Opening Day

The 2017 version of Melrose Volleyball hits the hardwood hosting Lexington at 5:00. Coach Scott Celli brings one of his youngest teams ever to the court, including six sophomores and two freshmen with his four senior captains - Lily Fitzgerald, Saoirse Connolly, Jill Mercer, and Lydia Lombardo. 

Melrose got a tuneup with scrimmages last week against Lynnfield and at the Medway Play Day. 

Morse code 'T' 'T' 'P'. Trust the process. 

Wilmington and Woburn both won non-league games yesterday. 


Over EIGHTY percent of the most successful people in the world meditate (ref. Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss)...including Olympic volleyball champion Kerri Walsh-Jennings, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and LeBron James. It's about sustainable competitive advantage...and you?  

Make it an indulgence, not a chore. 

Boston Globe Preseason Rankings

The only poll that truly matters is the postseason poll. But the Boston Globe preseason rankings are out. 

Melrose faces Fenwick, Notre Dame (Hingham), and Central Catholic as non-league opponents. The Lady Raiders also face always-tough Frontier, which is usually not included in the preseason rankings. 

The Middlesex League has improved in the past few years, so we can be sure that more of the league schedule will be competitive as well. 

At the top of the rankings are perennial powers Barnstable and Newton North. "Usual suspects" Westborough, Canton, Arlington Catholic, Brookline, and Marlborough are not in the rankings which could be geographic or oversight. 

Melrose hosts Lexington tomorrow around 5:00 (matches can begin earlier or later depending on transportation and length of JV matches). 

Sand Castles

"The magic is in the work."

Work to become your better version, to impact the game and your teammates...every day. Aristotle reminds us, "excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."

A reporter asked Bill Belichick how it feels to inform young players that they made the team. He replied that rosters change a lot between the first week and later in the season. He said that it's a lot like "castles in the sand".

Improve every day. Work on your conditioning, skills, game understanding, and emotional resilience. Have a sense of urgency. Technique and tactics can always improve. Our future depends on "continual ascension". Former Melrose AD and New England Basketball Hall of Fame coach Sonny Lane preached, "I'm pleased but I'm not satisfied." That advice always served his mentees well. 

Embrace "ephemeral". Each practice is short. The season flies by. Your high school career may seem like dust in the wind. Build your castle from sterner stuff.

Empower Yourselves

"You can never be better than you believe that you are." We have resources that we can activate through commitment, energy, and mindfulness. 

Weisenger and Pawliw-Fry discuss a "COTE of armor" in their book Performing Under Pressure. COTE represents confidence, optimism, tenacity, and enthusiasm. 

Learn the story of O-nami, shared via Search Inside Yourself. The book is an outgrowth of a course taught at Google for their employees. 

In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, "Great Waves".

O-nami was immensely strong and knew the art of wrestling. In his private bouts he defeated even his teacher, but in public he was so bashful that his own pupils threw him.

O-nami felt he should go to a Zen master for help. Hakuju, a wandering teacher, was stopping in a little temple nearby, so O-nami went to see him and told him of his trouble.

"Great Waves is your name," the teacher advised, "so stay in this temple tonight. Imagine that you are those billows. You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid. You are those huge waves sweeping everything before them, swallowing all in their path. Do this and you will be the greatest wrestler in the land."

The teacher retired. O-nami sat in meditation trying to imagine himself as waves. He thought of many different things. Then gradually he turned more and more to the feeling of the waves. As the night advanced the waves became larger and larger. They swept away the flowers in their vases. Even the Buddha in the shrine was inundated. Before dawn the temple was nothing but the ebb and flow of an immense sea.

In the morning the teacher found O-nami meditating, a faint smile on his face. He patted the wrestler's shoulder. "Now nothing can disturb you," he said. "You are those waves. You will sweep everything before you."

The same day O-nami entered the wrestling contests and won. After that, no one in Japan was able to defeat him.

"It's Always Showtime"

One beauty of sports lies in meritocracy. It's not perfect. Sports provides opportunities based on skill, pluck, and luck but not on an affluence or seniority timetable. Your time comes when you turn opportunity into productivity. There is no "my time". 

The North Carolina women's soccer coach, Anson Dorrance, preaches the "competitive cauldron", the environment where the best rise under pressure. He uses conditioning and skill tests to measure and to harden his athletes. By the way, his teams have won 22 national titles. 

Volleyball is not so different, with metrics for assists, kills, service aces and percentage, attack errors, digs, blocks, and so forth. Consistency and degree of execution inform excellence. Elite teams win matches by winning points not solely by relying on opponent errors. You are performing under a "competitive matrix". 

Here are some slides from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) : 

Sometimes a player asks "what can I do to get more time?" 

Every day is showtime at practice, your chance to stand out via attitude, choices, and effort. 

Medway Play Day

"Experience is the best teacher, but sometimes the tuition is high." - Anonymous

Photograph via Medway Athletics Twitter. 

Melrose traveled to Medway today for the annual Medway Play Day. Top teams from around the state matchup for 20-25 minute games. Each team gets to face six or seven opponents, earning valuable experience. 

Coaches see everyone on the roster in action and assess strengths and weaknesses. This permits lineup experimentation before the home opener Wednesday (starting about 5:00). 

Around the League:

Winchester held the "Sachem Lead" seminar in late August (via @CoachFleming1). Tufts women's basketball coach Carla Berube was featured speaker. Former Lexington HS coach Rollie Massimino, who led Villanova to an NCAA basketball title in 1985, died at age 82 (@LexMinutemenAth). 

Snaps: Melrose Scrimmages Lynnfield

Photographs courtesy of Steve Karampalas; click the image to enlarge/see the full frame

 "Seriously?"

 Former Melrose assistant coach Steve Wall had a different perspective. 

Young Guns

Melrose hosted Lynnfield and showed promise, defeating the Pioneers in four consecutive sets. The team showed proficiency in serving and serve receive, passing, and setting. Hitting and blocking were good and will improve with both practice and experience. 

Coach Scott Celli was pleased with the performance and potential of the defending Middlesex League co-champions. 

The Lady Raiders have an exceptionally young team, with two freshman, six sophomores, and four seniors. Today's action and Saturday's Medway Play Date gives players a chance to show their capacity to impact the game and make teammates better.  

Melrose got strong play and leadership from seniors Lily Fitzgerald, Saoirse Connolly, Jill Mercer, and Lydia Lombardo. 

Saoirse Connolly, Lydia Lombardo, Emma Randolph, Lily Fitzgerald, Nicole Abbott, and Mary Kate Mahoney. 

Claire Albuja, Sam Dewey, Caroline 'Kiki' Kiernan, Erin Torpey, Grace Davis, Saoirse. 

Emma,  Sam, Erin. 

Jill Mercer (file photo) 

Find your voice. The 2017 has the challenge of replacing not only the talent, but the leadership of players like Victoria (V-Rex) Crovo, Kaitlyn (K-Mac) MacInnes, and Cat Torpey. The seniors will take ownership of on court communication and leadership. 

The Chef. Setter Lily Fitzgerald performs at an elite level on multiple fronts - setting, defense, service, and attacking. 

Heated competition at libero. Melrose has a plethora of talented back row players, led by Jill Mercer and sophomores Nicole Abbott and Mary Kate Mahoney. Both Jill and Nicole played high consistency at libero. 

Front row. Saoirse returns in the middle with Lydia on the outside. Sophomore hitters Emma, Erin, and Grace all showed promise. 

New blood. Claire, Sam, and Caroline got their feet wet in their first varsity action. 

Old friends. Former Melrose assistant Steve Wall was one of today's officials. Alyssa Abbott, who played on Melrose's State Championship team in 2012, was on hand before returning to Fairfield for her senior year. 

Sister Act. Melrose continues the tradition of sisters in the program. Erin Torpey had a strong performance seeking to replace sister Cat, a freshman at Rivier. Nicole Abbott got a thumbs up evaluation from sister Alyssa. 

Teammates

Everyone can't be the star, but everyone can be a great teammate. Alan Williams addresses this 

in his book Teammates Matter. Williams was a walk-on for Wake Forest basketball, playing 59 

minutes in four years, but earning respect as a player and teammate. 

Melrose volleyball has enjoyed great success over the past decade, but winning isn't the whole story. Making a competitive team is hard. The competition just to make any team is fierce, but competition doesn’t end with team selection. Players sacrifice in return for the chance to be part of something bigger. Each will write her own narrative. 

Coach Celli has an introductory meeting to set expectations and review school rules for players and families. Participation fees make it harder, as fees help defray expenses, but don't guarantee playing time.

The coaches explain how players can contribute - through determined practice, exemplary attitude, and improvement. They inform players that they earn playing time according to their progress. Not everyone can play as much as they would like. The goals are winning and playing to your full potential. Understandably, players and parents may find this difficult, but only six players are on the court. 

Last year, Coach Celli required players to read Jay Bilas' book Toughness. UNC soccer coach 

Anson Dorrance  requires his players to read Michael Useem's The Leadership Moment. Coaching 

has always been more than wins and losses. Teammates are expected to develop leadership not 

just sports-related skills. Cal rugby Coach Jack Clark shares, "We say that the definition of 

leadership is the ability to make those around you better and more productive. It’s a skill to us. 

Leadership isn’t a rank — it’s not only for the coach, it’s not only for the captain, it’s not only for 

the seniors. It’s a skill."


Although many players have earned attention locally and statewide, few have accomplished more than a girl who played over a decade ago- being a great teammate. She wasn’t the star of the team, in fact she often played only late in games after the outcome had been decided. She practiced hard every day and became the best player she could be. She knew she wouldn’t be in the game at the big moments, watching younger, less experienced but talented girls. 

She accepted this because she valued being part of the team, contributing however she could. Her best friend, Marianne Foley, became an All-Scholastic, while she cheered and supported the team. Both shared the moment of becoming Melrose's first Division II North volleyball champions, a team that went 22-2 and came within a point of going to the state championship, losing to the ultimate champions, Marlboro. And everyone knew Danielle Burke as a great teammate, an unforgettable legacy of Melrose volleyball history. 

Scrimmage Thursday

Melrose hosts perennial power Lynnfield Thursday at 430 at the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School. 

Lynnfield has moved into Division 2 this season based on enrollment. Similarly, Middlesex League rival Winchester (co-champion last season) has advanced into Division 1. 

Melrose hosts Lexington September 6th in the regular season opener. 

Cross Post: THE General

Core methods work across platforms. 

On my basketball site, I wrote about General Alexander Suvorov (1729-1800), "The General Who Never Lost." Suvorov was centuries ahead of his time. 

Peak Performance

How do successful people approach the asymptote of 'peak performance'? Over eighty percent use some form of meditation. 

Google's Chade Meng-Tan offered a class (with a lengthy waiting list" entitled "Search Inside Yourself". The course promoted meditation as a means to enhance "emotional intelligence", critical in all relationships. The mainstream approach offers the more conventional advice like Marshall Goldsmith's What Got You Here Won't Get You There. 

Meditation doesn't have to be burdensome. 

Meng-Tan advises beginners to "do less", so they do not feel that meditation is burdensome and to "make it an indulgence not a chore". 

Why meditate? Meditation has established somatic and neurologic benefits. It reduces energy consumption, reduces anxiety and depression (stress mitigation), lessens distraction, and increases both memory (functional) and gray matter in the brain (structural) on imaging studies. 

How do you get started? Here is an excellent summary of Gutaratana's Mindfulness in Plain English. It includes what meditation is and myths associated. The summary provides both depth yet brevity. Here is an excerpt:

"Actual Practice: once you sit do not change the position again until the end of the time you determined at the beginning. Do not change your original position no matter how painful it is.


After sitting motionless, close your eyes. Our mind is analogous to a cup of muddy water. The longer you keep a cup of muddy water still the more mud settles down and the water will be seen clearly. Keep your mind in the present moment. What is present every moment is our breath. Do not verbalize or conceptualize anything. Simply notice the in-coming and out-going breath without saying, “i breathe in” etc. When you focus your attention on the breath ignore any thought, memory, sound, smell, taste, etc., and focus your attention exclusively on the breath. At the beginning both the inhalations and exhalations are short because the body and mind are not calm and relaxed. In spite of efforts to keep the mind on breathing it may wander."

Olympic athletes receive mindfulness training. Mindfulness is the not-so-secret weapon allowing athletes to play 'in the moment'. 

The application 'Headspace' is a good place to start (free with in-app purchases). 



Are you in search of peak performance? Meditation offers the potential for greater focus, clarity, and control.

Welcome Aboard

Selection for an athletic team brings opportunity and responsibility. Making the team is only the beginning. 

James Kerr writes about the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team in Legacy, "to become an All Black means becoming a steward of a cultural legacy. Your role is to leave the jersey in a better place." The All Blacks have won 86 percent of their games over years, because they truly believe, "Better people make better All Blacks." 

You represent the team on and off the court. Your performance in the classroom reflects the team. How you respect your parents represents the team. How you treat your classmates and your teammates matters. 

Kerr adds, "Humility does not mean weakness but its opposite. Leaders with mana understand the strength of their humility. It allows them to connect with their deepest values and the wider world...according to The New Zealand Dictionary, mana is 'great personal prestige and character'. 

In What Drive Winning, Brett Ledbetter explains how character drives process and ultimately results. 

This is the initial roster for 2017, one of the youngest teams in Melrose history. Congratulations. 

First Half Schedule

Melrose has a challenging schedule this season with competitive matches all season. 

Here's the first half schedule.

Tryouts Continue: Trust the Process

Coaches work the process of team selection, skill development, tactical integration, and psychological hardening. Each season they search for the right combination for success. 

Melrose should return some excellent players and add promising players for development. 

Six very talented seniors have moved on and coach Celli continues tryouts to find the 2017 team. 

Maxpreps.com is a valuable resource for volleyball fans and lists players since the 2007 season. 

Melrose will look to "trust the process" and have another outstanding season in 2017.

Morse code... TTP ("Trust the process.") as process makes outcome. 

Victoria Crovo Boston Herald All-Scholastic

Victoria Crovo was one of two Melrose girls named to the Boston Herald All-Scholastic team. Molly Camelo of Bishop Fenwick was the other. 

Departing Seniors

Melrose seniors enjoyed four years of success. Hail and farewell. 

Photo courtesy of Steve Karampalas. Click to enlarge. 

New Captains Elected

The volleyball break-up gathering saw new captains elected for 2017:

Jill Mercer, Saoirse Connolly, and Lily Fitzgerald

Congratulations. 

Photo courtesy of Steve Karampalas.