The first volleyball tournament of the year is always hard enough.. Imagine it without your head coach who has been drilling you and pushing you as hard as you can go for the last 3 weeks. Me being a player who has never tried to make excuses for why a game didn't go our way or why our team didnt mesh as it should.. can honestly say this weekend may not be what we hoped for. Facing perservierence, Our team has 12 away games (not including 4 away tournaments) and 5 home games (including only one tournament). We have to learn to live on the road.
We came from a rough loss Friday night against Wyoming Central, to lose yet again to them Saturday morning. After an hour game delay against Great Falls we pulled out the 5 game match to win 15-13. We may have had some bad times this weekend, and we definately had some good times, now we know exactly what we need to work on.
Signing off...
Chelsea Hicks #5, Megan Berndt #12
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
First Scrimmage!
Morning Practice-
This morning we started practice at 9:30 with jump roping or “skipping ropes” if you’re Canadian, and our movement drill. Then we all warmed up in passing and began the butterfly drill. Talking and getting to the ball during this drill was very good. That carried over to our serve receive drill. During the first 10 minutes of the drill, coach gave up tips to improve our passing by using what we learn in our movement drills. The next 10 minutes we passed a lot better. After that, we got to run our 4 volleyball killers!! Woo, NOT! We all completed in less than 2 minutes, but hopefully we don’t have to do much more of these. Communication and moving our feet is the key to a good team. We still have to improve on going for every ball and pushing ourselves when we're tired. If we do this we can keep improving our game. This afternoon is our first real scrimmage and we have to push eachother and use what we've been learning in practice.
Scrimmage!-
Our first scrimmage against eachother went well. We worked on plays and switching up the rotations. This got us loosened up for our scrimmage against the faculty and a few others. They were a tough team, but we stuck with them most of the time. Even though they won both games we played well as a team. Coach said she was happy with our play but we still have a little more to work on. We have the weekend off to rest up for next weeks practices. Throughout the next week we will be training for our upcoming tourney in Wyoming! woooooo!
This morning we started practice at 9:30 with jump roping or “skipping ropes” if you’re Canadian, and our movement drill. Then we all warmed up in passing and began the butterfly drill. Talking and getting to the ball during this drill was very good. That carried over to our serve receive drill. During the first 10 minutes of the drill, coach gave up tips to improve our passing by using what we learn in our movement drills. The next 10 minutes we passed a lot better. After that, we got to run our 4 volleyball killers!! Woo, NOT! We all completed in less than 2 minutes, but hopefully we don’t have to do much more of these. Communication and moving our feet is the key to a good team. We still have to improve on going for every ball and pushing ourselves when we're tired. If we do this we can keep improving our game. This afternoon is our first real scrimmage and we have to push eachother and use what we've been learning in practice.
Scrimmage!-
Our first scrimmage against eachother went well. We worked on plays and switching up the rotations. This got us loosened up for our scrimmage against the faculty and a few others. They were a tough team, but we stuck with them most of the time. Even though they won both games we played well as a team. Coach said she was happy with our play but we still have a little more to work on. We have the weekend off to rest up for next weeks practices. Throughout the next week we will be training for our upcoming tourney in Wyoming! woooooo!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Redemption
Tuesday, Aug 18th, as we still continued to practice twice a day we found ourselves in the gym at 9am once again. Today coach had planned to combine two practices into one because of an inservice she had to attend later that day. We started off the practice with 25 minutes of running around the basketball court and only walking when coach said to do so. After running we began warming up our arms and did a controlled passing drill. Once we were warmed up coach had us do the columbus drill. The columbus drill is a drill where we work on our control as a team. To be able to complete the drill as a team we need to get 15 in a row without the ball hitting the floor. After we completed the columbus drill, coach has us do a giant serve recieve for 10 minutes keeping track of how many perfect passes we got. Coach then introduced us to a new drill where we play 6 on 6. One team would always serve to the other team and the theam receiving the serve would have to get 3 out of the 5 points or else we would have to do one of either push ups, sit ups, squat jumps, sprints or etc. Once we got the 3 out of the 5 points we would rotate. With unsuccessfully completing the drill, practice ended early.
Wednesday, Aug 19, we started of the morning with coach giving us a new set of rules. After becoming familiar with the rules we began warming up with our jump ropes and then warmed up our arms. We then started the giant serve recieve drill for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes we added in the hitter. We then did the columbus drill. After 15 points we started the drill that we didnt complete yesterday. After pushing hard through the drill we are proud to say we finally completed it. Coach then made us each serve and all our serves had to land in the court for us to go home. However, we stayed to complete our lifting for the day.
At 5:00 pm we arrived at practice that we the team had previously planned out. Since the morning practice was a little rough we decided to start off with a fun drill called the baseball game. We then warmed up our arms and jumped into the columbus drill. After 15 points we tried a new drill called natalia's(which came from a Brizilian that coach played college ball with). We decided to try and redeem ourselves with te drill we struggled with earlier. We successfully completed the drill with much improvement. We had time remaining so we did a giant serve recieve for 10 minutes. We went home feeling more like a team.
Signing Out,
Brenna Coffey #4 and Kayla Tanner #11
Wednesday, Aug 19, we started of the morning with coach giving us a new set of rules. After becoming familiar with the rules we began warming up with our jump ropes and then warmed up our arms. We then started the giant serve recieve drill for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes we added in the hitter. We then did the columbus drill. After 15 points we started the drill that we didnt complete yesterday. After pushing hard through the drill we are proud to say we finally completed it. Coach then made us each serve and all our serves had to land in the court for us to go home. However, we stayed to complete our lifting for the day.
At 5:00 pm we arrived at practice that we the team had previously planned out. Since the morning practice was a little rough we decided to start off with a fun drill called the baseball game. We then warmed up our arms and jumped into the columbus drill. After 15 points we tried a new drill called natalia's(which came from a Brizilian that coach played college ball with). We decided to try and redeem ourselves with te drill we struggled with earlier. We successfully completed the drill with much improvement. We had time remaining so we did a giant serve recieve for 10 minutes. We went home feeling more like a team.
Signing Out,
Brenna Coffey #4 and Kayla Tanner #11
Monday, August 17, 2009
proving ourselves for two a days...
We are now into our second week of practicing, going only two times a day. But before we could move onto 2 a days we had one finally test that would push us physically and mentally to our limit. Early saturday morning we all met at the school and followed our coach to landfill hill. We all proceeded to make our way to up the hill where coach then told us to all stop. She then made her way further up the hill to a distance where she thought looked far enough for us to sprint up 10 times and get ate alive by swarms of mosquitoes. We completeted this finally test, proving to her that we were able to take on two a days without letting our intensity drop.
The first practice is at 9 a.m. which consists of conditioning and passing drills for about an hour and a half. One of the drills that we did was being put under pressure by having to pass 25 balls in 3 minutes. After passing 25 perfect balls or after 3 minutes, we would then have to get our hearts racing by doing sprints, tuck jumps, jumping jacks, push ups or burpees. We would then get back into the drill and keep repeating it until we reached our goal of 200 perfect passes.
The next time we practice is at 5 p.m., but today everyone had to be there at 4:30 p.m for an extra half an hour of hitting, passing and setting. After that half an hour practice we get right into team drills. Today we did 3 or 4 drills that challenged us to step up and cover the court with either 3 or 6 players, trying not to let the ball hit the floor. Once we completed those drills we then went into 6 on 6 scrimmaging, trying to see who fits where best.
Between our first and second practices we are now responsible for lifting on our own time.
Signing Out,
Macall Wimer #6 and Ashley Senft #9
The first practice is at 9 a.m. which consists of conditioning and passing drills for about an hour and a half. One of the drills that we did was being put under pressure by having to pass 25 balls in 3 minutes. After passing 25 perfect balls or after 3 minutes, we would then have to get our hearts racing by doing sprints, tuck jumps, jumping jacks, push ups or burpees. We would then get back into the drill and keep repeating it until we reached our goal of 200 perfect passes.
The next time we practice is at 5 p.m., but today everyone had to be there at 4:30 p.m for an extra half an hour of hitting, passing and setting. After that half an hour practice we get right into team drills. Today we did 3 or 4 drills that challenged us to step up and cover the court with either 3 or 6 players, trying not to let the ball hit the floor. Once we completed those drills we then went into 6 on 6 scrimmaging, trying to see who fits where best.
Between our first and second practices we are now responsible for lifting on our own time.
Signing Out,
Macall Wimer #6 and Ashley Senft #9
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Nearing The End Of Week One..
As we are coming close to the end of week one, we are beginning to realize that team chemistry is improving with each practice. Our practices are becoming more intense and competitive every day. This past week, we have done multiple things at each practice.
We start our day with 6a.m. conditioning practice. We have ran the boot, which is a 2.39 mile run, all under 27 minutes. We have also done 50 fourty-yard dashes and a 3-mile jog. After our conditioning practice, we have a "passing only" practice, which goes for about an hour. "Always play defense first," Coach Lindsey always says. Having this extra practice has already shown great improvements in our defensive abilities. After our "passing" practice is our first time of the day to unwind and catch up on some sleep.
At 12p.m., setters have a half hour setting practice, which contain many touches and the correct movements for each set. After 3o minutes, the setters join the rest of the team in either plyos or lifting. Today, instead of plyos, we were teamed up into 2 teams of 6 and were sent off for a scavenger hunt. "What would you do for your teammates" was what the top of the sheet read. We were sent to do tasks such as take a picture with the walmart door person, play volleyball in the economart parking lot, bag someones groceries, and wash someones windows. While doing these tasks, we had to ask a stranger to take a picture of us doing the event. We do not know who won yet, but the winning team gets a surprise. It is a great team bonding experience.
After our noon practice is another time to wind down. At 5:30p.m. is another "setting" practice, followed by a team practice at 6p.m. We do many things during this time such as hitting work, serve receive, serving, blocking, setting, defense, and many more.
Since the first day of practice, our team has looked sharp. We all work very hard and are becoming more and more confident each day.
Signing out,
Chelsea Hanson #8 and Shari Hewson #1
We start our day with 6a.m. conditioning practice. We have ran the boot, which is a 2.39 mile run, all under 27 minutes. We have also done 50 fourty-yard dashes and a 3-mile jog. After our conditioning practice, we have a "passing only" practice, which goes for about an hour. "Always play defense first," Coach Lindsey always says. Having this extra practice has already shown great improvements in our defensive abilities. After our "passing" practice is our first time of the day to unwind and catch up on some sleep.
At 12p.m., setters have a half hour setting practice, which contain many touches and the correct movements for each set. After 3o minutes, the setters join the rest of the team in either plyos or lifting. Today, instead of plyos, we were teamed up into 2 teams of 6 and were sent off for a scavenger hunt. "What would you do for your teammates" was what the top of the sheet read. We were sent to do tasks such as take a picture with the walmart door person, play volleyball in the economart parking lot, bag someones groceries, and wash someones windows. While doing these tasks, we had to ask a stranger to take a picture of us doing the event. We do not know who won yet, but the winning team gets a surprise. It is a great team bonding experience.
After our noon practice is another time to wind down. At 5:30p.m. is another "setting" practice, followed by a team practice at 6p.m. We do many things during this time such as hitting work, serve receive, serving, blocking, setting, defense, and many more.
Since the first day of practice, our team has looked sharp. We all work very hard and are becoming more and more confident each day.
Signing out,
Chelsea Hanson #8 and Shari Hewson #1
coaches thoughts
As the first week of preseason winds down, the talent of this group meets my expectations and more. The sophomores have done an amazing job leading the freshman and showing them the intensity they need to have for the team to have a succesful season. With that, the freshman have listened and pushed themselves to show the coaches and the sophomores why it is they are here. I will continue to expect big things from this team. I am excited to see where this season leads.
Coach Lindsey
Coach Lindsey
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A Promising Start
"Nice work and make sure that intensity continues the rest of the season. Very nice today!"
-Coach Lindsey
With only two days and six practices down we are all proud to see that Head Coach Lindsey Graue is very pleased with our performances. Our three practices a day include 6a.m. conditioning and passing, 12p.m weights and plyos, and 6p.m. team practices. Life is literally eat, sleep, and play volleyball. With all this hard work, we all know it will pay off. The work ethic with this group of girls seems to be much more intense than previous years. Every individual is stepping up and pushing others to work hard and to be better players.
Speaking as a Sophomore, we are all very excited and pleased with our new Freshman teammates.
Speaking as a Freshman, I have already noticed an immense difference in the level of volleyball that is played here from what I played in high school. College volleyball is much more fast pased and intense. I came from a high school of only 30 people so basically everybody had to be on the team. On this team, though, every single girl is here for a reason and wants to be here.
We are all excited to see how this season turns out, and we hope to see you at some games!
Signing off,
Megan Berndt #12 and Chelsea Hicks #5
-Coach Lindsey
With only two days and six practices down we are all proud to see that Head Coach Lindsey Graue is very pleased with our performances. Our three practices a day include 6a.m. conditioning and passing, 12p.m weights and plyos, and 6p.m. team practices. Life is literally eat, sleep, and play volleyball. With all this hard work, we all know it will pay off. The work ethic with this group of girls seems to be much more intense than previous years. Every individual is stepping up and pushing others to work hard and to be better players.
Speaking as a Sophomore, we are all very excited and pleased with our new Freshman teammates.
Speaking as a Freshman, I have already noticed an immense difference in the level of volleyball that is played here from what I played in high school. College volleyball is much more fast pased and intense. I came from a high school of only 30 people so basically everybody had to be on the team. On this team, though, every single girl is here for a reason and wants to be here.
We are all excited to see how this season turns out, and we hope to see you at some games!
Signing off,
Megan Berndt #12 and Chelsea Hicks #5
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