digital weekly | issue 31 | July 17, 2015
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Acalanes-Lafayette - Swimming - 2015 graduate The Harvard-bound Usinger closed out her standout career at Acalanes as a record-setting double-winner at the North Coast Section Championships. She set an NCS-record in the 100-yard butterfly when she won her qualifying heat with a time of 52.43 seconds. She came back the next day and won the event along with the 200-yard freestyle. She carried that momentum into her club season with the Walnut Creek Aquabears, winning three golds at the Pacific Swimming Speedo Adam Szmidt Long Course Junior Olympics in Concord on July 10-12. She took golds in the 200-meter individual medley, and the 100- and 200-meter butterfly events. She’ll focus on both butterfly events at the USA Swimming Speedo Junior Nationals (July 30-Aug. 3) and Phillips 66 Nationals (Aug. 6-10). She’s also qualified for the 2016 Olympic Trials in both events. IN HER OWN WORDS: “I think I was just really in a good mindset (for the Junior Olympic meet). I was just really excited to be competing one last time for the Aquabears, and I think that pushed me a little.”
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Phillip Walton photo
With it’s second boys Open Division National Title in as many years, Pacific Rim Volleyball Academy is setting itself apart in the Bay It was the matchup everybody expected; the one everybody wanted to see. It would also be the one with everything riding on it. Luckily for the 18-1 boys team of Pacific Rim Volleyball Academy in Pleasant Hill, they had been here before. Here being the Open Division final of the USA Volleyball Boys Junior Naitonal Championships in Columbus, Ohio, on July 4. This same PacRim group won the 17 Open title in 2014. The opponent — Huntington Beach Club — was familiar to PacRim as well. It had beat them in each of the clubs’ three previous meetings since December 2014. The highly-anticipated fourth meeting would draw up to 1500 spectators, setting a USA Volleyball attendance record for a Boys Youth National final. “From the moment we arrived (in Columbus), the inevitable matchup between us and HBC seemed to be the talk of the tournament,” PacRim coach and founder Opponents and scores for all 11 matches in Pacific Rim Roger Worsley said. “It was a long time 18’s championship run in Columbus, Ohio. They are coming.” listed in chronological order from pool play to championAnd PacRim was ready for it. ship. “They had beat us in each of the three previous meetings, but we’d gained a OPPONENT (STATE) SCORES little momentum in each of those losses,” Sports Performance VB (Ill.) 25-16, 25-21 Worsley said. “We were pretty well preNook Boys VB Academy (Pa.) 25-13, 25-12 pared in terms of knowing what to expect. We were pretty confident.” 949 Volleyball (Calif.) 25-23, 25-23 Behind a balanced attack facilitated by High Performance St. Louis (Mo.) 25-16, 23-25, 15-6 Joe Worsley (Roger’s son) and executed Bones Volleyball Club (Calif.) 25-22, 25-7 by hitters Jordan Ewert, Patrick Gasman and Micah Ma’a, Pacific Rim grabbed Pace Bootlegger Volleyball (NY.) 25-20, 25-15 control of the match very early in the first Coastal Volleyball Club (Va.) 25-21, 25-18 set and never looked back. PacRim would Rockstar Volleyball (Calif.) 25-20, 25-18 win the final 25-21 and 25-19 to secure its second national title in as many seasons. Sports Performances VB (Ill.) 25-20, 25-15 It was the culmination of a five-year Balboa Bay Volleyball Club (Calif.) 25-23, 24-26, 15-10 ride for the core group which was among Huntington Beach Club (Calif.) 25-21, 25-19 the first teams formed when Worsley launched the Academy back in 2010 when he moved his family back to the Bay Area after spending time as an extremely successful collegiate coach in New York. The win also wrapped up a season that wasn’t quite as smooth as one would expect for a defending national champion with nearly the entire roster returning. Pacific Rim battled injuries for much of the season and took its share of lumps. But Roger Worsley made sure his team never lost sight of the big picture. “I kept reminding them that were only two tournaments that really mattered during the season: the one to get you qualified for the national championship, and the national championship itself,” the coach said. “I figured as long as we were able to walk away from these other tournaments having learned something to add to our arsenal, then ideally we can put it all together for the national championships.” Despite having been 0-3 against Huntington Beach on the season, PacRim absolutely controlled the championship match. And after already owning one set, it was an 8-0 run behind the serving of libero Gage Worsley (Joe’s brother) that led to a 21-13 lead in the second set and essentially sealed the title. “By that point it was pretty much a done deal,” Roger Worsley said. “I reminded them to stay calm, but that’s always been a hallmark of this group. It’s very good at staying calm and composed.” Both of the Worsley brothers were named to the All-Tournament team, as were Ewert and Ma’a. Interestingly, Ma’a was the only new member of the team since it had won a national title the season before. However, the UCLA-bound talent had won six national titles while growing up and playing for his dad’s club team in Hawaii. Roger Worsley also praised the tournament performances of Gasman, Ryan Smith and Sean Vaisima. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t praise the bench, too,” the coach said. “We don’t play at that level if our bench isn’t playing at that level during our practices. I told our backups that I could take them to Junior Nationals as their own team and we could be a Top 10 finisher. That’s how good this group was.” ✪
PACIFIC’S TRAIL
Pacific Rim’s Jordan Ewert (top), Micah Ma’a (middle) and Gage Worsley led the title push.
Story by Chace Bryson Photos by Matt Keowen
Northern California Volleyball Club’s 17-under Black team headed to the Big Easy & scored club’s first USA Volleyball National Division title New Orleans is a long way from Sacramento, but the journey that the Northern California Volleyball Club (NCVC) 17-1 Black girls volleyball team took to get to the USA Volleyball National Championships National Division gold medal was longer. “The expectations were always high, but the (club) season is a long process,” said head coach Jeff Deter. “The team’s improvement was a journey and the girls had to work hard for the journey.” Once the team — made up of 12 players from nine different high schools in the region — bought into the “process,” the confidence and wins began to pile up, culminating with the club’s highest level first-place finish at nationals. “We beat teams in the middle of the season that we lost to at the start of the season, and beat teams at the end of the season that were better than us in the middle of the season,” Deter said. “The girls could see the improvement and believed in the process.” In New Orleans, the 17-1 Black squad posted a perfect 11-0 record and won 16 of 18 sets to advance to the quarterfinals in the National Division (one step below the Open Division). On the final day of competition, NCVC battled to win three 2-1 decisions, including the final two matches in which the team dropped its opening set. The championship match against Northern Kentucky Volleyball Club turned midway through the second set on a huge dig of a kill attempt by Granite Bay’s Brigid Bell. “After game one of the final, I don’t think that we were prepared to play yet,” Deter said. “But, after Brigid’s dig, the team realized, ‘Oh yeah, we’re good,’ and it turned the momentum.” NCVC would rebound from an 18-25 loss in the opening set to win the next two sets 25-18 and 15-12 to claim the title. Oak Ridge-El Dorado HIlls libero Megan Priest earned Tournament MVP honors — a rare accolade for the position — and Trojans’ 2016 classmate Elizabeth Cameron and Truckee High’s Maia Dvoracek were named to the all-tournament team. Deter credited a huge team effort that included a rotation of Bell, Ashlynn Fresques, and Sienna Young at the outside hitter position to keep legs fresh and kills abundant. Rocklin middle hitter Julianne Miller also provided a significant offensive boost in addition to patrolling the net for NCVC. After 11 matches in four days, the NCVC 17-1 Black team emerged as champions, but any celebration in the city known for its festivities was short-lived. Players, families, and coaches had booked return flights on the same night as the finals. Despite the trip and partying being cut short by the reality of itineraries, the successful journey will long be remembered by Deter and his NCVC 17-1 Black champions. ✪
The Black List
Full roster for the national champions, along with their high school and graduation year. 3 Megan Priest
L
4 Brigid Bell
RS
5 Ashlynn Fresques OH 8 Elizabeth Cameron S 9 Lauren Solis
L
15 Maia Dvoracek
S
11 Sienna Young
16 Madison Smith 17 Julianne Miller
24 Hailey Maniglia
OH MH MH
Granite Bay
OH
2016 2016
Christian Brothers 2016 Oak Ridge
2016
Pleasant Grove
2016
Pitman
Truckee
Elk Grove Rocklin
OH/RS Oak Ridge
50 Stephanie Keenan MH 52 Olivia Reid
Oak Ridge
Rio Americano Oak Ridge
2016 2017 2016 2016 2017 2016 2016
Head Coach: Jeff Deter. Assistant Coach: Kristi Deter
Glory Road Opponents and scores for all 11 matches in NCVC Black’s championship run in New Orleans. They are listed in chronological order from pool play to championship OPPONENT (STATE) SCORES Puget Sound VB Academy (WA.) 25-14, 25-19 MVSA VB Club (MD.) 25-12, 25-17 Ka Ulukoa (HI.) 25-18, 25-14 ACE Volleyball (TX.) 25-14, 26-24 Tribe Elite (FL.) 15-25, 27-25, 17-15 Arizona East Valley Juniors (AZ.) 25-19, 25-19 Richmond VB Club (VA.) 25-13, 24-26, 15-11 Mizuno Long Beach (CA.) 25-14, 25-22 Rage VB Club (CA.) 25-12, 18-25, 15-8 Orlando VB Academy (FL.) 22-25, 25-20, 15-5 NKY VB Club (KY.) 18-25, 25-18, 15-12
NCVC team members Julianne Miller (top) and Ashlynn Fresques were also top performers for their high school teams last fall.
Story by By Jim McCue Senior Contributor
get mental: erika carlson
Your mental game matters — so what should you do about it? Do your technical skills matter? Of course. How much time do you spend developing those skills? Most high school/ youth athletes spend an average of 10 hours per week practicing and competing at their sport. If you do additional work with specialized technical coaches, add a few more. For some youth athletes, this number is closer to 15 hours per week. Does your fitness matter? YES! How much time do you spend getting stronger, faster and more agile? Chances are you spend at least a few hours per week specifically training these areas, probably with a qualified athletic trainer or strength and conditioning coach. Exactly how much depends on your sport, whether or not you’re in season and your practice and game schedule. Does your mental game really matter? It does. It matters a lot. In fact, it determines whether you can leverage all of your technical skills, speed and strength under the pressure of a game. I like to refer to it as, “training insurance.” When you have a good mental day, your physical skills just work. It holds true with taking a test at school, performing well at work or in all performance endeavors. So ... how much time are you spending developing your mental game? I’m pleased to say that more and more athletes are actively working mental-training programs. However, when we compare the number of athletes who do specialized technical and/or strength and conditioning programs, mental training is still far behind. Why is that? Most coaches, parents and athletes won’t argue that it’s important. So why aren’t they doing something about it? To help answer that question, here is an excerpt form a recent Huffington Post article written by a colleague of mine, Dr. Jim Taylor. He says: “Old attitudes, habits and methods die hard and new approaches to improving athletic performance are not easily accepted.” It hasn’t been done in the past, so we must not need it. Taylor argues that we may have to wait for a new generation of coaches who have been exposed to sport psychology to help make it a widely accepted practice. I would add that general education for parents, coaches and athletes would help move this process along. Once people understand the goodto-great model of mental training, rather that the sick-to-well medical model that psychology uses, these attitude tend to disappear. “The reality is that the best athletes in the world have done pretty darned well without formal mental training,” Taylor wrote. That is true. However, that doesn’t mean it’s the best way to develop athletes. What about those athletes we’ve seen who have the talent and drive to be the best but just can’t perform with consistency? What if those athletes had a mentaltraining program in addition to their physical training? How many more great athletes would we have? Taylor adds: “Psychology (mental training) lacks the concreteness of conditioning and physical training.” The abstract nature of mental training makes it hard to “see” and measure mental improvement. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. Sport Psychology has been a field of study of over 100 years. There’s lots of scientific backing about what works. Finding a reputable mental-training professional with a program is key. Finally, Taylor says: “Sport psychology can suffer from ‘guilt by association’ with the broader field of clinical psychology that still carries the stigma that only screwed-up people seek professional help.” This is one of our biggest and oldest hurdles for potential clients to overcome. Again, once clients understand that mental training helps good athletes become great athletes, it makes good sense to develop their mental game. Your mental game really does matter. Whatcha gonna do about it? ✪ Erika Carlson is a certified mental trainer and owner of Excellence in Sports Performance in Pleasanton.