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Post by houdini on Feb 22, 2024 3:26:05 GMT -5
Also a veteran team like that that cant overcome the loss of a coach three months prior? Really highlights the fundamental weakness of that team, and of MHP, which is mental. At a certain point in her career she basically stopped improving. She is barely past 30, but to me it feels like she hasnt gotten better since their WC year. Even that would be plenty good! Mel was fantastic that championship year. Especially in the WC gold medal game vs. April Ross.
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Post by ajm on Feb 22, 2024 9:26:31 GMT -5
Thanks, this is great. I hadn't seen this interview before. Haven't watched it all yet, but I used the transcript to help find the most relevant parts. Yes, she said their coach left them three months before the Olympics, which she described as "unheard of" and a "shock to the team" and then they had to scramble to find a coach last minute. Ultimately they went on their own without a coach and as a result things weren't going well into the Olympics. She said they tried to recover from that loss in Tokyo but never really did, and it got to a point where the team energy grew negative and it was becoming a toxic environment that was affecting their mental health. She also said that when she decided to end the partnership with Pavan she didn't have a backup plan or any other options and knew she was risking giving up her dreams. No discussion of what eventually led her to connect with Brandie that I noticed. Toward the end, the interviewer asked her if she made any big mistakes or had any regrets that she learned a lesson from, and she said without mentioning anyone in particular that she wasn't as honest as she should have been when ending relationships and would have liked to redo some of those conversations in a more mature way. Again, not sure if she's referencing Pavan here, but I appreciated her candid response. These interviews with non-volleyball people are always interesting because I think that the athletes feel more freedom to be honest without worrying about whether the interviewer will dig into each response in an attempt to connect the dots. But on the other hand, the discussions are extremely generic, rarely referencing specific events or people, and those of us who follow the sport closely are left trying to parse words, trying to figure out exactly what or whom they're referring to. Freedom to be honest? "what eventually led her to connect with Brandie?" Come on, there are only two possibilities. The first is when she left Pavan she knew exactly where she was going and the partner she wanted (as did basically every BVB fan on Earth). The second is she is so colossally dumb that in two years of toxic partnership with a much older partners she never thought, "what are my options?" If its option 2, someone should be filing for a conservatorship. This strikes me as a really weak attempt to retcon her stealing Sophie's partner. I took that to mean that she didn’t have a commitment from Brandie when she split with Sarah, and that it took another few months to convince Brandie to split with Sophie. I’m guessing that was Mel’s intent all along though, and Sophie tagging along with Brandie at AVP events suggests she was worried about it also. And remember, Sophie suffered that freak hand injury in Hamburg, which may have greased the skids for the breakup.
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fraz
High School
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Post by fraz on Feb 22, 2024 9:42:02 GMT -5
Scott in Mexico left Mel and Pavs in a bad spot, Mel has actually spoken about this in an interview. That was the start of the downfall of that team. It also wasn't at all out of nowhere that the split happened, you can pretty much hear its happening when they won the Can am games. Bottom line the end was not a surprise to anyone... hell it was speculated here a long time, I am sure there was some hurt feelings as there almost always is with any break up in anything. Emily Stockman mentioned that USAV put Davenport on salary around the time he split with Mel and Pavs. Perhaps there were issues that led him to seek out another position, or perhaps USAV essentially bought out the brains behind April and Alix's biggest rival just before the Olympics. Then they won gold, yay.
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Post by maizecrayons on Feb 22, 2024 9:49:15 GMT -5
Scott in Mexico left Mel and Pavs in a bad spot, Mel has actually spoken about this in an interview. That was the start of the downfall of that team. It also wasn't at all out of nowhere that the split happened, you can pretty much hear its happening when they won the Can am games. Bottom line the end was not a surprise to anyone... hell it was speculated here a long time, I am sure there was some hurt feelings as there almost always is with any break up in anything. Emily Stockman mentioned that USAV put Davenport on salary around the time he split with Mel and Pavs. Perhaps there were issues that led him to seek out another position, or perhaps USAV essentially bought out the brains behind April and Alix's biggest rival just before the Olympics. Then they won gold, yay. 🤯
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Post by robvolei on Feb 22, 2024 11:17:52 GMT -5
Scott in Mexico left Mel and Pavs in a bad spot, Mel has actually spoken about this in an interview. That was the start of the downfall of that team. It also wasn't at all out of nowhere that the split happened, you can pretty much hear its happening when they won the Can am games. Bottom line the end was not a surprise to anyone... hell it was speculated here a long time, I am sure there was some hurt feelings as there almost always is with any break up in anything. Emily Stockman mentioned that USAV put Davenport on salary around the time he split with Mel and Pavs. Perhaps there were issues that led him to seek out another position, or perhaps USAV essentially bought out the brains behind April and Alix's biggest rival just before the Olympics. Then they won gold, yay. That's actually crazy if true.
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fraz
High School
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Post by fraz on Feb 22, 2024 11:53:18 GMT -5
Emily Stockman mentioned that USAV put Davenport on salary around the time he split with Mel and Pavs. Perhaps there were issues that led him to seek out another position, or perhaps USAV essentially bought out the brains behind April and Alix's biggest rival just before the Olympics. Then they won gold, yay. That's actually crazy if true. It's just a theory. But wouldn't be the first time Canadian glory was kidnapped by USDs. Wayne Gretzky, Lorne Michaels. Even Tim Hortons, a Canadian national treasure, was sullied for purposes of a US corporate inversion. C'est la vie. Maybe someone with more knowledge of the timeline of Davenport's transition to USAV could offer insight.
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Post by ajm on Feb 22, 2024 12:38:59 GMT -5
That's actually crazy if true. It's just a theory. But wouldn't be the first time Canadian glory was kidnapped by USDs. Wayne Gretzky, Lorne Michaels. Even Tim Hortons, a Canadian national treasure, was sullied for purposes of a US corporate inversion. C'est la vie. Maybe someone with more knowledge of the timeline of Davenport's transition to USAV could offer insight. I'm not sure that timeline is exactly right. Davenport was announced as USAV Beach National Team coach in August 2023. usavolleyball.org/story/davenport-to-support-and-coach-beach-national-teams/However, we know that he was coaching at least two US teams in 2022, Cannon/Sponcil and Theo/Chaim. Possibly Stockman/Kraft as well. My understanding is that players on the BNT can choose their individual team coaches, and those coaches get a stipend from USAV. So maybe that's what Stockman is referring to. No doubt the US program has benefitted from Davenport. We also know that there was some sort of incident that happened in Cancun between Davenport and Mel/Sarah which led to his sudden departure. That would have been April/May 2021. It's certainly possible that the root of their dispute was that Davenport also wanted to coach US teams. Theo/Chaim were playing together at the time, and Theo referenced that dispute with Mel/Sarah during his Sandcast interview. I don't recall whether Davenport was coaching Theo/Chaim at the time, but if so, that part would make sense. It's definitely an interesting theory.
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Post by guest2 on Feb 22, 2024 12:58:01 GMT -5
Scott in Mexico left Mel and Pavs in a bad spot, Mel has actually spoken about this in an interview. That was the start of the downfall of that team. It also wasn't at all out of nowhere that the split happened, you can pretty much hear its happening when they won the Can am games. Bottom line the end was not a surprise to anyone... hell it was speculated here a long time, I am sure there was some hurt feelings as there almost always is with any break up in anything. Emily Stockman mentioned that USAV put Davenport on salary around the time he split with Mel and Pavs. Perhaps there were issues that led him to seek out another position, or perhaps USAV essentially bought out the brains behind April and Alix's biggest rival just before the Olympics. Then they won gold, yay. This is the same USAV that cant figure out how to make a social media post when they are having the best athletes in the US compete midweek somewhere? USAV engaging in this level of strategic thinking is about as realistic as Pinky and the Brain
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fraz
High School
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Post by fraz on Feb 22, 2024 15:04:27 GMT -5
It's just a theory. But wouldn't be the first time Canadian glory was kidnapped by USDs. Wayne Gretzky, Lorne Michaels. Even Tim Hortons, a Canadian national treasure, was sullied for purposes of a US corporate inversion. C'est la vie. Maybe someone with more knowledge of the timeline of Davenport's transition to USAV could offer insight. I'm not sure that timeline is exactly right. Davenport was announced as USAV Beach National Team coach in August 2023. usavolleyball.org/story/davenport-to-support-and-coach-beach-national-teams/However, we know that he was coaching at least two US teams in 2022, Cannon/Sponcil and Theo/Chaim. Possibly Stockman/Kraft as well. My understanding is that players on the BNT can choose their individual team coaches, and those coaches get a stipend from USAV. So maybe that's what Stockman is referring to. No doubt the US program has benefitted from Davenport. We also know that there was some sort of incident that happened in Cancun between Davenport and Mel/Sarah which led to his sudden departure. That would have been April/May 2021. It's certainly possible that the root of their dispute was that Davenport also wanted to coach US teams. Theo/Chaim were playing together at the time, and Theo referenced that dispute with Mel/Sarah during his Sandcast interview. I don't recall whether Davenport was coaching Theo/Chaim at the time, but if so, that part would make sense. It's definitely an interesting theory. Thanks for that. This is the interview with Stockman where she briefly touches on the funding conflict for a coach working with more than one federation: . The dialogue suggests Davenport was her coach in December of 2021 but the particulars of that relationship are not clear. It's mostly the smirk when she refers to the time when he was still coaching Canada that got my wheels turning. Again, just a theory. It is a stretch to think USAV would have the wherewithal to try to take over the world.
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Post by ajm on Feb 22, 2024 16:28:38 GMT -5
I'm not sure that timeline is exactly right. Davenport was announced as USAV Beach National Team coach in August 2023. usavolleyball.org/story/davenport-to-support-and-coach-beach-national-teams/However, we know that he was coaching at least two US teams in 2022, Cannon/Sponcil and Theo/Chaim. Possibly Stockman/Kraft as well. My understanding is that players on the BNT can choose their individual team coaches, and those coaches get a stipend from USAV. So maybe that's what Stockman is referring to. No doubt the US program has benefitted from Davenport. We also know that there was some sort of incident that happened in Cancun between Davenport and Mel/Sarah which led to his sudden departure. That would have been April/May 2021. It's certainly possible that the root of their dispute was that Davenport also wanted to coach US teams. Theo/Chaim were playing together at the time, and Theo referenced that dispute with Mel/Sarah during his Sandcast interview. I don't recall whether Davenport was coaching Theo/Chaim at the time, but if so, that part would make sense. It's definitely an interesting theory. Thanks for that. This is the interview with Stockman where she briefly touches on the funding conflict for a coach working with more than one federation: . The dialogue suggests Davenport was her coach in December of 2021 but the particulars of that relationship are not clear. It's mostly the smirk when she refers to the time when he was still coaching Canada that got my wheels turning. Again, just a theory. It is a stretch to think USAV would have the wherewithal to try to take over the world. Stockman and Kolinske were being coached by Evie Matthews in early 2021, but once their Olympic hopes were dead they split and played with other partners the rest of the year. Stockman played an FIVB with Traci Callahan and AVPs with Terese Cannon and Sarah Pavan, so perhaps Davenport was coaching her by then. It's interesting that she said a coach can't take money from different federations. It is understandable that Davenport would want to coach more than one team (especially in 2021 coming out of the pandemic). So maybe it wasn't so much USAV poaching Davenport, but Davenport realizing there weren't as many coaching opportunities staying with Canada. MHPavan had their best year in 2019 so perhaps they made it worth his while to stay with him then, but money became a bigger issue in 2021, leading him to start looking for other opportunities. It's interesting though, because in four full-field events in 2021 with Davenport, MHPavan finished with two 2nds, a 4th, and a 9th. Even after he left, they played well enough to go into Tokyo as the #1 seed and ended up losing a close three-set quarterfinal match 15-12 to Mariafe/Taliqua, a team that was clearly a top-five team. Then they finished 2nd in World Tour Finals despite Mel separating her shoulder. So although their results without Davenport weren't great, they were still very good, and perhaps they were simply victim of expectations that were just a bit too high.
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Post by guest2 on Feb 23, 2024 1:36:36 GMT -5
Thanks for that. This is the interview with Stockman where she briefly touches on the funding conflict for a coach working with more than one federation: . The dialogue suggests Davenport was her coach in December of 2021 but the particulars of that relationship are not clear. It's mostly the smirk when she refers to the time when he was still coaching Canada that got my wheels turning. Again, just a theory. It is a stretch to think USAV would have the wherewithal to try to take over the world. Stockman and Kolinske were being coached by Evie Matthews in early 2021, but once their Olympic hopes were dead they split and played with other partners the rest of the year. Stockman played an FIVB with Traci Callahan and AVPs with Terese Cannon and Sarah Pavan, so perhaps Davenport was coaching her by then. It's interesting that she said a coach can't take money from different federations. It is understandable that Davenport would want to coach more than one team (especially in 2021 coming out of the pandemic). So maybe it wasn't so much USAV poaching Davenport, but Davenport realizing there weren't as many coaching opportunities staying with Canada. MHPavan had their best year in 2019 so perhaps they made it worth his while to stay with him then, but money became a bigger issue in 2021, leading him to start looking for other opportunities. It's interesting though, because in four full-field events in 2021 with Davenport, MHPavan finished with two 2nds, a 4th, and a 9th. Even after he left, they played well enough to go into Tokyo as the #1 seed and ended up losing a close three-set quarterfinal match 15-12 to Mariafe/Taliqua, a team that was clearly a top-five team. Then they finished 2nd in World Tour Finals despite Mel separating her shoulder. So although their results without Davenport weren't great, they were still very good, and perhaps they were simply victim of expectations that were just a bit too high. Hard to judge because of COVID, but their four FIVB results before that were 5, 1, 5, 1. Was he also their coach back then? Their post-Davenport results were almost identical to those with him, the only difference seems to have been in their draw. That Olympics was also a very typical event for them, they bulldozed a bunch of solid teams, then the first time they faced resistance, they folded
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Post by robocop21 on Feb 26, 2024 17:53:08 GMT -5
Bump - one week until the first major tournament of 2024 starts!
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Post by overonone on Feb 28, 2024 19:14:08 GMT -5
Looks like muller/tillman withdrew Also - Coakley/Sweat in the quali
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Post by houdini on Mar 1, 2024 15:57:02 GMT -5
Stam / Schoon looking super in a few Instagram streamed sparring games from the Canary Islands last week. Very tough serving vs. Finns, Latvia and Swiss Verge-Depre/Mader.
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Post by guest2 on Mar 1, 2024 22:47:39 GMT -5
Stam / Schoon looking super in a few Instagram streamed sparring games from the Canary Islands last week. Very tough serving vs. Finns, Latvia and Swiss Verge-Depre/Mader. I expect a huge bounce back year from these two. Would not be surprised to see them enter the Olympics as the second best team in the world
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