News from the Program and Member Development Department

Chuck McCracken

As the indoor volleyball season winds down and the outdoor season gets into full swing I was reminded this past weekend of the significant progress that the players and coaches in the Region have made over the last few years. It has been both exciting and fun to watch teams from the Region continuously improve when they compete outside the Region, in Qualifiers and Nationals. It has been satisfying to see more and more of our players get recruited to play in college and see more of them being recruited to play at the major college level. We have seen more players step through the door opened by Megan Hodge to involvement with USA Volleyball's National High Performance Programs. We have seen the interest and participation in outdoor volleyball increase through the efforts of tournament directors across the Region. We have seen the development of a junior beach program and the formation of a junior beach club in the Cary/Raleigh area, thanks to many people, but especially Vaughn Hastings, Mark Nalavenko and Mike Marks.

Here are a few of the things that come to mind.

1. There was a pool with five 14 & under Boys teams. While we have boy's teams over most of the last 19 years, I do not recall ever having enough boys' teams to have their own pool. The RVC and Maryland boy's teams made the trip down to North Carolina and joined the Chapel Hill and the two Cary YMCA Boys teams for the day. It was very exciting to watch these boys, coaches and families enjoy this great sport. This is a testament to all the hard work the people with the Cary YMCA Boys (and more recently joined by the Chapel Hill program) have put in to get and keep boys programs alive in the Region.
2. This year there were enough 12 and under girls teams to hold their own division. I know I have mentioned this before, but I cannot stress enough the significance of this. With the lower net (7 feet versus 7 feet 4 1/8 inches) coupled with the lighter ball, the development of the players is quicker and the techniques are better since they are not having to hit the heavier ball over the taller net. I hope that more players, coaches and parents across the Region will join in and develop 12 & under teams.
3. The Challenge Series championships saw 9 teams play some of the best volleyball that several people could remember outstanding volleyball over the two days. Teams from Coastal Virginia, RVC, CJV, Triangle, Player's Edge and Piedmont battled it out on the court with almost half the matches going three and both the Gold and Silver final matches went three and were won by the team from the losing bracket forcing a one game super final. This was truly good volleyball and a pleasure to watch. It is nice to know that we will be able to continue to watch several of these players as they come back next year or are off playing in college. We may also see a few of them on the USA Volleyball National High Performance teams.
4. Several teams have had very good results in qualifiers this year. Teams from Triangle, NC Challengers, CJV and Piedmont have placed well in the Open divisions of Qualifiers and won two Club divisions of Qualifiers. It was not that long ago that a good result in a Qualifier or Nationals was to get out of the bottom bracket. Then teams began cracking the top half, top 20, etc. Recently CJV and Triangle broke through and won Club divisions at Qualifiers, had good results in the Open division at Qualifiers and qualifying to play Open at Nationals. The commitment of players, coaches and parents to travel outside the Region and raise their level of play has been paying off.
5. The average level of play in the Region has been steadily increasing over this time frame. These players and coaches (with the support of parents) have raised their level as well. This is evidenced by more teams travelling outside the Region to play in tournaments with increasingly improved finishes and wins at these tournaments. The majority of the improvement is due to hard work, but I would also like to suggest that the Region's dividing the age groups into smaller divisions (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Copper) plays a role as well. With smaller divisions, the skill level difference between the most and least experienced teams in the division is smaller. This results in more matches being more competitive and this leads to greater improvement in skill. The more competitive matches means that rallies last longer, giving players more opportunities to touch the ball, more opportunities to play in close games and more third games. All of this leads to more rapid development.
6. Junior beach players have done well in tournaments outside the Region. There is a movement to try to host a USA Volleyball Junior Beach event in North Carolina next season.