Week 1 Games & Tourney

Pictures from the Lindenhurst Tournament 9/17/11.




As always, some pics were taken while relaxing between games.


Eric's Oreo TIE Fighter.






Oh my gosh, where to start...
OK, first of all, our game against North was a nightmare. That's all it was...just a bad dream. I CAN NOT believe we lost that match. It never happened. That's what I said to my team and that's how we have to think about it. Like I say to everyone, in the games we won, we beat them by SO much more than they beat us! Get this. The scores were: 24-26, 25-12, 19-25, 25-11, 23-25.
So...if you add up the points, we won! Grrrrr. That was the first game of the season. A nail-biter for no apparent reason, but that's my team - we just have to make it interesting.

Game 2 was great - also interesting, but Suffern is a tough team to beat. I was just glad we won.
WE WON!!!!! Holy cow. MSGVarsity was there and we got some great tv time, so I heard. Eric's name was displayed in very large font in the newspaper, and all is well again with South Boys Volleyball. However, we cannot rest on the laurels of one big win. We were down 2 games at the start. That's not a good sign. What IS a good sign is that we were able to fight back and win the next 3 games in a row to win the match 3 games to 2. What I still want to see (and I've been waiting a few years to see it) is fighting from the beginning, right up to the end. All of the other Section I teams are beatable this year. We cannot sleep on the court. We cannot give up, even for one point. We cannot think about our mistakes. A word of advice for my boys, and I know they have heard me say this before and they will surely hear me say it again: The best volleyball players in the world make mistakes - a lot of them, but what makes them the best is that they are able to shake off their mistakes right away because they know they have to focus on the next point.

"Pressure is something you put on yourself." A really awesome coach told me that.

Sighhhh...oh, Lindenhurst.
Every memory of this tournament now plagues me since the first year we went. In 2009, I asked a college coach to come and scout John Mapelli. That day, we were asleep on the court. In 2010, we slept through pool play and moved on to play a one-game playoff match against Sachem East. My boys played the best game of their lives. We gave up very few points, and still lost...by those few points. This year, we show up as zombies (again) and play decently in the playoff match (against Sachem East again), but lose and go home looking forward to a game with East Ramapo. What is the world coming to? We are such a good team this year, I swear. I feel like I have to convince my own team of it!

Boys -
Have confidence. You're really good. I'm NOT just saying that. I've already gotten a lot of compliments on you guys. And I'm proud of you. We need to work some things out in practice, but it won't happen without the confidence to do it. You win games when you know you can. So, know it! I believe in you. See you tomorrow. :-)

New Year, New Team, More Hope

The team this year shows a lot of potential. A LOT! First of all, the team is mostly seniors and sophomores, which I think is very interesting. I have 2 juniors and 1 freshman amongst them. Some of the boys who have been with me for a while are playing well, and still steadily improving. I feel bad for Brian. He is playing a position that is kind of new to him and there is a lot of pressure in that position. I would know. He's a setter, like me. At least I have usually been a setter. That's something I will try to get back to this year. Anyway, I think everyone has a spot on this team. I had 18 guys try out and I didn't have to make any cuts, thank goodness! I have 2 sophomores who I am particularly excited about seeing how they will improve. They can jump and hit, set, jump serve, they can pass pretty well and they take direction very well. That's what is helping them the most. When I tell them to do something, they really try to do it and usually get it done pretty well. I feel so lucky to have had two boys like them try out at the same time. I feel like this program is building. Slowly but surely. I am getting a few better athletes trying out each year and they make me a better coach. They inspire me and (I think) I inspire them, or at least they ARE taking direction well and want to do well because they're competitive. Bottom line - I'm excited. Time to tell people to come and watch our games. We need more fans this year!!!