Snaps: Melrose - Lexington

Courtesy of Steve Karampalas...click images to enlarge

Attack Statistics (Via Maxpreps)

Click to enlarge frame. 

Promising Start with 3-0 Win Over Lexington

Lexington brought size, talent (a D1 signee), and high hopes to Melrose this afternoon. But Melrose departed with a 25-12, 25-11, 25-7 victory. 

Melrose opened with Lily Fitzgerald (setter), Saoirse Connolly and Emma Randolph (middles), Lydia Lombardo (strong side), Grace Davis (opposite), Nicole Abbott (defense) and Jill Mercer (libero). The Lady Raiders exploded to an 8-1 edge and never looked back as everyone contributed to victory. 

Melrose attacked 'with INTENT' today, borrowing the Maori paoa, meaning 'strike'. They served violently, applying pressure throughout. This established a calculus of risk-reward contributing to more service errors than usual. But there was no "get me in" mindset. This put the visitors on the defensive from the outset. 

The second set saw Lexington with more life early as they leveled the score early at 5-5. But Saoirse, Emma, and Lydia hit with authority to power a Melrose 20-6 run and capture the second set. Erin Torpey (outside) and Mary Kate Mahoney (defense) provided solid support. The volleyball gods tested Jill Mercer repeatedly with judgment calls on deep volleys, and she provided stout defense. 

Melrose kept the pressure on during the third set and Lexington wilted under the pressure. Kiki Kiernan, Claire Albuja, and Sam Dewey all dipped their toes in varsity waters during the latter stages. 

The notebook. Volleyball excellence comes in three phases - attacking (serving and hitting), defending (blocking and digging), and ball handling (passing and setting). Noticeably since a week ago, Melrose improved both blocking and attacking, no small feat, but consistent with developing young players. 

Girl power. Senior leadership stood out today with both production and communication. Lily delivered sets on time and on target, Jill received and passed well, and Saoirse and Lydia pounded the Lexington defense. Teams that aspire to deep playoff runs bring three hitters to the table, forcing the issue by winning points. Sophomore Emma Randolph completed the Big Three today with blocks and kills, including punishing overpasses. Classmate Erin Torpey has the potential to be a fourth big hitter. 

Scores: 2016 Co-champion Winchester defeated Wakefield 3-0 and Reading (via Twitter) beat Watertown. 

Finding Your Voice

"Chance favors the prepared mind." - Pasteur

There's an old story about communication being half of holy relationships. To which the holy man replies, "it is the whole of holy relationships."

One coach insists on 'silent practice' when players don't communicate. The extreme silence is not lost on his team.

Legendary coach Don Meyer shared, "what is unacceptable in defeat is unacceptable in victory." Communication lives on different levels - social, instruction, correction, discipline, and "go nuts". Most game day communication will be instruction and correction. "Speaking greatness" is a wonderful concept. "You can do it that way, but you might find if better to do it this way."

Players have a lot to process - calling the block, calling the ball, asking for a set, setting up slide attacks or quick sets. But it must become habit. There's a saying in the NBA, "silent teams lose."

Leadership is shared experience. Girls, more than boys, can be reluctant to assume leadership because they don't want to seem 'bossy' or 'witchy'. Collective leadership, combined with good followership increases your likelihood of success. The best teams excel at egoless communication. Celtics great Bill Russell, author of 14 championships in 15 years (2 NCAA, Olympic Gold, 11 NBA) remarked, "my ego depends on the success of my team."

Communication raises the collective energy, or "qi" of organizations. And success depends on the four E's - your energy, bringing energy, execution, and edge (emotional toughness).

Great teams show shared leadership and conditional love, the expectation of showing up and doing the next right thing. New leaders rise to the occasion. Find your collective voice and empower your team.

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.