Under The Radar: A Redshirt Diary

Looking To Next Year

December 18, 2021

Championship Saturday proved to be one of the busiest days at Convention, with multiple sessions in the morning that members of the JMU posse wished to attend. Lauren, along with Sarah and Angel, visited the all-encompassing Exhibit Hall B, where they grabbed breakfast and the two coaches posted their open dates on the scheduling center's corkboard before heading to their 9:00 activities. The Dukes' contingent were scattered as follows:

* Charlie at a session on using the Ennegram (a personality test) to help with building team culture, developing stronger relationships between players and between the team and their coaching staff, and assessing the ability or inability for specific individuals to work with one another;

* Marc at one on the creation of a Max Out Mindset to achieve elite performance;

* Caroline, Miette, Alden, and Michael learning how the Back Row Attack is becoming more prominent in the women's game and how to utilize it;

* Sarah delving into how athletes deal with transitions in their careers, from High School to College, from College to Pro, and from Professional Sports to Retirement; and

* Lauren at a meeting of the Sun Belt Conference's head coaches.

***

In the 10:15 time slot, Lauren and Sarah were attending Dave Shondell's coaching camp and Marc was at a session on student-athlete unrest following COVID. Meanwhile, Caroline, Miette, and Alden went to the Discovery Café to kill some time prior to their all-program lunch meeting at 11:30.

Caroline: Either of you think that last session was a little too basic in describing how to incorporate the back-row attack?

Alden: For you and I, ones who have played with or against someone like Jade, perhaps, but for younger players or coaches, it was probably the right level of technical and tactical information.

Miette: I think I learned quite a lot from it, things that I didn't get taught after Lauren put it into effect. I had never played in a system that used it and was a little bit nervous when she placed me there the first time, that being our conference opener against UNC-Wilmington. How did she come up with me being the test subject?

Caroline: I honestly don't know. We discussed the new set-up at lunch that afternoon, but no one's name was said when it came to who would be in that role. Best guess is the level of forward propulsion you have on your jump and decent hitting efficiency made you a good first-choice when we ran it out in Set Two of that match. Your success is what probably led to that becoming your role for the season, especially after the UVA match where it worked so well.

Alden: Did Lauren tell either of you why she wanted us to meet as a team after this session?

Caroline: Several of the coaches were discussing next year's schedules over dinner last night and Sarah asked if we could offer suggestions of possible opponents, to which she said yes. She's also asked Marc to join us as well, which I think is a bit scary.

Miette: Why's that?

Caroline: Probably because he has a wicked sense-of-humor and is a sports version of Wikipedia on steroids.

Alden: When he and I talked on Thursday morning, he was pretty conversant about where your team was with the roster and some of the lineups you've played, and the impression I got from him during our initial advising session was that he's smart and funny. Are he and Sarah always as weird as they seem?

Miette: Weird as in?

Alden: Cracking each other up one minute and heart-eyes the next. The only place where I've seen that kind of dualism is with lesbian couples, because there is really no line between girl friend and girlfriend, kind of like I am hoping Chloe and I become. Also, Caroline, the two of them, one of the UW alums who is FROM Virginia Beach, and I talked a bit about the 31st and some little surprises I might want to spring on Chloe and help the other couples pull off.