The ASU State Press - Season Outlook

Here's a link to The State Press article on our season and the Alumni Game:

The State Press

Christy Nore-Davies: Hall of Fame

Christy is an Alumni of our program. In 2002 she was inducted into the ASU Hall of Fame. This past week, Christy was inducted into the Arizona High School Hall of Fame. Both are remarkable accomplishments.

You can read more about Christy and her athletic accomplishments by clicking on the following links:

Arizona High School Hall of Fame

Arizona Republic Article

Alumni Match - Aug. 22nd

At the conclusion of our Free Clinic, our program hosted our Alumni in what we hope is annual event - our Alumni Match.

Our booster club had our attendance for the match at around 250. Which is a great start for us and this event. The Alumni Team was coached by Patti Snyder-Park. The current coaching staff at ASU is now 1-1 all time against Patti. This year ASU won: 25-14, 25-19 and 25-17.

My first Spring coaching at ASU, our team was drilled by the Alumni. So I'm glad we evened the record last Saturday evening.

In all, it was a great informal event. Informal, in that our athletes and staff were able to interact with many of our Alumni who not all played, but came in support of the program. From my perspective, it was another opportunity to evaluate our program and depth chart. There is something extremely beneficial playing against someone other than ourselves.

So thank to our loyal Alumni. Hope to see you all back on campus during the season, or at least November 1st for our 2nd Annual Tailgate Party before we play Washington.

Free Clinic

Prior to our Alumni Game, our staff and athletes held an informal free volleyball clinic. This is the first year we've held this clinic - so we really didn't know what to expect.

We had 40 athletes attend. Most, if not all, stayed for our alumni match. Which was a nice addition to our match.

Credit for the success of the clinic belongs to Jose (our Director of Operations) and Margie Giordano - who is a recent graduate of ASU Volleyball. Both of them did an outstanding job of running this event.

PDSD - Roadrunners

Cassandra Witherspoon is a volleyball coach. Not just any volleyball coach, but the volleyball coach at the Phoenix Day School for the Deaf. Last August she and her team came to watch one of our practices. Today, they not only observed practice, but gave our athletes an opportunity to help them with a couple of different skills.

Coach Witherspoon and her team are always welcome in our gym. Thanks for taking the time to share with us your talents. Go Roadrunners!!!

"Begin with the END in MIND"

On Sunday we started our season with a series of meetings:

• Team Meeting - talking about our operations and orienting our freshmen into our environment.
• Compliance Meeting - handling the necessary NCAA Paperwork.
• Equipment - handing out our practice equipment
• Photo's - working with our Sports Information Director to get head shots and a team picture.
• Welcome Dinner - a dinner for our team, parents and boosters.

The next day at 9am we had our first practice - which wasn't too bad. Later the same day, we had a much better practice. Our staff and athletes are focused on working hard each and every day we are in the gym. Our theme for this season - "begin with the end in mind."

Also, due to the generous support of our boosters and parents, our program is in possession of a golf cart. When our staff arrived on campus, we identified the need for us to transport recruits across campus on recruiting visits. Having our own golf cart enabled us the flexibility to conduct such tours at will. Brent pursued the logistics and yesterday it arrived. We're so excited about it we had to show you:

The Week Before the Week

Our team reports Sunday evening for a series of meetings, a photo shot and of most importance - get our equipment for the coming season. It's always a great day. I imagine every program begins their season in the same way.

There's always a nervous anticipation on the first day. The incoming freshmen are unsure of their place and try hard to adapt to a wildly different environment/culture than they are accustomed. The returning players, experienced by familiarity, are engaged in acquainting stories from the summer. Then at 9am Monday morning we go to work in the gym - each day a little better than the one before.

Yet this is the "week before the week" and much is going on in preparation. Systems are being refined, film is getting networked, player manuals are being revised, team travel is being confirmed, expectations are being set, our staff is constantly meeting to review our objectives, recruits are scheduling unofficial visits, coaches are scheduling recruiting home visits, locker room is being cleaned - all in anticipation of a fabulous 2009 season.