...And Video part 3

Here is the last one...

Final Video part 2

Here is the second part of the video...

The End...

Well....we are done. The season finished last week in Portland... We beat Idaho State in another five game match (3rd one this year!), then got beat in five by Portland State (3rd one this year!).

The Idaho State match was pretty crazy. There is just something about that team that gets to us. We find ways to win, but it is rarely pretty... The girls just kept battling through it and made it work for us. Both times we played them during the season we lost the first two, then won in five. This one was less dramatic, but a five-gamer is always tough.

Our match against Portland State was rough. They came out ready to go! They took it to us the first two games...then we came back after the break to take the next two. Once again it came down to the fifth game, and once again Portland State found a way to take it late in the game.

In the locker room after the match our girls showed how awesome they truly are. They were so full of thanks. Thanks that they had the opportunity to play, thanks to the seniors for their drive and hard work, but most of all, thanks that they really loved being together. There were a lot of tears for sure, but in the end, we were proud of our season. The coaches were definitely proud of the team. I think the returners are already gearing up for next year!

I put together a little video for the girls (which we are watching together later today). I will have to cut it into a couple of parts in order to post it... Yes, our girls are great volleyball players (as evidence by our 24-7 record), but they truly love being together and have a ton of fun... Watch and enjoy.

Headed to Portland

We just got back from Northern Arizona last Sunday. It was a really fun trip... I think one of the reasons I like the trip is the same reason that it wears us out so badly. We fly into Phoenix, then drive the 2 1/2 hours to Flagstaff...then have to drive back on Sunday morning. It is a lot of travel time within 36 hours. We all really like the van rides though. Each van has its own little subculture.



The match at NAU went well. We dropped game two to them. Credit their feisty defense. They are always tough at home (have you picked up a pattern this year...?), but we found a way to overpower them in the last two sets.



The week before last we played Eastern Washington and Portland State at home. Eastern was the only conference team to beat us last year on our home floor. That wasn't going to happen this year though. The girls were fired up and took care of business in three. Portland State was a tougher match. They were the only conference team we hadn't beat this year and the match was for the conference title. We dropped the first set, won two and three, then dropped the fourth and fifth sets. It was a tough loss for us. Yet, it is all part of the deal. We need to learn how to play with that kind of pressure on us. While we played fairly well, we really didn't play at a championship level. Portland State is a very talented team. They have several legit weapons. I do think that there are a few things that we can clean up and we can take them in the conference tournament.



Speaking of the tournament, we leave Thursday morning. No Thanksgiving at home this year (or next...). That is ok though. Our team really is our second family, so we don't feel too bad about it. We will travel, practice and have a "dessert banquet" Thursday, then have a practice Friday morning around 11. We will be playing Idaho State on Friday around 5:30. If we win that one, we will play the winner of Portland State and Montana on Saturday night. Whoever wins that match will move onto the NCAA tournament. All the work, all the time, all the effort that we put in all year comes down to taking care of business this coming weekend. Should be a lot of fun!



Well, wish us luck! Hopefully we won't get caught in airport security! That would not be good... I am sure we will be fine though. Have a great Thanksgiving...I know we will!

Everyday...something new...

Wow, this was a good weekend to be a part of Bear's volleyball. We headed to Montana this past weekend to play both Montana and Montana State. For some reason, we have always struggled playing Montana at their place. In the five years we have been in the conference, we have never beat them there... Our girls were fired up to play them; but in a more business-like way this time. We struggled through the first few points, but then turned it on to beat them in three. It honestly was a little anti-climactic. We are not complaining though. We will take the win.

We then drove to Montana State on Saturday morning (more on that in a minute). We have had some solid success in Bozeman, but we also knew that Montana State is solid at home. They put up a great fight and it went four, but we ended up taking the match. I love their crowd. They always have a bunch of people there that are cheering for their team, even when they may be struggling. Great place for volleyball.

Even though we have had a tough go of it in Montana in the past, our girls still love this trip because of the food! Both towns have Mackenzie River Pizza Co restaurants in them and it is a favorite. Also, we usually go to Famous Daves after our Montana State match... This year was no exception. The picture below is Amanda Arterburn falling asleep at the table after our second match of the weekend.... she was tuckered out.

As I mentioned before, we drove from Missoula to Bozeman on Saturday morning. I love the drive because it is beautiful country. The girls usually fall asleep for a while, then pick up the conversation once we get closer to our destination. This year, they decided to play a little game called "Hey Cow!" Julie Stephenson introduced the game to them and Tom's van decided to try it out. The game consists of finding cows as you drive down the interstate, then rolling down your window and yelling "Hey Cow!" at them as you speed by. If the cow looks up, you earn points. The more cows that look, the more points you get. This is a quick look at the game recorded on Tom's phone...

Our girls are silly....and we love it.

Two more wins at home

Wow... So we tied another school record the other night...one mark that we wish we didn't get to. We played four five-set matches in a row dating back to our match against Portland State. Three weeks of five-gamers about killed me! We came out of it 3-1 which is pretty great considering that three of them were on the road, and the last one we were down 2 games to none!

Speaking of that match, Idaho State came in to play us last Thursday night.... And they came to play! They were very very good in the first two sets. We just couldn't get a ball to go down. There were frustrating two of the best hitters in the conference (Ashley and Kelley). Luckily for the rest of our team, Julie and Brittany really stepped up. Julie had a career high 17 kills and Brit added 12 of her own. Both hit in the .300's. As the match wore on, both Kelley and Ash found ways to start scoring and that put the Bangles on their heals. We came out in game three a little slow, but then decided it was time to take care of business. As the game wore on it became apparent that the Bears refused to lose the match. We worked hard and efficiently to win the match in 5. Again, credit Idaho State for some amazing defensive plays.

This marked the second time this season that we dropped the first two sets to Idaho State, then proceeded to win the match in five. We did the same at their place in September. It is like our girls need to feel that pressure before then come out and get after it... The good news is...they find ways to win. It may not always be pretty, but they find a way.

Saturday night was senior night. We had it a couple of weeks early because Ashley's mom would not have been able to make it if we had it during our last home match. It was a great night for her to be there too. Ashley got 16 kills and hit .609 on the night, which included her 1000th career kill as a Bear...only the 14th player ever to reach that mark. Abbie Howe, another senior, also had a great night posting a career high 14 digs. Our last senior, Julie Stephenson continued her great play hitting over .300 for the second night.

Ashley's 1000th kill

We had a little banquet after the match which was fun. But...it didn't quite have that senior night feel. There were several speeches, thank yous, and cards being handed around...but not a whole lot of tears. I think it is because we all know that we have a lot of work to do before we accomplish our goals. Keep an eye out...it is a great time to be a BEAR!

Another Crazy Win

Wow, what another crazy weekend. We have played three five game matches in a row! Thank goodness we came out of it 2-1.


Sacramento State has a reputation for being very good on their home floor...and they did not disappoint. From the first point of the match they came out swinging. It took a little while for our girls to come around, but eventually we did. In the fifth game, we were up most of the game, but then couldn't come up with the plays to finish the match. We were up 13-11, then suddenly down 13-14. We sided out with a tip from Kelley, then made a couple plays (and took advantage of a couple of their errors) to finish the match. Sac State is a solid team, especially at home. I definitely credit them with some very hard play. We fortunately came out with the win.

Of course, no trip to California is complete without a visit to In-N-Out. Brittany, Marissa, and Tom are all California natives, so it was a little slice of home-heaven for them. Everyone else on the team took the opportunity to enjoy a burger you just can't get here in Colorado. Although...on our trip to Weber State this past month, we did see an In-N-Out nearing completion in Salt Lake city...

Over all it was a good trip. Girls were tired (as were the coaches) when we got home.

Bears Split on the Road

We just got back from a pretty tough weekend. We headed to Portland State on Thursday afternoon and played Portland State Friday night. As expected, their crowd was what their usual selves. They can get...how can we say...a little rowdy. They always have a group of guys that are a bit obnoxious, but in a lot of ways, it creates a fun atmosphere. They had two guys dressed head to toe in green spandex...you couldn't even see their faces. They were pretty funny. Thank goodness we practiced for it the whole week before...(no...I didn't wear spandex during practice, but I did taunt them). The match didn't work out in our favor as we dropped the match in five. That is OK though...we have never even taken a set off them in their gym, so it shows our girls that we can not play our best and we can still beat them. Plus, if you are going to pick up a loss, five games is the best way to do it.

Saturday morning we headed to Spokane to play Eastern Washington. Their record isn't great this year, but they have been very good at home. Having to fly between the two cities and being kind of rushed from one place to the next is tough on the team...let alone losing a five game match the night before. Our girls were in good spirits though. We came out a bit slow, but turned it around by game four to win in five...again. Ten games over the course of two days! That is a lot of volleyball!

I attached a short film of us at Eastern right before our practice. Because the conference tournament was there last year, we almost felt at home in their building (minus the yelling and taunting from their crowd). We sometimes do the "hit the roof" challenge. Their ceiling in their gym is ridiculously high. So much so that we challenge each other to hit the roof with a volleyball. That may seem like it isn't too hard...but like I mentioned, the ceiling is WAY up there. This is Amanda and Jenny going after it...

Homecoming Week

Sorry this is once again delayed. Although we have been at home for the past weeks, we always seem to find a way to stay very busy...

A few things have happened since I last updated this blog. The team walked in our annual Homecoming parade, which was very fun for the girls. It seems to be pretty rare that we get to be around for our homecoming week. It was great to be able to take part in the festivities and attend the football game, even for a little while.

As far as volleyball goes, we have been having quite a nice stretch. As mentioned above, we have been home for three weeks for a total of five matches. One of them was against Colorado State, who, we found out, is ranked 18th in the country for a reason. They are definitely a talented team, but I think we all feel as if we didn't play our best.

The other four matches were against Big Sky opponents. First, we beat Sacramento State in four games. Then, two weeks ago we beat Northern Arizona in three games. Last weekend, we faced off against Montana State on Thursday night (we won in three), and Montana on Saturday night. The Montana match was great because they were ranked in the pre-season pole above us. Anytime you can beat someone ranked above you it is a good thing. Plus, after we got out of the break between games 2 and 3, we started putting it together. After that point we outscored them 46-18. They are a solid team, but our girls really stepped up to the challenge and beat them.

The interesting thing about that last match was Julie. During our passing warm up I saw her on the sidelines with a water cup pressed against her head. I asked her what was wrong and she said she was getting a migraine. Not such great timing. Katie (our athletic trainer) called the doc, who rushed to Julie's aid. During the national anthem, Katie and the doc pulled her from the lineup to administer aid to help her head. In the video I am attaching, notice that she is missing when her name is called, but she runs in RIGHT as we run out to exchange hand-shakes. Again, timing is sometimes everything...

Crazy weekend!

Wow, another crazy weekend for the Bears! We ended up escaping with two important wins against Weber and Idaho State...

The Weber match was not terribly pretty. Our girls came out fairly strong, but then kind of fell into a lapse. Weber capitalized on it to take the first set. After that, I think our girls were a little upset and decided it was time to play. We finished the match out in four against a young Weber State team. They were playing almost all freshman and sophomores, so we expect them to improve a lot by the next time we see them at our place.

The Idaho State match was crazy. They have had an excellent pre-season with some very good wins. Both teams came out swinging and it was close most of the first game. Then, Idaho State took advantage of a few of our errors to beat us. Then, in game two, we came out strong to take a 5-1 lead...only to watch Idaho State creep back into the game and tie it at 16. Again, they took care of the ball better than we did to go up two games to none. During break, Coach Benson really challenged the team to step up to the challenge. Idaho State is a very solid team and we fully expect them to be in the conference tournament this year. Our girls came out on fire. This time, we took advantage of their mistakes to take both games three and four. Game five was back and forth until it was 11-11. Then, with the help of some great defense and the offensive play of Ashley, we pulled out the win. The crowd fell silent as Ashley and Natalie blocked the final ball.

One of the best parts of the Weber/Idaho State trip is the food. About five years ago, one of our assistants (Paul Richardson) found a small restaurant called Lee's Mongolia BBQ. We go there every year. Our travel roster included four girls who had never been before so it was quite the adventure. I took a couple of short videos on my phone so I could put them up on the blog.


Next up is Sacramento State here in Butler Hancock Sports Pavilion. We are excited to be home after a couple of weeks on the road. We are hoping to have a great crowd out some come check us out!

Wyoming Weekend

Well, it didn't finish as we would have hoped, but it was still a good weekend. We were up in Wyoming this past weekend. We played two solid programs and came away with wins, but lost to host Wyoming Saturday afternoon.

It started as a nice and convenient bus trip up highway 85. As we got to Laramie we practiced for a little while in their gym. Some of the girls, especially the middle blockers, noticed the additional 2,000+ feet of elevation. After practice we headed over to a local chain restaurant. We were told that it would be a little wait to get us in...45 minutes later (and they seated several mid-sized parties) we left vowing not to return. Instead we headed to McAlisters. They were awesome.

The first two matches went really well. We controlled the match pretty well, only allowing a couple runs of points. We beat Texas-Arlington on Friday afternoon, then beat Portland on Saturday morning. Both of which were good wins for us. Then we came up against Wyoming on Saturday afternoon. They played really well against us and we did not have much of a response. I guess that happens from time to time. That is ok though. They are a solid team that I think is going to surprise some people in their conference.

I have attached a short video from this weekend. This took place in the tunnel leading out to the gym floor. The girls made a little tunnel for the coaches to run through. Luckily, I caught Jenny running through it as they all sang for her. Our girls are so goofy! I love it.

We are headed to Utah and Idaho this weekend. We are playing Weber State on Friday night, and Idaho State on Saturday night. Both teams have some great talent and always play very tough on their home floor. We are looking forward to the trip. I am sure our girls will rise to the challenge!

Still on a roll!

It has been a good week to be a Bear! Since the last time I updated the blog we beat UMKC, South Dakota, Fairfield, and Georgia. We won our home tournament last weekend! It was pretty great to do that in front of our home crowd.

The Georgia match specifically was amazing...even epic. We won game one by a couple of points before falling in a disappointing game two. Game three was crazy. We ended up running out of subs at 24-24. Jill Dawson, one of our defensive and serving specialists subbed in for our middle, Ashley Lichtenberg. Jill scored a crucial point, but then Georgia sided-out. We went back and forth with them for what seemed forever...until we realized that we were out of subs and Jill was going to have to play front row! Jill played outside hitter, and the others around her just filled in wherever we could. Julie played middle for a rotation, as did Bre W. It was nuts! Then, Jill went back to the back row, and we won the match before she got back to the front...38-36. It was intense. We ended up winning game five 15-11. Crazy match.

Last night we played Denver. We have had a really tough time with them the past few years, but this time we took care of our business and beat them in three. For all of our girls, it was the first time we have beat them in the fall, so that was great.

We leave tomorrow for Wyoming. We will be playing Texas-Arlington on Friday, and Portland and Wyoming on Saturday. This is going to be a tough weekend! I think our girls are up to the challenge though. I guess we will have to wait and see. Should be fun though.

Go Bears!

We beat Air Force

On Tuesday night we opened with our first home match of the year. Air Force came up to play us. If you read the article, you will know that we started a little slow. I think there may have been some nerves involved because of having our home crowd there. On one side, there is an unsaid pressure to live up to last year's successes. On the other side, we have a whole new team with a very different personality than last year. I think it is going to take a few matches here and there to work through all the little stuff and for this team to fully define itself.

As the match progressed things got much better. We started finding the flow and attacking them. Much more fun on the bench when the girls step up to the challenge! This may be one of the most competitive group of girls we have ever had... When the competitive edge comes out on the floor, watch out!

Our next round of matches are this weekend. We play UMKC tomorrow afternoon at 2, then South Dakota at 7pm. On Saturday we play Fairfield at 9am (wow...early), then Georgia at 8pm (wow...late). It will be fun because we may actually be able to attend our home football game between the matches!

Go Bears!!

First Weekend in San Diego

Well, we just got back from our first weekend of competition. It was a good time as many of our girls had never been to California before, yet it was a homecoming for several of us. One of the best things about this weekend was the parent support! Every match we played this weekend, we probably had as many or more people in the crowd than theopposing team did. I know that the coaches and the girls really appreciate the effort of all the parents that came.

Our match against Cincinnati was pretty solid. They came in as a team receiving votes for top 25. They finished ranked 44th last year and didn't lose any starters. We took a game off them and lost a couple of the other games by just a couple of points. Overall we were pleased with the performance our athletes put forward. They worked hard. We had moments of greatness in our first match of the season.

Our second match against San Diego State wasn't as pretty. We really struggled with some of the small details. SDSU played very well against us and made very few errors, so kudos to them. We definitely walked away from that match with many things that we need to work on.

The last match of the weekend was against CSU Northridge. They were definitely a solid team and they played hard against us. We ended up working through a lot of struggles to pull out a victory in that match. I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest during that last run of set 5. It was good to win that one though. Like Lyndsey said in her interview, that will be one that we look back at and draw strength from late in the season.

We have our home opener tonight against Air Force, and our home tournament this coming weekend. We will have four matches this weekend! Going to be pretty busy from now until then preparing.

The picture above is from Coronado Island looking across San Diego bay at down town. This is one of my favorite views anywhere.

First Week!

Holy Moly things are flying by! We are so busy that I hardly have time to sit down!

We just completed our first week of training. Our girls are doing great and we are all having a lot of fun. Many of the girls are pretty sore, but they are working through it. In another week, we will be ready to go.

We have done some really fun things since the last time I put a posting up... We have had a dinner for both the freshmen and sophomores classes. We also had a karaoke party. Of course I recorded it... I will be sure to put a short clip up soon, that is, as soon as I can find a few minutes!

Still moving into the new facility. We are almost settled, but our offices aren't quite totally put together yet. Soon.

Well, off to another practice.

It Has Begun!

Didn't we just finish our season? Just kidding... Our girls reported today. Today was set aside for several meetings, physical, tests, and paperwork. Plus, we have a fun dinner planned for tonight at a local park. Tomorrow, the real work begins.

This is going to be another great season. We lost four great seniors last year, but with our returning athletes and the addition of our new 2010's, we are just as physical and talented as we have ever been. We may take a few bumps early in the season, but look for us to finish very strong.

It is apparent from our first meeting this morning that our girls are ready for the season. We talked with them for about thirty minutes and they could hardly sit still. They are so excited! The coaches are excited to. We just had our first meeting to look over practice plans. It is always a little daunting trying to dial in the correct amount of technical instruction in contrast to team play, but that is why we are doing two-a-days! Lyndsey really has a great vision for the team. It is a great day to be a Bear!

Sorry it has been so long since this has been updated. Very busy summer. Plus, we just moved back into Butler-Hancock. I will be sure to take some great pictures to put up. I will also be sure to keep you all updated on our progress.

Go Bears!

20010 Summer Camps

The Northern Colorado Bears are proud to present our camp scheduled for summer, 2010. There are several ways to sign up for camps. The easiest way is to visit http://www.uncbears.com/information/camps/index and scroll to the bottom to find the volleyball camps, then click on the link to sign up.

3-Day Camps
We offer two Three-Day Player Development Camps. The purpose of these camps is to improve the individual skill level of the athletes and provide game play experience.

Dates: July 8-10, July 14-17
Cost: Day Camper; $200, Resident Camper; $280
Where: Northern Colorado Recreation Center
Grades: 4-12 (boys and girls)









We also offer a very competitive College Prep Camp. This is designed more for athletes that have aspirations to compete at the next level. We focus on higher level skills as well as game play. The design is similar to a college practice.

Dates: July 18-20.
Cost: Day Camper; $200, Resident Camper; $280
Where: Northern Colorado Recreation Center
Grades: 9-12








1-Day Clinics

Setting Clinic: This camp is designed to help the athlete create a base of setting skills as well as teaching the technical aspects of jump setting, first tempo sets, and combination sets.

Date: July 13
Cost: $90
Where: Northern Colorado Recreation Center
Grades: 4-12 (boys and girls)









Defensive Clinic: In the defensive clinic, all floor skills are taught along with seam coverage, overhead digging, serve receive and team defense.

Date: July 12
Cost: $90
Where: Northern Colorado Recreation Center
Grades: 4-12 (boys and girls)







Hitting Clinic: The hitting clinic breaks down the technical aspects of attacking as well as backrow attack, first tempo attacks, set combinations, and scoring and against a block. Blocking will also be covered.

Date: July 13
Cost: $90
Where: Northern Colorado Recreation Center
Grades: 4-12 (boys and girls)










See you on the court!

The Dreaded Pirate Bike!

I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I enjoyed making it. It is so great that our girls are willing to try just about anything. This was a pretty tough course they had to ride. A lot of them did well...some others...not so much. Don't worry, they laughed plenty at themselves.

End of the Season

Hey all, I can't believe I am saying this, but we are all done for another season. Last weekend we had our end-of-the-season party at Lyndsey's condo. It was a lot of fun. We got together and had some food from our friends at Panda Express, then watched our Pirate film.

If you didn't know, every year during our fall pre-season, we do a fun team-building event. This last year the theme was Pirates. There were several different adventures we sent them on as they had to find clues to where the treasure was. One of the adventures was the agility course. By far, it was the most fun for the girls to watch. So...I edited it down so I could put it on this blog page! I couldn't put it all on one video because the file would be too big, so I cut it down. Here is the "Pay the Piper" part of the course, as well as the Hoops challenge. I will put up the "dreaded" bike portion up soon. Enjoy!

Ultimate Workout

A week or so ago we took a day off from our "normal" training and headed outside to play some ultimate Frisbee. And although it may just sound like a good time, our girls got a great work out from running all over the field, they learned how to compete in a sport different than volleyball, and they learned how to strategize (at least one of the teams did). It was a ton of fun and our girls had a great time.

Easter Egg Hunt

On Friday, April 2nd, the team was given a mission...a mission to find candy filled Easter Eggs spread around the South Fields. Our Easter Bunny (Kenzie Shreeve) did an excellent job hiding the eggs. Some were pretty obvious (you know, for the younger kids on the team), and some were much more difficult. The athletes ran around like little kids trying to find these little joyous prizes. In the end, everyone had a great time...but got maybe a little hyper from the sugar high. Of course, as always, here is a little video of the excursion.



We hope you all enjoyed the holiday weekend. I know we did.

First weekend of Spring Volleyball

Spring season is here and we had the opportunity to host a total of 16 teams here on campus last Saturday. They gym was full and alive as people from all over the state (and a couple surrounding states) came to watch some great early-spring volleyball.

We actually split our team into two even teams. Both teams played well all day with only one loss apiece. They ended up playing each other in the play-offs. It was such a different feeling than when we play each other in practice. With the refs and fans, there was so much energy and excitement that we just can't replicate in our day-to-day practices. It was a tight match that ended up going three games. In all, we were very pleased with where we are at this point in the season.

Many people have asked us if we think that this next season is going to be a "rebuilding" year. With losing four seniors that were impact players, I can see how people can think that. The reality...at least in our minds...is that we are going to have another great season in 2010. Yes, we did lose some very key athletes, but we also feel that we have some great athletes coming up and ready to take their turn in the spotlight. We may be a bit younger next year, but all signs point to us making another run to the top! We hope you stay tuned...it is a great time to be a BEAR!

NCAA Round One

These are some highlights of our first ever NCAA DI appearance. We were seeded against the #6 ranked Washington Huskies. We played this match in Fort Collins, which was great because all of our fans could come to watch it. Also, the fans for the CSU Rams (who played right after us) cheered us on. We ended up winning the first game, and stayed close for the last three. It was a great showing for the Bears and the standing ovation at the end of the match showed the crowd's appreciation.

Big Sky Conference Championship Highlights

Here are some of the highlights from the championship match against Portland State. We ended up winning in four, but it never really felt like we weren't in control of the match...

Semi-final Highlights

I haven't put our highlights up from our end-of-the-season run from last year yet... As a staff we were talking about the end of the season and how much fun it was. I decided to watch our highlight film and I got all fired up. Figured you might like to see some of it. I broke it into three segments because it was too big to post at one time. This is the Semi-Final match vs Eastern Washington. We ended up winning it in five games, 15-13. It was a great match! Enjoy some of the highlights.

Mascot Challenge

So...I found this extra footage...it was at the end of the Day of Dance footage (Angela, our volunteer assistant took the footage). At the end of the Day of Dance, they had a Mascot dance-off. Three of our girls volunteered to dress up in the costumes and put on a show for the audience. When I saw this, I almost fell out of my chair. It is days like these that I really love my job....

Day of Dance

On February 27th our team headed out to the Family Fun Plex here in Greeley in order to participate in the Day of Dance. Dance is a great way for people of all ages to get some physical activity in their lives...plus, it is a lot of fun. Here is a short video that shows our team involved in some of the activities.

Conditioning?

Last Friday the girls were getting ready for our normal condtioning... Joe Schaffer (our head strength and conditioning coach) showed up with Taylor (one of our former players) and a football. Our girls amost did flips! They were so excited that #1) they weren't going to have to run staduims, and #2) that there was going to be a game involved. We ended up playing ultimate frisbee, but with the football. Our girls get super competitive in those situations. They were diving around, crashing into each other, and falling all over the place. All the while, the field still had quite a bit of snow on it and was covered in mud. I took a few pictures, but they don't do it justice. It was a really fun time. Just don't tell the girls that they also got a great workout!

Valentine's Day Dance

On the 15th of February, we once again took our girls over to the local senior home. They were having a Valentine's day dance and we were invited. Of course we accepted! It was a ton of fun as our girls learned several dances, then used their new-found skills with the seniors. At the end of the dance, the seniors requested to see the team dance the way they do "now-a-days." It was great fun.

NGWSD

On Feb 11th, the University of Northern Colorado's Athletic Department invited young ladies from the local area to participate in the NGWSD.... The National Girls and Women in Sports Day. It was a lot of fun watching all these young ones running around playing a bunch of different sports. Here is a short video to show how it went....of course, Volleyball is highlighted in the sport...but what do you expect, right?

Spring Training!

Here we are, just starting off our Spring season and our kids have already been in the gym for three weeks! As of now, we are running individual groups. Each athlete is allowed two hours of instruction per week. So, we divide that into three forty minute segments. Then, we divide them into position groups. Tom works with the middle blockers, Jenny works with the defensive kids, and the outsides with their ball control and defense, and Lyndsey works with the setters and the outsides with attacking. It is great that we can all compliment each other so well.

Many people think that we just work out in the fall, and we are done... I would bet that if you ask our athletes which season was more difficult for them to get through they would all say that the Spring is more tough than the Fall. In the Fall, you get to compete every week. In the Spring, it is drilling, reps, lifting, and conditioning. Right now, Fall seems so far away, yet our girls are already working for another Big Sky Championship. Here is a quick video to show you what it looks like...

2009 Banquet

Last Wed night (Jan 13th) we had our first end-of-the-year banquet. It was a huge success. It was a great way to cap off our great season of play, while being able to send off our seniors in style. We held it in our universtiy center's Panarama room. Almost 90 people there including the team, coaches, parents, boosters, administrators, and people who are just fans of our program. It all started off with an inspiring speach from our Athletic Director, Jay Hinrichs, and ended with our final video. Here is a quick look at the evening.

Back in the Office!

Well, as coaches we got back into the office this week. All three of us had our little adventures over break. Lyndsey just got back from California where she went to a taping of the "Price is Right." The episode is going to air on TV on Feb 17th....look for her right behind contestant's row. She kept yelling "ONE DOLLAR!!" Jenny went back up to the mountains for a week, then to Minnesota for a while. Tom headed to Phoenix and Albuquerque to see family.

The good news is that we are all back and preparing for the Spring Season. To let you know how it works for our athletes....

They will be in the weight room and conditioning four days a week. This time of year is designed to really work them hard. We are working on building strength, endurance, quickness, and mental toughness. If you saw some of the things these girls work through, you would be incredibly impressed. Lots of stadium sprints, court sprints, jumping...the list goes on. Joe Shaffer, our head strength and conditioning coach does a great job taking our athletes to the next level.

Then, as far as training volleyball goes, the first seven weeks are individual workouts with the coaches. Each athlete is allowed to be in the gym getting instruction for two hours a week. We break these up into three forty minute sessions. Each position comes in for specific work. For example, the middle blockers will come in and will work on blocking or offense that is specific to the middle blocker. Then, setters will come in and set/play right back defense/block on the right side. Then, the outside hitters will come in and work on...well, basically everything (outside hitters do it ALL!). The last group are the defenders. They will serve receive and work on specific defensive moves. We see a TON of growth during these sessions. We will have three coaches watching 2-4 athletes at a time. Lots of instruction, great focus on skills.

Then, after Spring Break, we have six weeks of team practice. This is a great time to bring the team together to work together on the individual skills that we have developed in the individual sessions. We also have four competition dates, usually the four Saturdays in April. I am sure I will keep you updated on the dates. Most of the time we play against local teams including Denver, Colorado State, Colorado, and several of the local DII schools.

I, personally, love the Spring because you see so much improvement in the athletes, especially the younger kids. Also, the tournaments are fairly informal, so we can stop play if we need to and talk to the team. It is a pretty amazing contrast to our last match...which was very formal.

Well, the girls start classes on Monday, Jan 11th. Looking forward to having them back in town. I can speak for all of the coaches when I say that the reason that we do what we do is because of the interaction with our great young ladies. They are truly a joy to be around....most of the time that is....