their posture.  I can’t wait to get them in the gym on Monday to start the long task of directing that athletic ability into proper techniques.  Don’t worry, just becasue we are moving out of the conditioing period into the technique training period doesn’t mean we forget about conditioning.  We will be doing warm up workouts everyday before practice and a cool down stretch and core work session at the end of each day.

On a team chemistry note, the girls have really turned the corner in this area.  I had mentioned a few times how quiet they were in workouts and at open gyms.  Well I can assure you that it’s not an issue anymore.  After working out together for so long and a couple of team sleepovers…I can’t get them to shut up!   Now we need to see if that energy translates to the court.

There have been many questions about our playing schedule and the actions taken by other clubs and the OVR against us.  I wasn’t going to comment on the controversy as I thought just falling on the sword and moving forward would be the best thing.  However I’m finding out that in our culture, silence is judged as guilt and leaves all kinds of room for speculation.   I am still undecided as to weather I should issue a public statement about what we feel was a major injustice or just hold my peace and let people say what they will.  Rest assured, we have a very competitve schedule of 6 tournaments and none of the controversy has effected our girls in the least. 

Thank you to Blackswamp, CVC, Mavrick, and all the others who have remained friends, offered their support, and took the time to hear the whole story.   Also a huge thanks to Scott Monroe at Oiler Attack for all of his support.  We’re proud to be under the Oiler Umbrella! 

Finally several people have asked if I am planning to blog after every practice.  The answer is, I’ll try!  I can’t guarantee that it will happen EVERY night, but I really like the idea of putting out there what we are doing and how we are doing it.  Several parents and coaches have commented on how much they like it so I’ll try to do it as much as i can.  Maybe I can even get Coach Dave to write a blog or two, after all he’s already on facebook!

As always, please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.  See you all next week….

Viva!

We ran quite a few cooprative ball control drills then just kind of played a few games.  There are several reasons behind the cooprative drills early in the life of the team.  A cooperative drill is a team drill based on a number of succesful rallys across a net.  The teams are not going for kills, they are trying to pass, set, and swing and have the other team dig, set, and swing back to them until a certain number is reached.  If the ball is misplayed, they have to start over.  This style of drill requires patience, focus, and communication, while bringing leaders to the forefront.  It also forces specific ball control and the ability to perform skills in a team setting and under some pressure as you don’t want to be the one to ruin the streak for the team. 

Overall there were signs of life, but much work is needed   As they get to know each other more and more, I’m sure more personality will come forth and with that, communication leadership and intensity will arise.

After the ball control drills I decided to display my awesome setting abilities and we played four on four……yes, yes my team lost both games………..

Looking forward to getting back in the gym.  We have such a great group of girls!

This early on we are trying to establish some basic motor skills that are needed to be able to teach certain techniques in the detailed way that we want them performed.  We went over how to cover the same distance of court in several different ways and several different numbers of steps.  We also speant a great deal of time with hip direction in regards to passing.  Lots of catch and freeze and catch and flip toss was used to work on hip orientation.  We are strong believers in hips initially face where the ball is coming from, then in flight are redirected to our target.  We also worked on body placement for arm swings.  Way too often coaches and players focus so much on the arm swing when truly 90% of the issue is getting you body in the right place to perform the arm swing. 

Overall, I thought it was a very successful practice in that we speant a great deal of time and effort on the building blocks of skills.  Movement patterns, hip orientation, hand to ball contact, and body positioning for the arm swing.  It wasn’t overly intense…..that comes later

I can’t tell you how excited I am to continue working with these girls.  Next Sunday is out becasue I have my NDA Volleyball Banquet, but the following Sunday is looking pretty good!  Check back for more updates!

Coming soon to the site: A public statement on the actions of the OVR, The TR Theory Page explaining our training ideas, The updated schedule, and bios on the staff!  Keep checking back and please leave me a comment!