ivolly

I know they did once or twice a few years ago. They will be at the Southside tournament in Birmingham this weekend, then host the Brentwood Invt next weekend, host a playday the following weekend and then fly to Tampa for the Berkeley Prep Premiere.

I expect most of the media attention will be on court 1 focusing on Asusmption, but if you get a chance stroll over to pool 7 and take a look at pre-season #33 Huntsville. Then consider that the setter on that team is a Freshman.

Accurate assessment. No BHS kids on the 151 team. As you know there has been a split in Nashvegas as well on the club scene the last couple of years. More options for the girls, more girls playing. I didn't always see it that way, and I am still a loyal Impact guy and believe in our coaches, but however the girls get better helps the whole area. The Ravenwood school zone has really diminished the number of kids coming into BHS. But I assure you there are still a number of talented players yet to be seen in ROYAL blue.

Well, I guess we will never know and all this is just speculation anyway. But remember, Brentwood's JV went to Louisville and put the smack down on Ryle 25-7, 25-10, and Sacred Heart 25-15, 25-12 in the finals. I don't know how many of those KY kids are playing varsity now, (if any), but those BHS kids are basically the varsity here now along with a great setter and two great OH's. I respect your opinion Digs, I just don't think the gap is that great anymore outside of Assumption.

Varsities play for 1 hour, and JV's play for 55 minutes. Typically games are to 25 like normal unless time does not permit. Some varsities will play longer or shorter based on roster sizes and whether or not they have a JV team.

The schedule for the BHS Team Camp is now available at brentwoodvolleyball.com See the menu on the left for the Team Camp page. You may download a MS Word copy of the schedule from the site. The dates are this Friday Aug 4 - Sunday Aug 6 15 teams participating: BHS DCA Lavergne Page Ravenwood Lipscomb Independence Centennial East Ridge BGA Siegel Blackman Dickson Co Brentwood Academy Franklin

Congrats to Independence for a GREAT year. I know the season ended a little short of your goal, but I know there were a TON of people who were impressed with your play and determination, myself included. That team has a very bright future. The coaching staff should be congratulated also, nice job with a VERY young team. Hats off to Franklin also for finding a way to get it done against a team who seemingly had their number over the course of the season. Props to RH Taylor Stice for a HUGE roof around 13-12 in the 5th, and "the Courtneys" for great blocking and transition offense. I thought FHS libero Megan Woodall played incredible as well in that match. It's a shame that only 2 teams can come out of this district, which argueably has four teams that could make state.

Recent report is that the 11-AAA tournament will be on Wed-Thurs next week at Centennial. Schedule to follow...

Franklin has had a team drop out at the last minute. If there is a team out there that would like to participate, please email Jay at impactvbc@mindspring.com

Walton is a perennial power private school from Atlanta, GA. Like the aliteration? Should be a tough team if history means anything.

Because you are trying to define all coaching in TN vb by YOUR experience. Who's the judge of this arguement? Each kid and player would have to decide for themselves. You cannot decide FOR them. Yes there are probably many dissatisfied customers, but there are also many happy and GRATEFUL and RETURNING customers. Why? Because as stated earlier, each has a different team, coach, talent level, and therefore each has different experience. Stop being so negative. A-5 didn't evolve immediately. They had a good plan. But they took all the good players that had been training at Atl Jrs and other clubs for years.

"A great club system and consistent coaching are the difference." OK, define consistent coaching. Do you mean coaching strategies or experience level? Do you mean philosophies or tendencies? Draw me a model of the "perfect coach" or "perfect club". Hard to define and build it...but easy to criticize, especially in anonymity. A great club takes time to evolve, and that is happening here in Nashville, and in Chattanooga, and in Memphis, and in Knoxville. The state's vb is getting better every year. Fact is, you only get out of it what you put into it. More kids are playing club every year, thus the level of vb in TN is getting better all the time. There is more parity now than ever, as should be evident from this weekend's Brentwood Invt. Some of the state's best teams got together and put on quite a show. BGA beat Ryan. HH beat Germantown. Both unlikely in recent history. Because of the coaching? Maybe. But more than likely because of the talent. BGA has a great coach, but also a great bunch of Freshman that are contributing plus some upper classmen with tons of experience in club. HH has a good coach. But would they have won and reached the finals without Taylor? Maybe, but not likely. Germantown beat Brentwood a game 25-9. 25-9!! Is that because of the coaching? The same two coaches have been there for over a decade. No, because of the play of the kids. And as far as TN vs Alabama or TN vs KY....BHS and Grissom have been swapping blows for years. It goes back and forth. This year Grissom won, barely. Before it was Brentwood. McGill came to the BIVT in 2003 and didn't make the Gold division, but won the AAAAAA State Championship over in Alabama. Does that mean that AL was inferior to TN that year? This weekend my team went to Louisville for a tournament and won, (not losing a game) and beat Sacred Heart in the finals 25-18, 25-19. Does that mean that all TN is getting better than KY? Of course not. My point STILL is that each team is different, each club is different, EACH COACH IS DIFFERENT, even in Kiva or Nasa. There is no "perfect" system. You cannot generalize that this area or that area is better or worse in coaching, on the whole. There are too many variables, yes including talent, and more importantly EXPERIENCE of the players.

Well, the other side of that coin is that not only do the Louisville kids start much earlier, but also that the majority (if not all) of the Kiva red teams play together at Kiva AND Assumption. Ron has done an incredible job with both programs. But he has also been blessed with a great situation in that his kids can play both for his school and club, so they are working together constantly. Some of the schools in TN are starting to do that, but they don't have that kind of experienced talent or coaching to make it benefit them yet. I know Brentwood has wanted to do that for years based on Ron's model. But even with the talent BHS has had over the past 10 years, I don't think they could have had a better club team with all BHS players than the best Impact teams created by combining the talent from other schools. In Assumption's case though, they have the best players so it works for them. But you can't compare Kiva and Impact, because no one in the country that I know of has a situation like Kiva/Assumption. Why else do you think Louisville, in the the middle of the mideast (aka nowheresville) has teams that beat the SoCal and Texas teams? Because Ron has created a great dynamic situation, plus they get to play the best teams from a much stronger area including Chicago, Indy, Michigan, and Ohio, and KHSAA does not step in and dub them with a 50/50 rule like Alabama has.

You might want to contact Father Ryan about this. One of their parents asked me the other day if I knew of any more good local JV tournaments. The only problem is they are hosting their Ryan Invt varsity tournament that same day, so their JV might not be allowed to leave. They also have a Freshman team that might be able to play. Worth a shot anyhoo. Contact Jinx Cocerham or Suzanne Spore. We'll be at the Tandem or otherwise we'd come. Good luck.

Sorry, no time to post the schedule right now. It is available at brentwoodvolleyball.com however. Initial pools posted by vbdaddy do look correct. Times and further info available by downloading the Word document from the brentwood website. One note: teams may bring their own coolers and food this weekend because the JV is going to Louisville and we will may be a bit short-staffed. However, the concessions will be up and running and will have delicious food again. Also, all profits made in the BIVT concessions will be donated to the RED CROSS KATRINA RELIEF FUND.

Okay, we're just going to have to agree on some things and not others. I don't know what you are basing "strong volleyball coaching background" on, but there are plenty of talented coaches in Nashville. Especially if you are talking about club coaches as well, and then include Murfreesboro and the other surrounding areas. We have MANY coaches with either collegiate coaching or playing experience. By the way, collegiate coaching experience does not neccessarily mean better coaching. I know of at least one former college coach that I wouldn't want anyone learning from. Also, I know for a fact there are coaches in the Nashville area who could have coached in college if they wanted to, and had offers. Sometimes working with the younger kids is more rewarding than the bucks and notoriety. I've actually had some experience at both levels, and prefer the younger kids because they are generally more coachable, and there is the instant gratification of seeing them learn something and then applying it in a game situation. Yes, there absolutely could be better coaches and more of them here, but I'm not convinced Huntsville's success is strictly because of the coaching or club situation. Granted, there are many good coaches in that area who work with the kids throughout the year. But the initial age of beginning player development, family pre-involvement in the sport, a focus on the sport instead of basketball and softball, media input (maybe), and TALENT are the biggest influences. Then, once you have all those variable in place, great coaching will take them to the next level. Maybe I was off on the roster of the Huntsville team. But I coached against the NASA 14's and 15's this past year, and I know one middle was from the 14's and I could have sworn there were at least a couple more. I know the setter was on the 15's. Anyway, my point initially was that they are very good, and very young and going to be difficult for most schools to deal with in the future, much like Independence here in Nashville.

Friday Pool Play: Pool A - 1 Sacred Heart, 2 Huntsville, 3 Hoover, 4 Homewood Pool B - 1 Grissom, 2 Vestavia, 3 Manual, 4 Cordova Pool C - 1 McGill, 2 Germantown, 3 Oak Mtn, 4 Harding Pool D - 1 Bob Jones, 2 Brentwood, 3 Bayside, 4 Spain Park Saturday Pool Play: Pool AA - 1 Bob Jones, 2 McGill, 3 Grissom, 4 Sacred Heart Pool BB - 1 Huntsville, 2 Brentwood, 3 Germantown, 4 Vestavia Pool CC - 1 Oak Mtn, 2 Bayside, 3 Hoover, 4 Manual Pool DD - 1 Harding, 2 Homewood, 3 Cordova, 4 Spain Park 1st Round: Bob Jones def. Spain Park McGill def Cordova Sacred Heart def. Harding Grissom def. Homewood Huntsville def. Manual Brentwood def. Hoover Germantown def. Bayside Vestavia def. Oak Mountain Quarter-Finals: Bob Jones def. Vestavia McGill def. Germantown Sacred Heart def. Huntsville Grissom def. Brentwood Semi-Finals: Bob Jones def. Sacred Heart Grissom def. McGill-Toolen Championship Match: Grissom def. Bob Jones (a bit of a surprise) Well, this was a killer tournament indeed. The top 4 teams were identifyable early. The next 4-5 were noticeable too. But any of the top 8 could be interchangeable on any given weekend. It was truly a showcase of great teams. Brentwood lost in the quarter-finals to Grisssom, which was the third Huntsville area team to give them a loss. BHS also lost to Huntsville High and Bob Jones. Bob Jones may have been the best team in the tournament (although losing in the finals), beating McGill, Grissom, and Sacred Heart respectively. Bob Jones, Huntsville, and Grissom are stocked full of NASA kids whose 14 and 15 yr old club teams both faired well in Open at Salt Lake, and whose 17 yr old team won SRVA Regionals and made it to Salt Lake as well. Clearly, the best Huntsville volleyball is a step ahead of the best Nashville volleyball at this point, and I might dare say is well within reach of even Louisville's top teams. Huntsville's team is comprised mainly of NASA's 14 yr old team, and their setter is an 8th grader and she is very good. B'wood had a shaky tournament on Friday and early Saturday, and started playing like B'wood in the second game against G'town and rolled over Hoover. Germantown is good, though relying on MH #5 heavily. She did a great job powering 2's in the middle mainly to the right back corner. She got in trouble when having to hit to the left. Their OH's are not as strong as their middles, and they served nothing but deep floaters. But they can hang with anyone in TN for sure. Their match with BHS was very close, but B'wood won in two. Grissom is always good and the two teams battle back and forth year to year, so a close match ws expected. Both games were close, 23-25 and 20-25. B'wood plays in the Southeast Challenge in Southside, AL this weekend and has Bob Jones in their opening pool again. Should be a great opportunity to improve again, as they did this weekend.

So, I got curious and tried to look up the number of respective state volleyball championships represented in Huntsville this weekend. I was WAY off guessing around 20. McGill leads the pack. There may be more, AL was listed from 1974, TN was only listed from 1997, and KY from 1997 on the KHSAA site. And I'm not sure but it looks like there is only one division in KY. Is that right Digs? BTW, what happened to Assumption in 2003? Homewood, AL (AAAAA) - 2 Huntsville, AL (AAAAA) - 4 Grissom, AL (AAAAAA) - 6 McGill-Toolen, AL (AAAAAA) - 18 (whoa) Bayside, AL (AA) - 13 Harding, TN (DII) - 1 Germantown, TN (AAA) - 6 Brentwood, TN (AAA) - 6 Sacred Heart. KY - 1 ------- Total = 57

Anyone wanting to see some great high school volleyball this weekend should make the drive to Huntsville. The Huntsville SportsMED Invitational Tournament this weekend should be a showcase of southeastern volleyball at its best. I can't wait. Play starts at 4:00 PM on Friday. Last scheduled pool play match on Saturday begins at 1:30 PM. Single elimination tournament bracket begins immediately thereafter, with the finals scheduled for 7:00 PM. I don't know how many state championships are represented here, but at least 20 respectively from various states that I can count. Should be quite a show! Here are the pools. Pool A - Homewood (AL), Sacred Heart (KY), Huntsville (AL), Hoover (AL) Pool B - Grissom (AL), Cordova (TN), Vestavia (AL), Dupont Manual (KY) Pool C - Harding Academy (TN), McGill-Toolen (AL), Oak Mountain (AL), Germantown (TN) Pool D - Bob Jones (AL), Bayside Academy (AL), Spain Park (AL), Brentwood (TN)

I only have Brentwood's part of the schedule: These will be 2 out of 3 matches 11:00 Ooltewah 12:30 East Ridge 1:30 GPS 2:30 Ft Payne