Under the Hood

All opinions expressed within are solely those of the author. This journal is not an official arm of the City of Melrose, the Melrose School Department, Melrose High School, the Athletic Department, or the Melrose Volleyball team.

There's a fascinating new book, The Captain Class, with Sam Walker examining the sixteen most dominant teams in sports history and why. He's not talking about high school or even college. You won't find Eileen Donahue (Watertown field hockey, 184 game winning streak) or Hal Croft (Reading track, 263 dual meet streak), because those don't happen in pro sports. But I digress, because we see high school sports this time of year. 

High school sports don't permit extreme continuity because most players only get four years, with rare exceptions (e.g. players starting varsity as a middle schooler, like Brianne Stepherson at Masco/BC). 

What has that got to do with Melrose volleyball? As Simon Sinek says, "what do all my failed relationships have in common? Me." And Melrose's continuous success approaching two decades has a common theme, Coach Scott Celli. 

Celli has coached over four hundred volleyball wins, a state championship, seven sectional champions, and a myriad of league championships. He's been like a Thermos, keeping hot things hot and cold things cold. How does he do it? 

First, he emphasizes leadership. The players read and discuss Jay Bilas' Toughness, a book about character and leadership. The captaincy process of application, interview, review, qualification, election, and selection informs the leadership legacy. The culture blends work and fun, Queen of the Court. Opportunity flows according to ability and development, producing a steady stream of quality. The non-league schedule challenges. Melrose will go anywhere and play anyone, as he's not afraid to lose. Melrose has lost to Barnstable, the premier girls' high school volleyball team in Massachusetts, and beaten them. 

But he's not Mr. Popularity or without critics. The program could be considered harshly Darwinian. It's hard to make the team and hard to earn playing time, because "winning is demanding." There is no 'natural progression' from freshman, to JV, to varsity. There is no seniority system. Underclassmen can earn captaincy through leadership on and off the court. There is no guaranteed playing time. The rotation shortens against quality opponents. You can get outplayed and lose your job. Senior Night hasn't always even guaranteed playing time for seniors. 

Coach Celli is more like Vince Lombardi (Packer Sweep) or Red Auerbach (six plays) than Hank Stram or Mike Martz (Greatest Show on Turf). Legendary basketball coach Don Meyer shared three types of coaching, blind enthusiasm, sophisticated complexity, and mature simplicity. Celli is the latter. In most sports, winning emerges via skill and will; you cannot trick your way to championships. Melrose has historically done fewer things (quick sets, complex sets, back row hitting) in favor of blander fundamentals. I've heard coaches comments like "they don't do so much, but what they do, they do well" or "they just control the ball." 

"The magic is in the work." Volleyball is fun. Winning is hard. 


It's hard...well, it's not THAT hard.