ivolly
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Posts posted by ivolly
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To our friends at Ooltewah, as we learned a couple of years ago, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Keep your heads up.
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Recent report is that the 11-AAA tournament will be on Wed-Thurs next week at Centennial. Schedule to follow...
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Obviously the top 7 privates are probably much better than anybody in TN other than Brentwood
Hey Digs, glad you are still around. I think your posts have been well written and articulate, and generally agreeable. Keep promoting the sport. However, I'm not sure I can buy this statement above. Maybe in the past, but I'm not so sure anymore. Other than Assumption, which I agree is virtually untouchable, there are a few great teams in KY, and the others filter down like anywhere. Last year HH took Mercy to three in the BIVT and had match point on them twice before letting it slip away. This was without HH's starting setter. Maybe Mercy took them lightly, I don't know...but it was very close. Then I also saw Sacred Heart first hand in Huntsville this year, and they have issues like all teams. Bob Jones dominated them with the height difference. But Bob J would be one of TN's best teams too, were they within the border. We also played the SH jv in Louisville. We beat them 18 and 19 respectively. Fact is, with the advent of club ball getting stronger there is more parity, more often everywhere. As much as I appreciate the respect to B'wood, there are a lot of good teams in TN like Germantown (especially lately), GPS, Siegel, Ryan, HH, and others who could hang with a few of the KY privates in my opinion (on a good day). But maybe that's just hopeful ignorance...
Anyway, I do appreciate your northern perspective, but I think you have to see more of the top TN teams first hand before you can make a statement like that. Good luck with the rest of your season (knock off one of the big privates while your at it), and maybe I'll get a chance to meet you north of the border in club.
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Curious...how did this turn out?
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But anyway, Impact should recruit, and if they don't, why don't they? I think they do in their own way - don't you? It is just not enough. You must admit that Impact can do better. Write down the best possible team for each age group and then call each player and ask them to play. That is not too difficult. It is legal. This is not college. Impact should be able to put together some competitive teams at the national level and I don't think they do. Do you?
Hi Cat. Contrary to public knowledge, there actually are some recruiting policies in USAV and SRVA. For example, a coach for another club was in our gym last week handing out flyers and talking to several of my high school players. Right in front of me I might add, as if it were no big deal, and I coach for the previously stated premier club in Nashville. It was more of a slap in the face than anything, but also as I understand it, this coach should not have been doing this without permission from the principal of the school or without an invitation from our head coach to be doing so. Her high school jv team was in the gym participating in a match, but she did not have permission to be soliciting on the property. There are other rules and regulations about that, as I'm sure ComPassion could elaborate on.
As for having success nationally, Impact has actually done pretty well in its short history. Honestly I'm not sure how many teams have qualified for nationals in the past 7-8 years, but I do know of the following:
2nd Place Gold - 2002 USAV 17U National Championships
2nd Place Gold - 2003 USAV 18U National Championships
3rd Place Gold - 2004 USAV 15U National Championships
5th Place Gold - 2004 USAV 17U National Championships
Then there are several teams who have competed at Nationals and finished anywhere from 9th to 43rd. Our 16's this past year finished 19th, but with a 6-3 record at JO's, the same record as a team that finished 5th. It just depends on when you lose sometimes.
Then we've also done pretty well in the Nat Qualifiers historically. Our teams have won the MEQ (Mid-East Qualifier-Indy) in the 16's, 17's, and 18's divisions at least 4 times that I can think of, the NEQ (NorthEast Qualifier - Baltimore) twice I think, and had a couple of runner-ups and a number of top 10 finishes.
Regionally we do pretty well in all age divisions usually. I think we had three teams qualify for Nationals this year in Salt Lake City, and we had four teams qualify in 2004. Our top travel teams always play Open in the Louisville, Indy, Muncie and Regional tournaments, except for the National Qualifiers where we are fighting for a bid and a good seed at Nationals. There we usually play in the Club division like most teams in our young region, although we have played Open before in a qualifier too (Minneapolis Northen Lights 15U Open 2004).
Fact is, there could always be MORE success. But generally speaking, you'd have to drive to Louisville or Huntsville to find a comparable or more successful club in the past few years. We have had players commute from as far away as Knoxville, and have several players drive down from KY every year. So I'd say we are doing pretty well considering. If you know of any potential athletes with skills to help our club, we'd love to hear from them. Send us a message to impactvbc@mindspring.com or visit our website for more information. Good luck on the remainder of your season!
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Team spirit is a good thing.
Sniff............what's that...smells like............
oh yeah...sarcasm
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I know I shouldn't talk about my own team like this, but I am VERY proud of these young ladies. We finished our last tournament of the season yesterday, so I guess I can't jinx them too badly now. Props to the BHS jv for winning five out of five tournaments this year and beating the likes of Sacred Heart, Ryle, Bob Jones, Huntsville, and FINALLY Grissom yesterday! 46-1 on the season and only 6 more matches to go.
Great job ladies!
Blackman JV Champs
Franklin JV Champs
Louisville JV Champs
TN Tandem JV Champs
Birmingham JV Champs
Andrea Orr S - JR
Frances Ferree OH - SO
Becca Brewster MH - SO
Jennifer Maher RH - SO
Caroline Howell MH - SO
Paige Katchur OH - SO
Angelle Hayes L/DS - FR
Molly Rice L/DS - FR
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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
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Walton is a perennial power private school from Atlanta, GA. Like the aliteration? Should be a tough team if history means anything.
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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.
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"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.
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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.
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IMHO, trying to pick the top 25 is like trying to win the lottery. After the top half-dozen or so it seems like it's a toss up on a daily basis. Why don't we just stick with a Top 10? I would think it would be much more accurate and also would encourage more voters to participate because it's safer. For example, if I had to try and pick the top 25 accurately I would probably enfuriate about 60% of them because the research simply isn't readily available and they beat each other continuously. That is probably why I haven't voted, it's too hard.
If the other aspect of the poll is to give some teams recognition even if they aren't a top 10 team yet, then add a bubble list at the bottom with comments. Prepvolleyball.com does such a list all the time. So what if some teams don't have a number beside them. The number in a 25 team list probably isn't accurate anyway.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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Total = 57
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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)
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Thanks. I did also notice on the midamerica site that N Oldham won the gold div of the Pioneer Open last weekend. I am very familiar with Kiva and MAVA, and a bit with NKJV, so I know what to expect from them. Just wasn't sure if these schools other than Sacred Heart had those types of teams. We're going to miss a big football game too (that the girls are not happy about), so just trying to make sure on this one. Thanks again!
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I'm sure Judge will elaborate, but loosely stated, they CAN call a lift. They cannot call a double-hit. What bugs me is that most of the time these contacts are ugly as sin, but are not necessarily lifts. I don't know if this is some sort of local way of getting around the double-hit non-call (as trained by other refs) or just new refs without the experience.
I'm kinda' torn on it personally. If it's really ugly, the vb purist in me wants it called anyway, but lots of times it isn't too bad, and some of the refs will call it regardless. As I understand it, internationally this rule was implemented to allow for more action. Those guys and girls are so big and strong and serve so hard that the receivers need all the resources they can get to pass the ball.
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KY, I think we are going to go play on Sept 17 in the Sacred Heart JV Trny and miss our own BIVT. What do you know about these teams?
Sacred Heart (duh, they are good)
Ryle
Owensboro Catholic
N Oldham Co. (sp?)
S Oldham Co. (sp?)
Woodford Co. (sp?)
I think these are some of the names I was told, some of the spelling may be off.
Any info would be helpful as we are still trying to decide if it is worth the trip or not.
Thanks!
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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
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Kinda' on the same line of thought,
The Coach's Top 10:
10. It's allright/that's okay...We got this!
9. Setter's back row/front row
8. Reach higher/elbow higher
7. Close the block!
6. Watch the dump!
5. Get low!
4. TIP!!!
3. FREE!!!
2. FOCUS!!!
1. The grandest vb cliche' of all time....MOVE YOUR FEET!!
11 AAA District Playoffs/ Brentwood, Franklin, Ind.
in Game Info & Results
Posted
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.