Are There Lessons?

"Most of us would rather be ruined by praise, than saved by criticism." - Don Meyer

Look to the past to reexamine the present. On Senior Night 2005, Melrose played North Andover at fan-unfriendly Roosevelt School. North Andover arrived about ninety minutes late; Melrose (20-0) showed up even later, losing the first set. 

Melrose rallied to win the next three sets, but it was anything but a dominant performance and no cause for optimism. 

Senior Night didn't predict playoff results.

Expecting good teams to dominate lesser opponents doesn't always work that way, especially in 'rivalry games'. 

Each game has story lines. What are last night’s?

• Starting gate
• Finishing kick
• Learning how to win
• Leveraging strength 

Melrose had uneven first set performance at home, including its victory over always-tough Burlington. Some related to inconsistent first frame serving last night.

A senior-laden roster showed its maturity overcoming multiple big deficits (5-11, 13-19) in the first set. That's less likely against playoff-caliber teams who have proven resilience. 

Younger teams 'learn how to win'. That includes at least three key points:

• Emphasis on doing what you do well (feed the positive dog)
• Don't beat yourself. Giveaways like bad serves, free balls into the net or out of bounds are killers. "Get me over" returns are just that. 
• Maintain aggressiveness. Melrose beat Billerica in last year's sectional final partly because Billerica got conservative playing not to lose. Winners play to win. 

Performance expert Dr. Fergus Connolly explains, "never bring a gun to a gun fight." Bring overwhelming force. Coach Celli analyzes what has worked and what hasn't. That shows up in the distribution of sets (e.g. fewer back sets and setter dumps) and opportunities. There's an old basketball adage that the best players get the most shots. 

Melrose notes. Melrose travels to Burlington Monday with the Red Devils looking to end Melrose's undefeated Middlesex League record.

Game 17: Melrose 3 Wakefield 0 Senior Moments

Melrose seniors earned a moment with a 27-25, 25-17, 25-20 home win over Wakefield on Senior Night. Wakefield, desperate for a win, put up plenty of resistance. The win raises Melrose's record to 13-4 (13-0 in the Middlesex League). 

Melrose had a large home crowd showing its love on the 28th anniversary of the BeeGees hit. 

Wakefield built a substantial 11-5 lead when Melrose earned a key point on a defensive scramble. 

MHS-TV on YouTube provides some highlights. 

The underrated Anna Shoemaker recorded a kill on one of the key points of the season. 

On the penultimate point of the set, Melrose poaches a pocketful of miracles with exceptional defense by Chloe Gentile, Ruth Breen, Sadie Jaggers, and an on-the-line winner from Gia Vlajkovic. This was one of the greatest and longest points in regular season history. 

The second and third frames seemed more pedestrian with contributions across the board with both spectacular and rigorously routine plays across the board. Libero Emma Desmond's play spoke volumes and Ruth Breen's setting was outstanding. 

Excellent teams rely on the lions and tigers but need winning plays from reflected light of lesser luminaries. 

Unheralded players like Anna Shoemaker keeping balls alive translate into winning points. 

Sadie Jaggers and Manon Marchais double block the middle on this winner. 

And it's great to go to your power game on attacks like this by Gia Vlajkovic. 

Volleyball Notes: Senior Night attracts big crowds including parents of successful players like AnneMarie Wiesen, Ava Burns, and Elena Soukos. 

Superpowers were in action today with Newton North escaping Newton South 3-2 and Barnstable outpointing Dennis Yarmouth 3-2. 

 

Senior Night Hype Video

Kudos to the producers...

For 23rd straight year Melrose Volleyball is in the playoffs. Tonight they honor their seniors. .⁦@MassGHSVB⁩ .⁦@BostonHeraldHS⁩ .⁦@MHSathletix⁩ pic.twitter.com/l68qosFiin

— Melrose Weekly Sport (@MelroseWNSports) October 21, 2022

Latest Power Rankings

Melrose moves to 4 in the MIAA Power Rankings. If the season ended today and the 'chalk' held, Melrose would face old friend Danvers in the first round. 

Three of Melrose's losses come to:

D1 - number one - Newton North

D2 - number one - Westborough

D5 - number one - Frontier 

The other loss came to 13-4 Peabody, number 13 in D1. 

Other top-ranked ML12 teams include Winchester (10 in D1), Woburn (11 in D2), and Burlington (13 in D2). 

Across the board in The Boston Globe All-Scholastic standings, Melrose is 6th in Division 3 among 39 schools. 

Senior Night

Melrose celebrates its seniors tonight, players with long-term commitment to the program. 

Top row, left to right - Gia Vlajkovic, Chloe Gentile, Anna Shoemaker

Bottom row - Ava McSorley, Emma Desmond, Ruth Breen

One word describes this group - competitive. They showed up day after day committed to succeeding. Each senior carved out a role, which isn't easy.

Together, they helped win a sectional championship and struggled through the pandemic era. They earned everything they got. 

 

"No Mind"

Execution demands focus. Volleyball skills merge hand-eye coordination with footwork and timing. Nothing works without focus. 

Shut out distracting thoughts of school, friends and family in the stands. "Do the next right thing right now." 

Melrose Notes: Melrose hosts Wakefield tonight in a Freedom Division matchup. Wakefield is fighting to stay alive for a postseason berth. 

  

Cross-Post, Don't Be Misled by Bad Wins

Winning while playing poorly is fool's gold. That process doesn't produce sustainable competitive advantage.

Assess team play and the individual skills - serving/serve receiving, attacking/blocking, digging, and setting. 

Exceptional team continually grow their process and the results take care of themselves. 

A cross-post from my basketball site.  

Trust the Process - Excellent Coaches Seek Understanding Not Validation

It's an invitation to explore and view it from the 'opponents' side.

I've done this with everything from sports teams game plans, to books, to proposals

Do it right with your team and it's actually a lot of fun. pic.twitter.com/p0s6WxojMo

— Fergus Connolly (@Fergus_Connolly) October 18, 2022

I've known Coach Scott Celli for over twenty years and respect him and his body of work for many reasons. 

• Commitment - He's 'all in' on the success of the program. 
• Equity - Players get opportunity to expand their role. He runs a 'performance-focused, feedback-rich' program.
• Analysis - Coaches don't have to submit statistics to sites like Maxpreps.com. 
• Consistency - Melrose has earned a playoff berth for twenty-three consecutive seasons. 
• Player/Team development - The team you see at the end of the season is always fundamentally better than at the beginning. That makes them a tough out in the postseason. 
• Competitiveness - Melrose has played three of the top teams in their divisions and the state in Westborough, Newton Newton North, and Frontier. To have a chance in the playoffs you have to play the best. 
• Systems orientation - Improvement demands good habits within better systems. What systems or process change the games? Captaincy selection involves essay, interview, consultation with school leadership, and voting. Offseason camps build skill. Team reading builds leadership.

Personnel and strategy are fully his domain. He has 'coaches' eyes' every day at practice and has navigated decades of volleyball rough seas and halcyon days. Trust the process. 

Melrose Notes: Melrose Volleyball has never been about individual statistics. But individual achievement does earn mention. 

Ruth Breen and Leah Fowke split the setting duty Wednesday at Watertown with both recording double digit assist. 

Four Melrose attackers had at least six kills. 

Congratulations to Gia Vlajkovic for accumulating 210 kills in sixteen matches this season, vaulting her into the Melrose Top 20 kills in a single season with four games remaining not including the postseason. 

Game 16: Melrose 3 Watertown 0

Melrose completed a one-game road swing with a sweep at Watertown, 25-8, 25-14, 25-8. The win raises Melrose's record to 12-4, 12-0 in the Middlesex League. 

Watertown faces a unique challenge in the ML12 with many elite athletes attracted to their superpower field hockey team, number one in the state.

Melrose had the opportunity to build depth with a number of young players getting valuable game experience. 

Sophomore defensive specialist Maggie Turner demonstrates her "platform skills."

Melrose notes: Outside hitter Gia Vlajkovic cracks the 200 kill mark for the season and has a chance to move into the Melrose top ten single season kill record. 

Melrose hosts Wakefield Friday in an important match for Kayla Wyland's crew to maintain their playoff possibilities. 

 

Do You Want to Be Great?

Coach K when talking to The Celtics about why they should draft Jayson Tatum

“When your best player can be coached hard, that’s going to be good for your franchise”

pic.twitter.com/uMppMruMvu

— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) October 19, 2022

 

Cross-Posted - Applying Coaching Lessons

Become your own coach.

• Be specific. "Play smarter." What does that mean? 
• Get readback. Verify understanding. 
• "Every day is player development day." Build skill.
• Simplify. What is your run up, your arm swing, your blocking footwork? 
• Find a mentor. "Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence." 

Cross-post

Clone Ranger

There's no perfect player but players and coaches work to assemble the best player possible within the game framework.

Each play reduces to spacing, player and ball movement, and the 'scoring moment'. 

Consider the geometry of a 'smash'. The 'contact point' for a smash has to be above the net, unless you generate freakish topspin from a sidearm attack. If the player contacts the ball six feet above the court, she can't smash it over a 7'4" net. 

Gradations exist. Some players contact the ball too close (vertically) to the net resulting in a high percentage of blocked attacks. Sets 'up against' the net also have a lower chance of success. 

In the above video, the "pteradactyl-like" Gamova (6'7") and Boskovic (6'4") soar over athletes creating favorable geometry. 

Other players like Cuba's Mireya Luis (5'10") leverage extreme athleticism and timing with her near 48 inch vertical jump. She said she developed jumping ability by picking fruit from trees as a child. Her only worry was getting her feet into the net. 

Size. You can't change your size (excepting therapeutic use of growth hormone). 

Athleticism. Sport rewards 'athletic explosion'...manifested as power transformed into jumping and spiking ability. Maturity and plyometric enhance the vertical jump. 

Timing. Optimal timing appears in your approach (runup) and striking the ball at the peak of your jump. On quick sets (middle), delivering the attack before the block is set depends on both setter and hitter. 

The "slow developing" attack has limited chance of success. 

The synergy of size, athleticism, timing, and skill define the results...along with the defensive efficiency. 

This isn't a perfect example, but Ruth Breen and Sadie Jaggers combine for a winner off a quick set that isn't well-blocked.

Melrose notes: Melrose travels to Watertown today. Watertown is improved although their record doesn't fully reflect it. 

Girls Can Jump

 

Sadie Jaggers goes high for the attack. (Via a Facebook post. I am not sure whom to credit for the photo)

Updated MIAA Division 2 Power Rankings

 

Quotes from the Legendary Don Meyer

Who's Don Meyer? Meyer held the record from most NCAA basketball coaching wins until eclipsed by Mike Kryzyewski. Meyer quotes often share his keen understanding of humanity. 

First, here's some background. Meyer was the subject of a book, How Lucky You Can Be. He suffered a near-fatal car accident, falling asleep while driving on a recruiting trip. His injuries allowed discovery of an internal cancer. 

He is known for wit, wisdom, his basketball acumen, and a relentless willingness to share. He answered questions on his website. 

He kept three notebooks, one for basketball, one for general knowledge, and one to appreciate his wife, which he gave her at the end of each year. 

He had three rules: 

1. Everybody takes notes.

2. Everybody says "please" and "thank you".

3. Everybody picks up trash.

"Recognize and reward players who put the team first, not just the gifted ones."

"It is not what you teach, but what you emphasize."

"There's only one thing we can control, and that is how hard we play."

"The only thing success should do is make you more humble."

"It is foolish to expect a young man to follow your advice and to ignore your example."

"You can pick captains, but you can't pick leaders. Whoever controls the locker room controls the team."

"To be a team, you must be a family."

"Don’t be the kind of player that can’t help your team unless you touch the ball." 

"In the end, what your own troops do is more important than who they are marching against." (It matters most how you play not whom you play

"Simplify the game as much as possible. When you add, you must subtract."

"Coach like the coach you want to be ten years from now."

"Tell people you love them. You may not get a chance tomorrow." 

"If you can do something and not blow your own horn, it sure sounds a lot better."

"The three people that must be great daily for your team to succeed -- the head coach, best player and point guard." 

"To win it all, winners have to be obsessive about the fundamentals and doing the little things right."

"Most of us would rather be ruined by praise, than saved by criticism." 

"Great people talk about ideas.  Average people talk about things. Small people talk about other people."

"Reputation is what people think you are; character defines who you really are." 

"See what you are doing through urgent eyes." 

Meyer was also the subject of another book, Playing for Coach Meyer. 

Melrose Volleyball Can Take You Places - Emma Randolph

Melrose volleyball fans enjoy hearing about the progress of alumnae. 

Emma Randolph is one of the great players in Melrose history, the all-time kills leader with three seasons over 200 kills. 

Emma will be in town this weekend rowing in the Varsity 4 for Clemson University on Saturday at 12:43pm in the Head of the Charles Regatta.  The junior studies Environmental Engineering.

Showtime

"It's always SHOWTIME." What does that mean?

Athletes live in a fishbowl. What they say, how they act, and how they carry themselves gets noticed. 

People love to 'take down' well-known people. If people seek recognition, they get the trappings. You want the bull, you get the horns. 

How do you walk into the gym? How do you treat younger teammates and fans? 

Coaches see everything. Preparing includes study, film review, even how you stretch before the game. 

"Your actions speak so loudly, I can't hear a word you say." Treat teammates and coaches with success. Don't 'bigfoot' underclassmen. You are the stewards of legacy that will transition to them. 

"Don't cheat the drill." Or in the words of Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements, "Always do your best." 

Verbal and nonverbal communication matter. Do we play with joy or with  scowls on our faces? Don't let 140 characters on social media rob your of thousands of dollars in scholarships. 

Melrose Notes: Evaluators are noticing Melrose's schedule and defeat of D1 power Winchester, who in turn beat Andover. MassHSVB.com updated ratings

Five Melrose players had at least five kills. 

Ruth Breen added 33 to her assist total, but the big news was Sadie "Brady" Jaggers adding an assist to her stat sheet. 

Game 15: Melrose 3 Arlington 1 A Hard Day's Night

It was a hard day's night as Melrose hosted Arlington for a 19-25, 25-13, 25-19, 25-19 victory. The win raises Melrose's record to 11-4 and its Middlesex League slate to 11-0. 

Former Celtics Coach Brad Stevens asks, "what does my team need now?" And a highly competitive match against a team with a superstar might be the answer. Arlington's Fiona Rigby gave Melrose all they could handle.

Here's Rigby (7) making Melrose's life miserable. 

Fortunately, for Melrose, Melrose's overall talent and coordination was able to overcome Rigby. Many Melrose players had fingers in the proverbial pie. Anna Shoemaker had big kills early in the second set. Tri-Captain Sadie Jaggers got hot during the third set for a number of kills. 

Leah Fowke provided service art down the stretch in the second set to propel the frame to a successful conclusion. 

Defense is always a key. Grace Gentile had an excellent game in the back row. 

In this remarkable sequence, Grace and Gia Vlajkovic come together for an acrobatic "pancake dig." I don't know for sure who made the play. 

Third time's the charm. Gia persists and gets a kill on the third attack of this sequence. 

Stars be stars. 

Chloe Gentile put the cherry on top of the sundae with this middle attack. 

Melrose's remaining games come against Freedom Division opposition. The team will continue to fine tune its game for the playoffs. 

Work - A Four-Letter Word

"As a program, we have to love the work."  

“Lou Gehrig said,‘When you love the work, you don’t cheat it or the demands it makes of you. You respect, even the most trivial aspects of the pursuit.’
We're going to respect that the little things aren't the littlest things; they're the biggest things in our team’s pursuit.” pic.twitter.com/dIAV00MeDH

— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) October 17, 2022

 

Legacy, Does It Matter? Melrose Hosts Arlington Tonight

The young players who will someday succeed you know remarkably little about Melrose Volleyball history. 

The volleyball banner hasn't yet updated all the achievements of the program, highlighted by a State Championship in 2012 and nine sectional titles. These included a 'threepeat' from 2003-2005 and a four-decker from 2009-2012. 

Continuity over those two decades include community support and the Coaching of Scott Celli.

A former Wakefield Coach Nicole Trudeau described Melrose as a "Legacy Program." Current players and coaches are part of that legacy. 
 

People, not hardware, define Melrose Volleyball...but there is hardware. Melrose had numerous memorable, if not 'signature' wins. It's first sectional championship in 2003 defeated Arlington Catholic, 3-0, a 22-0 team that had not lost a set all season. 

Melrose had exceptional teams year after year. Here's an excerpt from 2009:

The 2012 State Championship team deserves special memory as a 'wagon'. "Never underestimate the primacy of platform skills. Melrose became a very strong 'ball control' team with integrated skill in serve receive, digging, and passing."

Teams win with talent and the 2012 team had four players who ultimately earned All-State honors - Brooke Bell, Sarah McGowan, Jill MacInnes, and Allie Nolan. It also had seven seniors, often the fuel and experience needed to overcome adversity. For example, during the 2012 run, Melrose trailed in two sets to Canton before emerging victorious. 

Which brings us to 2022 with half a dozen seniors, all with major roles. You don't have to question whether you have the right stuff to win, leaning into the 2021 Sectional Championship comeback win at Billerica. 

Former Patriots' Coach Bill Parcells said, "Confidence comes from proven success." Past performance and legacy status can't guarantee league titles or deep playoff runs. Critics of Melrose used to say that they play too basic, too simple, not flashy. All you do is win. 

Melrose notes: Melrose completes its Liberty Division schedule hosting Arlington tonight at the MVMMS Gym.