Update - End of the First Half

As some teams are finishing up for the 2012 year, we are just coming up to the break in our marathon season.  The preseason involved a lot of training, playing -- figuring things out.  Now that the season is half way through, we are beginning to reach a more stable form of play (rather than the ups and downs of a roller coaster that new teams often experience). 

   The season started off with us hosting Lakehead at the ARC.  It was a bit of a battle, but Queen's came out on top at the end of a 5-set match.
   The following weekend, we met a first-place York in Toronto, and left with a disappointing 3-0 loss.  However, we could not drown in our sorrows for long, as in less than 24 hours we were to travel and play against Brock University.  The loss from the night before was fuel for our game, and we left St. Catherine's with a 3-1 win.
   Next up: hosting the teams from Toronto!  Ryerson won the 5-set battle on Day 1, but that would be the last time the Gaels would lose in the 2012 regular season.  On Day 2, Queen's took the W against University of Toronto in four sets.
   The Gaels were then back on the road to Guelph and Waterloo, where we took hold of both matches in four sets.
   The last two weekends were both hosted at the ARC.  The first was a 3-0 win for the Gaels over Windsor, while the second was a 3-0 win over RMC.  We finished on a high note going into the winter break!

Now is the time to worry about exams, final assignments, and papers.  But we still have a little bit of downtime.  What do we choose to do with it? EAT of course!! The annual Christmas Potluck was a huge, delicious success.

We are looking forward to our tournament at the end of December in Toronto to get us ready for when the season picks back up int he new year!

Have a safe and happy holiday,

Shannon W.

QWVB Take on the West

This weekend marked the first team trip out of province for the 2012-2013 season. As a first year, this trip to Winnipeg is one I've been looking forward to. There is no better way to get to know your teammates than travelling on the road. Although the travel days are long, nothing beats the first night's sleep in the hotel (especially after living in residence for a month!).

I wasn't sure what to expect from the competition on day one because three of the five teams we haven't seen before. After this weekend I can say that I am confident that Queens can take on any team once we get back to the ARC and work out some kinks.

Although time spent on the court and cheering from the bench during competition is fun, the best times had as a team often happen off the court. The first night the team took over Moxie's to get a good meal before the first day of competition. The steak and salad was good but I think that most people would agree with me that the third night's dinner at Sorrento's Italian Eatery was the favourite of the weekend. It was safe to say that the team left with full stomachs (a little pre-thanksgiving prep).

Heading into day there the team agreed that we were leaving the West with a win and thats exactly what we did. After winning the first set against Mount Royal University and then dropping the second, the girls came together and pulled out a win which would send us home with two victories. Now it's time to head back and face the long night ahead on our way back to Kingston.

I can't wait until the team's next tournament as we are at home and get to represent the Gaels in the ARC.

Until next time!

-Becky

Kick off to the 2012-13 season!

September 23, 2012

Shannon [Walsh]'s Scoop:

Wow. 4th year already! It seems like only yesterday I was a naive first year walking into the great unknown they call "university". Three years have flown by, and with my forth season already getting started, I can tell it will go by quickly as well.  Although the team has transformed a lot since I started, the names of people on the team are remaining fairly consistent.  Now, with a bunch of baby-Shannons on the team, I finally understand the troubles all the Katies were having before!

One tournament down, and we are already getting a good feeling of what the 2012-13 season is going to be like! This past weekend at Ryerson University has been a success in getting to know each other both on and off the court.  A 3rd place finish tells two things: 1), not too shabby! and 2), still lots of room for improvement.  The short turn-over this week before Winnipeg will involve plenty of reps and preparation for the tournament this upcoming weekend.

The fun we were having while playing translated over into the downtime we were spending with each other between games.  Between homework and tv-shows and dinners with family, we had three days stuck together on a bus and in a hotel to be around each other! A big thanks to Ali Shamie's family for inviting us over to have post-game sandwiches and h'orderves!  I'm sure they were appreciated greatly after a big win against Windsor on Saturday night.

Here's our first team photo from the den at Ali's house, just after a little presentation "Gagnam Style".  Lookin' good!
 
 
[Can you spot the special guest in the photo?] 

Until next weekend --

Take care!

Shannon.

Pre-season Begins

It's that time of year when the team is now selected and getting to know each other both on the court and off becomes a priority. This year we took a different approach to both of these goals and each has turned out to be very rewarding, a lot of fun and educational.

First off the court we had a team scavenger hunt, the team was broken down into small groups - with a vet or two combined with rookies. Did I mention that we have 12 rookies this season. Wow! I've never coached a team this young before but their enthusiasm will make up for their experience I'm sure. So our rookies currently out number our vets - one of the vets made a joke about it being a whole team something I honestly didn't even think about. But she's right in fact I think I may have more rookies than some OUA teams have players right now. Oy Vey!

Back to the scavenger hunt - we did all kinds of stuff to get to know Kingston better like ride the trolley, find art deco pieces along the Waterfront trail, find Frontenac memorabilia and hang upside down on the monkey bars. For some that experience was a first. Overall a great time was had by all and it finished with the team going to watch the football team beat Laurier. Go Gaels!

On the court we attended the University of Montreal tournament this past weekend. Usually this is a tournament where we get to see how the old blend with the new, but not this weekend. With vets recovering from injuries it turned out to be a weekend the rookies I'm sure will never forget. They all got an early taste of the speed, power and competitive nature of CIS volleyball. They learned early that the mistakes you can overcome in high school and club will cost you a close set and eventually a match. These are lessons that often it takes years to teach and they all learned it in one weekend. It was risky playing all rookies as we could have been badly beaten every single set but instead we were in each game. In fact a couple of matches had us leading by 4-5 to start.

I was really happy with what the youngsters had to show and it bodes well for this program's future. Now I just have to see what the vets are able to bring to the table to get an idea of where we stand as a team this year. This upcoming weekend we head to Ottawa. All the vets but two will be able to play so I look forward to combining the two groups this weekend.

Hope you are having an excellent day and when you get a chance don't forget to support the women's volleyball program. You can do so by clicking on the following link: www.givetoqueens.ca/w-volleyball

Talk soon,

Joely

What I learned from my experience this summer

Well it's been just about a month since I returned from adventures with the FISU Games Team and I have tried to use that time to really put my experiences in perspective. I have learned so much from this summer and gained so much largely because I was open to what the experience could possibly teach me. Afterall, it's not every day you work with some of the top athletes in the CIS let alone the player of the year. Add to that being mentored by two coaches whose programs have consistently been in the top 10 over the past couple of years and I knew that I'd come out of the summer having gained a wealth of knowledge. Now it's up to me to filter all that I learned and use what is appropriate to the current team. So much from the summer would have been awesome with my team last year because they were seasoned vets, I didn't have to start from scratch. Now it's about slowly teaching this new class of athletes what the Gaels volleyball program is about while taking some of the most important pieces from the summer puzzle and applying them here. Some of the lessons were personal, but most were volleyball related so I will share the volleyball lessons with you here.

So without further ado some of the lessons I took away from the summer were:

1. Midline, midline, midline - the best in the world work hard to pass balls in their midline, they shuffle and get their bodies behind the ball by understanding their space and knowing what their strengths are for movement - do I move faster forward or back, right to left or vice versa - this sets up how they stand on serve receive so that they can play to their strengths first. They use their arms only when they need to angle balls that are outside their midline.

2. A great player is a great player regardless of size. Brazil won with a 5'10" OH who had a fantastic arm swing and could hit any angle she wanted. She dominated the match. The same went for the 5'10" OH who played for China in the Gold medal match - also very dominant.

3. Jump float serves are performed by 90% of the teams now. Very few spin servers were seen and those who did spin had an alarming accuracy in respect to where they could place the ball.

4. Ball control and the execution of a solid pass is vital to success - every one of the teams in the top 4 had exceptional ball control. Almost every serve receive or defensive pass were perfect and every freeball was perfect so that they could run their offense.

5. Setters come with all different techniques, but the one that I really liked was the fast release using the wrists and hands instead of the arms to get the ball to the antenna. It takes a lot of training and time but the setters that used that method showed greater efficiency overall.

Well, that's my top 5 volleyball related lessons. I'm really glad I had the opportunity to be a part of the FISU program this summer and look forward to applying what I've learned with the team here at Queen's.

FISU Summer for Women's Volleyball

Well I just arrived back from an amazing summer experience as a member of Team Canada's coaching staff for the National "B" Team Squad that competed at the 26th Summer Universiade Games held in Shenzhen, China. To tell you that the whole experience was awesome would probably sell so much of the summer short. But it was awesome and so much more.

I feel like everyday I learned something - whether it was about volleyball, about myself or about the characters of others around me I constantly felt like I had to be in a state of high awareness just to catch everything.

There were some really cool concepts that the Head Coach Alain Pelletier introduced that I will definately bring back to my program. Particularly looking at a having a young squad this season, I think the concepts we introduced to the team this summer may help us have less errors in crucial situations.

The other Assistant Coach Lee Carter has some great concepts around leadership that I have decided to introduce here as well. He has done some great work around team leadership with his university squad and he brought that forward to this team.

Me, well I became fondly known as "Big Momma" to the girls. It became my job to help bridge the gap between the coaching staff and the athletes. The girls talked, I listened then I sat down with the rest of the coaching staff to discuss. Regardless of what came out of our coaches meetings the girls all felt heard and respected and I believe that as a coaching staff we were ultimately pretty responsive.

Last but definately not least was our team therapist she kept us moving and ticking from day to day. Not to mention she was the most awesome roommate you could have when you are sharing a room in Thailand or China. I don't honestly know what I would have done without her there and I know without question the girls couldn't have survived the trip without her TLC.

From the start we got along as a coaching staff. There was no jockeying for position. We each knew how important our role was in making this team tick and accomplishing our goals for the summer. We each had the opportunity to voice our opinions and we had each other's backs forming a solid and cohesive coaching staff. Without question working with each of these individuals was an honour and so much fun.

So how did we do at the games? Well we finished in 11th place. But don't let the placing fool you. We were statistically one of the three youngest squads at the event and finished the highest of those squads. Several of the countries were using the FISU games as a preparation for 2012 Olympic qualifiers being held this fall and had sent their "A" teams in preparation.

For the top six teams in the tournament the vast majority of their squads were filled with the players that would make up their 2016 Olympic squads supported by one or two bench players for the 2012 Olympics. So 11th is pretty respectable and it qualifies us for the next FISU Games to be held in Russia.

I didn't get to see the girls play as much as I would have liked. As the third assistant my role was to scout other teams - which often meant being at a different venue while the team played. I always had the girls close in my heart though and one time called them towards the end of the fourth set vs. Sweden to see how we were doing. It was funny because I started to ask our interpreter how we were doing and she handed the phone to Lee on the bench. He was in total shock I'm sure but handled it like a champion. Anyway we were down but found a way to come back and win that set. I'd like to think my phone call gave them that little boost they needed.

So here we are let me introduce you to Team Canada "B" Squad:

But the FISU Summer is now over and I'm back at Queen's ready for the new season. We have some great athletes coming in this fall and I'm super excited to see our progress over the season.

In addition we have some fantastic returning players - Becky Billings is coming back after a summer spent with the Beach National Team and competition at the FISU Games too. She had a great summer and I know what she brings back to our program will help us grow faster this year. There is also the play of both Natalie Gray and Anna Pedjase to look forward to this season and I have no fear that the rest of the squad will also step up and let their voices be heard. It's an exciting time for us as we said goodbye to veterans last season and now open up opportunties to others.

I also have some additional good news - Colleen Ogilvie will be joining Team Canada at the Full Time Training Centre this fall. She had a terrific tryout for the team in May but needed more training time to be match ready. So for now we bid farewell to Colleen and wish her all the best as she starts to live out her dream as a member of the national team squad.

It has been some amazing kind of year for Queen's women's volleyball, it's been some years since we have had a presence at the National Team level and out of this past season we had two tryout for the indoor squad and one on the beach.

So thanks for reading and next time I'll write about the top 5 things I learned from competing at FISU.

See you soon,

Joely Christian-Macfarlane

Head Coach, Women's Volleyball

Athletics and Recreation Centre

284 Earl St.

Kingston, ON K7L 3N6

613-533-6000 ext. 79190

Donate to Women's Volleyball at: www.givetoqueens.ca/w-volleyball

We appreciate your support.

Welcome Back

Hi everyone,

How do you know that the school year is about to begin? Well thousands of bright eyed and obviously overwhelmed freshman celebrating Frosh Week could be your first indication. Possibly it's the mysterious group of purple people wandering the campus or the sheer number of school buses with body parts hanging out of the windows as they rumble down University Avenue.

Here at the ARC we mark the return back to school with a different rhythm. It's the sound of squeeky shoes, bouncing balls and loud voices raised in unison on the gym floor while the sun is setting. It's the increased usage of ice and the loud grunts of athletes working their way through an agility ladder or squatting in the weight room.

For me in particular it's the chance to watch the volleyball players back in action as they slowly shrug the mantle of summer off and shift into a completely different gear. It's seeing the effects of our strength and conditioning program as each person runs faster, jumps higher and hits a little bit harder than when I saw them last. It's the poetry of physical movement at it's best that tells me that the school year is about to begin once again.

Many of the players have had remarkable summers - some played beach volleyball competing against some of the best volleyball players in Canada. A couple trained with both the Provincial and National Beach programs in Toronto then had an amazing opportunity to be trained by Olympian Kathy Tough in Calgary.

Others decided adventure was more to their liking with one pedaling her way from Calgary, AB to Invemere, BC while another propelled herself out of a plane to see what skydiving might have to offer. Finally, there were those who found themselves working 9-5 every day and ultimately appreciating the advantages of being in school for just a little longer.

Knowing what each person has accomplished this summer makes me very excited for volleyball to start. Knowing that everyone put in so much effort to prepare for this week creates a wonderful air of anticipation. So as we begin formal tryouts tonight I can't wait to see what unfolds for the team. I also hope that their efforts inspire you to join us on our journey throughout the year both online and at our matches.

Until next time,

Joely

Congrats on a terrific summer ladies.

Lazy days of Summer - not really!

While I would like to think - maybe hope that summer time allows me and the program to take a bit of a break. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact I would say that I have my hands full trying to pull together various projects.

Ask any coach and they'll tell you that recruiting is a huge project in and of itself. With the vast majority of OVA events being held in the Toronto or Waterloo areas I'm finding my time on the road is occasionally extreme. If this time was spread out over a few months that would be great but they always seem to be within weeks of each other with very little break in between.

Had a chat today with Ryan Sheahan about putting together a women's volleyball highlight video. So excited to see us have something available for the future and as a record of the season for the graduating players to get a copy of.

Well, I'll keep you posted on how the summer is shaping up.