Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas

Ho..ho...ho! Wishing you all a very merry Christmas.

I posted some pics on our webpage, check them out!

Norm

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

XMAS Break

Had a great practice today... although the girls may not have appreciated all the running! I hope you all have a great break (don't forget your approaches!). See you all on Jan 4th.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Dec 14/16


Hey guys!
I thought I would post a 14 Silver pic from a few years ago displaying what 14 Silver is all about. Michelle and Katie are executing a perfect pancake, and Emily and and Sophia are ready to continue the play! Great job girls!
I posted the girls heights and positions on the web. Check it out to make sure I have it right.

Dec 14th - At this practice we will be short a couple of players because of the scorekeepers clinic, but we'll make do.

Dec 16th - I have a little something fun for this day... might be a good day to bring your camera.

Dec 17th-Jan 3rd - We're off, no practice!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Dec 7 & 9

Hey 14 Silver!

With a couple of practices under our belt, we're about ready to really get going. The girls are getting my style figured out and are working hard. The last practice was pretty slow and boring (serve receive positions), but the good news is that we won't devote a whole practice to that again.

Expect a lot of defense and transition work on Wednesday.

Go Webfoot!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Welcome

Hi 14 Silver! It was really great meeting all of you last week, I can't wait for the season to start. I'll use this blog to communicate upcoming events, do tournament summaries and to post any other random thing that comes up during the season.

The first thing I want to communicate is that our team webpage is up w/ our roster and tournament schedule. Check it out by going to www.webfootjuniors.com , select TEAMS, then 14 SILVER. There is a link to this blog as well as a link to our photo gallery (once we get some pics!)

I will let you know about our first meeting, Novemebr 30th, when I get a little more information.

Again, I can't wait for the season to start... Go Webfoot!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Season Wrap Up

Just returned from the Bayview Classic in San Fransisco. We went into the tournament seeded 11th. Our pool consisted of Delta Valley Blue 14-1 (the #3 seed), Golden Bear Blue 14-1(the #6 seed) us (the #11 seed) and NorCal Black 13-1 (the #14 seed).

A couple of things threw us off a bit right off the start... first we had to learn the California protocol. Instead of circling the court and shaking hands, the entire team had to walk to the center of the court and wave to fans, then shake hands one at a time at the net. No big deal, but the other thing that threw us was that we discovered our Libero (Sarah) wasn't allowed to serve. We adjusted the lineups quickly, sometime putting Sarah in as a Libero, and sometimes as a DS.

While we played pretty well in pool play, we followed form and ended the morning the same place as we started, 11th. We lost to the #3 and #6, and beat the # 14. The highlight of the morning was that we put 21 points in game 2 against Golden Bear (the eventual tournament champions).

After pool play, we headed off to get cleaned up for a limo ride over the Golden gate bridge and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe'. Who knew the girls cleaned up so nice!

Sunday had us against the #22, #27 and the #38. It was a bit disappointing since we anted an opportunity to move up, but we took care of business and swept pool play to maintain or seed.

Ending Sunday 11th, put us in the play-in championship bracket. (A place I have never been before!) Being the #11, we were pitted against the #5, Delta Valley Blue 13-1. Again, we played pretty well, but Delta Valley was just to much for us.

So the loss put us in the #9-#16 bracket. Our first opponent was the #13, Tandem Blue. They were a very small team, but had good ball control. We took advantage of our size and got numerous blocks and awesome kills as we went on to a 3-game win. So, still at #11, we then played the #10, Saddleback Chris. This was a real back and forth match, but in the end, we just ran out of gas and lost in 3.

So in all the games we played, we never moved from our #11 spot... we started there and ended there. While disappointed that we didn't move up, I am ecstatic that we ended #11, my highest finish ever. usually my teams end in the mid 20's to low 30's, so this #11 finish was pretty awesome.

All kinds of things go through my mind when I think about this season:
1 Power League tournament win
1 Power League 2nd place
1 Tournament Win (Oregon Juniors)
1 Consolation Win (Rose City)
1 Division Win WVC
Playing 14 Gold tough (losing 25-23, 26-24).

Without a doubt, this was the most successful team I have ever had. However, our success on the court isn't what I'm going to remember, it's the girls themselves. Whether it's Natalie spitting water all over the team at the Willamette Valley Classic; RaeChelle jumping into a spectators lap; Sarah referring to her sibling as her "idiot brother"; Dani frantically trying to remove her bandage to play; Michelle getting her shoes tied together so tight, she couldn't get the untied; RaeChelle getting a finger wag from an official; Sabrina getting blinded by the sun after an attack; or the whole team comparing belly-buttons between games... these are the things I will remember.

So, without getting too maudlin, I want to thank the girls for being who they are. They truly were a special group.

So, next up... Monday, 5:30 at the Churchill outdoor courts for a BBQ!

After that, The Webfoot BBQ at Camp Harlow, June 7th, 2:00-5:00!


Go Webfoot!