In 2008, $390,000 was raised by 330 participating college teams and 285 high school and middle school teams. The goal for 2009 is $1,000,000! Interested in participating?

Visit Side-out.org to get more information on how you can help!

In our high school, we did our first event last October. Honestly, we didn’t have much lead time since we thought about it late, but we pulled it together in about two weeks and raised over $1500! You can help! Our coach ordered pink uniforms since we plan to do an annual event, but our JVs tie dyed their shirts. We got pink socks, wore pink pre-wrap and had lots of pink goodies at our concession stand. We held a 50-50 raffle, which was a huge success. We decorated a box with pink wrapping paper for donations.

Side-Out makes it as easy as possible to do this. They have an event management brochure, fundraising ideas, and even a Team Web Page. Remember, no event is too small.

A few questions for you: On an unofficial visit, may a PSA participate in an organized practice (like during spring season, not the regular collegiate season)? Does this rule differ by D1, D2, D3, NAIA, etc? As a followup, what if it’s not a formal practice, but rather a group of players from the team in a pick up game w/o the coaching staff? Would your answer change if it was an Official Visit (probably not since it’s just a matter of who’s paying for the visit). Thanks in advance for your help! Regards, Dave.

These are some great questions about what a Prospective Student-Athlete may or may not do while visiting a college campus.

For Division I Volleyball a PSA on an Official or Unofficial Visit may not participate in an organized training session with a coach in attendance or observing (sometimes coaches like to just look in the window, but that is not allowed). There is no distinction between the Traditional or Non Traditional (spring) season. A PSA may engage in unorganized or ‘pick-up’ play with college players provided that a coach is not observing or attending. These ‘pick-up’ play sessions tend to be much more common in men’s and women’s basketball, because these college athletes are more or less mandated to be training/playing every day of the school year and almost all summer.

It is my understanding that Junior College and NAIA also allow such PSA training situations, but I am not sure of any needed paperwork. I am not too clear on the Division III rules, but I would lean toward these opportunities being allowed as part of a campus visit – but, please do not hold me to this rule; rather visit the NCAA website and look up on the rule under the Division III page.

By and large, the NCAA rules generally apply the same for an Official Visit and an Unofficial Visit. The biggest immediate difference is who pays for dinner (and hotel, and flight, and lunch, etc.). Another important difference is that the coaching staff may not travel off-campus to show you the community (they can travel off campus to show you a training or competition site) or to eat, even if the PSA pays for their own meal. Except for a couple of small things, all the other functions are the same and I believe this is one of the reasons that the Unofficial Visit is now the dominant on campus experience for a PSA and her family. The Official Visit is just a follow-up trip during the PSA’s Senior year to hang out on campus with her new team (the exception being those programs that happen to be recruiting Seniors because of a late opening).

This was a great set of questions and hope the answer makes the practice opportunities during an Official or Unofficial visit a bit more clear!

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The May Quiet Period runs from the 1st to the Friday before Memorial Day weekend; the 22nd of May. I will check this end date for sure in the NCAA documentation which is in my office.

So, what does all this mean?

1. Parents and players get a break from really self important Division I volleyball coaches swimming around the courts of tournaments like schools of fish. My favorite display of egos are the assistant coaches from some of the big name schools – Quite a display of arrogance for ball shaggers.

2. Players can go back to (if they have not learned already) playing relaxed.

3. Grandma can stop her vigilant watch on the 15′s courts, protecting the freshman from college coaches.

4. Club coaches can relax because Big Name Coach from Big Name School is no longer shadowing their court.

5. Division I assistant coaches won’t get sent halfway across the country to scout at some 3 court tournament in which their school won’t ever sign a recruit from (not because they are not worthy, but because they are halfway across the country and don’t have the academics or volleyball reputation to draw a player that far!), just because the head coach is panicked that the next Logan Tom is playing on some obscure club team and another school could find her first!

6. Head coaches can spend some time with their families because they can’t recruit and their team should be in final examinations. The ones with ethics will actually just trust their players to work out and

7. Just because DI coaches can’t come stalk you, does not mean you can’t go bother them! Unofficial Visits are allowed and this is a great opportunity for you to get onto a campus to check things out. It may be during a time frame in which finals are upcoming or it may be after school has let out, but this may be a great slot in a PSA’s schedule because the Qualifiers are done, Regionals are coming up quickly (or done), and there is a slower playing (and hopefully practice) schedule.

8. The Quiet Period does not apply to Division II – So, there may still be a number of NCAA volleyball coaches at your events, but they should not be DI. If you spot a Division I coach at a tournament during the Quiet Period, in uniform (I mean polo), please e-mail me and I will divulge my identity as a reward!!! (maybe – if it is a big enough program!)

May is a great month as a ’10 PSA (09 PSA see below and 11 PSA’s please go have some fun and DO NOT go visit a school yet!!) because you have the time to get out and see schools. If you have not made your verbal commitment, take this time frame to visit and reflect. Is what is being sold to you is in fact what you are buying? Some coaches are incredible at selling a certain picture, but that is not what you will see when you arrive. Arrive early, with your eyes wide open (and your parent’s eyes wide open) to see what the school and the program is all about.

The reality is the Unofficial Visit is now the Official Visit. This is the trip in which you need to take a hard look, as best you can, about what that school has to offer in terms of academics, facilities, future (remember, you are one and half years out from getting on the court), coaching staff, player personalities, etc.

Without sounding dramatic, if you are a class of 09 PSA, May is the month to get it done. By ‘it’, I mean select your school. Make the best choice possible and move on.

1. By May, the mass majority of scholarship are gone in Division I. There is always a chance something may open up late or a late verbal commitment was changed, but odds are the Division I scholarships are history.

2. If you are set on going DI come Heaven or Heck, then you should start (actually, you should be well along) with securing a walk-on position. In this sense, you should pursue a walk-on position with the same vigor and focus in which one pursues a scholarship spot. Big name schools tend to have a plethora (I don’t get to use the word plethora much) of PSA’s asking to be walk-ons, so if you want to wear the practice gear (that should be your first goal by the way) of State U., then you need to demonstrate that you would be an excellent walk-on member of the program. Once again, come May, many rosters are set for the next fall.

3. May is not only the time to decide on a school, but it is also time to take a hard look at what you want in your collegiate experience – You may need to consider life outside of Division I. First of all, let me assure you it is a good life!!! Too many players and parents get hung up on the DI moniker. From my experience in DII and DIII, the players have a better balance with school, volleyball and a social life. The travel can be exceedingly less stressful, the amount of edginess from faculty about you being an athlete is less and the competitive energy outside of DI is still intense. Don’t think DII or DIII is minor league or second tier; I have coached in environments which would put DI to shame – Intense, lots of noise, crazy passion and energy which I was unprepared for as a coach!

4. Junior College Volleyball is something which every good PSA should consider. There are many good JC programs which could beat many, many Division I teams. A JC is a great alternative because scholarships can be funded better than DII, you have a better opportunity to play immediately and become an impact player, and then after playing one (if you are a NCAA Qualifier) or two seasons, you can jump to a 4 year school better prepared athletically and academically.

What I am getting at, in a long, meandering Sunday night kinda way, is that May is a big month if you are an 09 prospect – Time to decide and go hard at your new future!

The human body is such an amazing thing. It is incredible what it is capable of when it is nourished and trained well. This is most obvious with athletes. Athlete training has come a long way. We live in a time where the awesome training techniques that professionals have used for years are finally becoming mainstream. I’m talking about sport specific training and it is without a doubt the way to go when training for a specific sport or activity.
With sport specific training you are actually training your body in the planes of motion and situations that mimic your sport. You train for endurance and power in conjunction to the skills you need in your sport.
Conventional training had athletes going to weight rooms and ‘lifting’ no matter what sport they were participating in. That makes absolutely no sense and unfortunately is still being played out at many high schools and colleges today. Also, very often the lifting that is being done is just aimlessly throwing the weight around and seeing how much you can lift. This serves no purpose except that you can then say how much weight you lifted, how does that help on the playing field?
Too many coaches just pass on to their athletes what they did when they were playing without realizing that there is a much better way. Things have changed and they have changed for the better. For example, coaches will have their football player’s bench press to train for football. Think about this, how often does a football player need this skill? When does he get down on the field and bench press another player? It doesn’t happen.    You may think this would help a lineman and it might if all he had to do was push his opponent away one time but that is not what he needs. He needs the strength and the endurance to outlast his opponent at the line and bench pressing does not help with that at all.
I get frustrated when I see the exercises that young athletes are told to do by their coaches, like the deep squat. I can’t believe people are still doing this dangerous and useless exercise in the year 2007. When you go below a 90-degree angle when you squat you are doing major damage to your knees and there again when in your sport do you need this skill? I can’t think of one sport where the player does this, can you?
Sports specific training is so much safer because you’re training your body for the demands of your sport so that when you are in the game your body is ready for those unique demands when they happen. The results are just incredible.
For example, I have athletes who have increased their vertical jump by 3 inches in just 5 sessions, I have seen wrestlers who couldn’t keep their opponent down become vice like on their opponent.
Core and balance training are also a big part of sports specific training. You may not even realize it but these components are necessary in every sport there is. It is unbelievable the difference it makes to have a conditioned core. Conventional training does not even address this at all except to maybe throw in some sit-ups and, trust me there are no sit-ups in core training.
Like I said, the body is an amazing thing and it is capable of amazing things but you need to work with it, not against it. You need to train it, not punish it.

Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized fitness professional specializing in the training of athletes. He is the creator of the HOT selling volleyball Training program – Training For Volleyball

1. Come Early, Leave Late to Practice. For girls volleyball practice, I used to come to my High School gym one half hour before practice and lay in the middle of the gym and just visualize that the court was mine. Seriously, I convinced myself that anything that happened on that court, any ball that came on my side I was personally going to be responsible for. Nothing was going to fall in defense and no one was going to dig my hits. I think something worked because we made it to the California State Championships for the first time my senior year. I chose to to come early and/or stay late to exercise my mental skills but I also did it to practice serving and individual wall drills for setting and passing as well.

2. Become the most effective server on your girl’s volleyball team. Read the article the “Girl’s Volleyball: Top 5 Places to Serve After a Team Timeout” to learn how to become Your volleyball team’s most effective server.

3. Okay its not a movie about girl’s volleyball but still GO rent the DVD movie “Rudy” starring Sean Astin…Watch it …then adopt his “never quit” attitude. Period.Yeah, it’s a football movie – but it’s the best one you will ever see AND you’d be surprised how many conditioning drills in football are similar to the ones we do in girls volleyball. Just watch the movie.

4. Go After EVERY Ball in Defense. For your girls volleyball practice adopt the “Rudy” attitude in defense and make any ball in defense YOUR ball. Decide that nothing falls around you or in your immediate area. Take pride in TRYING to get every ball up so your team has another chance to play it and make a point or side out.

5. Become the Backrow Quarterback for your girl’s volleyball team. Talk to your teammates before, during and after the game and give them valuable information about what you see happening. Direct traffic by calling out plays you see developing. This isn’t difficult because many times a backrow player – if she’s concentrating can see a play developing just like the front row player or sooner. So if you see the Right Front player sliding over to run the “X ” Don’t keep this information to yourself! Call it out “Watch the X” Watch number 15 coming around” Say it Loud enough so everyone can hear it. If you see the fake “X” developing which is what alot of setters call after running the X “Call it out” out loud…”watch number 15 coming around for the fake X”. Let the blockers hear you, let your defense hear you…just commentate. Secrets?

There are no secrets on the court. Let your teammates know what to expect. If a player goes through the front row rotation and all the points she made were by wiping off the block or hitting cross court, the next time she rotates up to the Left Front YOU go up and out loud and tell YOUR front row blockers in a LOUD voice “Hey that #15 the last time hit everything Xcourt. Be ready for her Xcourt attack.” Besides this being a very good way of “getting inside” your opponent’s head it let’s your coach know that you are a smart volleyball player that is making yourself aware of what is going on in the game and is doing what it takes to help your team win. Question: How Tall do you have to be a good Backrow Quarterback? Answer: Size just doesn’t matter!!!!

April Chapple is a former USA National Team member and Volleyball Professional who created the first virtual volleyball mentoring community with volleyball information sites including http://www.top5volleyball.com and http://www.volleyballvoyeur.com for all females who play. Be sure to Subscribe to the free Volleyball Voices Newsletter!

source: www.Isnare.com