Fun shirt ideas

Every year we have a poster with a fun saying or a quote on it and seniors and returning letter winners get to be on it. It is going to be my senior year this season (which is crazy) so I wanted it to be an awesome poster. A couple days ago all of the seniors had a meeting and we thought of some ideas for the poster and our fun shirts. Fun shirts are usually what we wear to school on game days, or we wear them over our jerseys to warm up in. They are usually a bright color and have Kennedy Volleyball on them. After discussing about a million options for the poster we decided on a pretty sweet one.

On the bottom of the poster will be our schedule and the freshman, sophomore, and jv teams’ pictures. Right above that we are going to have a picture of all of our forearms in a circle with a volleyball in the center. We are going to each pick a word to write on our arms that represents us, or is important to us. Above that picture is going to be a full body picture of us. We are going to wear dark skinny jeans, a black shirt and black heels. The picture is going to be taken downtown in front of a brick building. On the very top of the poster we are going to have the saying “Inhale confidence, exhale doubt”. I am really excited about the outcome of this poster, I think it will turn out really cool.

For our fun shirts we decided on a black shirt with neon blue writing. It is going to say “Bring ‘Em Out” on the front and have a faded out volleyball behind the text. On the back it is going to say “Don’t worry we are just wearing our warm ups”. I can’t wait to see how this turns out, because it should be sweet. We were also thinking about making a spirit jersey to wear as warm ups this year, just to have something special for our senior season. This is what a spirit jersey looks like. 

I am really excited for this season, our goal is to make it to state and I think we can definitely do that this year. We have worked really hard the past couple years, and have just come up a little short. This year we are coming into this season strong and determined to get that state qualifying banner, and possibly win a state championship. 

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Beach Volleyball

Since beach is starting soon, I thought I might as well go over some of the main concepts and rules of playing in the sand. Beach volleyball is totally different than indoor. Different rules, different strategies, and different skills to learn. Although there are different rules you have to have the same mindset to compete in either sport. In order to be successful in beach volleyball you need to know the important rules and learn some of the strategies.

The rules involved in beach are very different from indoor. The main difference is the rule about setting. In beach you are not allowed to set the ball unless it has absolutely no spin (which is pretty much impossible). So when you are setting your partner your best option is to forearm pass it. It takes some time to get used to controlling the ball that way but you will get the hang of it after a while. You also can not open hand tip the ball like you can in indoor. The other main rule is that if you are blocking and you touch the ball you and your partner only have 2 contacts to get it back over the net, where in indoor you would have 3 contacts.

Obviously in beach volleyball you are playing in the sand and usually you are playing doubles with a partner. This leads to some strategies that can help you succeed in this awesome sport. The first tip is to either serve/ hit to the player that can’t pass or the player that is the least offensive threat. This will give you a better opportunity to score on that rally. Serving and attacking to the person who is not as good at passing will most likely make their side become out of system, giving you a free ball. Serving and hitting to the person who is the least offensive threat will give you a better chance at digging their attack. If you are playing a team where both players can attack and pass decently then you can try serving in between them and that will usually get them out of system. Other strategies include blocking, going over on the second ball, and using smart shots. In beach blocking can be a little tricky and it takes a lot of practice to get used to it, but it is really fun when you stuff block someone in beach. If you and your partner decide to block, the person blocking tells the defender what part of the court he/ she is going to be blocking. The defender is then responsible for the other part of the court. For example if I was blocking the cross court shots for both hitters I would hold up 2 fingers on each hand (1 finger on each hand means I am blocking the line shots) and my partner would defend the line shots. Some smart shots in beach are a short pokey (tipping it with your knuckles) or a high roll shot to the deep corners. These shots will cause the other team to scramble for the ball and give you an easy ball back over. 

Beach is such a fun sport, I can’t wait for practices to start so we can get back out in the sand!

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Jump Serve

Last week a 4^th grader emailed me and asked if I could answer a few questions for her project on jump serving. I thought it was really cool that she chose that as her topic, and I was so happy to help. This is what I sent back to her, answering her questions and giving her some advice for her future volleyball career.

I think it's awesome that you are doing your project on jump serving. Here are my answers to your questions :)

1. There are 2 different kind of jump serves, the jump float and the jump top spin. I will explain how to do both.

Jump Float:

This is the serve that I use in games. It is really effective, but it takes a lot of practice. The most important thing about this serve is your contact. You want to contact the ball with a strong hand and solid wrist. You want to make sure you contact the ball with mostly just your palm so you can get it to float. You don't want to follow through on this serve, you want to stop your hand once you contact the ball. This serve is meant to make the ball move or float back and forth, so the other teams’ defenders have a hard time passing it. It is tricky to get this serve right away, it takes a lot of reps. So right now, since you are so young if you just practice the toss, footwork and jump you can worry about getting the ball to float once you have the other stuff down. It is awesome that you are thinking about jump serving right now. I don't think I started to jump serve until 8th grade!

Jump Top spin:

This serve requires a toss that is out in front of you so you can have a big approach and attack the ball. People who use this serve usually toss it with the same hand that they are going to be serving it with. While tossing you want to have some spin on the ball that will carry over into the serve. You want to contact the ball high and follow through with your arm, creating a spin on the ball. This one takes a lot of practice and I still haven't perfected it yet. 

2. The steps to do a jump serve are just like doing your approach for attacking. If you are right handed its left, right, left. If you are left handed its right, left, right.

3. In practice to get better and more consistent with my jump serve I focus on my technique and take my time on each serve.

4. For a jump top spin you should throw the ball pretty high so you have time to do your approach and still contact the ball high. For a float you will toss it lower because you are not jumping as high. I will attach some videos of each serve so you can see what the tosses are like.

5. If you step over the service line before you contact the ball then the other team gets the point. When you are jump serving you can jump over the line and contact the ball as long as you don't land before contact. 

6. Some advice for you would be never give up. I had a dream of playing Division 1 volleyball since I was your age and I never gave up and the hard worked paid off. I just recently committed to Loyola University in Chicago to play volleyball. Just always believe in yourself and keep working hard. Play whenever you can, even if it's just passing or setting the ball against your house, if it's ok with your parents :) Just getting extra touches on the ball will improve your skills.

Hope this helps and good luck with your project!

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Life of An Althete

Many athletes know the struggle of keeping up with their social life, academics, and sports. It is very difficult to spend eight hours at school, go to a two hour practice right after school, then be expected to go home and do at least two hours of homework each night, and make time for friends. The weekend is usually the only source of free time you will get, but even then you sometimes can't hang out. 

Athletes sometimes have weekend practices, which interfere with other plans. Some people might also put off all the homework due at a later date for the weekend. I know I am guilty of this and find myself in piles of homework every Sunday night. Not only do I have homework and sports on the weekend, but I also have to work six hour shifts on Sunday's sometimes. With football games on Friday nights, the only day I have free to do homework is Saturday. Sometimes you just need a break from everything. This is why planning your week is very important. 

I think all student athletes should dedicate one day on the weekend to homework and the other day to do whatever you want. I think it is extremely important to have a break in the middle of the week to provide some relief to the stress of having so much to do. I know that I sometimes get super stressed out and start to freak out at night when I am overwhelmed with everything. Taking a day off to not think about school and sports is something I could definitely use. 

Not all people have the option of taking off a day during the weekend. This can be solved by simply trying to get homework done before Sunday night. This will ensure a good night sleep on Sunday and give you a couple of hours before to just relax. I think it is very important for people to simply be lazy every once in a while. There comes a point where you just need to lay in your bed and do absolutely nothing. I find the biggest relief from stress to be simply laying in my bed thinking about nothing. It sounds ridiculous, but I just need some time to myself. 

The importance of education is so very high that it can sometimes be very overwhelming. Sports and school might be a top priority for student athletes, but you need to think about yourself first. You need to be happy. Don't think about all your responsibilities for one second and just do what you want. It's not worth doing if it won't benefit you in the long run. Your happiness comes before others and if that means taking a day off from homework then do it. I do not mean ditch the homework altogether, but choose another day to finish it. Planning your week can be very beneficial and is something I think all student athletes should use and take advantage of.

Payment

Athletes put their time and effort into the sports they love. This takes a lot of dedication and is something you must be committed to if you intend on playing in college. Not only is dedication a big part of playing sports, but money. You must always take into consideration the costs of playing sports when deciding whether or not you want to go out or play. Whether it is for equipment or the coaching, sports do cost quite a bit, especially if you play club sports. For example, club softball is pretty expensive.

There are a lot of things you need to play softball, whether it is club or not. Just the basic necessities to play softball can get to be a little pricey. Softball shoes can cost up to two hundred dollars, with the minimum being around eighty dollars, unless you find a good deal. This and the price of socks, shoes, bats, gloves, batting gloves, etc. can add up very quickly. Bats alone cost up to $500 with a minimum of about $350

Another thing you must take into consideration when deciding to play club softball is the price of playing alone. The costs of playing club range anywhere from eight hundred dollars to two thousand. This does not even include the price of staying at a hotel, getting food at tournaments, or buying souvenirs. Sometimes clubs even add in another price for jerseys, separate from the total cost. All in all playing club softball is extremely expensive, especially if you buy a forty dollar sweatshirt at every qualifying tournament.

The costs of playing sports shouldn't be a huge deal breaker when choosing whether or not to play, but it definitely needs to be something somewhat in your family’s budget. You don't want to make your family financially unstable just because you want to play a sport. There are many ways to get deals and clubs usually understand if you cannot afford it. The cost of playing sports is high and does take a lot of dedication, but if you truly love it, it is worth every ounce of money and time you put into it. Sports can bring a lot of joy into your life and even lead to scholarships in college. It all depends on how committed you are and how much time you are willing to put into the sport. Sports might be a little pricey, but the athlete determines how much they get out of their money.

Sport As Kids

There are many athletes out there that can say they have played the sport they love their entire life. Their parents must have started them out young and somewhat influenced the passion their child has for the sport. It is great to start children out playing multiple sports to get them interested early on. This will help them later when they are wanting to decide what to play in high school, if they choose to stick with sports. Knowing what practices are like will help kids get an idea of if they will enjoy playing in high school.

Some high school athletes cannot say they have played the sport they love for most of their life. Some of the best athletes have only started their sport right into high school. I'm not saying you shouldn't encourage your kids when they are young, because I am all for that. Some athletes are naturally talented and I think it is good to spark a love for the sport early on to get kids working hard young. Sports aren’t for everyone though and shouldn’t be forced upon others.

Sports take a lot of time and dedication, but you don't want your kids to get burnt out early on. I have seen athletes lose passion for the sport they used to love, simply because they have been doing the same thing for so long. Other athletes could never get burnt out and keep going strong throughout the years. This all depends on the person and can't really be determined when they're kids. It is all up to the parents to see if they want to encourage sports soon. It can lead to a world of success and ultimately determine your kid’s future.

I, truthfully, am for getting kids to try sports early on, but if they do not want to do it or do not enjoy it you shouldn't force it. Some kids are more into the arts, or simply don't like to be involved. Let kids choose who they want to be. You can encourage them to be involved, but I do not believe in forcing children to participate in extracurricular activities. Sports are a way to make friends and memories throughout the school years, but some people just aren't in the sports world like us athletes. Not every single person's world revolves around sports, unfortunately, although we’d like to believe it does.

campus

Recruitment is a stressful and drawn out event. It could last for three months to four years. It’s a never ending thing. There are multiple aspects in getting recruited.

It all starts with filling out question-airs on the college’s website. Usually this begins at the start of freshman year in high school. Colleges will receive thousands of question applications. Most colleges will pick the ones that they already have an interest in. Once the athlete contacts the school, the college is going to know that the player has an interest and then that makes them have an interest in the player. As a freshman the college coaches can't contact the player but the player can contact by email, phone, or text. If the coach doesn't respond then the player has to try another time. The coach can't call the player back.

Once club season starts, you should email the volleyball coach and let them know what club you are playing on, the back round of the club, and the schedule for the club season. If you do this the coaches are more likely to show up at the tournaments and come to the court you are playing on. Now if you get them to come to the court, make sure you are playing your hardest and show an enormous amount of leadership on the court. Coaches look for communication on the court, cheering on the bench, good sportsmanship, and competitive attitudes.

Your club coach should work their butt of to make sure you get to the point of recruitment. They should have your back in this stage of your career. They have a big say and could help you tremendously in the college search. When you are writing emails make sure you include your coach’s name and information, that way the college coach can get ahold to ask question about you. These college coaches would like to have other coaches that know the player better than just watching and not knowing a thing about them have a say and tell the college coach how they play. Club coaches love this, because they get to chat and brag about players they coach. They want every player they coach to go far. They want them to represent the town and state they come from. If you think about it, wherever a person goes to college at and play a sport, they are representing their high school, town, state, family and friends. A lot of people don’t realize that.

Difficulty

There are so many people that say, "volleyball is easy. You don't have to have any skill playing volleyball. I could do it in my sleep. Basketball and football take actual skill." Little do they know that volleyball takes a lot of skill. When it becomes at a high level, like from 8th grade and up, the time and effort the person puts into volleyball will reflect on how good they are.

There are a lot more aspects that go into volleyball other than, just jumping and swinging or thrusting your arms out at the ball. The way people hold their hands have a HUGE impact on how the ball will be passed. If one hand is in a fist and the other hand is wrapped around the fist then their passes will most likely be accurate. If the hands are wrapped together with the thumbs laying next to each other, the passes will most likely not be as accurate as the other hand wrap. Also, for defense the back row players must know how to read the other teams hitters. They must know how to see the way their body is facing or the way their approach angle is facing. Serve receive for back row players is all about seeing the ball and then beating it to the spot. It has harder than it looks. There are two types of serves, a float serve and a top spin serve. Top spin serves are way harder to pass than float serves. Float serves move different directions before it comes at you, so it is hard to beat the ball to the spot.

 Setting is all about thinking and being smart on who to set. The hitters depend on the setter to give them a set, so they can put it down. To be a great setter is having the ability to see which pin the opponents middle is cheating to and then set the opposite pin. Another key is to always jump set as much as they can. More they jump set more the other teams block is going to go up with the setter and then leaves the hitter open.

Every hitter has to be able to see the block and then find a way to hit around it. If there is a hole in the block they need to hit there. If the block is closed but they give up line they need to hit there. If the block is closed but they give up cross then they need to make a shot that will give them a kill. The final option is if the block is closed and they have nothing other than to do than they should tool the blocker. Tooling means they push the ball off the blockers hand so it goes out of bounds.

Regionals

            Regionals. A bid to nationals is on the line and you are playing close to home. A lot of tough competition and only 2 teams get their ticket to nationals. Playing in your home state means playing in front of family and friends, which might be added pressure for some girls. Regionals can be fun and stressful at the same time. My experience at regionals this year was awesome.

            This year regionals was in Cedar Falls, which is about an hour away from my house and it is also where my team practices. So it felt kind of weird waking up in my own bed on the day of a national qualifier. Usually we are 5-15 hours away. Driving to Cedar Falls on that Saturday morning I had all kinds of emotions running through me. I was more nervous than usual and I think was because I knew that that was our best bet at qualifying. In the back of my head I was thinking about last season and what went down at regionals then. Last year we were put in a tough pool the first day and ended up getting 3rd in our pool and playing in the bronze bracket on Sunday. It just wasn't a good weekend for my team, but we are a whole different team this year and I knew we could do it. I just had this feeling. I wanted that bid so bad for so long I was going to do whatever it took to get it. 

            On Saturday we were put in a pretty easy pool and won all 3 of our games in 2 sets. Sunday was going to be the real test of what my team could accomplish. I was pumped and I couldn't wait to go get that bid. On Sunday our first game wasn't until 10:00 so we got to sleep in a little but and that is always good. We played Rockets 17 Black in the quarterfinals, which was our first game. In the first set we started off kind of shaky but we fought back and didn't look back from there. We won in 2 sets and now faced CIS (Central Iowa Select) in the semi-finals, and the game to get a bid. The time was finally here, playing for the bid. We were so close I could taste it. We knew this game was going to be a battle, but we were up for it and we wanted revenge because we lost to them in pool play last year. I knew a couple girls from their team from High Performance and playing them in school season and they were a very talented team. We were going to have to play our best and not let up if we wanted to beat them.

Teammate

Every team has teammates they absolutely love or they have no interest in being around them. It is hard having teammates that don't get along. That is something you never want when you are searching for a team to play with. You want to make sure that the girls are people you see yourself hanging with and being friends with forever. When I think of a good teammate, I think of someone that will help me get better, or someone that is going to be in my life and friends with for as long as I live.

Teammates are not just people you say you play a sport with. They should be known as one of your best friends. A good teammate doesn't cheat their way out of things. For example, if you are lifting with another teammate you don't want to skip any lifts or reps. It is kind of like not cheating in school. That doesn't help you or your partner. There are a lot of aspects in being a good teammate. Giving positive and not negative feed back is good. Sometimes the other player likes when another teammate says something like, "hey you should get up faster on that block" or "you almost had it, just more step and you could have gotten it up." A lot of times players like hearing something from another teammate instead of getting yelled at by their coach. Little things like that could help your teammate go a long way. Doing something so little as giving tips doesn't just help them, but puts you in a great spot called a leader. Colleges look for this and want this on their team. That also leads back to my recent blog about getting recruited.

No matter what your job is on the court or field, you have a huge aspect to the team. If you are a bench player that is just as big of a role as the quarter back or point guard or the libero in volleyball. Cheering on the bench could be the determination of what will be the outcome of the game. Maybe the team isn't playing very good and needed a boost, but the bench wasn't cheering loud enough then they lose. Now what if the bench was loud and did everything they could to get the team fired up? Most likely the outcome would have been different. A good teammate cheers on the team no matter what position they are in. They should want the best for all of their team(family).

Stats

Any high school sports team that is somewhat high up in the rankings takes stats and is fairly good at being consistent. Whether it is free throw percentage or number of kills in a game, these statistics help show not only coaches, but players how they are doing on the court. Statistics are a great thing to have, but they can sometimes have a negative effect on athletes and the way they think.

Statistics are a way to show coaches which of the players has the highest percentage in certain areas. This helps coaches make difficult decisions when deciding who to play. Most coaches I have had do not rely only on percentages to decide the starting lineup. They look for who works the hardest, is the most dedicated, has the highest skill level, and then go to the statistics for a final decision. Stats are important, but not overly important to the point that you should worry about them. Your stats do not make or break you as a player.

Stats can become something that fuels you to do better, but you should not focus on just getting good stats. With time and dedication your percentages will rise on their own. If you focus on the game and your team you will soon see an increase in your stats. Stats are a way for individuals to see what they need to work on, but should not become something that takes focus away from your team. Your team is the most important thing. Athletes need to always be playing for their teammates, and stop playing for themselves.

Statistics can be both a good and bad thing to have, depending on the way you use them. Statistics do not define an athlete and should only be used to better the team. Yes, it is nice to have a high digging percentage or the top number of block assists, but this does not tell your story as an athlete. Your story is what you make it and how you carry yourself. Athletes need to understand that it is not all about being the best on the team, but about being the best leader for your team. Someone who always has a positive attitude, focuses on helping others, and simply loves the game itself is the kind of person coaches want on the court. Good statistics is just the icing on the cake.

Reliving Stress

There are many stresses and things that could go wrong being an athlete. The biggest thing for me is the time management. I have practices every day along with the homework and family priorities. I often find myself very busy with little free time to relax or do activities. This is the worst during the busiest part of school season and the busiest part of club season when we are gone for days at a time. When you miss school, you have to do all the make-up work along with all the current work. It can get very tiring and annoying. Also, it is VERY hard not to get distracted by your phone or other devices, especially after a game day or tournament, when you want to check what people said about the game.

Another problem with some athletes is getting tired of your sport. If someone is constantly practicing and playing with no breaks, they might get burnt out and not enjoy playing or not want to play anymore. This is probably more likely to happen if the practices seem repetitive, like they're doing the same things all the time in practice. Some people will get burnt out, but some who really enjoy the game won't. It just depends on the person. Some ways to prevent this from happening is to take a break from it, or in your free time do things non-sports related, so you're not always thinking about it and you're not always with the same people all the time. Sometimes it's not always the sport you get tired of, but the people.

One thing that is great about going on runs is that you control your pace. No one is next to you from the track team, or just one of your friends that want to speed it up or slow it down. If you all of a sudden aren't feeling like running, you can walk. If you want to run as fast as you can, you can do that too. No one is next to you trying to have a conversation that you're simply not interested in. I'm sorry, but some days I do not feel like talking to anyone. I don't mind listening to conversations, but when I run I am running to be with myself. Track is a different story though.