Women’s Coaching Log – March 25, 2021

Medaille College Volleyball

This is an entry in my volleyball coaching log for the 2020-21 season.

In my last update I commented on how I was going to have some long days this semester. That was definitely no joke!

Practices and such

It’s been a challenging period with regards to women’s practices. I’ve had to cancel a few of them because we simply didn’t have the bodies due to people working, being sick, etc. Still, we get in 3-4 per week, which is definitely better than nothing.

From a numbers perspective, six is the base line for the most part. The walk-on I mentioned before only made it through one session before a medical issue ruled her out. Actually having six in a session hasn’t happened much (kind of like having all 9 of the men), which makes for some interesting practices.

Recruiting

We got word last week that an OH from near Seattle was prepared to commit to Medaille. She made that formal on Monday with her tuition deposit. That makes it four for the incoming ’21 class. Three more to go! A JUCO setter reached out a couple weeks ago with interest in transferring. We definitely need a second pair of hands for the next season, so I hope it works out. We need a middle as one of the remaining recruits. Two would be event better.

I need to soon turn my attention to the ’22 class. It’s hard when you still have spots to fill in the current class, though.

Looking ahead

Our practice schedule runs through April 16th. I think that’s the 8 week point, which is the definition of our “season”. From there it will be two weeks until the end of the term, with another week for final exams.

I’ve had to put in a preliminary budget for ’21-’22 already. It was quite rough, of course, as it’s still pretty early days. Refinement will definitely come.

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John Forman

John is currently the Strategic Manager for Talent (oversees the national teams) and Indoor Performance Director for Volleyball England. His 20+ years of volleyball coaching experience includes all three NCAA divisions, plus Junior College, in the US; university and club teams in the UK; professional coaching in Sweden; and both coaching and club management at the Juniors level. He's also been a visiting coach at national team, professional club, and juniors programs in several countries.

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