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Post by damien on Nov 30, 2021 13:26:41 GMT -5
There are some fantastic boys VB coaches in Wisconsin, and several were worthy of consideration for COY. That being said, the coaches voted on COY and John Simon received the majority of the votes. I am of the opinion that we should celebrate the award recipient, regardless of who you voted for. *The real problem IMO is that only 29 coaches out of 60 actually voted.* If you want to be upset about something, be upset about the lack of involvement in the process. Less than half, when we are voting to honor one of our own, is kind of sad.
-- Damien (Cedarburg boys)
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Post by coy on Nov 30, 2021 14:47:26 GMT -5
Man, bradk must be really fun at parties. I'm glad you're traveling for your MVCult. If you're willing to do that then why bash the state tournament moving to Green Bay so much? You say you advocate for growing the game, but only if it is in your own backyard. The Fox Valley barely has enough teams to be called a conference so moving the state tournament to the Resch in my opinion was a great move. Are there things that need improving? Absolutely. Has Milwaukee already established themselves as the premiere area for boys volleyball, of course. So by moving the tournament north it allows for more growth than keeping it at WLC. As for the FVA kids travelling to MVCantstandyou to play I put that more on the FVA coaches than anything. No varsity coach, at least to my knowledge, is coaching club in the Fox Valley. I know Kimberly and Kaukauna's helped last year with Fox Valley Performance but neither are listed on their website as coaches this year. If I were financially able to send my child to play for Jake Nowak I would do so in a heartbeat. Brad is right about the move to Green Bay for State. I understand the thought of "growing the game" by moving it to an area with less of a following, but honestly are there really random people who aren't already interested in/playing volleyball that are seeing, "Hey, the boys volleyball State Tournament is 15 miles away, let's go to a 10:00 AM Thursday match!" I don't think that's happening. I don't think schools will be adding boys volleyball because the State Tournament is nearby. Moving the State Tournament to where only one of the teams each year is in the area, and starting matches at 10:00 AM on a Thursday, are going to absolutely kill the attendance by spectators. It was in an awesome place at Wisconsin Lutheran (other than the lack of parking available, but even that made it fun where you walked blocks with a rival fan right by you, and waited outside the doors with the mixed crowds). And the FVA, Madison, and Racine area schools that made it always packed the place as well. I don't even care about having to travel to see it. If the quality of play is good and it's an exciting atmosphere, I'm in for it. I just think it went from a packed gym to a place that's way too big and enough of a drive that attendance won't keep up.
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Post by bradk on Nov 30, 2021 18:07:46 GMT -5
Ok I will make one more post on this topic and move on.
Coach of year has always and will always be a state wide vote where coaches are given free reign to support and recognize their peers. There is no coup in COY voting, never has never will be. The coach of the year award is named the Gary Sorenson Coach of the year award. Named after Gary Sorenson who was a long time coach at Racine Case. Guess who won the award in the inaugural year. Coaches have free reign to vote for whoever they would like.
I am critical of the state tournament move to Green Bay not because of where it is but because of how the WIAA presented the move to the coaches. The move was presented as a chance to grow the game. All coaches were asked for their input. There was 80% of the coaches in the state who were against it, including some from the FVA. However the WIAA went and did it anyways to "Grow the Game"
Had they come out and said we are making this move to save money. They already have the contract for the Resch center for the entire week. So those 10am matches the boys now play they were already paying for anyways. They no longer had to pay to rent WLC, hotel rooms for workers etc. The WIAA saved a lot of money on this move. Had they said that from the start more coaches would have been on board with it, but to say they were doing it to benefit us irked a lot of people.
Their arguments were that girls teams at state would see boys volleyball and AD's would want to add it. Well first you can eliminate D3 and D4 because they do not have enough students to add the sport based on enrollment. So you take the 12 teams who had girls teams make state. The first year in Green Bay 10 out of the 12 already did. The 2 who did not a Green Bay school who dropped it and Sun Prarie who they have tried numerous times to add but will not.
One of the best nights of the year was the final Saturday night. 90% of coaches in the state would attend along with 100's of current players to celebrate the conclusion of their seasons. Fan bases of schools who make it are always going to attend that is a given. How are you going to draw big numbers of other spectators. I went to the first final in Green Bay. I eye balled section to section and counted around 20 or so high school aged boys not sitting in student sections. On a previous year at WLC this would be close to 100. I saw 1 other coach present whose team was not a part of the state tournament. In previous years you would find at least 20.
We were treated as a money grab/save by the WIAA but they presented it as if they were helping us. How many teams have added since the move to Green Bay. 3 maybe 4 all located near Milwaukee. I believe Green Bay even lost their coop or are struggling with numbers to stay afloat.
I will not get into personal insults and will always speak my mind. Is my opinion right, of course not but it is an opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion as long as sent a mature nature. I am sorry you think MVC is a cult and you cant stand us, but you obviously follow us on socials since you are using the MV start to your comments. I am damn proud of what we have done at MVC and the opportunities and brotherhood we have helped these young men create through their high school years. We are not the only club who do this either, club volleyball is one of the greatest gifts parents can give to high school aged boys no matter what club you play for.
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Post by Badger Alum on Dec 1, 2021 10:58:03 GMT -5
Man, bradk must be really fun at parties. I'm glad you're traveling for your MVCult. If you're willing to do that then why bash the state tournament moving to Green Bay so much? You say you advocate for growing the game, but only if it is in your own backyard. The Fox Valley barely has enough teams to be called a conference so moving the state tournament to the Resch in my opinion was a great move. Are there things that need improving? Absolutely. Has Milwaukee already established themselves as the premiere area for boys volleyball, of course. So by moving the tournament north it allows for more growth than keeping it at WLC. As for the FVA kids travelling to MVCantstandyou to play I put that more on the FVA coaches than anything. No varsity coach, at least to my knowledge, is coaching club in the Fox Valley. I know Kimberly and Kaukauna's helped last year with Fox Valley Performance but neither are listed on their website as coaches this year. If I were financially able to send my child to play for Jake Nowak I would do so in a heartbeat. If you truly want to grow the sport, you'd move the state tournament around. Let different areas watch fantastic HS volleyball. To put it in any one area (regardless of the area) is a mistake. One year in Green Bay. Next in Kenosha. Next in Madison. Next in Appleton. Then Milwaukee. Move it around. That will grow the sport.
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Post by coy on Dec 1, 2021 11:55:06 GMT -5
Man, bradk must be really fun at parties. I'm glad you're traveling for your MVCult. If you're willing to do that then why bash the state tournament moving to Green Bay so much? You say you advocate for growing the game, but only if it is in your own backyard. The Fox Valley barely has enough teams to be called a conference so moving the state tournament to the Resch in my opinion was a great move. Are there things that need improving? Absolutely. Has Milwaukee already established themselves as the premiere area for boys volleyball, of course. So by moving the tournament north it allows for more growth than keeping it at WLC. As for the FVA kids travelling to MVCantstandyou to play I put that more on the FVA coaches than anything. No varsity coach, at least to my knowledge, is coaching club in the Fox Valley. I know Kimberly and Kaukauna's helped last year with Fox Valley Performance but neither are listed on their website as coaches this year. If I were financially able to send my child to play for Jake Nowak I would do so in a heartbeat. If you truly want to grow the sport, you'd move the state tournament around. Let different areas watch fantastic HS volleyball. To put it in any one area (regardless of the area) is a mistake. One year in Green Bay. Next in Kenosha. Next in Madison. Next in Appleton. Then Milwaukee. Move it around. That will grow the sport. I'm really not sure that it will, though. If we're being honest, the only way the game of volleyball grows by any meaningful amount in Wisconsin is if you move it to the spring. If you're competing with football and soccer, you're always going to be third fiddle. That's just the way it is.
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Post by bradk on Dec 1, 2021 13:18:31 GMT -5
Moving to spring would have advantages of being on the same club season as everyone else and also freeing up officials as we are going to have a massive shortage in Wisconsin soon.
However moving to spring we now run into baseball, track and tennis athletes who there is a lot of.
Yes we add football and soccer players, but most of them would be new to the sport perhaps assuming the football coach does not mandate they do track. We would really be starting over with a lot of the high school only players.
The WIAA conducted a study about 10 years ago with AD's on boys volleyball. If we would have made the move to the spring at that time we would have added 2 schools and lost 7.
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Post by damien on Dec 1, 2021 13:38:57 GMT -5
If you truly want to grow the sport, you'd move the state tournament around. Let different areas watch fantastic HS volleyball. To put it in any one area (regardless of the area) is a mistake. One year in Green Bay. Next in Kenosha. Next in Madison. Next in Appleton. Then Milwaukee. Move it around. That will grow the sport. I'm really not sure that it will, though. If we're being honest, the only way the game of volleyball grows by any meaningful amount in Wisconsin is if you move it to the spring. If you're competing with football and soccer, you're always going to be third fiddle. That's just the way it is. No way, not for us. A majority of my varsity team have typically played baseball, tennis, and golf. We have 3 full teams (v, jv1, jv2) have cuts every year, and have zero competition with football and soccer for players. Moving to spring would mess us up and force my traditional demographic to have to make a decision between 2 sports they love (VB or one of the other 3)
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Post by Badger Alum on Dec 1, 2021 14:31:44 GMT -5
Moving to spring would have advantages of being on the same club season as everyone else and also freeing up officials as we are going to have a massive shortage in Wisconsin soon. However moving to spring we now run into baseball, track and tennis athletes who there is a lot of. Yes we add football and soccer players, but most of them would be new to the sport perhaps assuming the football coach does not mandate they do track. We would really be starting over with a lot of the high school only players. The WIAA conducted a study about 10 years ago with AD's on boys volleyball. If we would have made the move to the spring at that time we would have added 2 schools and lost 7. To grow any sport, you need to attract causal fans and convert them to play. Attendance will be an issue at first, but over time exposure to higher level play in your "backyard" will only help. It's not a quick fix, but it will help.
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Post by Badger Alum on Dec 1, 2021 14:33:57 GMT -5
The WIAA conducted a study about 10 years ago with AD's on boys volleyball. If we would have made the move to the spring at that time we would have added 2 schools and lost 7. That is sad. It would be nice if Wisconsin was on a similar schedule to the states around them. But not at the expense of what we already have.
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