My daughter has an official visit coming up soon and we will be meeting with the athletic director during our visit. I want to learn about the university's commitment to the volleyball program - especially with several schools dropping volleyball recently. How nosy can I be? Can I ask for the trends in the volleyball budget over the last five years, for example (with specific numbers)? What else should we be asking of the AD?
I am impressed that you were able to schedule time with the Athletic Director during an Official Visit - Good job! Now that you have been invited in (to use a vampire term), you are free to ask any and all questions that you wish - nothing should be out of bounds because this is the future of your daughter.
I can understand your concern with the reports of NCAA athletic departments cutting women's volleyball. This in itself puzzles me because women's volleyball is a relatively inexpensive sport to fund, yet gives great return with superior graduation rates, low salaries and student-athletes that don't commit criminal acts.
First of all, be prepared for the politically correct answer to any of your questions - The majority of Athletic Directors have reached their position because they are very good at answering questions that give the correct impression, while it may not be the actual truth. For example, if you ask about the budget, the AD could rightly say, "Our Volleyball team enjoys wonderful support." Well, compared to who - a high school team? The school's rowing team? You need to be able to have a follow-up question along the lines of, "Great to hear, can you tell me where the school ranks in comparison to the rest of the conference?". If the AD says they are #8 out of 9 teams, then you know the AD was blowing sunshine at you!
Some questions that I would ask if I were a parent:
1. Does the Head Coach have a multi-year contract? If so, what is the length and what year is she/he on right now? If not, why not? I guarantee you that ZERO football and basketball coaches not on a contract at any NCAA school, so don't accept the answer that coaches don't get multi-year contracts.
2. Is the volleyball program fully staffed? This means a Head Coach and two assistant coaches. This is another indication of how well the program is supported.
3. Where does the volleyball program rank in term so budget support within the conference? If they don't know, they are not being truthful because the AD knows. If they duck this question, then ask for the exact team travel, recruiting and equipment budget amounts. Those are the big three that determine how well a team travels, how well the coaches can recruit and are the players getting enough shoes for the entire year or are they trying to stretch one pair out all year?
4. With the current economy, has the volleyball program taken a mid-fiscal year budget cut this year? If so, what was the amount? If not, will there be a budget reduction for next year? If so, what do you anticipate? These are tough questions but my feeling is that a number of schools are using the economy as a fulcrum to squeeze the budgets of athletic departments. This in turn translates to athletic directors squeezing the budgets of the Olympic Sports. In the end, the bottom line is your daughter will be affected. The safety on the football team won't be affected - He will still stay at the Hilton, airline and bus charter in and out of the game and have a late night snack delivered to their hotel room (I am not kidding), while your daughter is now taking a van instead of a bus and eating MacDonalds after matches for dinner.
5. If the facility is shared with Basektball(s), ask about how this is handled after October 15th? Some schools support equal use of the playing/practice facility when Volleyball and the Basketball(s) are all in their NCAA Traditional Season, while other schools suddenly get a case of amnesia with volleyball, who has to shift to a 6 a.m. practice time.
6. Does the Athletic Department put a priority upon the success of the volleyball program? This is an open ended question that means you will need to have a follow-up question - i.e., Does this mean the department will be increasing support, garnering sport specific donors, implementing a comprehensive marketing and promotions plan? Ask for details.
7. Is summer school funded for the volleyball team? If so, does this include classes and a room board stipend? This is becoming a serious issue for many volleyball programs which want to have student-athletes on campus over the summer for classes and lifting but get told "we don't have the funding", yet the entire incoming freshman football class and more than half the current players all receive summer school scholarships!
Those are just some thoughts about what I would ask, but don't hesitate to ask anything you feel concerned about. I promise you that when a new football or basketball coach is hired, they don't hesitate to demand anything and everything they could possible think of for the team or themselves.
Remember that you have no downside - The volleyball coach is not going to upset about you asking these questions, in fact, they will probably be cheering inside! These are questions which get volleyball coaches termed as selfish or not being team players by the AD's. But, you are just a concerned parent!
Good luck and have fun with it!!!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Questions for the Athletic Director on Official Visit
Labels: Questions from Readers
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Bad Math
We have Bad Math when it comes to NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball post-season opportunities. The NCAA lists DI Women's Volleyball as a Head Count sport, along with DI FB/WBB/MBB (I am upset, so those other sports just get initials in today's post). It is my understanding that there may be another sport or two on the women's side which is also a Head Count sport, yet these tend to be individual oriented sports; golf, tennis, etc.
Some conferences and schools are brave enough to actually provide the label Flagship Sport to DI Women's Volleyball - that is like getting the Golden Ticket (but better the ticket comes from the school, as opposed to the conference because I have been at schools where they said no ticket for you!).
Let's return to Bad Math class:
NCAA Football lists 119 NCAA Division I Bowl Subdivision teams (top level of Division I football) and there are 34 bowl games. 68 teams make the post season, which represents 57% of the sponsoring institutions.
NCAA Division I Men's Basketball has 343 schools. The NCAA Championship accepts 65 teams, while the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) accepts 32 teams. 97 teams play in a championship tournament representing 28% of sponsoring institutions.
NCAA Division I Women's Basketball has 340 teams. The NCAA Championship accepts 64 teams while the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) accepts 48 teams. 112 teams play in a championship tournament representing 33% of sponsoring institutions.
NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball has 329 teams. The NCAA Championship accepts 64 teams; there is no other event for Women's Volleyball (there used to be a National Invitational Volleyball Tournament (NIVT) but this was eliminated by a NCAA scheduling rule). 64 teams play in a championship tournament representing 19% of sponsoring institutions.
Bad Math - I call it March Madness for another reason.
Instead of Division I Women's Volleyball advocating for more posteason opportunities for a sport which carries one of the top graduation rates in the NCAA, we are actually reducing playing opportunities for female athletes because of the new scoring system.
I have a headache and I am going to bed - May you have a restful evening and a wonderful day.
Labels: Bad Call
Monday, March 16, 2009
Young For Year in School Volleyball Recruiting Question
I believe this question may affect a few Volleyfolks out there:
Hi: I have a very tall and up and coming volleyball player. She is very young for her grade in school, (11 years old in 7th grade). She will graduate high school at 16. Is this going to cause problems for the college recruiting process? If so, what do I need to do now as a parent to prepare for this? - Sandy
Thanks for your question. It is good to get a bit of a game plan together, even though she is only 11 - but, as you say, she is also in 7th grade. With the August birth dates, many Prospective Student Athletes (PSA) graduate at 17 years old and some will actually play part or all of their freshman year in college at age 17.
An issue which I would see for the recruiting process is not so much the 'end age' of graduation, but how old she will when she is being evaluated by college coaches at tournaments. Being a 16 year old Senior also means being 13 or 14 year Sophomore.
The current college recruiting protocol is to throw the recruiting net into the pools of sophomores to assemble the raw data base of PSA's. After coaches have marked anybody tall, talented and with an inkling of potentential, they will begin the serious talent evaluation process during the late 16's Club season/summer camps and early Club season of 17's (Juniors). Scholarships may be extended in the Junior summer (some programs are offering when PSA's finish teething in pre-school) into Junior year high school/Club season, with evaluations, adjustments, additional offers, etc., going on at all times.
A question facing your daughter and family is what age group to play her with, as she enters high school. You can either play her at her true age group or you can play her with her graduation age group (play her up).
Playing her with her true age group will allow her to develop in a friendlier physical environment and mature at a pace which is socially and mentally more comfortable (in theory) because she is around others of the same age.
Playing her up with her graduation year will allow her develop her skills faster (in theory), speed up her volleyball knowledge by being around others more experienced (in theory) and not have to make such a huge jump in skill levels from graduation date to playing in college. J
Jumping from 16 Club volleyball to freshman college volleyball would be daunting just because of the physical differences in the body between 16 and 19. When you factor in 2 extra years of repetitions, game experience, exposure to alternative training styles/systems, the chasm only gets wider
Unless your daughter is physically mature for her age (coordination, height, foot speed, arm swing, explosive movement, etc), it is really tough to play up 2 years in club volleyball. Some players can do it, but they tend not to be tall and have gained physical maturity earlier than their peers. If you want to see what the physical difference would be, just go to a big club tournament and watch the 17 Open age groups for a few matches, then go find the 15 Open age group (and please take a stick to beat away all the college coaches who should not be patrolling this part of the gym) - While some of the heights will be the same between the two groups, the physicallity will be far removed from each other.
All things being relative, this is also what the college coaches will see with their eyes. They will evaluate her right now, then they have to make some projections about her future. We do this with every PSA and each college coach/program has their own theory with the word POTENTIAL. What will be this player's college potential? Some coaches like to take chances on kids with a large potential upside in college, while others, like me, don't.
Whatever path you/your daughter decides to follow, you/she must communicate effectively with your Club personnel and college volleyball coaches. Either way, it must be communicated that she is a very young player playing up to her graduation year or she is playing with her age group even though she will graduate high school while in the 16 Junior Club age group.
The reality is, yes, this will cause problems in the recruiting process - 14 year old sophomores are not going to be as good (on average) as 16 year old sophomores. This issue can be projected each year forward, right through her college career. Depending on her birth date, she could well be a 19 year old Senior in college.
The variable is she physically mature for her age? All of will see a younger person at one time or another and make the comment, 'he/she seems very physically developed for their age' or 'I can't believe she/he is only 17 years old, they seem so much older'. If your daughter is in this category, then it can makes things a bit easier to manage.
Taking a strict volleyball development viewpoint, I feel you have two choices - Speed Up or Slow Down.
* Speed Up - Since she is only in 7th grade, she has 2.5 years before hitting the Sophomore in high school year (also the year college coaches assemble the database). This window of opportunity will allow you/her to emphasize her physical development. There are any number of fitness training programs which are geared toward developing athletes. Some call it speed work, or velocity training, or power core, or upside down something which sounds really cool training. What you are looking to do is encourage the development of her coordination to catch up with the height, along with improve her physical strength. Just like life, if you focus upon something, you can make it better.
This also means putting her up with her graduation year to play club, not her age year. Next year, following this train of thought, she should be playing 14's club. The sooner you make the jump in age groups, the better the long term result will be. It is not like 14 year old volleyball players have great coordination and fly through the air with huge vertical jumps. This gives a 3 year window for her body/mind to adept to this higher level of play, before being evaluated by college coaches.
* Slow Down - Two options. Options One - There is no law which says she must graduate high school and immediately enter college volleyball. With NCAA rules, you have 5 years to play 4 years, once your 'clock' starts. Your 'clock' starts when you begin full time at a college or compete with an organized team within the sport which you will play in college (this is how you get those 24 year old freshman in college playing football - they tried to play pro baseball, but since they did not play football after high school and did not go to college, their clock has not started. You may want to consider taking one year before going off to college and use that year playing 17's club volleyball.
I know this sounds a bit nontraditional, but it is an option. If she graduates high school and takes part time classes at a college in the fall, while working out and playing pick up volleyball/going to informal training sessions, she has not started her clock. You would need to wait until after the New Year before ramping up the Club season, because her clock would then start. The NCAA looks at calendar year as much as school year and she would have 5 years to play 4 starting in January. This would allow her to play 17's Club, while still taking part time (or full time since her clock started) classes. With College Volleyball being a Fall Semester sport, her 5th year would end at Christmas. The college of her future, may be able to redshirt her for the first semester of her clock, in which she was still playing club, thus allowing 4 more seasons of competition. Let me finish this suggestion by saying you would really want to visit directly with the NCAA (which is possible) to find out all the details - I have just hashed out a rough picture.
Option Two - Be very clear in the recruiting process that you expect your daughter to redshirt her first year in college to allow her to physically catch up. If coaches know going in that your daughter is very young for her year and that she/parents want her to redshirt the first year, then it make things simpler. Football redshirts most of their freshman athletes simply to allow them to physically close the gap with upperclassmen who have been lifting for 3+ years.
I am glad you are looking at this proactively, but I would caution you to keep this conversation away from your daughter - She is only 11 years old. Please, please and pretty please, do not put the cart ahead of the horse. All of this will work itself out and there is no rush to grow up.
Coach
Labels: Questions from Readers
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thoughts on a Friday.
Some random thoughts bouncing through my head on a Friday.
Was at Starbucks this morning grabbing a cup of coffee and the barista was a local student who saw my sweatshirt and/or knew I was the volleyball coach and asked "...so, when is volleyball season?". Maybe one day, each volleyball coach will enjoy never having to hear that question from someone who is under 80 years old and is not a monk tilling a field in a mountain valley. Do you think the big 3 ever get asked, 'when is basketball season' or 'when does football start playing'?
Just another reminder of just how far we have to go as a sport to achieve the support and recognition volleyball could receive. Good thing the AVCA is supporting Collegiate Beach Volleyball as a NCAA sport. Now when we are asked when does volleyball start, we can extend the conversation by launching into a discussion about the emergence of a new volleyball sport and how it differs fundamentally from indoor, yet is kinda the same because the same players play both sports but is really different - Oh, when does it start? Well, we are having a national survey, then a vote and then a review and 'comment period', then a committee reviews all input about that topic and after it is all said and done, a couple of folks which nobody really knows who they are or what they do, will make a decision and let everyone else know what 'we' decided was best for our sport or the sand volleyball sport or something.
Coaching Tip - Just let them play in practice. Allow me to clarify my tip. The other day in our spring season training, I was running around chasing some very fast papers through the department and was going to be late to practice. My assistant was also doing something off-seasonish, so I just told the captions to get together and play.
When I came into the gym later, the players had divided themselves into approximately even teams and were playing 6 on 6. I just sat down and watched to see what it looked like. For the most part it was correct - the serve receive pattern was about right, the offensive attack was about right and the defensive positioning was about right. It was good to see the players put themselves into the correct alignments and make their own small adjustments to be a better team during that specific scrimmage.
Like any coach, I could not keep my mouth shut and input a few things here and there which needed to be changed - More reminders about being in position, shifting a passer into the pattern and a back row MB out of the serve receive pattern but into the back row attack pattern. As a coach, we can always find fault with each and every team play sequence, but to always try to fix this fault is to maybe crimp the mental development of our players.
A weakness which I have found in American volleyball and volleyball players, versus some international volleyball players is the level of mental growth. Comparatively, international players seem much more 'organic' in their understanding of how volleyball is to be played. They seem to intuitively understand where to go, when to be in a certain spot and when not to be in a certain spot and when they get beat on a play, they digest what happened and make adjustments.
American players, comparatively speaking once again (and this is a big generality I am illustrating) tend to be more rigid in their court dynamics. They go to the spot because they have always gone to the spot and were told to go to the spot when they were in 12's club ball. Why is my DS, who is an OH in this scrimmage, up near the 10' line in serve receive? Because she has always been told the front row OH pulls up so she can focus on hitting, so she pulled up even though she is the best passer on the court.
Back to my Coaching Tip - Next time you are in a practice situation as a coach, just let the players divide themselves up into teams (like old school playground rules where captains pick teams) and play. Let them stumble along and put themselves into rotations and attack/transition positions. Let them fail and drop points and allow them the opportunity to figure it out on their own. Who knows, this may break loose a couple of volleyball 'free radicals' in their brains which may increase their abilities down the road.
Of course, you will have the urge to make some small reminders, but do so on individual technique, as opposed to team philosophy, i.e. reminding a setter to have her hands up early or a passer to get her feet stopped before passing.
Have a nice weekend and may double hits be called.
Labels: Coaching, Random Volleyball Thoughts
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Another Dose of Reality
So, I was trying to get into see my AD (not the head AD, but the assistant AD who supervises my sport) and have been trying to since Friday morning. Everyone is busy and AD's are usually busy all the time - One thing which has eliminated my consideration of being an AD for a future job is they really have no down time like coaches have.
I am in and out every 20 or so minutes on Friday, but no avail - Secretary said 'in a meeting, off to see the AD, just stepped out, should be back in around 30 minutes...", but was nice enough to inform my AD I wanted to visit briefly. Finally, I gave up and called it a day in the early afternoon - I mean, it is the off season and I have learned through previous burnout and crazy camp summers to take the off season seriously off.
Come Monday morning, I am back in the athletic department offices at the crack of 9:30 a.m. and grab some papers to go off to see my AD - No luck; office door is open, but she is in another meeting with the big AD - Secretary was nice enough to put a note on the chair telling my AD I have dropped by a 'few times'.
Now, don't get me wrong - I like my AD and have always been treated fairly as a person and as a coach. My AD is a bit older, has been with the school for awhile and stays on a very even keel. Does not go out of the way, lots of meetings with campus staff-administrators (non-athletics), but coaches and athletics staff go to the AD offices to meet.
Later Monday morning, I get smart and call the secretary to see if my AD is in? No, but she reminded me again of the note on the chair. Great - Thanks for the note.
I have to do something down the hall, so I grab my papers just in case and duck into the AD office area - My AD's office door is open, light is one and it looks good for my 5 minute meeting to happen. Round the corner and secretary hits me with:
"...not in there. Went down to Women's Basketball to meet with them before they leave for the conference tournament and I did not know because she just called to schedule the appointment with them at 10:30 a.m."
The reality is an AD is never too busy to schedule an appointment with Women's Basketball and go to their offices to meet, but it is not acceptable to call the Women's Basketball coach down to the AD's offices to meet. Unfortunately, this is a reoccurring theme that I was reminded about by today's actions but I have witnessed at all too many other schools.
While we take another survey about some new rule change which will save our sport, but really will only make it a more hollow version of what we loved and our coach's association is more concerned with college age females playing volleyball on the sand and labeling it a NCAA sport, NCAA Division I Women's Basketball has Athletic Directors altering their schedules and making appointments to go see the coaches.
Every time I am reminded of just how far we are behind where we should be, I just want to go postal on every person who tries to sell me some load of propaganda about what is best for our sport.
Labels: Random Volleyball Thoughts
Monday, March 9, 2009
Volleyball Coaching Change and Recruiting Files
An interesting question from a reader:
Hi Coach,
When a coach is fired, what happens to his or her recruiting files? Do they go with the coach? Are they destroyed and the new incoming coach starts from scratch? Are records left for the new coach, who may not be hired til months later? I am referring to NON-committed athletes. Just something I have wondered about.
thanks
club coach
I would feel the answer depends on how each coach would handle the transition. There are usually three mechanisms for a coaching change - Fired, new job or retired. My Readers Digest version is that the new coach either will not use the old coach's recruiting files (other than a cursory glance to see if there are any recruits they recognize) or the files were destroyed/lost when the previous coach departed.
If a coach is terminated, then my guess would be just how quickly does the 'physically' leaving the office happen. I have heard of coaches who have been fired getting a couple of months to gracefully exit and I have also been aware of coaches who were escorted back to their office by an Assistant Athletic Director to immediately remove their personal belongings. Most cases a fired coach will not destroy the files, but I believe they would make copies for their personal use should another coaching opportunity come to fruition quickly. Don't get me wrong though, I have known a number of coaches who left nothing for the arriving coach (recruiting files, budget notes, spring/fall schedule, equipment inventory, etc).
In terms of the incoming coach, they would usually start from scratch if they are replacing a fired coach. If you think about it, most coaches are fired for lack of winning and the root cause of losing seasons is not having better talent than your opponents (I know lots of other things contribute to not winning, but there are some great coaches which have been fired because they were not great recruiters - The flip side is I know very good recruiting head coaches who could not coach their way out of a paper bag, but have enjoyed long careers in the NCAA).
If an incoming coach is taking over a successful program from a coach who moved on or retired, then it would seem the new coach would use the available recruiting information to continue the successful protocol. There is a built in success pattern of obtaining winning players and a new coach, you would feel, should use this system to their benefit. The biggest mistake I have seen a new coach make, is when taking over a successful program, they veer away from what works. For instance, shifting the recruiting to a different region of the country when a success recruiting network for the program has already been established.
When a successful coach moves on to the next position, they will definitely take their recruiting information with them - They have worked to hard to generate the 'next' recruiting database and to leave it there (not make a copy) is illogical. Now, they may not be able to use their previous school's database of recruits because they have moved into a higher classification of conference or NCAA division, but they will bring it with them. Just a guess, but I would believe the leaving coach would be courteous enough to leave whole the current recruiting databases for the new coach.
The safe thing to assume is that the new coach either does not have the previous recruiting files or is not interested in who the old coach was recruiting. To this end, a PSA literally has to re-start the recruiting process with the new coach.
Labels: Questions from Readers
Friday, March 6, 2009
Volleyball Junior National Qualifiers
It has returned - the USAV Junior National Qualifiers!!! Just seems like yesterday it was Dallas and a disappointing USAV Junior Olympic Championships and now teams are hoping to take the path to sunny Miami!!. I will have to recruit in Miami for sure, I heard this could be the best talent laden Championship in USAV Junior Volleyball history - or at least that is what I am telling my AD as I do my trip planning to go to Miami South Beach, er I mean Miami.
With the rise in popularity of the AAU's and JVDA, along with the Volleyball Festival (I think this is the current name) out west, I wonder how many teams participate in the National Qualifiers with no intention of attending Nationals?
I posted a poll on the right side bar to see how many NQ's teams will be attending this year. I think with the economy a bit slow (just a bit), the total number of NQ's for each team would be down. My guesstimate number would be between 1 and 2 for each team or to lay it out to the decimal, I would say a 1.3 average. Only the final numbers will tell us the long awaited truth!
The other day, I was on the the USA Volleyball site looking up NQ dates and I cannot remember so many NQ tournaments. I know us coaches can sometimes get a bit in the Ivory Tower of college employment, but it seems like there has been an addition of one or two NQ tourneys.
As I had written about before, I enjoy all that encompasses the NQ experience - most of all, wall to wall to wall to wall volleyball. Hundreds of courts of volleyballness! Something I have learned to do, when I just need to shut down the recruiting brain awhile, but don't have time to leave the building, is to just find a spot to sit down at the edge of the chasm and watch it all. The montage of images is amazingly entertaining.
I hope that everyone who is travelling this weekend arrives and returns home safe, that the players have a safe and exciting experience, and that Mom keeps the water bottle filled while Dad shags every ball in hitting warm-up!
Good luck to all and thanks for voting on the newest poll.
Labels: Random Volleyball Thoughts
Monday, March 2, 2009
Volleyball Recruiting Exposure Question
My daughter is a junior. She plays for a 17 National club team. Last years team qualified for JO Nationals in Dallas. She has been very proactive as far as introducing herself to and communicating with coaches from universities that she is interested in. Most of them are Mid-major D1's and some D11's. The list of coaches that have maintained communication has narrowed itself down to about 20. I realize that it is still very early in the game as far as recruiting goes for the class of 2010. She is registered with the NCAA clearinghouse and with University Athlete. She is also listed on a couple of other "free" recruiting sites. My question is this; by having her profile listed on these other sites, does this in any way diminish her standing with the D1 programs that are currently talking to her? There doesn't seem to be any "high profile" or big time recruits listed on these 2 sites. I guess we are kind of torn between the idea of - if she is good enough they will find her and getting her name and skills out there in front of the right coaches.
This is an interesting question and one which I would not have considered until being asked. In general, I feel college coaches do not judge athletes by the recruiting services/websites, but rather we judge the recruiting service. I believe we understand that prospective student athletes (psa's) are trying to find a means to present their qualifications to coaches who are looking for players.
The high profile players have probably been receiving Introductory Recruiting Letters from programs since they were freshman or sophomores in high school, so the motivation to list their credentials on any service is not there.
By the information you have provided, I feel your daughter has successfully engaged a representative field of prospective schools for her future. Since you are from the Dallas area (a nationally recognized volleyball region) and she has played Junior Olympics, the college programs which have kept in contact with her are probably schools which saw her in live action.
I really would not worry about the status or attractiveness of your daughter as a psa because of the type of recruiting service she may be listed on. Free or paid, college coaches won't preface an evaluation because of the service.
A question which I have always wondered is how many college program use these services (those we, the college programs, don't pay for)? My guess would be an average number for Division I, more Division II programs and a lot more Division III programs - which I could attribute to recruiting budget and physical location of the school.
For instance, if you are a Division II school in southern California, within a one hour drive in any direction is a wealth of talent. If you are a DII school in New Mexico, then you may be more inclined to pay attention to these recruiting services. But, then again, I could be completely wrong!
I will always look at a video link from a recruiting service if it is the position and year of a recruiting need, but this is just the first cut of an athlete. I will use this video to determine if I want to see the player in a tournament, never to make a final or serious evaluation.
Back to your daughter, if she is in routine communications with 20 schools which she feels comfortable considering and which you/her/the club coach believes is appropriate for her talent level, then you are in a perfect position. Once again, since she is on a 17 national team in Dallas, she will be showcasing her talents better than any recruiting service could ever hope.
You are doing well, now just try to enjoy the process and enjoy her playing volleyball!
Coach