Post by beachvball on Nov 24, 2006 12:41:59 GMT -5
Vargas creating her own legend
Sophomore living up to mother's legacy.
By Frank Burlison, Staff writer
Inside SOCAL
LONG BEACH - As a senior volleyball standout at St. Joseph High in Lakewood, Nicole Vargas had every opportunity to distance herself from some of the pressure that must go along with being the daughter of the greatest American setter in the sport's history.
In actuality, though, the aura that Debbie Green, a two-time Olympian who led USC to two national championships and who might be a member of more Halls of Fame than she has fingers and toes, created in volleyball is present anywhere the sport is played or discussed.
But, while turning down scholarship offers by, among others, the University of Miami and the University of San Francisco, Green's daughter - a setter, of course - didn't backpedal from her mother's legacy.
No, she embraced it by enrolling at Long Beach State, where Debbie Green has been busy turning out some of college volleyball's best setters for the better part of 20 years.
To say that each and every day of the two seasons that Vargas has been a setter under the watchful, and demanding, eyes of her mother and 49ers head coach Brian Gimmillaro has been an experience that Vargas wouldn't trade for the world would fall considerably short of truthful.
Long hours in the Walter Pyramid and West Gym are accompanied by the physical and emotional demands of Gimmillaro and Green that have been a part of the formula that has made Long Beach State one of the premier programs in the country in the 22 years that Gimmillaro has led it (21 of those with Green on his staff).
"I think that my mental toughness has definitely improved because of having my mom and Brian as my coaches," Nicole said. "My sister (Dana, a senior setter at St. Joseph who signed a letter of intent to attend UC Santa Barbara) and I were always around the Pyramid, of course, for practices and matches (while growing up), so I thought I knew what players had to go through in this program."
She smiled.
"I was around the practices and matches, so I thought I knew how hard you have to work to be a part of this program," she said. "And I was around, waiting for some of those three-hour team meetings (in the locker room) to end. But, until you're actually a part of the team, you have no idea how demanding it is."
Vargas has a double dose of competitiveness in her genes. Her father, Joe Vargas, was also a two-time U.S. Olympian (for the 1980 and '84 water polo teams).
And that might explain why she is setting for the 49ers instead of the Hurricanes or Dons, or any of the multitude of other programs that would have offered her scholarships.
"Up until my sophomore year, I just assumed I would go to Long Beach because that was the only program I was around," she said. "But then I started getting letters and calls from coaches from other schools and I thought `Wow! These schools want me!' "
Obviously, Gimmillaro followed Vargas' development nearly as closely as her parents did.
And, for him, the decision to offer her a scholarship and commit to helping make her his setter never presented quandary.
"It was never a question of her ability," he said. "It was something that she and Debbie had to decide upon. But I told (Green) that if she wants to set (in college), I think she should do it for you."
Vargas said that she and her mom "had lots of talks about it."
"She asked me `Are you sure you can handle me as your coach and the pressure?' " Vargas said.
Two years later, her play for the 49ers (22-5) seems to offer a pretty good answer to Green's question.
The 5-foot-8 Vargas was selected as one of two setters to the All-Big West Conference first team earlier this week and, in the eyes of her coaches (and, yes, she calls Green "mom" and not "coach" because "it would be just too weird to call her coach," she said) and her teammates, her progress has been rapid-fire over the past month or so.
"She has improved by leaps and bounds," junior middle blocker Alexis Crimes, the conference's Co-Player of the Year, said. "She is much more aggressive now than she was (last season and earlier this year) and she is really starting to put her personality onto the floor. And that's what this team needs."
And Crimes said that there has never been an issue with the team that Vargas would get any "special" or preferential treatment because her mother was on the coaching staff.
"Everyone on this team gets yelled at a lot," Crimes said, laughing. "Everyone is treated equally here. And, by watching them interact, you couldn't guess that they are mother and daughter."
More than once, apparently, Vargas has wondered if her mom might be going the extra mile to demonstrate that she wasn't going to be exempt from stern lectures during practices.
"I've thought `would you be treating me this way if I were any other setter?"' Vargas said. "But I understand they have to treat me and coach me the way they think will help me and the team best."
Green conceded that coaching her daughter has had its rocky moments.
"I knew that, once we got into the gym, I couldn't be her mom because I was her coach," she said. "And it's been harder, at times, than I thought it would be. But ask any of the setters (who include six All-America picks, including 1998 NCAA Player of the Year Misty May), I'm tough on all of them."
Green laughed.
"Sometimes," she said, "when she comes over to the house, I have to bite my tongue and remind myself that I'm her mom and not her coach there. I thought that maybe it would be a good idea for her to go away to school and kind of get away from the pressure. But I think she wanted to come here and prove people wrong who might have thought `she's just Debbie Green's daughter.' "
Based on what the conference coaches think of her, that's obviously not an issue. She's become a standout college setter who just happens to have a mother - and a coach - who was pretty good herself at one time.
"I have a lot more confidence in myself now," Vargas said. "You go through phases when you think, `This isn't working out.' But you just keep working hard and learn to believe in yourself - even if the coach is on you all the time."
And she smiled.
49ERS NOTES: The 49ers face Virginia Commonwealth in a 7:30 p.m. nonconference match in the Walter Pyramid this evening. Before that, Albany takes on UC Santa Barbara at noon, and then the Gauchos face Western Michigan at 5 p.m.
Sophomore living up to mother's legacy.
By Frank Burlison, Staff writer
Inside SOCAL
LONG BEACH - As a senior volleyball standout at St. Joseph High in Lakewood, Nicole Vargas had every opportunity to distance herself from some of the pressure that must go along with being the daughter of the greatest American setter in the sport's history.
In actuality, though, the aura that Debbie Green, a two-time Olympian who led USC to two national championships and who might be a member of more Halls of Fame than she has fingers and toes, created in volleyball is present anywhere the sport is played or discussed.
But, while turning down scholarship offers by, among others, the University of Miami and the University of San Francisco, Green's daughter - a setter, of course - didn't backpedal from her mother's legacy.
No, she embraced it by enrolling at Long Beach State, where Debbie Green has been busy turning out some of college volleyball's best setters for the better part of 20 years.
To say that each and every day of the two seasons that Vargas has been a setter under the watchful, and demanding, eyes of her mother and 49ers head coach Brian Gimmillaro has been an experience that Vargas wouldn't trade for the world would fall considerably short of truthful.
Long hours in the Walter Pyramid and West Gym are accompanied by the physical and emotional demands of Gimmillaro and Green that have been a part of the formula that has made Long Beach State one of the premier programs in the country in the 22 years that Gimmillaro has led it (21 of those with Green on his staff).
"I think that my mental toughness has definitely improved because of having my mom and Brian as my coaches," Nicole said. "My sister (Dana, a senior setter at St. Joseph who signed a letter of intent to attend UC Santa Barbara) and I were always around the Pyramid, of course, for practices and matches (while growing up), so I thought I knew what players had to go through in this program."
She smiled.
"I was around the practices and matches, so I thought I knew how hard you have to work to be a part of this program," she said. "And I was around, waiting for some of those three-hour team meetings (in the locker room) to end. But, until you're actually a part of the team, you have no idea how demanding it is."
Vargas has a double dose of competitiveness in her genes. Her father, Joe Vargas, was also a two-time U.S. Olympian (for the 1980 and '84 water polo teams).
And that might explain why she is setting for the 49ers instead of the Hurricanes or Dons, or any of the multitude of other programs that would have offered her scholarships.
"Up until my sophomore year, I just assumed I would go to Long Beach because that was the only program I was around," she said. "But then I started getting letters and calls from coaches from other schools and I thought `Wow! These schools want me!' "
Obviously, Gimmillaro followed Vargas' development nearly as closely as her parents did.
And, for him, the decision to offer her a scholarship and commit to helping make her his setter never presented quandary.
"It was never a question of her ability," he said. "It was something that she and Debbie had to decide upon. But I told (Green) that if she wants to set (in college), I think she should do it for you."
Vargas said that she and her mom "had lots of talks about it."
"She asked me `Are you sure you can handle me as your coach and the pressure?' " Vargas said.
Two years later, her play for the 49ers (22-5) seems to offer a pretty good answer to Green's question.
The 5-foot-8 Vargas was selected as one of two setters to the All-Big West Conference first team earlier this week and, in the eyes of her coaches (and, yes, she calls Green "mom" and not "coach" because "it would be just too weird to call her coach," she said) and her teammates, her progress has been rapid-fire over the past month or so.
"She has improved by leaps and bounds," junior middle blocker Alexis Crimes, the conference's Co-Player of the Year, said. "She is much more aggressive now than she was (last season and earlier this year) and she is really starting to put her personality onto the floor. And that's what this team needs."
And Crimes said that there has never been an issue with the team that Vargas would get any "special" or preferential treatment because her mother was on the coaching staff.
"Everyone on this team gets yelled at a lot," Crimes said, laughing. "Everyone is treated equally here. And, by watching them interact, you couldn't guess that they are mother and daughter."
More than once, apparently, Vargas has wondered if her mom might be going the extra mile to demonstrate that she wasn't going to be exempt from stern lectures during practices.
"I've thought `would you be treating me this way if I were any other setter?"' Vargas said. "But I understand they have to treat me and coach me the way they think will help me and the team best."
Green conceded that coaching her daughter has had its rocky moments.
"I knew that, once we got into the gym, I couldn't be her mom because I was her coach," she said. "And it's been harder, at times, than I thought it would be. But ask any of the setters (who include six All-America picks, including 1998 NCAA Player of the Year Misty May), I'm tough on all of them."
Green laughed.
"Sometimes," she said, "when she comes over to the house, I have to bite my tongue and remind myself that I'm her mom and not her coach there. I thought that maybe it would be a good idea for her to go away to school and kind of get away from the pressure. But I think she wanted to come here and prove people wrong who might have thought `she's just Debbie Green's daughter.' "
Based on what the conference coaches think of her, that's obviously not an issue. She's become a standout college setter who just happens to have a mother - and a coach - who was pretty good herself at one time.
"I have a lot more confidence in myself now," Vargas said. "You go through phases when you think, `This isn't working out.' But you just keep working hard and learn to believe in yourself - even if the coach is on you all the time."
And she smiled.
49ERS NOTES: The 49ers face Virginia Commonwealth in a 7:30 p.m. nonconference match in the Walter Pyramid this evening. Before that, Albany takes on UC Santa Barbara at noon, and then the Gauchos face Western Michigan at 5 p.m.
