Congratulations Seniors!!

Wow, pandemic or not, four years seems to go by faster and faster!  It's hard to believe we're saying goodbye to this group already!  As restrictions eased across the State and on campus, I invited the seniors out to my house for one last meal.  I didn't cook, however, because I still wasn't sure about those rules, so we got take-out from the Arcadian--one of the favorite restaurants in town (other than Sabai Sabai!)  

 Both Jaime and El were living off campus and still not allowed on campus until graduation, and Shea and Emma were living on campus so the only place we could all get together was off campus somewhere and since we were all vaccinated, including my kids, my house seemed like the perfect place.  

 We ate, laughed and talked about fun times and what's next.  A variety of choices with Emma headed to graduate school,  El working in NY, Shea as Mass General in clinical research, and at the time, Jaime was still undecided, but word has it that she will be staying in NY with a job offer coming right before graduation!  Congrats to you all, and more updates to come!  

 Graduation this year was in person, but to keep the overall numbers lower and to accommodate everyone's guests, there were 5 or 6 different mini ceremonies across campus.  While this was a little unfortunate because it's nice to have everyone be in ONE spot and share one graduation experience, it was certainly better than not having it be in person!  Here are a couple of the pictures the seniors sent me, since I also wasn't allowed to go this year.  It was graduates and family/guests only.  Brian and I always go and always really enjoy it, but at least the graduates got to have some sort of celebration in person with their families and some of their classmates.

Here are pictures from both Shea and El.  Shea's parents and sister came, and El's parents came.  The cane in the pictures is a MIDD Tradition, so I'll give a little more history on that sometime in the near future.  I'm also still hoping to get pictures from the other two...

 We will miss you ALL!  Good luck with your next adventures, and we look forward to seeing you back on campus to cheer us on, only this time as Alums!  But, as we all know...MCVB is family for life!

Spring Strength Training

 All right, we're over half way through Spring Semester, and we're getting a lot of good work in!  We're practicing a couple of times a week with one session more geared toward skills and drills and the other on play and competition.  Additionally, we're getting in some great work on the Strength Balcony!

 Here are some quick videos of the team showing up for morning lift and then heading to classes.  We are certainly loving our new Team Strength Balcony!  It's also been one of the nicest April's on campus with many days in the 60's and 70's--and we love that!

Welcome Back, Students!!

WELCOME BACK STUDENTS!!

The students once again had to go through an intensive protocol both before coming back (14 day pre-arrival quarantine), as well as the Day 0, Day 4, Day 7 testing protocols once on campus.  I worked many of those testing days and got to see several players during either the check-in or the medical observation stations the first few days, and again on Day 4/7 testing.  I was able to choose Laney on her arrival day since she arrived when no one else was coming in, so I called her over to my station!  On another day, Britt actually was assigned to my station (and there were 16 different stations, so that's pretty impressive!)  I've seen most of the team at least in passing through the testing days so far, but I'm so excited to see everyone in the gym on Monday!

 

 

Here are some other welcome back photos from around campus.  The returning students came at basically the same time as the new "Febs" this year so we could have everyone go through the testing protocols together.  So, this "Welcoming" committee was dual purpose this year--welcoming NEW "Feb" students to MIDD, as well as welcoming back everyone else after an extended break this past winter!

 

 

 

 

Here's the iconic view of Mead Chapel with the Holiday lights on the big tree in the center of campus.  It's so great to see people walking around campus again!

Right below that we have the newly placed fire pits in that same area for students to safely gather outside.  The students all were given a canvas bag filled with various goodies when they returned, including a wool blanket with MIDD scenes on it, and a pair of fun wool mittens--both to help encourage all students to get outside in the cold and socialize safely in the fresh air!

These last two photos are of our dear Panther statue overlooking the Green Mountains and perched above the Football and Lacrosse Stadium near the Golf Course.  Below, we have the outdoor ice rink made to help encourage outdoor recreation and skates were being provided this year as an added incentive to partake.  In the old days, we actually held real games (now, that's really the "old" days!) outside but most years the college just floods this part of campus to help provide another venue to fun outdoor recreation.  This year it just has an added bonus since many indoor social activities are limited due to the pandemic.

We're so excited to have everyone back on campus, and the AC is due to open this weekend, so we'll be able to get in the gym starting on Monday!!  Yeah!!

We've also got a few birthdays coming up, so we'll get some pictures of those for you also!  Happy Winter...and since it's March and daylight savings is coming soon...Spring is on it's way...

MCVB Celebrates National Girls and Women in Sports Day

 This is the information from the NGWSD website:

"February 3, 2021, marks the 35th Annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day (NGWSD). Every year, this celebration inspires girls and women to play and be active, to realize their full power. This year, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we recognize the importance of staying mentally and physically healthy during challenging times.​ Whether virtual or other, ​we invite you to safely celebrate NGWSD in your community and to join the Women’s Sports Foundation as we Lead Her Forward in 2021."

"Nearly 50 years ago, Title IX opened the doors for sports participation. Today, women and girls still lag behind in access, leadership and coaching opportunities, pay and media coverage. As we enter a new decade, there is a groundswell of support for gender equity. With collective action, we can harness this momentum into lasting impact.

 Here at Middlebury, our one female Sports Information representative put together some fun graphics for us to post on social media, but I wanted to showcase them here also.  I had reached out and talked with colleagues of my era and we talked about how when most of us started sports in elementary school at that time it was mostly on "boys" teams where we were usually the only girl, or one of only two girls on the team.  Even in middle school, I ran cross country on a co-ed team where the vast majority of the athletes were guys.  Anyway, I couldn't be more happy that NGWSD is celebrated so widely now, and I'm proud to have been part of athletic teams for the past 40 years.  Over that time, the changes have been significant, which is exciting, even though the statistics for opportunities for women still lag behind that for men, we have made significant progress. At Middlebury, I feel very fortunate to say that the women's teams have equal access to facilities and support staff with the men's teams.  Although that should go without saying, it was definitely not true in my High School.  My hope is that future women will never know first hand a time when that wasn't true. The best is yet to come...

First up are our seniors:

Next up we have all 5 of our juniors:

Next we have some of our sophomores:

And, last but not least are two of our freshmen:

Practice Competitions Help Define Season

Our 2020 season was to be without regular competitions, so we created our own.  In consultation with the seniors and captains, we came up with our weekly routine:  3 days of skills and drills, 1 day of yoga, and 1 competition day with weekends off.  The first couple of competition days were comprised of 2v2 matches, but we quickly moved to 3v3 so everyone was playing all the time--with injuries we basically had 12 or 13 people healthy this year.  Both games are great for seeing the court, working on all skills, and reading!  We changed the teams every week so everyone pretty much played with everyone else.  We also utilized our iPads for skill evaluation more this year with the delay app so players could perform a skill and then rotate out to see themselves, and then rotate back in and move along.  I've been meaning to incorporate this for some time, and this just seemed like the perfect year to start.

Choosing teams for the competitions weekly was like a game for me, sort of like how I approach the rooming list on our road trips.  I try to make sure that everyone rooms with everyone else at least once during the season.  This time I came up with different themes to help the process.  We had position day (the DS's didn't think that was such a great idea.)  We had region day (I believe it came down to Team NY vs Team CA, but I can't actually remember the details without looking back at my practice plans with the game scores.)  We did class day, but since the juniors only had 2 people, we had to steal the oldest sophomore to play with them. We had birth day groups, which were the hardest to guess since some teams had three different months represented, while others were all the same month...those were the days I asked them to see if they could figure out the theme...it was fun (for me anyway!)

I also kept track of both Wins and Points, as some people were amassing points, but not wins, so there was a big list of data to look at.  In the end, however, there was ONE overall winner:  Katie Kraczkowsky with 20 wins and 369 points!  Nice job by the rookie!  Her overall game, hitting power, deceptive hitting and tough serving proved to be a consistent theme throughout the season.  

 The #2 spot went to junior Corley Doyle (17 wins/341 points), who discovered that she could use her main skill set (blocking) very well if they strategized properly in a game of 3v3 where everyone is always front row.  Her serving and defense improved, as did her setting, and she capitalized on her blocking skills in effectively shutting down opponents at the net, or directing them to her team's defense.  

The 3rd place overall went to senior RH Jaime Donnelly (12 wins/332 points), whose overall game, like Katie's proved to be an asset no matter whose team she was on.  I also think that Jaime's enthusiasm and tenacity helped boost her team's point totals!

The rest of the tally looked like this:

Shea--11 wins, but 334 points (Shea was particularly good at strategizing and was one of very few players who utilized the over on two strategy to catch the other team off guard and gets bonus points from me for that mentality of thinking outside the box!)

 

 

 

Britt--12/324

Laney--12/319

Emma C.--12/312

Kelly--11/326

Manya--11/326

When we were allowed to play 6v6, we would play one set of 6v6 first, and then break into our 3v3 groups on Friday.  For the final tally, I didn't actually add in the wins/points for those 6v6 matches, but it was fun to have more data.  Emma Walsh was hurt most of the season, so she didn't do every competition day, but usually would play for the 6v6 so we could have two setters, which was great.  Also, we had people miss practice for class since the academic day was stretched to reduce traffic, so I think Maggie also missed a few Fridays, unfortunately.  

 

 

It was a year of making due with what we had, which is actually a great lesson for all of us.  The DS's got good experience at setting, both from bump setting and hand setting, and got some great reps at digging with NO block!  The middles also got some work at setting, especially in the 3v3 as the blocker/setter, as well as much more serve and receive than they've ever done, most likely.  Additionally, we were able to lift as a team (or whomever could make it), once a week, which was a nice bonding time.  The other workouts had to be done on their own signing up for slots in the fitness center according to the new Covid rules.

 All in all, we had fun, which was great.  And, competition is such a big part of what we prepare for that it was both fun and productive to have an on-going competition throughout the season.  We need to keep honing and sharpening our competitive spirit, and I think we did that. Great job, Team!! 

Senior Day!

Ahh, Senior Day!  Well, not quite what we were hoping for, but we were actually able to surprise them a little bit.  The juniors made sure that the gym was decorated as it always is to celebrate Senior Day, which was awesome.  We even managed to have the seniors' parents join the celebration via zoom, which I think they enjoyed.  I'm sure that seeing a webcast of an actual match would have been better, and most would probably have made it here in person, but nonetheless, we tried to recreate as much of our traditions as possible for our seniors!  The following are the posters the team made for each senior along with the write-ups for each.

Another tradition has been for the team to give each senior a pillow of team pictures from their four years, which is such a cute idea!  I think that started a few years ago and has continued and is now a treasured tradition. 

 Shea Golden is the daughter of Dina and Jay Golden, from Chapel Hill, NC.  She’s a Neuroscience major with minors in Global Health and Education Studies.  Shea is a 2020 captain, and currently is in 8^th place for Career Service Aces per set.  Additionally, she will be named to the Academic All-NESCAC Team this Fall!  Shea has lead this team extraordinarily through this difficult season by being the most vocal and enthusiastic player in the gym, no matter what drill we’re doing.  What a great legacy to leave.

Jaime Donnelly is the daughter of Lisa and John Donnelly, from Rye, NY.  She’s a Psychology major with a Spanish Minor.  Jaime has finished her career in a very strong way by becoming a starter last year in her true position at Right Side after fulfilling a needed role playing MH. She’s been a role model and positive influence on the team in every practice with her enthusiasm and team spirit!

Emma Walsh is the daughter of Andree and Joe Walsh from Wichita, KS.  She is a Psychology Major with a minor in Education Studies. Emma is currently 4 assists shy of making the top 10 Career Assists Leaderboard in the Middlebury Record books and would have climbed at least a couple of spots if allowed to compete this year.  Emma has had a wonderful career from being a 5-1 starting setter, to a 6-2 starting setter and leader for four years.  We value her contributions immensely and hope her body recovers from all of the collegiate athletic experiences of competitive Volleyball and Track and Field when this year is finished so that she can pursue “old lady volleyball” wherever she ends up—everyone always loves a good setter, no matter how old we get!

El Tyler is the daughter of Shanna and Chris Tyler, from Stevensville, MI.  El is an Economics Major, and 2020 Team Captain.  El has been on the Academic All-Nescac Team every semester.  Over the last four years, El has demonstrated a new level of dedication to this program by being involved in all aspects of this program except for potentially the most rewarding part…playing!  Thank you most sincerely for raising the bar on this level of dedication to the TEAM and demonstrating the true selfless nature of our motto, “It’s ALL about the TEAM!”

Jack English is the son of Patricia and David English, from Montgomery Village, MD.  He is a Computer Science and Japanese Studies Double Major, and Jack would have qualified for Academic All-Nescac every semester, if allowed (only players are currently eligible).  Jack has been an invaluable asset for the coaching staff and players over his four years with great advice and tips for the players and insights and observations for the coaches.  We will also miss his willingness to jump in and play any position we need him to in practice, as well as be the biggest block we would EVER face!