We have made it to the 1st October week of volleyball.  Check out the recent big upsets, what it means for the teams. What's going on in conference play and the big milestone that was hit by one of the best volleyball coaches in the nation...

Week 2 of collegiate volleyball! Enough said -- come check out my takeaways from the weekend

Saying I learned a lot about my self during that time would be an understatement.  There was clearly much more independence because you are living away from your family, in my case approximately 1,400 miles away.  And managing a college schedule with volleyball was different than anything I had experienced in high school.  I made it through my first season but almost immediately I began to reevaluate whether I was where I wanted to be

When I was asked what advice I would want to share with the next generation of volleyball players, the first thoughts that popped into my head were the typical ones: don’t lose the love of the game, remember that there is life after volleyball, all that good stuff. But when I sat down to write this and really did some thinking, I settled on something else.

Don’t be afraid to follow the opportunities that this wonderful game brings you...

When I was younger, I had dreamed of playing volleyball at a division one university. But not just any division one school, I wanted to be playing at one of the top conferences in the nation like the Pac-12, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, etc. While I had this dream in my mindset, my life took a turn of events that I was not expecting at all.  Two years, one regional championship, and a 3rd place at nationals later and I soon found myself getting recruited and offered a full ride scholarship to a division one university...

Volleyball has been one of the most consistent things in my life for the past 8 years. I started playing at 16 because I was the tallest girl in school. Fast forward two years and I was walking-on as a redshirt freshmen to the Oregon State team. My five years at OSU ended on a high note when my team made it to the Sweet 16 in December 2014. I graduated and spent a year working before quitting my job to play professionally in the Philippines. When I chose to play volleyball at age 16, I had no idea that small decision would completely alter my life path...

I secured my first official visit with the University of Colorado and had a couple other visits brewing on the backburner. Since I am from Colorado, visiting this school felt like home. I loved everything about it and all of the puzzle pieces just seemed to fit. I ended up verbally committing about a week later. Fast-forward, a couple months to Halloween weekend. I got a knock on my door and it happened to be the head coach at CU. Taken aback, my parents and I welcomed her into our home and we sat down to have a discussion...

I started the VolleyBlog as a way to help players and parents learn more about what it takes to be a great player.  Part of that is to bring you stories from former players.  Today, we bring you Dana Backlund who played club ball at Wave Volleyball Club, went on to University of Florida and then Oregon State University before having to medically retire, this is her volleyball story.

In 7th grade I moved to Kiev to play for the Junior National Team where we were USSR Champions and only lost about three games in 4 years. I lived with my team and coaches at Sports Academy where we would go to school during the summer and travel for camps and tournaments...

Dear You,

After all these years, ten to be exact, I couldn’t thank you enough for all you have done for me. A decade of memories race through my head as I try to express my gratitude for you. Chasing volleyballs on the court has taught me a million things, but I’ll only have time to share my favorite. 

Tayla Woods is a recent graduate of Oregon State University with degrees in Psychology and Education as well as a Masters of Education. As a five year member of the OSU Volleyball, Tayla had the unique experience of being the starting setter during one of the toughest seasons in school history followed by one of the most successful seasons in school history. Tayla took some time to answer questions about her journey at OSU and how she traded in the idea of giving up in favor of unmatched determination. Post volleyball career, Tayla has continued striving to make a difference with the creation of the non-profit Believe in Better Inc...

Kallie and Kassie have been playing volleyball since they were in 7th grade. They played on their first club team at Silver State Volleyball Club the following year and are entering their senior season at Dayton High School.  Kallie and Kassie are identical twins standing at 6’1”, Kallie is a setter/right side and Kassie is a middle blocker. They took some time to answer questions about their volleyball careers so far, how athletics and sisterhood affect each other, and the biggest question of all, does twin telepathy exist?

“You’ve torn your ACL.” No words any athletic wants to hear. Especially a junior in high school who is going to play on in college. A few things that first came to mind when the news hit me. Will I keep my scholarship? How do I come back from such an injury? Will I be able to progress in my career and achieve the goals I have set for myself?

These were all things that I had no control over until I had the surgery.

1,890 miles. The distance between the house I was living in and the new college campus I would be attending. Having spent 12 years in Reno I was ready for a change. Making my decision to move out of state came with careful planning, college visits, and a solid conference choice.

Our answer to questions like: What makes Silver State unique from the other clubs in the area? 

If you just glanced over the title, I want to repeat it for you to make sure you didn’t miss the most important word.  3 Types of Failures That Can Make You a Better Volleyball Player, can. Three little letters which clarify that nothing is automatic. You cannot show up to the gym and spontaneously improve. You cannot think up a dream and inevitably achieve it. You cannot fail and automatically learn

3 Types of Failures That Can Create Better Volleyball Players

Inescapable Failures: competing higher than your skill level...

"Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even when you don't see it yourself" - Edmund Lee.  From inspiration to everyday knowledge to eating well to just talking volleyball, take 5 minutes to check out these 5 posts... today.

What is your mental game?  If I asked this question in a classroom, I believe I would get some good answers, one hopefully from you.  Some athletes, especially young athletes, choose to ignore their mental game.  And that might work for a while, but if you want to be the best volleyball player you can, there will be many ups and many downs throughout your career, and the best players are the ones that refuse to give up, mentally or physically...

Just because you aren't in college doesn't mean you can't learn, check out these great quotes from college coaches that know a little bit about the game of volleyball (that was a joke, these peeps are close to legend status).

However you pronounce it, the libero is beginning to make waves and whether that is due to more specific training coming up from the amateur level or because the blockers are getting taller, the world is taking notice. Looking into questions like how are liberos being recognized, the importance of the libero, and how you can become a stronger libero...

Leaders are made, not overnight and not without effort.  I had the opportunity to be the captain of ten extraordinary teams throughout my career and, with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, these are a few of the things I wish I had been reminded of.

An often forgotten member of a volleyball team is the coach. It may sound funny but in order to play at the top off your game it helps to be in-sync with everyone including your coach. Don't know where to start? Check out this fundamental list of things your coaches wish you would stop doing.

Over the course of a few years, several college coaches have contacted Silver State Volleyball Club about players. As a result of those conversations, we have put together some important tips that will help you in the recruitment process.

Although, we would all like to think our team could make it through numerous games without our setter needing to make a "save". The reality is that this game has a level of chaos that requires players to make plays, especially setters.

Unfortunately, we cannot fit everything there is to know about college recruiting into one post, but here is some information to create a foundation about college volleyball.

Throughout college recruiting there are times that you may feel that you and the coach talking to you are on the same page and that you have all the information you need to make an informed decision. But until you hear the answer coming out of the coaches mouth, all you have are assumptions.

Setters are often called the “quarterback” of a volleyball team, since most of a team’s offense goes through and relies upon the setter’s ability. That said, can you imagine a football team that does not have the quarterback getting special attention and extra practice so he can better develop and hone his inherently important skills?

There are said to be six basic skills to volleyball: blocking, serving, defense, passing, hitting, and setting. Here they are broken down into the basics of what need to be done in order to be successful at each skill.

If your volleyball career ended tomorrow what skills would you take away? As handy as pancakes and jump back setting is on the volleyball court, chances are you will not spend the rest of your adult life playing volleyball.  So, what other skills are you developing as an athlete? These are the abilities I’m talking about today.  These are the big picture skills.

Stress during the holidays.  It is such a common problem there are numerous articles and Pinterest posts about the condition and I understand.  I wish I could say it is an crazy problem but there is some basis for trying to balance finances while trying to show someone how much you care for them (without overdoing it). 

In my family, we figured out a few Christmases ago that our goal was to give and receive gifts that were useful.  This might seem like a duh moment, but in truth, this meant trading in surprises and numerous slightly-useful material gifts for things that we knew we were going to use or a gift card for a store we spend a lot of time i...

Hello friends,

Long time no talk. I have another great nutrition vlog from Shavawn Forester to share with you all later this week as part of our Secret Food Series but one of the great things about running your own blog is that you make all the rules and can also choose to break them and talk about what you think is important theme be damned.

So, this is who I am today, the rule-breaker...

Is it just me or does time fly quicker the second autumn begins? It must be the combination of an increased numbers of hours spent in a gym and the cooler weather but now that high school seasons are drawing to a close and the club season is right around the corner, we can take a second to take stock of our blessings and write down a few new year's resolutions. Oh! But before that we have much to celebrate with the season of giving upon us! Here are a few practice gifts that are not only thoughtful but useful as well!

Answering the tough questions including: I want my kid to be on the best team. How can I help them do that? I’ve never been a part of club volleyball and don’t know what to expect. The car ride home after tryouts...

Awesome name aside, I think the necessity of sharing volleyball experiences became apparent to me in August 2012.  This marked the beginning of my first collegiate season...