Tournament and Practice (2/27-3/5) Extra Hitting Practices Pay-Off!

My team attended our second to last power league of the season in Cincinnati, OH. The weekend was definitely an eye opener for us. We had played and beaten two of the teams in our pool previously so we were expecting wins. Unfortunately, we may have been a little cocky. For all three of our Saturday games, we won the first game relatively easily but then lost the second. During the third games we would basically be neck and neck with the other team until about point 8, this is where we would get in a rut and not be able to get out of it for a few points. That led to us having to play catch up with the other teams, we ended up losing all three matches. Sunday was a similar story, although we did win one match. It is extremely strange to me that this happened three times in a row. This led to us practicing game situations, terminating the ball, and playing intense competition at our Tuesday practice. Hopefully this should help us put away a team when we know we can. We also worked hard on serve receive at our next practice.

On a more personal level, I saw my extra hitting practices for the last 2 weeks show some benefit. I played perhaps the best games of the season. I came out of the tournament feeling more confident in my hitting than I have ever been. I do have to say that I hit some balls really hard! My passing was not the greatest its been, but I didn't let it affect my attitude. I hope that I can continue to play this well consistently.

Our next tournament is the Bluegrass Pre Qualifier March 13/14 in Louisville. I look forward to seeing if my team's hard practicing is going to pay off.

Things I Learned This Week-Hitting

At practice on Tuesday my team worked specifically on fixing our hitting. Over the years, without the proper training, everyone has little things wrong with their swing or approach or something. For me, apparently, I have a "hitch" in my arm swing where I take my arm up but don't bring it all the way back, and I hesitate before I'm about to swing. By doing this, I am losing power and wasting time.

Because this was pointed out to me, I am working on making my arm swing one movement and improving my power in the process. I am very excited that we recognized this problem now because I can already see the improvement!

We are playing in Cincinnati this weekend in another Power League where we will continue to play some pretty good teams. I hope we can use what we learned in practice and translate it into the game situations.

I will write in my next blog how it goes.

President's Cup Tournament 2/13/10

Unfortunately, the number of Ls on my team's record for the weekend was greater than the number of Ws. However, it was fun to play open in a big tournament. We played more games than we were used to (we have only gone to power leagues so far). On Saturday we lost all of our games and ended up last in our pool :(We played many different levels of teams and it seems that whoever we play, we play down, or up, to their level.) My team can challenge high level teams but we also seem to lose to horrible teams who don't even deserve to be on the same court as us. We have discussed that we need to go into every game with the mentality that we can and will beat our opponent.
We need to keep the same energy level and winning attitude during every game. We can't go in thinking we are going to lose and we can't think that we are automatically going to win either. I know that my team has the potential to be great, we just need to focus on reaching that potential.

Sunday we won one match, finally, and moved onto the finals of Flight 2! I couldn't figure out any specific problem, but we ended up losing 15-13 in the third game, losing on a missed serve. All I can do is push myself and my team to play their hardest on each and every point.

The snow here in Lexington is pretty bad so school and practice were cancelled today. Our next tournament is a powerleague in Cincinatti where we hope to improve our rank from the last one.

Yours in Volleyball,
Kate

Practice-2/1/10

My team had a lot to work on this week after the tournament. My coach put special emphasis on movement and communication. We did lots of drills with switching and rotating with other players on the court. Also we worked on always staying behind the ball, even in out of system plays. So if the back row is setting the outside the ball then you have to start your approach further back. Patience was a big part of practice on Thursday. We were not allowed to move on to another drill until everybody had finished the first one in a row, without messing up. We had to encourage each other a lot to get everyone through the drill. I am looking forward to the President's Cup in Dayton next weekend, I think that we have the potential to do really well.

Power League - Louisville (January 30/31)

The second weekend of the Mideast Power League was not as rewarding as my team and I had hoped. We ended up going 1-4 in two days. We started slow Saturday morning with heavy feet and a low energy level. We worked ourselves up every game, improving, but falling short each time. Actually, on the first day we went to 3 games in every match and were up 8 to 6 in every one of them, and we just could not finish the game!

Overall on the weekend I thought we definitely improved from start to finish. I am working on having a more tenacious attitude on the court and leading my team more so we can pull out the close matches. I realize that my team really needs someone who can be counted on to put the ball away when we need a point, and I want to be that person.

FIRST TOURNAMENT - MIDEAST POWER LEAGUE

A Learning Experience
We had our first tournament this weekend and it was definitely a learning experience. We were in the first of a series of power leagues where we got to play 5 good teams. We started the weekend 3-0, winning our pool. Then we were reseeded and played two better teams.

Unfortunately we didn’t play our best on the second day and lost both games. However, there were many things to be learned.

The faster speed of play was the hardest for my team to get used to. We definitely need to work on our blocking, especially blocking slides, watching the hitter, and getting to our defensive spots. I hope to work personally on improving the consistency of my serve receive passing and hitting harder and timing my sets better.

I am looking forward to seeing how my team improves during the next few weeks and I hope we can do better in future tournaments.

ACT Result - 30

I took the ACT for the first time a few weeks ago and just received my scores in the mail. I scored a 30 overall. My science score was a little bit lower than I had hoped but overall I was very pleased with the outcome. There is no doubt that I will be taking the test again soon and hope to improve my score at least 2-3 points.

Week 1 Practice

My TEVA team started practice this week (unfortunately that included an early Saturday morning practice). We worked a lot on the fundamentals of passing and hitting. We did lots of shuffle passing and worked on getting our feet stopped and our hips toward the target. Coach McCloskey worked on our arm swings, a little bit of zone serving, and hitting off our own pass. Coach said I need to work on using my left arm (I'm right-handed) more to help pull my shoulders and hips into the pike position at the end of my swing. Also to open up/pull back my hitting arm more when I'm swinging. I know all these things will help me become a stronger hitter, so it is something I'll be practicing on my own as well as concentrating on them in practice and tournaments.

Our first tournament is this weekend, so we will be working hard in anticipation of the PowerLeague in Indianapolis. My family will be videotaping some of the matches and they will be posted online soon after.

CLUB SCHEDULE 2010

January
January 16-17 - Mideast Power League - Indianapolis, IN www.mideastpowerleague.com/
January 30-31 - Mideast Power League - Louisville, KY www.mideastpowerleague.com/
February
February 13-14 - President's Cup - Dayton, OH www.eteamz.com/daytonjuniors
February 27-28 - Mideast Power League - Cincinnati, OH www.mideastpowerleague.com/
March
March 13-14 - Bluegrass Pre-Qualifier - Louisville, KY www.ovvc.com
March 20-21 - Mideast Power League - Muncie, IN www.mideastpowerleague.com/
April
April 17-18 - Indy Juniors Classic - Indianapolis, IN www.indyjuniors.com
April 24-25 - JVA Midwest Invite - Maumee, OH www.premierevolleyball.com
June
June 12-13 - GLC Pre-Nationals - Naperville, IL www.greatlakescenter.com
June 20-23 - AAU Nationals - Orlando, FL www.aauvolleyball.org

About Me

FAMILY
My name is Kate Stromberg, class of 2011.
I live in Lexington, Kentucky, a traditionally strong sports town. I have played volleyball since I was very young, partly due to my parents who are long-time players themselves. My Mother has done some coaching too. I love playing volleyball with my two sisters and sometimes my little brother (even though he is more of a basketball guy).

POSITIONS PLAYED
In my sophomore year, all three Stromberg sisters played on the same high school team together, that was fun and sometimes a little stressful.
My sophomore and junior years at Henry Clay High School were filled with loads of fun and little drama, because we were focused on just playing our best. I was a 6-rotation player both years, playing middle in the front row. Although I would much rather hit outside, I played middle where my team needed me most. I am looking forward to my fifth year of club volleyball. Over the years I have played nearly every position (libero, right side, outside). But now I am completely focused on my outside hitting and passing.

WORK ETHIC
This year my club is trying a new thing and chose to combine the best 17 and 18 year-olds from the area and make one 18 elite team. So I will be playing up this year as a junior. In club this year I look forward to traveling farther to play better teams and concluding the season with participation in the AAUs for the first time. Although volleyball is a huge part of my life, school and my grades are even more important. I am part of the Liberal Arts Academy at Henry Clay, which is a select group of students in the top 10% of the class. The Academy requires a rigorous courseload and 20 volunteer hours per year. I have managed through the years to stay on task, keeping a 3.9 unweighted GPA.

TRAINING
When not studying or practicing, I work out with a trainer as often as possible, working on my explosive movements, improving my verticle, and increasing my arm strength and speed. Recently, I have convinced my whole club team to work out together, which makes it ten times more fun.

SCHEDULE
Club practices start January 5 and continue twice a week until June, included this year will also be some position-specific practices. We are attending 10 tournaments, 4 of which will be with a new Power League with the best teams from the Hoosier and Pioneer Regions called the MidEast Power League.

FUTURE
I love volleyball and hope to continue playing my whole life. The satisfaction comes when the commitment and hard work pay off in successful plays, matches and ultimately in a successful season. I am willing to do what it takes to live up to the expectations of my coaches and school and look forward to college as a great place to expand my skills in a higher level and to move on to helping the next team.