The Volleyball Network

The Net Live 11/16/09: Live Updates

// November 16th, 2009 // Uncategorized

During the show Dan will be typing live updates. Here they are!

Kevin admits he needs to eat an entire flock of crows for not knowing that the US Women’s National Team was at the same event doing meet-and-greets at the same tournament as Karch.

UCLA beats USC in 5 sets…and UCLA doesn’t miss a single serve! First time in school history. Penn State still undefeated. Goodness. NCAA Rankings

Got an interesting vb coaching website… Volleyball1on1.com

KIRALY ON THE PHONE
Karch Kiraly tells us how to pronounce his last name… “Kee-rye” Also, his first name is “Charles”.

“Players today are underexposed”. Karch agrees and wants more exposure for the current stars. Every National Team practice is open to the public, and not many people go. He is astounded that more coaches don’t do more to have their players watch Reid Priddy and Stacy Sykora nearby. Karch and Co will be inviting more teams in the future to their facility in Anaheim.

“Are these national team players the idols of younger players? + What steps need to be taken to increase the visibility of our best athletes/” Club and HS players don’t have time to pay attention to college and pro stars. The 80s had personality, gold medals, which helped notoriety. Women’s National Team tried to have a tournament nearby the Junior Olympics. Didn’t work out… Karch believes this is a great way to increase exposure to the kids.

“Beach vs Indoor Strife” Karch says the beach side feels like an ignored sibling with regard to USAV and its focus on indoor. But USAV has increased it support for beach vb. He says the indoor juniors pay a very large % of the revenue of USAV and no revenue generated on the beach side. Also, the support level of other countries for indoor and beach are much greater than USA. “A supporting hand is a controlling hand”. Other countries control partnerships, schedules, etc.

“How has Hugh defined your role as an assistant?” All assistants are equal coaches in the gym, giving feedback to become the best unit in the world. There’s no reason USA Women shouldn’t be a contender at every tourament. Karch does much of the practice-planning and loves working with the staff. He is trying to establish a culture much like what Hugh establishe with USA Men…Team focus with a generalized specialty. Everybody must learn every skill. They play doubles and short-court. They want to develop all-around players.

“What has surprised you about the female athletes?” Karch is enthusiastic about how hungry they are to being the best they can be. Look for Faluka (last name?) to continue to improve as a world-class player. They had 50 players working with the team this year. He says it will be difficult shrinking the team to the final roster for the 2012 London Olympics.

“Co-ompetition” Coined by Hugh…It is essential to compete and battle as hard as you can against your best friends. When Karch was on the USA team they were very emotional and competitive. Lots of hot-headed yelling He is much calmer as a coach than as a player.

“Favorite travel activity + moment of the year” Karch is amazed with how easily the women travel. No complaining. 34 hour commute without complaining! Fighting and complaining about discomfort doesn’t help the team. You learn more when things are difficult than when things are easy.

“Will USA Women win gold in 2012?” Karch says he has NO idea…but win or lose, he wants to say that he did everything he could do to achieve that goal. He thinks he will sleep well the night that the gold is won

No “good luck” wishes granted to Dan…

Karch fiery competition clips..
Karch rips the net down in 1989
Karch flips out at B-Lee