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Post by dunninla3 on Dec 11, 2022 11:37:05 GMT -5
Baird may be feeling a lot of pressure too…I understand, D1 athlete, should hold up to pressure…but let’s remember that this is still a college student at Stanford of all places, came in highly touted, carries a big load…let’s cut her some slack. Playing well under pressure, we often forget, is a skill. It can be developed. I've seen college athletes in several sports work with sports psychologists to learn to view the pressure in a different way, a way that doesn't make them tentative or short arm swings. It is a matter of retraining the amygdala, or put in a different way, training the frontal cortex to override the fight or flight signals from the amydala. Did you hear I think in the Pittsburg/UW match that the team was working this year on developing a "we are the hunter, not the hunted" frame of mind? Since we are on the Stanford thread, Stanford Professor Robert Sapolski has a fascinating youtube 24 lecture series on the brain. In one of the lectures he explains in layman's terms the how signals operate within the brain, and how the signals from the amydala, frontal cortex, and other areas interact with each other.
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Post by jgrout on Dec 11, 2022 11:58:42 GMT -5
Years ago, I asked Don Shaw how a coach gets players to handle the intense stress of a match like last night's. He said that you recruit for it... that you find players who want to be in those matches and to win them and try to sign them.
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Post by dunninla3 on Dec 11, 2022 12:42:10 GMT -5
Years ago, I asked Don Shaw how a coach gets players to handle the intense stress of a match like last night's. He said that you recruit for it... that you find players who want to be in those matches and to win them and try to sign them. sure, but you still have to coach up the SAs who sign with you. And mental coaching is, I would argue, more important than physical training at this level.
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Post by baytree on Dec 11, 2022 13:20:58 GMT -5
Isn't that part of why the wvb (and others) do mindfulness training and forgiveness training? I think I've heard Andrew Fuller talk about mindfulness training and saw a blurb about the wvb team doing that. I've heard Tara Van Deveer mention forgiveness training and how when one of their players missed a free throw, Brink and another player on the bench shouted "we love you, x" really loudly so she knew it was ok. I thought those were supposed to be ways to help players stay in the moment and focus on their play. Tara's example would also remind everyone that they were an important part of the team, even if they're on the bench
ETA: I think the Machine Team used to help players on the bench know that they were an important part of the team and keep them focused on matches, as well as letting ppl playing know they were loved and appreciated by the entire team. I miss that.
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Post by faircritic on Dec 11, 2022 14:34:05 GMT -5
Not sure about the criticism of Baird. She is the best we got. It isn't like she was a lot worse in this match than she has been all season. Kipp had a very clear free ball swing in the 4th to put us in position to win that set and the match. She hit it 20+ feet out. If you want to pinpoint on play that is the one we really needed. And her 9 errors in the match isn't what you want from your leader. I think the truth is that we would have been smoked by Texas in the next round anyway. With a rusty Francis this wasn't the kind of team that can win it all. What we need to win the title next year is an all-american Francis. And I think she can be that kind of player. We will see. Agree on playing Texas. And if Stanford had won that, they would face the real juggernaut of Louisville or Pittsburgy.
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Post by faircritic on Dec 11, 2022 14:38:29 GMT -5
I just hope they learn from this hard to not be upset when they had opportunities. Stanford will have a target on their back next year the clear favorite in the PAC to repeat but the league will get better I think so they should be challenged. A great season tough loss I hope Kipp learns from the mistakes and Miner does as well. The final four have no teams from Big-10 or Pac-12. I may be wrong, but it looks to mke like this a first.
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Post by faircritic on Dec 11, 2022 14:43:49 GMT -5
What a missed opportunity they had especially in the tight battle! They were very tentative in the fifth set. Miner stayed away from the middles even with good passings. Too bad when she set Francis and got dug and that was the start of the come back for San Diego. Give the prop to SD for digging bombs and playing fearless volleyball. I will root for them. So unfortunate for this year's team. Would have loved to see them back to FF4. But there were many heart brokens for many other teams as well: Wisconsin, Nebraska, Oregon, etc. I feel for them. We will have to wait until next year...still need dominant middles to come in. Maybe Dodson from the portal? Our defense was better today but still far from the best of many other teams. But the team this year had exceeded all expectations. So long VTalk and see you in August next year! Avoiding the middle has been Miner's glaring weakness all along. This deficiency was glaring last year. It go better during the season, my guess because the coaches worked with her. Regarding defense, the dazzling acrobatics of Louisville's Elena Scott and Texas Zoe .... leave me speachless.
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Post by faircritic on Dec 11, 2022 14:46:04 GMT -5
I'm genuinely concerned about Elena. That looked like a hard blow. She toughed it out and clearly wanted to just get back to playing. But, I had the feeling that she wasn't physically ready to continue quite so quickly. I really really hope she has no lasting effects. This matters more than anything else that was going on, but hard to see that in the moment. I am with you. I hope she has no consequences. When I saw a replay of her fall, it looked to me like a possible concussion. Wishing her the best.
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Post by liberosetter101 on Dec 11, 2022 15:03:58 GMT -5
At the beginning of the season I said I would be satisfied with a regional final appearance based off how the team was playing. As the season went on and the team improved I began having much more hope. It’s crazy how close we were to reaching the final four. So proud of the growth of this team and lots to be proud of this season. Excited for the future!
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Post by faircritic on Dec 11, 2022 15:05:52 GMT -5
Louisville’s Dani Busboom Kelly and Pittsburgh’s Dan Fisher have turned previously low-key programs into national juggernauts. They may be soon joined by San Diego’s Jennifer Petrie.
They achieved this by smartly identifying otherwise undetected talent and coaching them into fluid on-the-court dynamics.
Raiding national teams is tantamount to outsourcing recruitment to coaches who you believe are better than you at identifying talent.
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Post by dunninla3 on Dec 11, 2022 15:31:40 GMT -5
I'm genuinely concerned about Elena. That looked like a hard blow. She toughed it out and clearly wanted to just get back to playing. But, I had the feeling that she wasn't physically ready to continue quite so quickly. I really really hope she has no lasting effects. This matters more than anything else that was going on, but hard to see that in the moment. I am with you. I hope she has no consequences. When I saw a replay of her fall, it looked to me like a possible concussion. Wishing her the best. Given the concussion protocol issues from five or so years ago, you would think Stanford WV of all teams would be especially cautious when they see a player smack the back of her head on the side of a table. The announcer even said "you could hear that all through the arena", more or less. I'm actually shocked she wasn't pulled for a play or two to give her concussion protocol tests. It's quite possible, probable even, that she was fine and did not concuss, but you certainly never take the player's word for it.
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Post by dunninla3 on Dec 11, 2022 15:37:30 GMT -5
Louisville’s Dani Busboom Kelly and Pittsburgh’s Dan Fisher have turned previously low-key programs into national juggernauts. They may be soon joined by San Diego’s Jennifer Petrie. They achieved this by smartly identifying otherwise undetected talent and coaching them into fluid on-the-court dynamics. Raiding national teams is tantamount to outsourcing recruitment to coaches who you believe are better than you at identifying talent. Fisher got Gray from Penn St. Petrie got Blossom from Penn St. That is not raiding national teams, but it certainly is not "smartly identifiying otherwise undetected talent". Unfortunately for Stanford, short of a walk on graduate student middle like Gates, transfers just don't work within the space athletics occupies within the overall academic mission. This is a much greater structural disadvantage than tough admissions plays with freshman recruits... and I think that national shift in recruitment patterns will make it much harder going forward for Stanford to fill holes and needs as easily every other DI program.
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Post by acea on Dec 11, 2022 15:45:50 GMT -5
Not sure about the criticism of Baird. She is the best we got. It isn't like she was a lot worse in this match than she has been all season. Kipp had a very clear free ball swing in the 4th to put us in position to win that set and the match. She hit it 20+ feet out. If you want to pinpoint on play that is the one we really needed. And her 9 errors in the match isn't what you want from your leader. I think the truth is that we would have been smoked by Texas in the next round anyway. With a rusty Francis this wasn't the kind of team that can win it all. What we need to win the title next year is an all-american Francis. And I think she can be that kind of player. We will see. I kinda agree to this. Stanford will never be able to compete with Texas with the personnel we have in the middle (Vicini is slightly better than Bergmark though). San Diego has the physicality in the middle and I think they will be able to match up really with Texas. I won’t be surprised if they beat Texas. Lukes has the most beautiful arm swing in all of collegiate volleyball. Yup! I think Blossom edges out Miner (which makes sense given her experience) which is huge to exploit Texas’s block. I’m worried though that San Diego won’t serve tough enough to exploit eggleston/akana/skinner
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Post by acea on Dec 11, 2022 15:48:40 GMT -5
Not sure about the criticism of Baird. She is the best we got. It isn't like she was a lot worse in this match than she has been all season. Kipp had a very clear free ball swing in the 4th to put us in position to win that set and the match. She hit it 20+ feet out. If you want to pinpoint on play that is the one we really needed. And her 9 errors in the match isn't what you want from your leader. I think the truth is that we would have been smoked by Texas in the next round anyway. With a rusty Francis this wasn't the kind of team that can win it all. What we need to win the title next year is an all-american Francis. And I think she can be that kind of player. We will see. Agree on playing Texas. And if Stanford had won that, they would face the real juggernaut of Louisville or Pittsburgy. I love both of those teams but I really think Stanford could take either of them. We saw Chaussee get exploited in passing and slowed down by the block, imagine her matched up with Kipp/Francis. Not to mention inconsistent setting. Same thing with Pitt, I think Stanford’s block can neutralize their OHs which is where they are weakest
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Post by baytree on Dec 11, 2022 16:10:30 GMT -5
Louisville’s Dani Busboom Kelly and Pittsburgh’s Dan Fisher have turned previously low-key programs into national juggernauts. They may be soon joined by San Diego’s Jennifer Petrie. They achieved this by smartly identifying otherwise undetected talent and coaching them into fluid on-the-court dynamics. Raiding national teams is tantamount to outsourcing recruitment to coaches who you believe are better than you at identifying talent. Fisher got Gray from Penn St. Petrie got Blossom from Penn St. That is not raiding national teams, but it certainly is not "smartly identifiying otherwise undetected talent". Unfortunately for Stanford, short of a walk on graduate student middle like Gates, transfers just don't work within the space athletics occupies within the overall academic mission.This is a much greater structural disadvantage than tough admissions plays with freshman recruits... and I think that national shift in recruitment patterns will make it much harder going forward for Stanford to fill holes and needs as easily every other DI program. I agree with this but I think a lot of this stems from not being able to build more student and faculty housing. Right now, they only admit the number of transfers equal to the number of students who left before graduating, which is very small. (27 students in 2019) Given the housing situation, if they admitted more, they'd probably need to either decrease frosh admissions or increase financial aid to cover off-campus living expenses, which would cut into financial aid for other students. I can completely understand why they don't want to do either. Bottom line, they need to be able to expand the number of students, which they can't really do without more housing, which Santa Clara County opposes (and has for decades).
I don't see a good solution.I don't want Stanford to give all the (incredibly few) transfer spots to athletes. I doubt the faculty does either. Even if they did, it probably wouldn't be enough transfers to put Stanford on an equal footing with other universities.
On top of that, Arrilluga died at the beginning of this year so Stanford lost its largest sports booster. That bodes poorly for alum stepping up to organize a strong NIL coop that Stanford would get behind.
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