We want your thoughts

Dear Parents,

We had all the players fill out player evaluations this year on their experience with High Performance. We would also love to hear feedback from you as well. Please send us your thoughts on the High Performance experience that you had this year. Please tell us what you liked, what you didn't and suggestions for improvement in the future. Thank you all again so much. You may send your thoughts to skeister33@hotmail.com

Sincerely,

IVA High Performance Staff

ALSO.......

I have just checked the USAV website and they have some good pictures and other various stuff up from the event. Here are some links you may find fun to look at:

Tournament website: http://usavolleyball.org/content/index/2818

International Youth Division Award photos: http://usavolleyball.org/content/index/6964

Tournament Photos (taken by event staff): http://www.osireber.smugmug.com/USAV%20HP%20CHAMPIONSHIP

All Tournament Teams: http://usavolleyball.org/content/index/6960

Reults: http://usavolleyball.org/content/index/6962

random pictures from last day in florida

Everyone got to hold a gator. How cool!


Select Team after their final match!



This gator got CLOSE! AWESOME!!!!

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM - YOUTH

Youth team is getting on an air boat and taking a tour of the everglades right now! Hoping to see some gators!

Select team wins the fifth set 15 8. Wins the match three sets to two. Finishes tournament five wins and two losses

Select team wins set four 25 11

Select team loses set three 19 25

Select team wins set two 25 23

Select team loses first set 18 25

Youth team playing their final match against garden empire. Tied at eight in the first set

Youth division all tournament selections are Clotile best attacker. Taylor best server. Rae was selected MVP.

Youth Team Championship Wrap Up

YOUTH TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH WRAP UP

The youth team came into the match really excited and mentally ready to play. The first set started by spotting them (USA White) 4 points. They responded well though and came back to tie it at 6. They continued to serve well, pass well and attack well and won the first set 25-18. The second set started the same way with giving them an early lead, but once again, the girls fought hard and didn’t let it rattle them. They gained a late lead at 22-21 and then battled hard before winning 25-23. The third set, they continued to fight hard but our passing and our defense struggled as their offense really kicked in a gear. This was our first “set” loss in the entire tournament so it was going to be interesting to see how the girls responded to it. Between the 3rd and 4th sets, Alaina reassured them that it’s just a set, that they had not won anything and we had not lost anything. We just needed to firm up our passing, play a little better defense and move on. And that is exactly what they did. They kept plugging along, fought hard and at 11-9 they really got some momentum and we burst to a 16-10 lead at the technical timeout. Coming out of the time out, USA made a run and closed the gap to 16-15. We regained our momentum though and outscored them 9-3 to win the set 25-18, and therefore the match 3-1 and therefore the entire tournament! GOLD MEDAL BABY!!!!

The girls were amazing the entire tournament. They took feedback from coaches Alaina, Josh and Scooter and didn’t question it, just did it. The chemistry between the girls was great both on and off the court and the coaching staff (Alaina, Josh and Scooter) really worked well together in motivating and assisting these wonderful young women achieve the excellence that the Intermountain Region has always shown and been so proud of.

High Performance is not just coming in, making a team and playing in a tournament, but representing our Region and themselves with the upmost respect which these girls have done. Beginning at training and continuing through the travel, competition in Florida and their behavior in public while representing us has been absolutely amazing. It is exactly what we expect from elite athletes that represent our region and is why we pride ourselves in being the leading region in High Performance. These girls that made up the Youth team exemplify exactly what we expect out of our HP Athletes…not the winning, but the manner in which they conduct themselves as well as their focused, hard work and determination and common goal to work as a team, and forget themselves along the way. The results is exactly what we just got!
The All Tournament team will be announced later this evening. We expect to get three on the team and we (coaches) know who they are, but for now, we will keep that a mystery!!!! Updates on that later this evening. How about that cliffhanger!

A few statistical highlights from the championship match:
Megan hit .324 with 13 Kills and passed a 2.3

Clotile had 11 kills, 5 blocks, 3 aces

Rae had 40 assists and 13 digs

Alydia had 9 kills and 8 digs and passed a 2.04

Taylor had 6 kills, 9 digs, 3 aces

Maline had 4 kills, 3 digs, 4 aces

Jenna passed a 2.0 and had 17 digs

Oh, and one more things….Ft. Lauderdale has some AWESOME BEACHES!!!!!

Thank you parents for giving us your daughters and making sacrifices for an amazing experience. We hope to have them continue in the program and take what they have learned here and represent their high schools and their clubs as well as they have represented our region.

Sincerely,

Alaina, Josh and Scooter

Youth team wins set four 25 18. Win the match and WIN THE TOURNAMENT!!!

Youth team loses third set 21 25

Youth team wins set two 25 23

Youth team wins set one 25 18

Youth team starting championship match in twenty minutes! Playing usa white.

Select team wins set five 15 5! Awesome! Wins the match three sets to two

Youth Team Match Update

YOUTH TEAM MATCH - BY MEGAN SORENSON
This morning we played the Lone Star Region and beat them in three games! We started out a little slow but by the end had it together. They gave us a deck of cards before the game and that was pretty cool. The deck said "don't mess with texas" but we did.
Now we play in the championship match at 3:30 which is super exciting. Hopefully the next time we blog we'll be reporting as champions!!

Select team wins fourth set 25 13. Going to a deciding fifth set

Select team loses third set 23 25

Select team loses set two 18 25

Youth team wins third set 25 19. We are now in the championship match at 330 vs usa white.

Select team wins set one vs florida 25 20. And youth team wins set two 25 20

Youth team wins set one vs lone star 30 28

Updates of Saturday Matches

The updates for this morning's matches might be a little odd in the timing, but I'll do my best. Both teams play at the same time (9:45). So, sorry if there is a bit of a delay in either team getting scores up. The Youth team is playing Lone Star. The Select team does not know who they are playing yet...as it depends on who won a late match last night. Go INTERMOUNTAIN!

Pictures of the Select Team in Action - Thank you Charles Sandy!

Match #4 and #5 Wrap up

Today was a GREAT day (this is Scooter writing by the way as it's late and the girls are on their way to bed...big day tomorrow). I'll start with the Select Team. They played Badger Region first and lost the first 2 sets. They found their game somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd sets and won the next three to win the match. It was so exciting and all the fans were great and supportive and cheered us to victory. Their next match was against Lake Shore and the momentum that they got from the first match carried over to the next one and they won fairly easily in three sets. Some highlights were: Crystal had 9 blocks in the first match. Stacey had 31 assists and 3 kills in the 2nd match. Dakota had 5 aces in the first match and Dylan had 5 aces in the second match. Their next match is at 9:45am tomorrow.

The Youth team only had one match today. They played a VERY good USA Blue team. Josh and I went to scout them in their morning match and got a lot of good information. We stepped on the floor and our team played the BEST they have played since we started training. Megan was GREAT defensively and offensively. Alydia was GREAT on the outside, but the star was Clotile when she single handedly took over the match in the third set when we were down 2-8. Taylor also was a beast on the service line. It was an all around perfect TEAM effort! The team from the coaching staff to the players are all meshing so well and it's very exciting. Their next match is tomorrow at 9:45am vs. Lone Star. Our next and final match will then be at 3:30pm...hopefully the FINAL, playing for Gold!!!!!!

All in all it was a GREAT day for Intermountain. Select team is 3-3 and the Youth team is 5-0 and more impressively has not even dropped a set, going 15-0 in set play! WOW! Totally unexpected. Both matches tomorrow though will both be dogfights so we will need another good team effort to finish off the tournament!

On a side not, outside the gym, the youth team, after their last match went to eat and get ice cream and then went to the BEACH! They played in the water for about an hour and a half, then we walked the boardwalk, saw some interesting shops. Now they are headed to bed and preparing for championship day. I have included some pictures of the day at the beach.

Thank you for all the support from all of you at home!

GO INTERMOUNTAIN!

Select team wins third set 25 17 and wins match three sets to none

Select team wins set two 25 22

Select team wins set one vs gulf coast 25 17

Youth team comes from behind and wins set three 25 23. Beats a VERY good usa blue team. Girls played amazing! Next match tomorrow. A win puts us in final!!

Youth team wins set two 25 14

Youth team wins first set 25 19

Select team wins set five 15 10!!! Wins the match three sets to two! They played amazing!

Select team wins set four 25 20. Going to a deciding fifth set

Select team wins set three 25 20

Select team loses set two 20 25

Select team loses first set 22 25

Select team starting their match against badger region in about thirty minutes. Youth team plays usa blue at two. They are a very good team. Will be good match!

Match #3 Wrap up for both teams

Select Team:
Hello there!! It’s Crystal and Rachel here. So today, we woke up to have breakfast and as we walked down the hall we heard the loud dinging of an alarm and what might it be but the smoke detector. Our delicious bacon had set off the smoke alarm!! J Later we played at 12:15 and won in 3 games against northern Cali. After our victory, we went back to the hotel to celebrate by eating a tasty sandwich and taking a nice long nap. Then we went back to the gym to play the USAV HP team which we lost in 4 games. We fought hard and pushed to do better not only during timeouts but on the court. We still hold our heads up high and we all plan to start fresh tomorrow afternoon!! But enough about that though, we’re all having quite a blast here in FLORIDA! We still do miss our families there in Utah and we send ALOT of love to them all. J We better get going though because it’s getting late though and scooter is getting angry because we are taking for EVER! LOVE YOU ALL!!!! (Note from Scooter…what you just ready took them 30 minutes to write!!!!!) J haha!

Youth Team:
HEY!! This is Winter! Today we got to sleep in! YES!! We had eggs and bacon which Coach Parker made for us! She so nice!! Then we went to our game were we dominated USA gold!! After that we went to the mall!! That was a blast!! Then we had another game against Hawaii and we also beat them in three games!! Today was so much fun! All of the girls and coaches are so funny and awesome! i am having a great time and I’m learning a lot!!

Here are some stats from the Aloha match:
Megan had 10 kills and hit .417!!!
Taylor hit .417 with 6 kills
Clotile hit .444 with 5 kills
Jenna had 15 digs
Megan had 3 aces and Rae had 2 aces and Lusia had 3 aces

The Select team is 1-3 in match play and the youth team is currently 4-0 in match play (12-0 in sets).

Youth team wins set three 25 17 and wins the match three sets to zero!

Youth team wins sets one and two vs Aloha 25 16 and 25 14. Starting set number three.

Select team loses third set 21 25

Select team loses set three 20 25

Select team loses set two 19 25

Select team wins first set 25 23

Select team starting their match against usa select blue.

Select Team Match #3 – Day 2 vs. Northern California Select White


Hey everyone…this is Scooter. The girls from the team have gone back to the hotel for lunch and I have stayed at the facility to coach with our Youth team. So, I will give a recap of the match and then have the girls write something later tonight.


The Select team came into the gym and the coaches were a little nervous about the body language of the girls. Most of them looked asleep..boy was that wrong. They came out on FIRE and played amazing volleyball. Great serving, great passing, and phenomenal hitting…and sustained it for three straight games. The crowd for them was awesome. They have a LOT of fans here. I didn’t count but there had to be at least 30 and it sure helped. Thank you to the parents, family members and friends that came and supported us! Statistically here are just a few highlights of the match:HITTING: Hannah: 14 Kills, no errors and 17 attemptsDakota: 10 Kills, 4 errors and 13 attemptsRachel: 6 Kills, 1 error and 8 attemptsPASSING:Ciara: 2.25 and 28 digs!!SERVING:Stacey had 4 aces, followed by Dakota and Dylan with 2BLOCKING:Crystal led the way with 3 blocks


YOUTH TEAM MATCH #3 – Day 2 vs. USA Gold

This match was a rematch of our first match yesterday. Many of you may be asking why we play the same team again today when we played them yesterday. The reason is because yesterday was a three team pool, which we finished. First place in the pool automatically qualified for the top 10 (which is what we did). All the 2nd and 3rd place teams played off this morning for the right to be in that same top 10. The USA Gold team which we beat on Day 1, upset a team and ended up back in our pool. The top 10 is 2 pools of 5. The winners of each pool will play in the championship on Saturday. So, our first match of the pool just happened to be against USA Gold. I’m not sure who the next match will be against just yet, but it will be at 7:30pm EST tonight. Anyway, our rematch against the USA Gold team got the result that we wanted, but not the way we wanted it. The team was very sluggish and were not mentally in the game as much as they were the previous day. They did battle though and fought hard and pulled out some very tight wins. Sets 2 and 3 we had to come back from being down late in the game to win by the scores of 25-12, 25-23, 25-23.

Youth team wins set three 25 23. Wins the match three zero

Youth team wins set two 26 24

Youth team wins set one 25 12

Youth team starts in about thirty minutes. Playing usa gold again.

Select team wins set three 25 11. Wins match three sets to none. Hannah led the way with 13 kills and no errors!

Select team wins set two 25 10. They are looking GREAT!

Select team wins set one vs northern california 25 19

Match #2 Wrap up for both teams

Clotilie Harris – YOUTH TEAM
So, today was a pretty good day. My team (the youth team) won both of our matches. So, so far we are undefeatedJ it was totally coolio.
So our team is super tight. We are like sisters and that to me is way cool. I knew most of the players from club and stuff but I also got to meet new people too. Um…. Oh yeah so I met this chick named Winter and she is super cool. And she is taller than me… I also met Megan from Idaho and Jaq from this little town in Utah called Syracuse. Then some of the girls I already knew… Lydie, Taylor, Lucia, Maline, Ray and Jenna. So that was good I guess.
Yeah this is a great experienceJ lots and lots of fun…hehehe

Thoughts from Scooter:
The Youth team played a really good match against Ohio Valley. they served really well, passed much better than the morning match and were more sound defensively. Ohio Valley had a couple of really good middles and we did a nice job controlling them and defending them. It was really exciting to see them improving so much from the previous match...I think the bugs got worked out.

SELECT TEAM:
Hey its Jayme!! Haha
So the second match of today was pretty good I think we could be more consistent in passing and serving but other than that we did pretty good for really playing together for the first day. Also I think our team is really bonding

From Assistant Coach Lindsay Lind
Day one was a good day. We started the morning off against So. Cal, who is, perennially a very good team. They came at us fast and hard from the get go, but I think we handled it very well. It was pretty clear that the girls were a little nervous, but they settled in nicely and we did some really good things. Dylan served particularly well, and Crystal was a force at the net with 7!! blocks. We went down in three, but Heather and I felt good about the effort.
Our second match was against the Lone Star Region. We struggled a bit in game one, but came out swinging in game two and took a 25-12 win! Like most good teams, Lone Star battled back, and we each took another game to force a game 5. The girls played hard, and everyone played their role very well. Paige, Jayme, and Jessika did a great job coming in and serving tough in the back row, but in the end Lone Star took the game five win.
The girls played hard today and came together nicely as a team, especially in the second match. We are really looking forward to the next few days and continuing to get better every match!

Select team loses fifth set 8 15. Loses match three sets to two.

Select team wins re four 25 21. Going to a deciding fifth set.

Select team loses set three 20 25

Select team wins set two 25 12

Select team loses set one to lone star 22 25

Youth team wins third set 25 21 and beats ohio valley three zero!

Youth team wins set two 25 17

Youth team wins set one 25 19

Youth team starting match vs ohio valley

1st Matches Wrap Up

Each team has played their first match of the tournament. Below are some of the players commetns and mine:

YOUTH MATCH #1 – vs. USA Select GoldWell hello everyone!!! This is RAE MULITALO speaking=) We just got done with our first game against the USA YOUTH team. Yes, we did win! We took em 3 games. The first game was a little shaky…you know how that is. We were all a little nervous, but then it finally kicked in in the second game. FLORIDA is amazing!! Very hot and humid… I guess we’ll all come back with smooth skin! Lol wish us luck for the rest of the tournament! Thanks for all your support!!=)

Thoughts from Assistant Coach Josh Fisher:
It’s always nice to start a tournament with a win. We struggled a little early making too many mistakes, especially in the serving and passing game. It was great to see them respond to the situation and fix those problems. I felt the middles did a nice job of getting us points when we needed them. Although there were some nerves we battled through and never quit competing.
Players of the match: Best Passer was Megan Sorenson with a 2.25. Our best attackers were Maline with a .667 in the middle, Clotile Harris with a .462 in the middle and Taylor Murphy with a .167 on the right side. Jenna Ellis had the most digs with 15 and Taylor Murphy led the blocking with 3. Taylor Murphy was our key player in this match with 9 kills, 5 aces, 8 digs and 3 blocks.
Next up is Ohio Valley at 3:45pm! Go Intermountain!

Select Team before their first match

SELECT MATCH #1 – VS. Southern CaliforniaHOLA! This is CIARA PARKER blogging from the sunny actually cloudy and rather humid Ft. Lauderdale Florida! We just finished our first game against Southern California. They were a very good team with a lot of good players. We were a little nervous at first because some of us didn’t really know what to expect. We did what we could control though, and we kept up with them. The twins ( Dylan and Dakota) as well as Crystal ( can’t spell her last name) had some AMAZING blocks. All in all it was a BLAST and I am really looking forward to playing our next game. I really think that our team is going to do well in this competition. I am excited to see what the future has in store for us as we continue to improve every game! Keep Cheering !!! GO INTERMOUNTAIN VOLLEYBALL!!
Adios,
Ciara

Players of the match: Crystal had 7 blocks. Dylan had 5 aces and Dylan hit a .222! Jayme and Jessika came in at critical times in the match and did a great job serving also.

Next Matches are scheduled for 3:45 (Youth Team vs. Ohio Valley) and 5:30 (Select Team vs. Lone Star)

select team loses set three 20 25. Loses match three zero. Up next. . . Lone star at 545

Select team loses set two to southern california 21 25

Select team loses first set to southern california 15 25.

Youth team wins set three 25 22 coming from behind and beats usa gold in the match 3 0

Youth team wins set two 25 20.

Youth team wins set one vs usa gold 25 19.

youth team about to start their match against usa gold! Scores will be posted as soon as each set is completed throughout the match.

July 21st...2nd day in Florida!

Here are some thoughts from Select and Youth team players and some picutres. Paige and Dakota writing for the Select team and Alydia and Taylor writing for the Youth team. Pictures are of the Select team on their adventure to the beach.

Hey everyone, Paige and Dakota here! Today was our first real day in the wonderful state of Florida! We got in late last night and didn't get to bed till 2:30:( All of the coaches let us sleep in so we made up for what was lost. The morning started off as most do, breakfast and random tv shows. We left our hotel at about 11:15 and ate Subway...eat fresh! After we went and got food both teams went to the convention center and had an hour and a half practice. Our team (select) had a pretty normal practice. After the GREAT practice we had, we went back to the hotel. Coaches went shopping for dinner and came back with a great spaghetti dinner! We lounged and ate our dinner and were off to the beach! We got to the beach at sunset and it was b-e-a-u-tiful! The water was nice and warm and very, very different from the west coast! The select team had a great day and now we're going to go get some rest for the first games tomorrow...GOODNIGHT!

Well hi there, Taylor and Alydia speaking!! We had a great day today, started with a delicious breakfast, then some lounging around. Then onto some subs from Subway, that was great. Then we went and practiced, i KNOW we had a better practice then the Select team. So after that great event we went back to the hotel and showered and went to the mall! They have great ice cream.

So tomorrow is the BIG DAY! We play at 8:30 which means waking up at 7! Wooot! Then we'll watch our lovely select team then play again at 1:30. And now were off to bed, i love you mommy.

With all our love, Alydia & Taylor.

First day in Florida

It is about 4:40 local time. We started the day with breakfast at 9:30am. Then a couple of the girls forgot toothbrushes so I took them down the street to Walgreens. Then when we pulled out of the parking lot, the van died! Josh came and picked the girls up and took them back to the hotel and I stayed with the car waiting for the car rental company to bring us a new car and for the tow truck to come. Had a new van in about an hour an a half....just in time to go get the girls and head to practice at the convention center. Both teams had a really good practice and look ready to go. We saw McKenzie Willey there...she originally made our Select team but then she made the national training squad so she has been training with them here in Ft. Lauderdale for about a week. Ironically enough, her team is the team that our Youth team plays first thing in the morning so that will be a lot of fun. They have posted the schedules for all the days on USAV's website. Here is the link: http://usavolleyball.org/content/index/2818

To find our teams use these codes...the Youth teams code on the schedule is IMY and the Select Teams is IMS. The Youth team plays at 8:30am (vs. USA Select Gold) and 3:45 (vs. Ohio Valley). The Select team plays at 12:15 (vs. Southern California) and at 5:45 (vs. Lone Star). I will post live results after each set for each match via cell phone...no internet access in the convention center. Wish us luck!

In Florida!

It is 2am in Florida and we are finally at our hotel and girls in bed. Very humid and rainy and the busiest airport I have ever seen at 12:30am. WOW! The girls are pretty tired. Breakfast at 9:30am tomorrow then practice at 1:30. I will update later tomorrow and have some of the girls write something. Goodnight from the sunshine state, where ironically it is raining right now!

Team Pictures

REMEMBER YOU CAN MAKE ANY PICTURE LARGER BY CLICKING ON IT

YOUTH TEAM Being Silly

YOUTH TEAM

SELECT TEAM Being Silly

SELECT TEAM

FLORIDA DELEGATION

Scorcher on the Beach!

You can click on any picture and make it larger!

Today we all went to Wasatch Beach to have a sand volleyball tournament with the Beach High Performance Teams and BBQ. Coaches and players all entered the tournament so we had 2 divisions. The Youth division had all the Beach HP teams as well as the Indoor Select players. 3 players from the indoor Select Team were moved to the Junior Division. The Youth division had 9 teams (3 pools of 3) and the Junior Division (coaches and Youth Team players) had 12 teams (4 pools of 3). There was lots of good play and the girls had a lot of fun while learning how to move and pass and control the ball. The outdoor game is much tougher than the indoor game. I have included pictures from the day in this post. Tomorrow we train from 9-11am at the IVA, then the kids will be able to go shower and relax at home before reporting to the airport at 3:30pm. Team pictures will happen at 9am tomorrow morning. Also, I was unable to pre-check in the athletes for our flight since we are a group so we will just have to do it at the airport. Sorry, I tried. Wish us luck and for all our fans, please feel free to make comments on our posts to encourage the girls to a great performance in Florida. Once we get to Floriday, I will start to have players and coaches write notes on here. Thanks for everyone's support!!

1st Matches time and opponent announced

USA Volleyball has announced the first match times and opponents for the event. A link has been included in this post (just click on the title of the post and it will take you to the site). The Youth team will play first at 8:30am EST (6:30am MST) against USA Select Gold. The Select team will play Southern California at 12:15EST (10:15am MST).

Conclusion of Day 2

Hey everyone...we are done with day 2 and I think the girls are starting to get a little tired. They are ALL working so hard and it's great to see. This is my favorite time of year. A couple of items for parents that are following along.

On sunday, the girls will be playing in an outdoor/sand tournament at Wasatch Beach. that is located at the Sports Mall in Murray, UT. The address is 5445 South 900 East, Murray, UT 84117. The tournament will last from 2-5pm and then there will be a bbq from 5-7pm, although I'm sure that we could be done around 6ish depending on how long the touranment goes. Parents, friends, family are more than welcome to come watch and be at the bbq...however, if you come to the bbq, you will need to bring your own food. Food at the BBQ will be catered by the Sports Mall but only for players and coaches. There are restaurants at the sports mall for parents or you can also go to one of many little food places across the street and bring your food in. Here is a link to the Sports Mall website: http://www.sportsmallgroup.com/id61.html

Also, if any of you have delta sky miles and want to add your skymiles number to your ticket, please email me at skeister33@hotmail.com with your number and I will get that on there. You can then check in online through your delta account once I get your sky miles number assigned to it.

Day 2 - Training

We are halfway done with day 2 of training and the girls are really coming along great. They have improved so much just in 24 hours. Lots of competing in the gym and everyone is having a lot of fun. The Select team and the Youth team scrimmaged in a 6v6 wash drill to end the morning session and both teams did really well. The picture on this post is from that scrimmage. Intermountain is looking good!