(A final(?) note from Jeff as we start the final season of the UCHS Zion Era...)
The setter is the brain of the team and often the heart (unless you have a Shahab, in which case, Shahab is the heart). This is the capstone of a journey that started in early 2022. On February 23, UC hosted Francis Parker with essentially a brand new team. Nate Muttera was the undisputed leader of the team, with Phillip Allen bringing experience and huge crushing power to the net (but was sidelined for this debut). Everyone else was brand new to Varsity ball, including our sophomore setter, Zion. The team had talent, but with everything running through the setter; the season would depend on his play.
Two successful seasons later, UC returns five players who forged their mettle in that season: Zion, Jeremy, Trinton, Petar, and Justin. Lincoln, last year's lone freshmen, made a huge impact last year, and Tommaso complement that core with a season of Varsity experience. Experience matters.
This year will be an end and a beginning - a transition, preparing for next year. What next year will be remains to be seen, but it will be something new.
Enjoy this year, enjoy this moment.
I am terribly excited for the season. Why?
- It's indoor volleyball!
- While my direct family is no longer on my court, you, my extended family, are.
- You have a LOT of experience, I think you will do well.
- Much like I was invested in seeing how Dash would respond to having to "step up" last year, I am invested in seeing how the team steps up to fill the new voids.
- I had some (understandable) tunnel vision last year. I look forward to focusing (!) on the other growth journeys this year. I feel obliged to - but it's a welcome obligation with multiple worthy stories worth capturing.
- And, just like the previous two years, your journey should be supported and celebrated.
This is YOUR "Back in MY Day..."
I expect a lot of wins, but wins don't matter. Wins make everything easier, but what matters is that you enjoy your time together. Enjoy your practices. Work hard, play hard. Every bit of effort is an investment.
Don't take the moment for granted. Each moment is potentially memorable. The next moment isn't a given. Injuries happen. Consider that the bulk of the 2020 season was flat out cancelled. Consider that hours before our first playoff game of 2022, COVID benched a key player - actually he wasn't able to sit on the bench or even enter the gym. Even if a moment happens, something could keep you from it.
You likely have a long lifetime of increasingly amazing moments in life. But less than half of you will play for college teams and then professionally for many years. The number of games with a crowd rooting for you, folks volunteering to run concessions on your behalf, coaches mentoring out of passion rather than paycheck - whether it's twenty, or forty, or a hundred games - they're finite. They're countable. They're rare.
Your days of playing with kids you grew up are running out. This won't happen again. You'll play with new people, new friends. Good, but different.
Many very good players stop playing competively surprisingly early - voluntarily or involuntarily. For many, their last high school game is their last competitive game.
You're likely to play volleyball most of your life - but not like this.
Enjoy these moments. You have a few months to live in them and a lifetime to carry them.
What makes this Season Special?
Dash has dashed.
We rode him too much. Fortunately it didn't get too out of balance until late in the year. I, personally, am glad we gave it a shot, but I'm very glad we waited until deep in the season.
There will be a burden to replace him, but you'll be sharing that burdern broadly. That's good. A team effort and and opportunity to step up.
At the start of the 2022 season, Dash was not only NOT "A Force", he was largely ineffective. In the set we won in Match One, he had multiple hits, but zero kills. They had his number. But he grew.
Did he put on much muscle? No. Did he get stronger? Not so much in his Junior year, and he never added much weight.
How did his game get so much better?
- He got experience
- He had opportunity
- He had an obligation
I think this is why the team will be better this year than last year. He didn't grow physically, but he grew into the role.
And, having seen y'all during Beach Season, some of y'all are considerably taller and stronger. That will help quite a bit.
Also, you should serve better this year.
- You better serve better this year. :) Service errors were our most glaring weakness, and it's the most correctable. You need zero other players to practice your serve. Just go find a wall. There's plenty of instruction on YouTube; Coast will do some one-on-ones or group clinics. Serving better - minimizing the unforced giveaways - can elevate a good season to very good season.
Returning to that debut match: 220223 UC vs Francis Parker. It's worth a watch.
Nate, our lone senior that day (Philip was on the sidelines), the only player with varsity experience, was a man among boys. In the set we won, he had nine kills.
Our juniors were offensively ineffective. I say this to point out how experience grew them into the power players that carried the team throughout that year.
Shahab was a beast, but imprecise. Trevor was mostly solid, but didn't impose his will like he did in the last part of the year (and, remember, when Dash was out, he was forced to step up, and he did (with relish)).
Dash, only a little shorter than he would be 15 months later, hit often, but couldn't find the court. He hit long in the final play in the first set loss. Overall, he had 15 sets, one kill and five hitting errors for a match Hitting Percentage of -0.267.
Experience matters. The entire 2024 returning team has years more experience than the 2022 underclassmen had at the end of that season.
Jeremy had four kills in that set. This should be aHUGE year for him.
Y'all are poised.
Dash didn't get much taller over the following fifteen months, but he solidified what he did well and he figured out what he needed to tweak to be effective on offense. And it wasn't "swinging harder". Not at all. He actually didn't start hitting HARD until a senior - when he had to. He had to be smarter about the opposing hands at the net, and he made the adjustments.
For those of you who grew inches, you'll find hitting down a lot more enjoyable. It gives you a lot more options, but it's still more about the brain rather than the arm.
This is YOUR YEAR.
You have experience.
You have opportunity.
You have an obligation.
What will you do with it?
It's on you.
Bring it!
Good luck. Go Cents!
And practice your serve. :)