becool

I think everyone should proceed with caution before predicting the demise of Brentwood based on one match loss. From all indications, Brentwood dominated the BVIT last weekend, then went to Huntsville on Tuesday and defeated two of the Alabama powerhouses. Brentwood may have experienced a let down from so much intense play or took Siegal for granted since they have beaten them easily in the past. Any time you take ANY team for granted, you are in trouble. I will be surprised if that match loss was anything but a fluke.

I'm sorry, I don't understand. Do you want to email me?

I think you know what I mean by consistent coaching. Why be difficult? There are way too many dissatisfied customers of the current club system here in Tennessee for you to win this argument. Since you obviously are associated with one of them, you have taken offense. I absolutely can generalize that this area is worse in coaching. At least in the club system. Sure, each coach is different, but that's not necessarily a good thing in the club program. The great clubs teach their coaches to teach in the same methods. It's pretty simple and very effective. That is the point I keep trying to get through to you. Maybe the newest club, Williamson County Select, has that in their business plan. Let's see...a model of a great club, though probably not perfect, would be A-5. They did their homework and their focus is in the right place. They have "evolved" almost immediately. This is my last comment on this subject. Obviously, I've touched a sore spot.

Bottom line... once again. A great club system and consistent coaching are the difference. We don't have a great club system or great coaching (consistently). Please stop putting the blame where it does not belong. Assumption, though obviously the best, is not the only great high school team in Louisville. KIVA girls are playing in high schools throughout the area. There are no 50/50 rules here, so why aren't TN teams at least better than Alabama teams? Take one guess. Please don't say talent, because that is such a coaching cop out. There will NEVER be a great club in TN until someone does things right. Why not use KIVA or A-5 as a model? It's going to take someone with great vision to bring that to TN.

Starting at a young age is extremely important, and many girls in this area have been playing club since they were 11 or 12. But even more important is consistent coaching. Because you have that great coaching in your area, you may not be aware of how fundamental it is to the club program. Sounds like you have layers of good coaching in your area (Catholic school system and club). We are not so fortunate here.

What NASA does well, as does every great program, is offer consistent coaching. They train their coaches to coach the same way at every age group and level. They also provide developmental programs for their players, such as, strength training and jumping programs. You only have to go to their website during the season to see what they are up to. A-5, the newest Atlanta club, is a wonderful example of how to run a club. Before they started, they looked at what all the clubs in the Atlanta area (I can think of at least 5 others) were doing wrong, then they researched what all the great clubs in the country were doing right, and then established their club. You should check out their website. Once at their website, go to "The A-5 Difference" and check out #2 under missions and goals. It talks about how they insist on consistent coaching from age 12 through high school. Coaches must attend mandatory coaching clinics. That is one program TN clubs MUST adopt if they want to compete. They also need to offer that additional developmental training that the top clubs offer. Obviously, when you look at A-5's website you realize they have tremendous community support and funding. However, the creators of A-5 aggressively pursued that help. They knew it took a lot more than knowing volleyball to run a club. It is a business with all the headaches that come with that. The best clubs are partnerships of business talent and volleyball knowledge and leadership. High school ball will always be at the mercy of the quality of the coach. That's why strong club programs are so important.

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. 825738977[/snapback] Well, it looks like we both need to eat our words. Brentwood came in second only to McGill Toolen in the Southside tournament, beating Bob Jones and Georgia state champs Woodward to advance to the finals. Clearly the best of Huntsville (and Atlanta) is NOT a step ahead of the best of Tennessee volleyball. Not a word about this in the Tennessee newspapers. No surprise there. Not even a word is mentioned about this feat on the Brentwood website. I had to find it hidden away on an earlier post. I only had to go to the Louisville newspapers to find out the results of the Louisville Invitational that Harding Academy and Huntsville High played in. Huntsville lost to Butler in the Silver Championship. Harding lost somewhere in the silver bracket. I guess we were wrong again. Huntsville volleyball is not yet in reach of the TOP Louisville volleyball teams. I still contend that lack of good, consistent coaching in strong club programs is the problem in Tennessee. Obviously the TALENT is here. Under the current club program, Tennessee will produce a few great players and maybe a high school team like Brentwood who can compete at a higher level. But unless the clubs in Tennessee start adopting the practices of the successful, established clubs around the country, they will never produce the numerous competitive teams and players that come out of Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia, to name a few.

I agree Huntsville volleyball is ahead of Nashville volleyball. They should be. They have at least two strong club programs, NASA and RCVC, and maybe one or two more in the area. In addition, those girls go straight from their club programs into high school programs where the coaches are, in many cases, the coaches from NASA and RCVC. In addition, McGill Toolen's (great team from Mobile) coach was the coach at Spring Hill College. You can't hardly compete with that. I only know three programs in the Nashville area, Franklin, BGA and Harpeth Hall, that have coaches with strong volleyball coaching background. As far as club programs in Nashville go, their weakness lies in the lack of great coaches available in this area. There are only a handful of quality coaches for a large number of teams. You are right about Alabama volleyball getting closer to Louisville volleyball. I believe one reason is that volleyball is appreciated, respected and reported on in both those states. Great athletes are attracted to the sport. From what I've seen, only the Chattanooga papers do a decent job of following high school volleyball in Tennessee. I rarely see articles in any Tennessee newspapers about our college and university volleyball teams. You do need to do a little homework on one comment you made. Huntsville High School volleyball is not made up mostly of NASA's 14 year old team. That makes for interesting reading but is simply not true. They have one 8th grader, one freshman and four or five seniors and the rest juniors and sophomores. Their junior setter is injured.