|
Post by rampageripster on Dec 7, 2015 13:28:17 GMT -5
I've actually been severely disappointed in the Block "O" turnout this year. I was the Director of Volleyball Operations for Block "O" 2008-2010, at the beginning of Block "O"'s involvement with volleyball. I routinely had the east stands filled to the brim with standing students, and our record was TERRIBLE. I got 600 something students to show up to a Wed game against PSU when we weren't even close to being considered being ranked. Compare that to the turnout for a Friday night game against PSU this year when we are top 10, the attendance was miserably bad. I haven't heard good things about the current leadership, and have been disappointed in how it has been run the past couple of years. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to run that section in a way that makes SJA a fantastic atmosphere, not everyone can pull it off. Kudos to you for turning out students -- I'm curious -- what strategies did you use to turn students out and what do you see as the challenges of getting students to show up at OSU vs say a Wisconsin or other B1G schools that have good crowds? Great questions! The biggest thing you are fighting against is apathy. There are so many things competing for attention at a school like Ohio St and in a city like Columbus. Volleyball season falls right in that fall period where you are gonna compete with football, soccer, and hockey for attention among the sports and then all the social aspects that happen in the fall. That is the challenge. The solution? Make your event something that can't be missed. Create an atmosphere that the students feel ownership in, invested with the team and section. The players need to be accessible (something Geoff has always supported us with). Then it takes a lot of pounding the pavement. Getting the buzz out that volleyball matches are worth the effort to get to and the time they will take. It certainly helps to have a winning team, but I never did. I terms of actual things I did, I was BIG on Facebook (back before twitter was as big... man I wish I had that tool) and I was out on the oval with volunteers and often players for a lot of the big home matches. I was very organized with my volunteers and my cheers. There was a sense of structure with the section so that people could easily figure out what and when we did things. But then I refused to stifle creativity from members as long as we weren't vulgar. I embraced crazy ideas and ran with them (such as the famed half-time beer where we all vacated the section, ran to the parking lot, drank a beer, and ran back in for set 3). You have to remember that you are building a culture more than anything, and from the ground up. My predecessor founded the section the year before I took over, so the two of us built basically everything from scratch.
|
|
|
Post by redbeard2008 on Dec 7, 2015 14:24:11 GMT -5
The poster went out of her way to note that it is difficult to extrapolate. To claim that there is nothing that can be gained or understood about these teams from looking at these stats kind of amounts to willful ignorance. On the other hand, Freeball's notes regarding the context are very helpful and may explain a fair amount of the dissimilarities. There is nothing to learn unless you quantify the contextual similarities as I stated. Once you or others do that then a discussion can be had. Until then, it truly is a comparison of apples and oranges. Other than both being fruit (both teams have won far more matches than they've lost), there is nothing else to be extrapolated. I know that bothers pepole since we all have a bias to draw meaning from the meaningless. It's a survival heuristic. So, you want me to "quantify the contextual similarities"? I intentionally avoided including any commentary or narrative, but merely presented the stats as they are. For me the purpose of the exercise was simply to learn more about the individual teams and players. I'm a Husky fan, not a Husker fan. If you believe the stats are misleading, then by all means feel free to say how. Don't expect me to do it for you.
|
|
|
Post by alwayslearning on Dec 7, 2015 14:25:39 GMT -5
Nice work Ripster! You may have a future as a politician (and I mean that in the best possible way). Sounds like you worked your butt off. As a native Buckeye, I totally understand the challenges you mentioned. Football, of course, is religion. Hopefully the recent success of the women's volleyball program generates some excitement.
|
|
|
Post by mnsports255 on Dec 7, 2015 15:10:27 GMT -5
Kudos to you for turning out students -- I'm curious -- what strategies did you use to turn students out and what do you see as the challenges of getting students to show up at OSU vs say a Wisconsin or other B1G schools that have good crowds? Great questions! The biggest thing you are fighting against is apathy. There are so many things competing for attention at a school like Ohio St and in a city like Columbus. Volleyball season falls right in that fall period where you are gonna compete with football, soccer, and hockey for attention among the sports and then all the social aspects that happen in the fall. That is the challenge. The solution? Make your event something that can't be missed. Create an atmosphere that the students feel ownership in, invested with the team and section. The players need to be accessible (something Geoff has always supported us with). Then it takes a lot of pounding the pavement. Getting the buzz out that volleyball matches are worth the effort to get to and the time they will take. It certainly helps to have a winning team, but I never did. I terms of actual things I did, I was BIG on Facebook (back before twitter was as big... man I wish I had that tool) and I was out on the oval with volunteers and often players for a lot of the big home matches. I was very organized with my volunteers and my cheers. There was a sense of structure with the section so that people could easily figure out what and when we did things. But then I refused to stifle creativity from members as long as we weren't vulgar. I embraced crazy ideas and ran with them (such as the famed half-time beer where we all vacated the section, ran to the parking lot, drank a beer, and ran back in for set 3). You have to remember that you are building a culture more than anything, and from the ground up. My predecessor founded the section the year before I took over, so the two of us built basically everything from scratch. Apparently the director from the last two years was horrible. Obviously I don't have previous years to base things on, but the student section seemed to do a very good job of supporting the team and creating a nice home environment this season. The 50-100 students that were in the bleachers each match yelled their hearts out and really showed themselves well. The problem at hand is getting more student turn out (ideally and realistically 100 or so more, filling the north bleachers (both left and right section) with standing, rowdy students.
|
|
donk
Freshman
Posts: 70
|
Post by donk on Dec 7, 2015 15:26:33 GMT -5
I keep checking this thread hoping someone has steered it back to the topic. Well, here's my attempt to right this ship. I remember back in the '06 Sweet 16 when Ohio State paid the Huskies a visit. They had a very impressive following, even the band made the trip out west. I think UW may face a hostile crowd in Lexington, a few hours away from Columbus, and now that football season is over. I doubt many OSU fans make the trip. Luckydawg reported they barely drew 1000 to their subregional final at St. John Arena. In fairness, they did have a mens basketball game across the street at the same time. I seem to recall them traveling fairly well to Lexington for last year's subregional.
|
|
|
Post by alwayslearning on Dec 7, 2015 15:32:21 GMT -5
I doubt many OSU fans make the trip. Luckydawg reported they barely drew 1000 to their subregional final at St. John Arena. In fairness, they did have a mens basketball game across the street at the same time. I seem to recall them traveling fairly well to Lexington for last year's subregional. The more fans the merrier, as far as I'm concerned. You know the Huskers travel well. I was really impressed with the number and passion of BYU fans in Seattle last year. I don't know how many Husky fans will make it, but expect there will be a solid contingent. If Buckeye fans can make the three hour road trip, then this might be one of the better-attended regionals.
|
|
|
Post by Mocha on Dec 7, 2015 15:51:59 GMT -5
The seats at Memorial Coliseum are far from the court, I think that may neutralize any crowd size advantage OSU brings.
|
|
|
Post by coloradokidd on Dec 7, 2015 16:19:51 GMT -5
[quote author="playingwithfire " source="/post/1401062/thread" timestamp="1449470351 I agree that (for some of us like myself), it is fun to try and compare the stats. Whether or not they will have any bearing on the outcome of any NCAA D1 Tournament match remains to be seen... ;-)
[/quote][/p] You're really taking a win over tOSU for granted. Might just bite you in the A$$!
Just as NE still has to get by BYU.
|
|
|
Post by redbeard2008 on Dec 7, 2015 16:32:27 GMT -5
[quote author="playingwithfire " source="/post/1401062/thread" timestamp="1449470351 I agree that (for some of us like myself), it is fun to try and compare the stats. Whether or not they will have any bearing on the outcome of any NCAA D1 Tournament match remains to be seen... ;-)
[/p] You're really taking a win over tOSU for granted. Might just bite you in the A$$!
Just as NE still has to get by BYU.[/quote] I'm not taking anything for granted.
|
|
|
Post by rampageripster on Dec 7, 2015 16:45:55 GMT -5
Great questions! The biggest thing you are fighting against is apathy. There are so many things competing for attention at a school like Ohio St and in a city like Columbus. Volleyball season falls right in that fall period where you are gonna compete with football, soccer, and hockey for attention among the sports and then all the social aspects that happen in the fall. That is the challenge. The solution? Make your event something that can't be missed. Create an atmosphere that the students feel ownership in, invested with the team and section. The players need to be accessible (something Geoff has always supported us with). Then it takes a lot of pounding the pavement. Getting the buzz out that volleyball matches are worth the effort to get to and the time they will take. It certainly helps to have a winning team, but I never did. I terms of actual things I did, I was BIG on Facebook (back before twitter was as big... man I wish I had that tool) and I was out on the oval with volunteers and often players for a lot of the big home matches. I was very organized with my volunteers and my cheers. There was a sense of structure with the section so that people could easily figure out what and when we did things. But then I refused to stifle creativity from members as long as we weren't vulgar. I embraced crazy ideas and ran with them (such as the famed half-time beer where we all vacated the section, ran to the parking lot, drank a beer, and ran back in for set 3). You have to remember that you are building a culture more than anything, and from the ground up. My predecessor founded the section the year before I took over, so the two of us built basically everything from scratch. Apparently the director from the last two years was horrible. Obviously I don't have previous years to base things on, but the student section seemed to do a very good job of supporting the team and creating a nice home environment this season. The 50-100 students that were in the bleachers each match yelled their hearts out and really showed themselves well. The problem at hand is getting more student turn out (ideally and realistically 100 or so more, filling the north bleachers (both left and right section) with standing, rowdy students. I've heard terrible things about the guy from last year. Personally know the guy from two years and he did a fine job, but the guy before him was pretty bad too. Again, it is a TOUGH position. Getting money and attention is not easy and you have to FIGHT HARD for it, even within Block "O". It makes me happy to hear positive reports that even though the numbers are small, the atmosphere is returning to what it should be. I just saw the tweet that they will be busing 30 students to Lexington Friday for free. That's awesome. Hopefully they have a two-night deal
|
|
|
Post by tomclen on Dec 7, 2015 16:56:26 GMT -5
I'm sure they'll want to stay over to watch the Washington/BYU match!
|
|
|
Post by mnsports255 on Dec 7, 2015 16:58:03 GMT -5
Apparently the director from the last two years was horrible. Obviously I don't have previous years to base things on, but the student section seemed to do a very good job of supporting the team and creating a nice home environment this season. The 50-100 students that were in the bleachers each match yelled their hearts out and really showed themselves well. The problem at hand is getting more student turn out (ideally and realistically 100 or so more, filling the north bleachers (both left and right section) with standing, rowdy students. I've heard terrible things about the guy from last year. Personally know the guy from two years and he did a fine job, but the guy before him was pretty bad too. Again, it is a TOUGH position. Getting money and attention is not easy and you have to FIGHT HARD for it, even within Block "O". It makes me happy to hear positive reports that even though the numbers are small, the atmosphere is returning to what it should be. I just saw the tweet that they will be busing 30 students to Lexington Friday for free. That's awesome. Hopefully they have a two-night deal Yep. Along with some committee members included, it will be around 35-40 students rooting on Ohio State in total. We'll make it nice and loud!
|
|
|
Post by redbeard2008 on Dec 7, 2015 18:44:38 GMT -5
Yep. Along with some committee members included, it will be around 35-40 students rooting on Ohio State in total. We'll make it nice and loud! Might be more Huskies fans there than Buckeyes fans.
|
|
|
Post by rampageripster on Dec 7, 2015 18:53:39 GMT -5
Yep. Along with some committee members included, it will be around 35-40 students rooting on Ohio State in total. We'll make it nice and loud! Might be more Huskies fans there than Buckeyes fans.
|
|
|
Post by mikegarrison on Dec 7, 2015 18:55:57 GMT -5
For a brief moment I wondered what it would take to go to this, but flights to Lexington were about $1000 and nightmares of multiple layovers. However, it just now occurred to me that I know there are non-stops from Seattle to Cincinnati, and that's only about an hour drive to Lexington. A person could take the redeye flight Friday morning, rent a car, and be checking into a hotel in Lexington probably by about noon.
But I now have other plans for this weekend, so that remains idle speculation.
|
|