Ascending Players

Sustainable competitive success needs a continual infusion of players who improve within Anson Dorrance's competitive cauldron. 

"But this idea of tracking stats in each practice is what spurred Dorrance to develop his own “Competitive Cauldron,” a way in which he could “value competition and promote it among his team.” This theory became a reality when Dorrance recruited a player early in his coaching career who was so competitive coming in as a freshman that he needed to find ways to motivate the rest of the team to rise to her level. That player’s name? April Heinrichs. Heinrichs would later be a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team that won the 1991 Women’s World Cup. It was a squad that Dorrance noted was, “not the best but most competitive.”" 

When Ralph Labella and I attended a UCONN women's basketball practice a few years ago, we noticed UCONN tracked statistics during practice. For example, during a "break" each pair of players shot and managers recorded free throws. At the end of the few minutes, Coach Auriemma reported the results, "92 percent." During a four minute shooting drill, the top team (including Breanna Stewart) recorded 175 makes. 

Ascending players don't have to be underclassmen. Last year's team had multiple ascending players, notably Anna Shoemaker, Ruth Breen, Emma Desmond, and Sadie Jaggers. Gia Vlajkovic had changed positions and became an ascending player at a new position. 

Melrose has multiple players in that category. Both middles, Sofia Papatsoris and Sabine Wenzel belong in that category. Juniors Maggie Turner and Gigi Albuja had limited roles last season as well. Anna Burns showed well during her play yesterday. 

The Boston Globe noted Sofia's performance yesterday during their Volleyball Roundup:

The key is often to string together a series of positive performances. Sofia had ten kills against Winchester Wednesday and another strong outing yesterday. 

Sadie (149) is 10th in the state in kills, Sabine (130) is 22nd, and Sofia (72) is up to 114th, no small feat.  

Only one Melrose team (2005) had three hitters with 200 kills.