Greetings and welcome to the annual installment of the Dietz Christmas Letter. I know, I know...under most circumstances, you're thinking, “Ahh, holy crap, they still have my email, still have my mailing address,” and you know what—you're right. So suck it up, you get to take one for the team.

I thought about doing something nice (no, you still have to read this) and making an advent letter, sending everyone a new letter every day of the Christmas season because I know you guys would've LOVED 25 letters. Except it's already December 3, so out the door that one went. I thought about doing a crossword puzzle, but SJTBWPSOWSWHWWLCLPSOCWMOTGCAKOFMHROKS informed me that I've done that before. Crud.

So let's start with a recap of the 2013 DCL: “I'm an athlete, baby!!!” --and the witnesses are still alive who heard that.

And now, on to 2014...(and your free continuing education credit in poetic forms):
 

BRIGITTE (the name)
Brigi is the nickname they gave her

Right when she arrived in Hungary for the year

It's fitting, but sentimental, I prefer
Getty-Spaghetti or just Getty, but I haven't called her Debbie in months
I wish she could be home for the holidays
Though I can't describe my pride of her
Time abroad, it flies fast, so I'll see her soon enough
Except then she comes home just to head to college.
 

 

SPECIAL BLOG BONUS--PHOTOS!!!  

This is when we went and picked up a 1965 Mustang.  My mom said to do something silly when I could with some of the money she left when she died.  My mom loved Mustangs, so this felt right.  Right now the car is having some restoration work done to it and a professional paint job.  It'll reappear just in time for spring!  (I may even let her drive it.  Once.  For half a block.)

 

 

Brigitte is studying abroad this year with Rotary International. She was assigned to Debrecen, Hungary, where she's gone to school, played volleyball (which is REALLY important), and already traveled to Rumania and Austria. This spring, she may hit most of the rest of Europe. After that, she'll come home, spend the summer helping me with volleyball working for slave wages because she loves me and looks like me (I'm so sorry, sweetie), and then off to college. That's right—you have to read NEXT YEAR'S amazing, spectacular 359^th annual DCL to find out where she decided to go to school.

 

This is Brigitte and three of her exchange buddies from August when they arrived in Hungary.

ERICK (the haiku)

 

Eats lots of pizza

College: Sleep, study, student gov

Three semesters left
 

It's odd to think that Erick's on the 'downside' of his undergraduate degree. It was only yesterday he was in Poland, the day before we were playing boardgames in the basement, and the day before that, he was crapping up his neck in his carseat in the back of my old Saturn. I miss those days...but not the crap in the hair rollin' down on I-74. Erick's still at God's Own University (Iowa State) studying Material Engineering/Stuff that Makes My Brain Bleed. He's no longer President of Friley; instead (hey, notice the properly used semi-colon—this DCL is quality, I'm telling you), he was elected as a senator to the ISU Government of the Student Body. He also does tours for the Engineering College—so if you're in Ames, you should take one—he's not allowed to be snarky, has to be polite and charming...really, I am not making that up. You have to see it to believe it.

 

 

Erick is on the right.  He's in the M-Shop, an Iowa State landmark known for great live shows.  It's in the Memorial Union, upstairs (I THINK) from his government office.

 

 

MIKE/TMOC (the tanka)

Maker of chaos

Junior High, soccer and band

Eats like there's no tomorrow

Please send us money, we're broke

Teenage boys eat so much!

 

 

This is Mike at Julie's department summer picnic outing with a co-worker's dog.  Trying to find photos of Mike sitting still are difficult...unless he's laying under dogs or playing Xbox.

One of the great joys of parenthood is seeing how kids develop. Mike has retained a love of comic books, but has branched out by spending the summer at camp doing rock-climbing and archery, and continues to play soccer (football for the civilized readers), but he's also found he loves being in the band playing clarinet—and this spring, I think he's going to go out for track. I think that's where his aptitude is—he can fly when he runs. The only sad thing—he hasn't really done anything chaotic this year...well, other than manage the current presidential administration's foreign policy. That's probably enough for one thirteen year old.

 

JULIE (the cinquain)

 

My wife

Advising Prof

Knitting, church, parenting

More help than a man could deserve

Awe. Some.

(just enjoy the choir...these aren't our kids...not that I know of anyways.  Then again, Julie knits a ton--remember her acronym...so these MAY be her hats...)

SJTBWPSOWSWHWWLCLPSOCWMOTGCAKOFMHROKS: St. Julie, the Blessed Wife, Patron Saint of Women stuck with husbands who write long Christmas letters, Patron Saint of Coaching Wives, Mother of the Golden Children and Keeper of the Most Holy Room-Occupying Knitting Stash. I could just copy/paste that every year and you'd have the scoop. Julie decided to go musical (with Brigitte) this summer and had a role in a production of The Music Man, so you know where TMOC gets it from (there's a genetic joke in there...think about it)

She's every bit as amazing today as in this picture.  Me...not so much.

JIM (the ABC)

Another year of coaching

But this year, I added time with USA Volleyball

Jolly Roger did well with another new release (Kremlin),

My preference would be to earn enough to retire as

I (but not Julie) grow older

That won't happen writing the DCL in multiple poetic forms.

(My group of athletes at USA High Performance in Las Vegas.  I'm in my USA shirt.  It's a big ego rush to be part of the national program.  You wear the shirt with pride....and the program paid off later as the actual adult national team won the World Championship this fall.  I owe big thanks to Denise Sheldon at USAV for trusting me to work with a great group of young athletes--I hope I lived up to expectations and hope to do this again in 2015)

Picked up win #500 this year and had a fun season; the team improved all the way, but unfortunately we hit the #1-ranked team in the country in our region final and that was that (the equivalent of making the 2^nd Round of the NCAAs if you are unfamiliar with NJCAA sports). I also got to work with USA Volleyball this summer—that was a lot of fun and I got to enjoy meeting several coaches who are now friends (Denise, Emily) and got to work with some amazing young athletes—I'm jealous of what they are already capable of as 11-12 year olds! Jolly Roger did all right—still in business. For my ego, another book was accepted for publication and should've been out last month (I understand publishing delays!) called “Kandahar”. I'm hoping to submit a couple more in 2015—though if anyone knows an agent who can help...that'd be great. Heck—find me an agent, I'll buy you dinner!

(Dave Pieart, Greg Smith, me, at a vb tourney in Cedar Rapids.  They can tear down Westgate...rat bastages...but Foster House expatriates will still join together wherever possible)

And for the rest of the update—I'll spare you the poetic forms, though without question, the greatest mother-in-law in the world (see how I schmooze there—yet another tip for a better life provided free of charge in the DCL) is deserving of a Homeric ode. Julie's parents are doing fine, still in Herrin, other than the two weeks they went road-tripping to San Padre Island for Spring Break—Julie's dad was featured on MTV...I wish I would've seen it, but I only imagine...) Julie's brother and his wife added a baby girl to their family—Isabella. I would've named her Julie—that's the best possible name for a beautiful woman to have (see the previous schmooze comment).

So, Debbie/Brigitte had to go and match—having babies is an arms race, so at the end of December or start of January, I'll be an Uncle again. You know, me and SJTBWPSOWSWHWWLCLPSOCWMOTGCAKOFMHROKS will get bled dry in a few years when it comes time for graduation gifts...this is like 37 nephews and nieces now. You can help though—send me cash or a check payable to “Help Jim and Julie Pay for Graduation Gifts or a Vacation to Rio Fund”. We take PayPal also. She's fine, still working for the VA, and her husband Chris is doing well—he does amazing art stuff, both for people like hotels and small stuff! I do worry about my oldest niece, Zayn, though—she's 11 and is already worried about the recidivism of the proletariat as related to the bourgeois angst related to the financial crisis of 2006.

Last, but certainly not least, shortly after the writing of the instant-classic 2013 DCL, we had a couple additions to our family here—because you can never have enough chaos (That's chaos with a lower case 'c', not upper-case 'C' which stands for Michael...). We added two puppies to the family: Kaiju and Jaeger. They were supposed to be small rat-terriers we picked up from a rescue organization. Turns out the people who gave up the dogs to the shelter lied—they aren't rat terriers. They are partial terriers...but Kaiju, he's 50% rottweiler (or rat-weiler) while Jaeger, she's got some collie blood in her. Instead of 10-15lbs, they are MUCH bigger (Jaeger is 30, Kaiju is 47), quick as can be, and really friendly and energetic (unless you are a cat, Christmas decorations, a deer shaped archery target, or blowing paper—then you are mortal enemies) With two kids out of the house, Kaiju and Jaeger keep life loud here—between them, they eat everything—plastic, string, paper. Julie turned her back and Kaiju was able to snag a pound of bacon from the counter (yeah, our dogs have good taste in real food...mmmm, bacon).

(At about 3 months, playing 'Let's Catch the Creature Hiding')

(At nine months...this was about 8-10lbs of weight ago.  It was nice of them to pose for the picture, usually they are a blur of energy.)

(Notice Mike having to lean back?  Yeah, Kaiju and Jaeger are lean, mean running machines unlike, say....me.)

That's the end of the snark.

Far more seriously—we are happy you read this because it means you are friend or family. Too many people worry about power and money, just as many hate and live bitter—there's not enough time for that. I wish there was more time to spend with all of you—Julie and I value you more than anything, more so as years pass. If you are ever in the area, give a holler, spend a night. Send an email or a Facebook message. Take care and enjoy Christmas and New Year, enjoy the family time, the family 'arguments', the food, the chaos of kids and presents, the hugs, the music, all of it, and please know that you are in our thoughts and conversations here regularly. Except for Dave. We don't talk about him. (Yeah, you thought I could stay away from snark for the rest of this? Crap—that was SIX whole sentences of seriousness...it almost killed me)

Merry Christmas,

Me

SJTBWPSOWSWHWWLCLPSOCWMOTGCAKOFMHROKS

Brigi

Senator Palpati---Erick

TMOC

Kaiju

Jaeger

First Club Practice is in the books...attitude and change....

Well, tryouts are done and now, so is the first practice.

(Quick spoiler--when organizing a practice, I've always tried to use the stuff here, but this year--we're also 'forcing' the use of stuff you can learn here or in the 'Growing the Game' blog.) 

There's also an anomaly in this--last year for club, it was recommended by physicians that I not coach a team or be active during practices.  With a couple new coaches on board--that made it rough to effectively be a technical director!  Yikes.  But--that's important context.

Last year, the players we had got better by the end of the year--they reached their goals of not getting cut by a school team, being all-area, the usual goals kids have.  But a lot of the practices were drill-oriented (yeah, I know...another one of THESE posts...) and a common comment was "I thought it would be more fun".  Fair enough.

There's another club in our area--they want to be serious about volleyball.  They are going to practice every day, travel every weekend--they told parents kids shouldn't be playing other sports...which really chafes my shorts, by the way--look, I coach college ball, so I'll give my opinion straight--go ahead and play all the sports you want, be in band and madrigals, if you're good, you're good.  They talk about drills and the seriousness of it.

So there's an obvious contrast in approach going on.

Last night's training (it's KILLING me to change my use of 'practice' to 'training'...but I'm trying):

HP Dynamic Warmup

3 courts with stations:
1: one with serving/Serve-Receive, going both ways, so we get a lot of reps
2: Quick discussion of what we call our sets, then hitting lines--with an easy swing to the hitter, so they transition and pass before they hit.
3: Review of team defense, then a couple hitters hitting balls at 6 people on defense so they learn by doing.
--Groups rotated every 15 minutes, so no one stood around much or had time to get used to a routine.

We then put two teams on two courts and:
First: Played 6 on 6, working on players initiating play, not the coaches--and making sure that the next ball was entering play as soon as the last was down/out/finished, so we kept a brisk pace going.  Players not in were responsible for counting balls--every 5, a person switched in on the fly (like hockey).  The intent was to get a bunch of swings and using our set-designations while also playing team-defense.

Last: We played 20 minutes of Speed Ball.  This forced players to move around and still call sets--but also gave us serve receive practice using 3 people (our most likely formation)

HP Dynamic Cool-down

And then it was over.  And then the players complained--not that it was boring or too easy.  They complained because they didn't want to quit!  They didn't think two hours could fly by that fast.  Before they were out of the gym, one text-messages a friend that she'd missed an awesome evening (her friend was at her hs team's end-of-season banquet) and at least a dozen kids told their parents there "I can't wait for Thursday."  And I don't think we would've got that running drills.

* * *
One of the coaches for our high school teams this year is a former LLCC athlete, all-conference, all-Region.  Afterwards, she asked "Are you sending a list of drills for Thursday?"  I said "Nope," and explained the intent (...something I SHOULD have done before tryouts with her and our other new coach--and I 100% pooched it....I hate screwing up). 

We discussed the value of game-like situations and the value over drills, etc--and her response, "Why couldn't you have been that way as my coach five years ago?

It's rough to change your ways.  I TOTALLY get that--but as adults involved in teaching--it's our responsibility to get better, to show young people we are working to be the best we can be, so we can help them be the best they can be.

Not sure how to create a practice like this--ask someone.  I certainly haven't invented the wheel here.  Get to a HP clinic, heck--send an email asking for help to the USAV people...but give it a try.  It DOES work.

Volleyball

Some observations on a season entering its third weekend as we ride our bus to God's Country (Iowa) and, in addition, to a chance to spend a weekend with volleyball, to see a couple of long-time friends.  Volleyball, friends...only thing that would make it better is if Julie, the puppies, and family were there, too!

*I was feeling a bit depressed yesterday--lack of sleep and basic exhaustion, mental and physical.  I have to watch for that--depression can take your mind and emotions in unhelpful directions.  It skews your weltanschauung.  (Yeah, that's right, I used 'weltanschauung' while discussing volleyball)  So in the middle of all this, Laura (my assistant)  comes up during a drill and says, "You know, you've been awesome this year with practices."  Not what I expected, so I responded with the eloquent "Huh?"  She then explained that she's liked some changes to drills, the warmups, etc.

A lot of the credit goes to John Kessel as well as Denise Sheldon for giving me the opportunity to do evaluations with USAV High Performance and then work with the Future Youth Selects in Vegas back in July.  You see, every coach has doubts about things--teaching ability, recruiting, whatever.  The time with HP confirmed some things to me in how I coach--and I've become more confident in those areas--and more sure that I'm right in my approach, too...something some of my players last year had me doubting unfortunately.

--You need to be specific, Jim.  (That's my inner English teacher speaking...correctly, I might add.)

Since the first time I heard Kessel talk, about four years ago at the AVCA Coaches Convention, I realized that I'd been approaching coaching wrong.  I KNEW I was wrong, knew what I was doing wasn't working optimally, but I didn't realize how to improve.  That seminar gave me my 'A-ha!' moment.  In Vegas, I got to see how those principles are applied at the highest skill levels (regardless of age).  I knew, but didn't know, that this was practiced as well as preached.

*If it's good enough for national-level programs, I'm stealing it for my team.  I did that with the dynamic warmups, the shoulder pre-hab to avoid injuries.  It's been good.  We haven't had any serious shoulder soreness, fewer injuries, and our trainer loved the dynamic warmup--thought I'd been studying up (I told her the truth though)

*The doubt I have about this current season remains--did I increase the schedule's toughness too much?  We dropped two tournaments with weaker teams, replacing them with this weekend's tourney and then another two weeks from now...in those eight matches, it is possible we'll play SEVEN NJCAA Top-8 teams, and the eighth team has a win over a D-1 Top 15 team.  When you play a schedule like that, you can lose quite a bit--and I hate losing.  A lot.

But there's the catch--how much better are you by playing weaker teams?  So I decided to follow the lead of teams like Illinois or Iowa State--we're going to schedule the equivalent of Long Beach or Stanford.  Those matches will prepare us for the post-season.  Could it keep us out of the national polls?  Yup.  I suspect if we make the polls, it won't be until October as the post-season nears.

*Are kids tough enough to deal with a ton of losses?  We are 3-5 right now, but we've lost to a couple ranked D-1 schools, another D-1 who WILL be ranked (since they've started the year 10-0), a top 10 D-2 team, another who'll be ranked this next week.  We beat D-2#14 in there with our wins, and one of those D-1 losses was actually and truly due to an official and not the teams involved. So we are playing well.  But can young athletes handle that?

I think the answer is yes.  Many players lose a ton of games during their club seasons--playing teams with accumulations of awesome talent.  How is this different....other than a W/L record is officially kept?  To me, it is the same thing. But I know there are examples of teams who lose out there that self-destruct, turn on each other or the coaching staff, and through that negativity/drama, destroy their chance at greatness--unable to look past the scoreboard for a match or two (in matches that are irrelevant--only region matches count for us for post-season standings and these have not been region matches)

*If the answer is no, and we DO have issues with the loss total, what then?  The answer is--steady on course.  I know we're on the right path, so I have to make sure we don't waiver and doubt.  That'll be critical.

*I received a list of academic-honored schools in the mail this week.  We aren't on it.  But I was annoyed by the list, seeing some of the schools.  Why annoyed?  Because I know kids who have transferred to those schools from LLCC--and while they struggle for "C" grades at LLCC because LLCC really does push for academic excellence (really!), they then go to those other schools and pick up 4.0 GPAs taking/retaking the same classes, then those schools get honored for being so awesome academically, when really--the kids are getting a grade, but not an education.

When did that happen?  It sounds crotchety, but it wasn't when I was in college--it's a phenomena of the past 20 years, I think (for things other than basketball/football), and it goes beyond sports.  Tuition rates have gone up so much--I'd bet grade inflation has the same curve.  Oh well.

*Do I hurt my team's chances of success by switching systems?  By teaching players multiple positions?  The educator in me says it is my responsibility to teach them the game, and that means all positions, all skills.  Middles need to know how to pass, setters to hit, etc.  Kids are forced to specialize way too early--so I have to provide the general fundamentals missed in jr high/high school.  The problem is that the competitor in me wants to win, hates losing.  How do I balance that without stressing myself out too much?

Well there you go...random bus musings from I-55.  Four hours to game time.  I don't know how the score will go--but I'm hoping we improve on last weekend--fix the errors, improve the good points.  Small, steady steps forward...

USAV High Performance Vegas--the big lesson

So I'm done with my first High Performance camp and am now sitting in the Las Vegas airport.  After 4.5 bust days, it's the first chance I've had to really write anything down.  So, instead of some properly organized writing with paragraphs, etc...because I'm tired, we're going to roll with bullets and odd random thoughts.

1. I think the joy shown by 11 and 12 year old athletes is one of the best things in sports--not just volleyball.  But I also think that sometimes that gets suppressed by parents who are only think of pro-ball or the Olympics for their child.  The kids today aren't likely to make the Olympics in a decade or more--but I think their passion will continue for the sport.
2. I appreciate that the parents who remained in Vegas followed the rules.  They didn't bother the kids during the day and happily sat and watched the game-play segment at night.  They were encouraging.  I don't think it's coincidence that I was dealing with good kids and that they had good parents.
3. I must admit to skepticism initially with the classroom sessions offered by USAV in conjunction with True Sport, part of the anti-doping movement, but not after the first one.  Short films on key issues for athletes--a nice 5-10 minute talk by an Olympian, followed by guided discussion.  The topics for Future Selects were Nutrition/Hydration for Athletes and Bullying.  I wish the Bullying session could've been longer--I thought it was a great hour that truly mattered to the Future Selects and Selects who were in the classroom.
4. The documentary, Court and Spark, on Olympian Courtney Thompson was great--a story of effort and work, especially since she isn't an incredible natural athlete or exceptionally tall.  I know a lot of parents and athletes who should see it to understand the commitment necessary for success (in this case with volleyball).
5. UNLV does nothing for me.  Everyone was nice, the gym was great...but walking around feeling like I'm being baked just isn't my thing.  Even with humidity, I'll stick with two-digit temperatures. 
6. I'm always stunned by how many people prefer working with older kids rather than younger ones.  My practical answer would be--if you don't like working with the age group, DON'T MAKE YOURSELF AVAILABLE for that age group.
7. I've learned a lot about airline procedures (Southwest and Delta) regarding minors flying, especially "Unaccompanied Minors".  Just as important for my sanity, they were really helpful with me needing to pick up different people multiple times--or on the way out where I am currently sitting with a "UM".
8. The USA Volleyball "swag" is pretty sweet...with the coaching stuff, it even makes me look good.  With the athletes, it's pretty cool to see groups in red, white, and blue shirts.  The kids liked getting them--and there is something to be said for having the logo of the national program on your gear.
9. Kayla, the camp 'director' was great--forced to deal with a lot of non-volleyball logistics.  Ditto Denise Sheldon--I think out of the 100 or so kids, 99 were probably put right where they should be in terms of skill.  That's a pretty awesome ratio--and only possible with a lot of hard work with the HP Tryouts/Evaluations.
10. While I liked working it, evaluation paperwork for campers...that's a beast and I only had a little to do.  Yikes.  Of course, I'm complaining, but I don't have a better alternative system that could be setup.

There it is--Vegas HP in a nutshell.
Time to fly Southwest and sleep most of my way back home.