Head Coach: Pasky

Great performance with a few errors that are easy fix, it was a good preparation tournament to upcoming Nationals 17s Club Div.

Coach Bic and James, thank you for your support as I couldn't cut myself in half although it would have pleased some ;-)

Click here to watch video clips and photos of all our teams

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOYlQCpw502OCB9Jb_Y5NooaIK17cL1ZuB2dlDhGj5maE2_bBLnAot3XIlzk-M0Yw

Let me start by saying how frustrated and disappointed I am with the Front Range organization who run this tournament.  Being placed in the only pool of 5 where only the top 2 teams stay in the top bracket whilst the top 2 teams move up in all the other 10 pools of 4 was bad enough. But being forced to play 3 games in a row!!!! is simply mind-blowing stupid, irresponsible and more to the point, dangerous. Affaire a suivre.

This first day of competition ended with 2 losses and 2 wins leaving us in 3rd place in our pool of 5 and in the bottom half bracket with no way of getting back up. 

We came back the second day ready to show what we were made of and geeeee did we show everyone or what. Finishing that 2nd day undefeated.

3rd day, championship day, having coaches as up and down ref is just not acceptable. Front range has a full year to prepare for this and missing half the ref required on championship day? seriously? We paid $895 for team registration! same price as AAU Nationals 4 days tournament with over 4500 teams participating not 350, my reffing invoice is on its way. 

Frustrated and disappointed for my 17s. They fought so hard and showed a big heart. I told them that I couldn't be more proud of all of them. They know me, I mean what I say, always. We will go and get our trophy in the Alpine Summit tournament next weekend.

coach Pasky

Let me start by saying that for a moment, a long moment, on that first game of the AAU Sooner Super regional I was left speechless, yup, speechless. Entering their very first competitive tournament of the season in an out of state venue/event this 17s Attitude team left me speechless. What a first competitive day that was!

Winning their first game vs 17s One VA of Kansas 25-18, 25-23 was a good result but their attitude was as positive as it could possibly be. The desire to win, the support for each other, their overall positive ATTITUDE, wow! Of course my silly bright yellow fluffy stuff on top of my head helped them relax and giggle from the get go and I am sure that helped ;-)

Second game vs same Kansas club but the older sisters: 18s One VA, delivering another win, a hard one in 3 sets: 25-22, 25-27, 15-7.  It came down to which team wanted it more and as per their first game our Spikes 17s were in no mood to let that one slip.

The play schedule however didn't help us much on that first day as we started our last pool game  at 8.30pm. By that time we were alone in the Premier Sports Complex 8 courts facility and facing the home team: the OK 18s Premier Diamond team. After losing their first set 16-25 they seriously rallied and fought back in the second set to win 25-22.  It was 9.30pm by the time we entered the 3rd set and it showed. I asked our girls to dig as deep as they could but physical fatigue was taking over, the spirit was there but the legs were wobbling and we lost that 3rd set 15-12. I could see the disappointment on their face and I tried my best to raise their moral as the only thing that loss did was to make us play at 8am the next morning instead of having another hour sleep and play at 9am.

Championship day, 8am and we are on deck facing the 17s  Allegiant Texas team. Please understand that when they say everything is bigger in Texas its because it is! I personally learned a long time ago that Tall means Tall, it doesn't mean they can play. However when that team warmed up with their coach tossing balls in the air and the players 5"8 to 6"2 were absolutely burying their balls I saw my players' face smiling nervously, and even my own confidence dropped for a moment as I remembered my best friend's Blase's own words again, are they going to play like that or is this Texas team just a great impressive warm-up team?

Well we won the first set 27-25 after being ahead as much as 9 points! They did rally and caught up but we still won. Our serving was amazing and we pinned them down in their back court not allowing them to run their offense with those 6 foot plus front row players. They were shaken but not stirred ;-) and came back winning the second set handsomely 25-10, we were the ones shaken, but all credit due to them, they played hard and way better than us in that set. 

Third set. I rallied my players as this time I could see the desire was still there, the physical element was good but now the emotional part was starting to take over, not as a team but individually. We lost that 3rd set against a good team NOT against a better team 15-12.  individual errors from coaches and players alike is part of our game, we brush this away quickly, we cannot change what just happened and we look forward to the next event.

Our team had a 90.4% serving success rate and finished 5th overall out of 12! Again wow!

I was so impressed by their performance and positive Attitude that I decided to take them on my dime to Crossroads early March. This is a well deserved reward.

On our return I sat down and watched the team videos, analyzed our stats and realized that we needed more offensive play especially from backcourt. I asked coach Blase for help on reviewing our rotations and to try and come up with a solution if he could. He did. After presenting it to the team we went straight into practice and were amazed how much stronger we were immediately. However some players were not so sure or they were but didn't want to see it. I remember being a teenager myself, changes are kind of scarry and most of the time not really welcome, most of the time upsetting.  Last night I listened to 3 core players and was so pleased and impressed by their mature words and vote of confidence in me their coach. They know that coach Blase and I have always and will always have the best interest for the team. Coach James will help us in managing physical issue that some players might have and will act accordingly.

They are not my 14s Zoe's Team that I coach year in year out no matter what, but they are MY 17s Attitude team. Most of these players have been with me for 4/5 years and aside of their level of abilities due to their age difference all 22 players are mine and I will care for all of them equally, always. 

Come on Crossroads!