Molten has become the official ball of USA Volleyball for the next four years. In addition, the Carolina Region has entered an agreement with Molten to be the "Official ball of the Carolina Region". For those adult and junior teams planning on going to Nationals (and/or a Qualifier for juniors) you will be using the Molten red, white and blue ball. Molten will be offering a special price on balls and ball carts to Carolina Region members. We will be posting details on these offers and our relationship with Molten soon on our web site and email list.

Mizuno recently signed on to outfit the Men's and Women's National team and High Performance program. This renews a long-standing tradition with Mizuno and their support of volleyball dating back to the early years.

This season we have experienced growth in the junior division again and fairly stable numbers in adults. Getting enough adult officials for the junior tournaments continues to be a problem, however the teams have been doing a pretty good job overall. Now I know some of you can tell stories about the call that was made that should not have been made or the calls that were missed, but I think you will find that true in almost every sport (even where there are adult officials calling the game). The next time you get upset at the official (junior or adult) remember that they are not messing up on purpose and that a junior learning to officiate is getting the chance to develop leadership skills and other experiences that will help them in surviving life. If you still are upset, I would invite you to come to a clinic, get certified, and get up on the stand. I think that you may find that the view is a little different from the stand.

This year the Adult Open Championships are in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is a great experience. Make plans now to attend and experience it for yourself. You can even play in both halves of the tournament by playing in two different age groups or by combining age group with a classification and or a coed division. I hope to see several players from our region in Milwaukee.

The 2001 Girls Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships are in Salt Lake City, Utah this year. The boys will be in Phoenix, Arizona. It is a great experience and your team should begin now to make plans to attend. Some teams wait until after they win the Region's National Bid tournament to begin planning and find themselves short of time. In some cases, they decide not to go because they do not have enough time to raise the money. Plan ahead.

I wish everyone good luck as we wrap up this season and hope to see some of you on the courts both in the Region and in Milwaukee, Salt Lake City and Phoenix.