Alexander VS Athens

[Logan_fan08]

Maybe if Athens took the time to hire good coaching, all their talented players wouldn't end up at Alexander. Congrats to the Spartans! Heard it was an exciting game.

[93Bulldog]

Athens has a fine coach; Kelly Dyer does a great job IMO. The fact is Alex is just on a different planet and if you think, or your parents think, you are gonna be a super star volleyball player and "can" send your kid to Alexander, then they just do it. It's a fact of life that everyone in SEO has to deal with; just try your best to beat em, then cheer for them in the tournement ... What is so complicated about that.

[Joedirt]

Athens has a fine coach; Kelly Dyer does a great job IMO. The fact is Alex is just on a different planet and if you think, or your parents think, you are gonna be a super star volleyball player and "can" send your kid to Alexander, then they just do it. It's a fact of life that everyone in SEO has to deal with; just try your best to beat em, then cheer for them in the tournement ... What is so complicated about that.

I agree with that 93bulldog.

[DawgDave]

You got that 100% RIGHT . Athens hasn't seen decent varsity/JV coaching since Edwards/Reed back
in 2001-02 - the year Athens made it to Regionals....correct me if I'm wrong.

[Logan_fan08]

Athens has anything but a fine coach. Nothing against her personally, but a fine coach takes the time to develop the talent in their stronger players, in methods that are both diplomatic and encouraging. If she was a fine coach, she would have strategically utilized the abundance of talent in the Athens programs, instead of playing a select group of juniors and settling for a mediocore record. It takes more than volleyball experience to be a fine coach. Not putting together the strongest team possible, is not only senseless, but unfair to the players who dedicate the time and effort into the season in hopes of getting the most out of the experience.

[93Bulldog]

I hate to burst your bubble L-fan, but I have covered six or maybe even seven games this volleyball season for Athens and THEY DO NOT play a select number of juniors.

Gracie Slayton - freshman, and she starts and plays a lot of minutes.
Emily Fox is the libero and shes a senior.
The core group of Juniors you speak of, Caity and Cindy Willis, Allison Shoeppner and jayne Seymour play a lot of minutes because they are 4 very solid players that can register KILLS, block well and serve consistently almost all the time.

But I can tell you right now that Athens substitutes more than any team I have seen all year and that includes a list of about 10 teams. The six above play a lot, Kerrigan Boyd plays, Sophomore Jamie Sindelar plays a lot of minutes and Soph. Shawna Whitehead does as well.

Alexander puts their 6 best players forward and rolls you over using basically the same six, give or take a few subs here and their ... But it's basically that starting six that opperates. And look at the sucess they've had. If anything, the Athens coach could easily do the same but she has a deep bench with players that can all play fairly well ... The point about not developing other players is absolutly crazy, she plays more than anyone almost every game.

[DawgDave]

The question is are they the best or playing up to their potential. Why were certain sophomores on the JV over-looked when they are certainly as good as anyone else on varsity. Are we telling them, thanks, but don't come back next year. Are we using 9th graders to send messages? It's been done in the past

There is a very good 9th grade class that is totally ignored. Are they getting better so they can compete. Is anyone interested in doing that. That might work with teams like Belpre, Wellston that do not have a volleyball tradition. Otherwise it's a struggle and it looks like it. These kids have been playing volleyball since 7th grade and still hit over 60% of serves into the net, 80% of hits out of bounds and can't cover the floor well.

If they want a participation sport then say so up-front, explain what the big picture is here and be done with it. I think the girls like winning and for the most part they have been..thank you TVC for that, but that was a given, written in the Messenger back in August. It seems like we are always making excuses.

[Logan_fan08]

"But I can tell you right now that Athens substitutes more than any team I have seen all year " It's not that Athens isn't substituting, they're just substituting in the wrong players.

[Rufus]

Well let's see...Alexander varsity defeated Athens in a pretty good matchup...Alexander JV defeated Athens in a good matchup...so you're telling me players from Athens JV would make their varsity more competitive?...If Alexander JV beat them imagine what the varsity would do.

[spartanfootballdude]

im pretty sure loganfan doesnt mean the whole jv team. prob. just their middle whos over 6 feet. but i dont know why you guys r still talking about it. Spartans Won!!!!!!!