Just to fill you in on how some former Patriots and Patriot rivals are doing:
Clearwater Christian won their second consecutive NCCAA DII national volleyball championship. Sarah Sibert from Fulton County was a reserve on the team, and Emma Kile from Calvary Academy of Butler, PA, who Calumet played two years ago, was a starting middle hitter.
Taylor University lost their conference championship game against Indiana Wesleyan today. Rachel Kizer, former star of the Patriots, is a sophomore middle blocker for Taylor.
Kelsey and I went to see Trinity Christian (my alma mater) play Olivet Nazarene last night in their conference's semifinal. Olivet won easily in three games. No former Calumet players were involved, but Trinity's coach is the my inspiration for playing volleyball. I was on two intramural championship teams with Bill Schepel while I was a student at Trinity.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Awards Banquet
Calvary-Calumet celebrated the fall sports last night with a banquet at Griffith Baptist. Mr. Blakely opened with prayer, and then we enjoyed a delicious (and more vegetable-intensive than last year) pot-luck dinner.
Coach Kelsey Boss opened up the award part of the evening with recognition of the junior high teams. After she thanked all the people that helped her in her first year of coaching, she said something about everyone that was on the team. Following this, she presented her awards. Four awards were given; first, best server went to Cassidy Schaap; next, best setter, Amanda Knight; best hitter (one of two moving up to JV next year),Rebecca Thompson, and fourth, hustle award to Taylor Stas. Taylor will not be returning as a player next year, but will serve as the JH team manager. Taylor received her award because of her positive attitude and spirit of encouragement that she displayed all season.
Mr. Blakely, in the absence of Coach Brian, presented the soccer awards. Three coach's awards were given; Tyler Ballah, Matthew Leo and Joseph Sahulcik were the receipients. The MVP went to Tim Young, the only senior on the team.
Coach Carr then went up to review the JV season. She first thanked everyone that had anything remotely to do with anything about the volleyball teams. I mean, everyone. Specifics about the JV team followed. She said that the final record was 14-2, which was the best record JV ever had. (I have the JV record at 15-2-1; we're still working on who is right.) She presented awards to both the A and B teams. For the B team, Jenna Alderden received the hustle award, Nikki Knight received the most spirited award, and Anna "Chipper" Choate was given the most improved award. Somewhat different awards were given to the A team. Cassie Ballah received the most improved trophy, Ally Rohn won the best defensive player award, Jessica Nealy was named best offensive player and Emily Eizenga received the coach's award.
Three seniors were recognized in the next part of the evening's festivities. Those recognized were Amy Broadbent, Kyliah Buckner and Elizabeth Short. The tributes written by the parents were read by Mrs. Baessler and were very touching.
Coach Carr then returned to the podiun for the varsity volleyball presentation. It was a successful season, but left those connected with the team a feeling of "what might have been", considering all the injuries and sicknesses during the year. The following awards were given: Rachel Eizenga, most improved; Faith Rohn, MVP; Elizabeth Short, coach's award; and Amy Broadbent, Christian character award. The award to Amy brought the moment we all were waiting for, which of course was tear flowage from Coach Carr. Seriously, Coach talked about Amy's deep love of the Lord with which she blessed all those around her, especially her teammates.
I have only one more season in which I will have a child involved with Calvary-Calumet sports. I wish there were a lot more.
Coach Kelsey Boss opened up the award part of the evening with recognition of the junior high teams. After she thanked all the people that helped her in her first year of coaching, she said something about everyone that was on the team. Following this, she presented her awards. Four awards were given; first, best server went to Cassidy Schaap; next, best setter, Amanda Knight; best hitter (one of two moving up to JV next year),Rebecca Thompson, and fourth, hustle award to Taylor Stas. Taylor will not be returning as a player next year, but will serve as the JH team manager. Taylor received her award because of her positive attitude and spirit of encouragement that she displayed all season.
Mr. Blakely, in the absence of Coach Brian, presented the soccer awards. Three coach's awards were given; Tyler Ballah, Matthew Leo and Joseph Sahulcik were the receipients. The MVP went to Tim Young, the only senior on the team.
Coach Carr then went up to review the JV season. She first thanked everyone that had anything remotely to do with anything about the volleyball teams. I mean, everyone. Specifics about the JV team followed. She said that the final record was 14-2, which was the best record JV ever had. (I have the JV record at 15-2-1; we're still working on who is right.) She presented awards to both the A and B teams. For the B team, Jenna Alderden received the hustle award, Nikki Knight received the most spirited award, and Anna "Chipper" Choate was given the most improved award. Somewhat different awards were given to the A team. Cassie Ballah received the most improved trophy, Ally Rohn won the best defensive player award, Jessica Nealy was named best offensive player and Emily Eizenga received the coach's award.
Three seniors were recognized in the next part of the evening's festivities. Those recognized were Amy Broadbent, Kyliah Buckner and Elizabeth Short. The tributes written by the parents were read by Mrs. Baessler and were very touching.
Coach Carr then returned to the podiun for the varsity volleyball presentation. It was a successful season, but left those connected with the team a feeling of "what might have been", considering all the injuries and sicknesses during the year. The following awards were given: Rachel Eizenga, most improved; Faith Rohn, MVP; Elizabeth Short, coach's award; and Amy Broadbent, Christian character award. The award to Amy brought the moment we all were waiting for, which of course was tear flowage from Coach Carr. Seriously, Coach talked about Amy's deep love of the Lord with which she blessed all those around her, especially her teammates.
I have only one more season in which I will have a child involved with Calvary-Calumet sports. I wish there were a lot more.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Silliness
I sliced and diced the records for the year and came up with the following:
Cal/Cal was 38-18 in first games, 33-15 in second games, 16-6 in thirds, 3-0 in fourth games and 0-1 in fifth games (yes, we only went to five games once all year - Westville) for a total game record of 90-40. Average scores were 21.3-17.9, 21.1-17.5, 21.6-16.8, 25-14.7, 13-15; total average was 21.3-17.4. The winning margin increased every game up til the fifth, which didn't surprise me, as the Patriots had trouble getting going in many of their games this year.
The girls record in one-game matches this year was 7-1 (pool play at Quentin Road), 17-6-3 in two-game matches, 14-5 in three-game matches, 2-0 in four, and 0-1 in five-game matches.
Faith finished second in the region in aces, with 77. The leader had 80. We only sent in stats for non-pool play games up til the national tournament. She also finished ninth in kills.
Now up: the HSRC girls basketball team. Season starts December 2. Practices began Monday at Crete Reformed Church. We're still looking for players, so if anyone is interested in playing or knows of someone who might be interested, please contact Kristi at 708-280-5185.
I may have various other scattered thoughts regarding Christian school sports in the Illiana area now and them. Some of them may even be coherent.
Cal/Cal was 38-18 in first games, 33-15 in second games, 16-6 in thirds, 3-0 in fourth games and 0-1 in fifth games (yes, we only went to five games once all year - Westville) for a total game record of 90-40. Average scores were 21.3-17.9, 21.1-17.5, 21.6-16.8, 25-14.7, 13-15; total average was 21.3-17.4. The winning margin increased every game up til the fifth, which didn't surprise me, as the Patriots had trouble getting going in many of their games this year.
The girls record in one-game matches this year was 7-1 (pool play at Quentin Road), 17-6-3 in two-game matches, 14-5 in three-game matches, 2-0 in four, and 0-1 in five-game matches.
Faith finished second in the region in aces, with 77. The leader had 80. We only sent in stats for non-pool play games up til the national tournament. She also finished ninth in kills.
Now up: the HSRC girls basketball team. Season starts December 2. Practices began Monday at Crete Reformed Church. We're still looking for players, so if anyone is interested in playing or knows of someone who might be interested, please contact Kristi at 708-280-5185.
I may have various other scattered thoughts regarding Christian school sports in the Illiana area now and them. Some of them may even be coherent.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Oh yeah, one more thing
- they never updated the tournament results on their website like they said they were going to every night.
Is ICSTS and NCSAA the same organization?
More ranting:
Let me review the reasons why Calumet/Calvary is not going back to NCSAA:
- Dirty crowded dorms
- Refs that call nothing, to the point where the play resembled backyard volleyball
- No set warmup policy - utter confusion the first day
- A ref that said the teams couldn't serve to each other, as is normal in warmups, because "that's the way girls get hurt". [Extremely puzzled look]. Huh? What are you talking about?
- Pool setup: 1)Three pools so that point differential is used to do the seeding, which rewards teams with really bad teams in their pool and causes teams to leave in their starters even in blowouts; and 2)three of the top five teams in one pool. Ours, of course.
- Invited teams that really shouldn't have been playing post season volleyball.
- Completely nonsensical rankings. I think the same people are doing the rankings at NCSAA and ICSTS, although the NCSAA people have better reasons for their bizarre rankings, as they can't see teams from every part of the country and don't know the competition, which is not the case for ICSTS. NCSAA has to rely on accurate information from the member teams, and I'm not sure they're getting it. The team that finished first, which was better by far than every team there, was ranked seventeenth in the country. The team that finished sixth in the tournament was ranked fifth and was the highest ranked team there. Yes, fifth in the country. We were ranked #22 and beat them badly and we weren't even playing our best. The team that finished second wasn't ranked in the top 25.
- The championship, or upper level, bracket play concluded with games at 9:00 AM, while the lower level brackets were played at 11:00. Better play should be rewarded with the later start, and you want to finish with your best match.
- The seventh-, fifth-, third-, and first place matches were all played at the same time. The championship game should be the only game being played at the time, so there is a championship-match feel, with all the other competitors watching and cheering.
- Championship games played at 9:00 AM. Not the right atmosphere for a championship. A tournament needs to build to a crescendo, and to do this the final needs to be at the end of the day, or at least afternoon.
- No MVP, no all-tournament team, no trophy for the champion (only a banner), nothing for teams finishing lower than first.
So Coach Carr has reserved the lodge at NACA next year. We're looking forward to going back there (and winning).
Let me review the reasons why Calumet/Calvary is not going back to NCSAA:
- Dirty crowded dorms
- Refs that call nothing, to the point where the play resembled backyard volleyball
- No set warmup policy - utter confusion the first day
- A ref that said the teams couldn't serve to each other, as is normal in warmups, because "that's the way girls get hurt". [Extremely puzzled look]. Huh? What are you talking about?
- Pool setup: 1)Three pools so that point differential is used to do the seeding, which rewards teams with really bad teams in their pool and causes teams to leave in their starters even in blowouts; and 2)three of the top five teams in one pool. Ours, of course.
- Invited teams that really shouldn't have been playing post season volleyball.
- Completely nonsensical rankings. I think the same people are doing the rankings at NCSAA and ICSTS, although the NCSAA people have better reasons for their bizarre rankings, as they can't see teams from every part of the country and don't know the competition, which is not the case for ICSTS. NCSAA has to rely on accurate information from the member teams, and I'm not sure they're getting it. The team that finished first, which was better by far than every team there, was ranked seventeenth in the country. The team that finished sixth in the tournament was ranked fifth and was the highest ranked team there. Yes, fifth in the country. We were ranked #22 and beat them badly and we weren't even playing our best. The team that finished second wasn't ranked in the top 25.
- The championship, or upper level, bracket play concluded with games at 9:00 AM, while the lower level brackets were played at 11:00. Better play should be rewarded with the later start, and you want to finish with your best match.
- The seventh-, fifth-, third-, and first place matches were all played at the same time. The championship game should be the only game being played at the time, so there is a championship-match feel, with all the other competitors watching and cheering.
- Championship games played at 9:00 AM. Not the right atmosphere for a championship. A tournament needs to build to a crescendo, and to do this the final needs to be at the end of the day, or at least afternoon.
- No MVP, no all-tournament team, no trophy for the champion (only a banner), nothing for teams finishing lower than first.
So Coach Carr has reserved the lodge at NACA next year. We're looking forward to going back there (and winning).
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Fifth is better than sixth
As I predicted yesterday, the Patriots had little trouble beating Riverdale of Upper Marlboro, Maryland today in the fifth place match at the NSCAA volleyball championship.
The Riverdale team is a perennial power in basketball, and it seemed like they treat the volleyball season as a warmup for the basketball season. The girls are big and athletic, but not very skilled. Cal/Cal opened up with a methodical 25-14 win, followed that with a similar 25-15 win and closed it out with a 25-11 final game clincher.
Following a strange and short awards ceremony, we headed back to the barracks (excuse me, dorms) to load up and head home. Well, most of us anyway. The Choates went to relatives near Cleveland and Nathalie took Taylor, Faith and Amy to see Niagara Falls, which was about two hours from the tournament site. The rest of us got into the two vans and started west on I-90. Seven hours or so and a couple of stops later, we arrived at Coach Carr's house to sort out luggage and to head our separate ways. The parting was significant for Elizabeth, as she has played her last game for Cal/Cal.
So another season ends. The fifteenth I think for Coach Carr, and the twelfth for Coach Carr with Coach Casey. I don't know if this is a record, but the Patriots won forty games this year. The final record was 40-13-3. Tournament finishes this year included fourths in the Christian Liberty and Calumet tournaments, a second at Quentin Road, and the fifth in the NCSAA. Last year the team lost in the quarterfinals in the Calumet and Quentin Road tournaments, and finished second at NACA in Division II.
Overall, a very good year. Next year we're hoping for great. See you at the Fall Athletic Awards Banquet on November 13. Future posts will include all the reasons why we aren't going back to PA next year.
The Riverdale team is a perennial power in basketball, and it seemed like they treat the volleyball season as a warmup for the basketball season. The girls are big and athletic, but not very skilled. Cal/Cal opened up with a methodical 25-14 win, followed that with a similar 25-15 win and closed it out with a 25-11 final game clincher.
Following a strange and short awards ceremony, we headed back to the barracks (excuse me, dorms) to load up and head home. Well, most of us anyway. The Choates went to relatives near Cleveland and Nathalie took Taylor, Faith and Amy to see Niagara Falls, which was about two hours from the tournament site. The rest of us got into the two vans and started west on I-90. Seven hours or so and a couple of stops later, we arrived at Coach Carr's house to sort out luggage and to head our separate ways. The parting was significant for Elizabeth, as she has played her last game for Cal/Cal.
So another season ends. The fifteenth I think for Coach Carr, and the twelfth for Coach Carr with Coach Casey. I don't know if this is a record, but the Patriots won forty games this year. The final record was 40-13-3. Tournament finishes this year included fourths in the Christian Liberty and Calumet tournaments, a second at Quentin Road, and the fifth in the NCSAA. Last year the team lost in the quarterfinals in the Calumet and Quentin Road tournaments, and finished second at NACA in Division II.
Overall, a very good year. Next year we're hoping for great. See you at the Fall Athletic Awards Banquet on November 13. Future posts will include all the reasons why we aren't going back to PA next year.
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