This is an entry in my volleyball coaching log for the 2021-22 season for the Medaille College men.
With the women’s season in full flow there hasn’t been a lot going on with the men up to now. That is likely to remain the case through October in terms of the volleyball side of things. Of course, there’s other stuff going on.
Open Gyms
Nearly from the first day of classes the guys were all about getting back in the gym together. This being the off-season, and Medaille being NCAA Division III, I’m not allowed to work with him at this point. What they can do, however, is have open gym sessions. They’re going twice a week at this point. It’s not the same as practice, but at least it’s touches.
Scheduling
We’re still waiting on the details of one last tournament on our schedule. Otherwise, it’s all finalized. We’ll start preseason on January 4th, and play our first match on the 15th. As things currently stand, we’ll face three teams that finished last season in the Top 15 of the AVCA poll.
Between then and now we’ll have our non-traditional season (aka Fall Ball). That’s when we have 16 dates available for official stuff, one of which can be for competition. We’ve got an invitation to play in a tournament on November 20th, so we’re working out a plan for 15 practices leading up to that.
Recruiting
I doubt it will come as any kind of surprise that recruiting has been full-on. I’ve had a bunch of zooms and phone conversations with guys from all over the place. A couple of guys already applied, and we’ve got some visits lined up for this month, with more likely to come about. Still lots of work, though.
Roster
Funnily, a couple of the guys in the last week or so have already asked me what I think our lineup is going to be this season. I love the eagerness, but we’re talking 4 months out from the season starting!
I’m also not entirely sure what the roster will look like by then. Only one of the 5 guys that was supposed to join us as freshmen this year is actually with the team. One opted to go elsewhere out of the blue. Another couldn’t make the finances work. A third didn’t think he was ready for college yet. The fourth is at Medaille, but I heard is opting not to be an athlete. On the plus side, word is the one who did make it is doing well. Oh, and it’s looks like a former lacrosse player is moving over to volleyball.
The real question is the returners. There are a couple of question marks in terms of one coming back from a break and another doing grad school. We’ll see what we actually end up with come January.
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