zia volleyball

Sarah Reaves Commits
To Arizona State

Junior Sarah Reaves, a 5-10 outside hitter for the 18-Garra team and a member of Zia for the past

Reaves, who was a second team All-State selection and the Desert West Region Player of the Year was eyed by several schools including Cal-State Fullerton, Concordia University, Washington State University, UNLV and New Mexico to name but a few.

Reaves is the first Zia athlete to play in the PAC-10 conference, considered the best volleyball conference in the nation. She will join Garra assistant coaches Margie Giordano and Giovanna Melo who are also with the team; Giordano as an outside hitter and Melo who is the team’s volunteer Assistant Coach.

Congratulations to Sarah for her accomplishment and best wishes to her in the future!

Zia Garners Scholarships
for All Recruits

Cementing its claim as the leader in volleyball in the west valley, Zia is exceptionally proud to announce that ALL of its recruits for the 2006 season have signed letters of intent to play college volleyball.

Senior setter Aumee Barrett has signed a letter of intent to play with Phoenix College next season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joining Aumee will be opposite hitter Shellie Parks who also will join first year coach Karen Sitkiewicz in the Bear Den.

 

P.C. had already signed Zia athletes Lisa Doremus and Michelle Burrola and they all join Zia alum Jenny Chamberlin on next year’s roster.

 

 

Finalizing Zia’s success in the recruiting arena was Senior Kelly McDonald who has signed to play for Coach Pat Mooney at South Mountain Community College.

 

 

 

 

 

They join seniors Ashley Getz who has signed with Embry-Riddle University and Nicki Wanninger who signed with Yavapai College, both schools in Prescott.

 

Congratulations and best of luck to these wonderful Zia girls in their future volleyball careers.

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Zia Challenges SoCal's Best!

Zia sent 10 of its 14 teams to the west coast the past two weeks for the Southern California National Qualifier to play against the best teams in the country in their age groups.

Highlights included:

• The 15-Shock, coached by Tera Bahl finished tied for 35th out of 80 teams in the 15-Club division after a perfect 3-0 first day! Well done Tera.
• The 16-X-treme coached by Stephanie Kohner and Lindsay Norman finished 39th out of 120 teams in the 16-Club division. Nicely done ladies.
• The 14-Annihilators took 23rd out of 72 teams in the 14 club division marking one of the best finishes for a Zia’s 14’s team at this National Qualifier. Three of their losses came to top-ten finishing teams!

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Zia's 16-1's  took the top prize at the 12th Annual Cactus Classic held January 14th and 15th in Tucson.

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Zia Congratulates its 2005

All-State Honorees

Sarah Reaves was named to the Arizona Republic Class 5A All-State second team this week. Her team mate at Ironwood, Aumee Barrett was a 5A All-State Honorable Mention Selection as was Nicki Wanninger. Lisa Doremus was named to the 4A All-State Honorable Mention. All were members of last year's Sudden Impact team. Reaves, Barrett and Doremus are on Zia's 18's this year, and Wanninger is coaching with Zia at the 15-2's level.

The Phoenix Women's Sports Association (PWSA) has identified the Arizona athletes, coaches, community and corporate leaders who were recognized at the PWSA's Second Annual Celebration of Girls' and Women's Sports Awards Dinner held Saturday, February 5, 2005 at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. Included in that list of honorees was Zia's own 18-1's Coach Sarah Teslevich. Click here to read more about Sarah's accomplishments. Congrats Sarah...

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A big thank you to all who took part in the annual Zia Golf Tournament.
Click Here for pictures from the event.

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Zia would like to congratulate Aumee Barrett and Nicki Wanninger of our 18-Sudden Impact as they were selected as Honorable Mention All-State selections by the Arizona Republic. This great honor capped off a great season for both as they were also selected to the All-Region Team as well. Congratulations Ladies!!!

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The February issue of Volleyball Magazine features Zia 15 Regulators assistant coach Morgan Hummel and her partner Kortney Campbell as winners of the 2004 Arizona Region Beach 18's division championship.
Congrats to both for being recognized in our sports only National publication.

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The Role of a Parent in Volleyball
  by Coach Brian Whitney on 1/17/2005 | Back to PrepVolleyball.com
 

Parents can make or break a program. We’ve been over this one before. But parents can also make or break a child’s athletic experience. It happens every day. What exactly is the role of a parent in youth volleyball?

It can be as little as giving birth to a child and leaving them to fend for themselves through their club and high school careers. Or it can be being there every practice and match, and involved in every aspect of their play. It can even be much more than that! It is crucial that players know and fill a special role on their team each season, but the role of a parent is not much less important and is very often overlooked by coaches and parents alike. This article will try to help define the parent role in volleyball, while also giving some useful tips on what to do and not to do.

Regardless of what any parent says, they have one primary goal; their child’s happiness. What’s interesting is that with the millions of parents out there with children in youth sports all having that same goal, how differently we all go about achieving that goal! One simple example: The crying child. What should a parent do? The movie “Meet The Fockers” was a comical look at two families that had completely different goals for how to deal with a crying baby. Or another example: Your child is not playing as much as she thinks she should be. Both of these issues involve your daughter’s happiness yet parents have an infinite number of ways they choose to handle this situation. A third example: Your child’s club program needs help with administration and also needs more volunteer coaches. Can you help out while still remaining loyal and supportive to your own child? These are all three very common examples in volleyball. Before we delve deeper into the role of a parent, think about how you witness these issues being handled today.

Here are some fun and useful ways I’ve seen the role of parents defined:

“The role of a parent in team sports is to cheer at games and to take the team out for ice cream afterwards”

“The role of the parents is to be a support system for the players and coaches. This entails respecting the rules and decisions made by those in charge, staying positive about every aspect of the team and all of its players, and keeping any negative thoughts to themselves. It also entails thoroughly understanding the role of the coaches and knowing not to interfere with that role”

I particularly like both of these quotes. In examining them in more detail, we can come up with some of the primary types of roles parents play. Let’s dive into these and other roles parents take on. These are perhaps the most common roles in youth sports today:

1) Emotional Supporter – Perhaps the most important role a parent can play. It simply means a parent always being there to support his daughter emotionally. Cheering when the times are good and there to put an arm around her when the times are bad. It means listening when your child wants to vent about a bad day at practice, while remembering that running off and yelling at the coach isn’t what this child really wants or needs. Only slightly less important is the need for parents to support the entire team and not only their child, although this can sometimes prove difficult. I have many great memories of parents of kids who were not playing, cheering like crazy for a huge play made by the player who was taking their child’s playing time. In fact, I get downright choked-up and watery-eyed when I see it. That’s the kind of unselfishness children need to see from supportive parents. Not the ugliness we’ve all seen from the angry, hateful parent who only cares about his own child. These parents scare me since they will go as far as to emotionally stomp on other children and their parents. These parents can only be happy if their child is playing and the one making the great play.

2) Financial and Transportation Supporter – Club sports require money and kids need rides to practice/tournaments. For many families these are both difficult issues to overcome. Especially in families with more than one child. For some kids, getting this support is an expectation. While with others, it is a serious challenge. I personally couldn’t play club ball when I was a freshman because my single mother couldn’t drive me to practices. It wasn’t until my junior year that transportation was an option, because of a good friend who didn’t mind driving me.

3) Administrative Supporter – Many parents play a role within their child’s program as an administrator. Volunteer support is an invaluable role to the success of clubs. Without help, coaches spend more time doing things other than coaching your child. Plus, coaches rarely get any enjoyment out of administration and the more they have to do, the less they are focusing on coaching and the less likely they will return the next year. Administrative roles can be as simple as helping with stats for the team up to serving as president or as an officer on the club’s Board. Or they can be as complex as serving as High School booster club president or director for your club organization. Some roles may even offset your child’s costs, so that is something you should investigate.

4) Team Parent or Chaperone – All teams need a team mom or dad. These parents take on the task of looking out for the team as a whole, while avoiding putting their own child above the others on the team. Many times team safety is in the hands of these people on away trips. Supporting your child by supporting your child’s team is not as easy as we might think.

5) Coach – I’ve seen parent-coaches work wonderfully through the years. I’ve also seen it ruin their child’s athletic experience as well as the experiences of others around. My club coach in HS coached both of his sons and it was never a problem. In fact, I loved seeing them get a little heated and snip at each other in Ukranian during some intense practice sessions. It was endearing. However, I never questioned my coach’s decisions regarding his child. I never had a need to since they were two of the top players on the team every year. Parent-coach is an extreme example of a parent taking on a role that requires them to look out for the team before looking out for their own child. It requires a special parent and a special understanding with their child to make this situation work out for both of them, and especially for the team. We’ve all heard of the coach who plays her own kid at the expense of others. What’s sad is many times that kid deserved to play but was just the victim of the inevitable gossip resulting from a Parent-Coach situation.

Recommendations:

1) DO take on a role with your child’s athletics. At the minimum, take on the role of “Emotional Supporter.” Even if your child gives you grief at times, she will hopefully thank you for supporting her through athletics.

2) Be aware that when you wear the hat of a club or team supporter of any kind (especially Coach!), you will find it harder to be the kind of Emotional Supporter that you want to be. With your attention more focused on making the group happy, you will still need to attend and support your child. However, by being fair and giving your child individual support outside of the team environment, your child will learn great lessons about fairness and teamwork from a loving parent.

3) Make sure that the coaches, parents, and players on your child’s team see you as a supporter of everyone on the team, through the good times and the bad. I don’t mean to put on an act! I simply mean that feeling this way and making sure that everyone sees how you feel are two different things. Mom and dad’s love is great, but Emotional Support for all of your team’s players is a wonderful thing.

4) Teach your child that success is more than just winning. Team sports are an amazing thing to be a part of and have the potential for some incredible life lessons. A few of those key lessons can only be learned through tough defeats. At the younger age levels in volleyball, players making the mistakes and teams who are losing games are usually those that are attempting to play the game the right way. If you ride the emotional roller-coaster of winning and losing, it is easy to get caught up in the “agony of defeat” and let your emotions get away from you. Instead, be supportive and help your coach show your child how to bounce back and learn from those inevitable defeats.

5) Teach your child how to be more effective communicators with their peers and with adults. I firmly believe the most valuable aspect of team sports is learning more effective communication skills. Parents normally want to handle this communication for their child because parents are better at it and it is easier for kids to avoid it rather than deal with it. The vast majority of children are able to have a conversation with their coach. By talking to the coach yourself you limit the growth opportunities for your child to learn to communicate with her coach on her own. Many clubs and HS programs have clear rules on parent involvement because they know how important it is to player maturation. What I always tell my parents is that when their child goes off to college, mom and dad will not be able to help them when their child hasn’t learned how to communicate effectively with their college coach (or their professors)!

Things to avoid:

1) Do not approach a coach after a match with a gripe or your solution on how to solve a problem, and especially after a loss. Follow the 24-Hour-Rule. This piece of advice is worth its weight in gold and is very frequently ignored by people who should know better. A great deal of issues in Juniors sports develop because of parents forcing a conversation with a coach immediately after a tough loss. Your child’s coach will be better prepared to deal with your personal issue when emotions have leveled off. The situation may resolve itself naturally, too, or it may not be important to you once you’ve cooled down. If you want to approach the coach because you are angry, wait until 24 hours have gone by and see if you still feel the same way. But even at that point, give your child a chance to show that she can handle the situation on her own.

2) Avoid actions that will cause people to second-guess your child’s playing time. The absolute worst crime a parent can commit is to cause players and parents to believe that someone is playing only because of mom or dad’s whining or complaining. It is difficult to consider this when you are upset as a parent. However, for you to rob your child of her credibility, as a player, is a horrible thing. Some parents feel they must bully or question coaches so that their kid plays more. This behavior inevitably gets back to the rest of the team and opinions get formed. When those opinions get back to the child, it hurts. Avoid communicating with the coach about playing time. I personally will always talk to a player about her role and her playing time, but not my parents. Talk to your coach before the season to understand how they would like to address this issue when/if it ever comes up.

3) Avoid taking on too much. Some parents get so caught up in the aspects of club administration, team parenting, or coaching, that they fall short as the Emotional Supporter. Children that are needier or a little insecure will not do well if their parents are giving more praise, attention, or focus to everything else around.

4) Avoid gossip! Parents who attend every practice and game often have little else to do to fill the time except talk about players and coaches and their personal lives to those willing to listen. It is easy for parents to escalate into discussing personal opinions on the team and to speculate on decisions coaches are making. Let me tell you how destructive this sort of thing can quickly become. I’ve seen more feelings hurt in sports through gossip being overheard than through anything else. Every team has one parent who is the chief gossip-spreader. Nip that parent’s gossiping in the bud early in the season. Always assume that if a parent is willing to gossip negatively to you about another child, that they will absolutely do the same thing to someone else about your child. Take responsibility here.

5) Avoid holding your administrative role over the head of your coach. Some parents take on a role within club organizations for very wrong reasons. It needs to be primarily to help the team or organization, not about your child. Yes, helping the group benefits your child, too, and that is fine. However, the parent who leverages their administrative position over making a team, or playing time, will cause serious problems for her child. Be aware that just by holding a position of power or influence in your organization will immediately cause people to scrutinize your daughter. You must be beyond reproach to avoid anyone second-guessing your child and her playing time. If your role puts you in a decision-making capacity with an issue regarding your child, you may want to offer to remove yourself from the decision. If you don’t, your decision will automatically be questioned anyway, if your child benefits. If you ever wonder what kind of a parent you may be, feel free to check out my other article on Prepvolleyball.com entitled “What kind of club parent are you?” (9/6/2003)

Brian Whitney is currently the Select Division Director and Head 18’s coach with the Northern Virginia Volleyball Association. He has coached at the High School, Club, and Division I collegiate levels. If you want to contact Brian, you can email him at volleyballcoach@aol.com

• Have your child evaluated by someone other than yourself. Find an expert in the field or even several other coaches in the league who know the fundamentals of the sport and who can give you an objective view of your child's real talent, not just the statistics.
• Alternate the age group you sign up for. Play up one season to be challenged and then the next season at the proper age group to experience success again.
• Focus on his or her style of play and proper body mechanics, rather than personal statistics.

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Zia "Go Girls" featured in Arizona Republic
Click here to read the article

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Nicki and Elissa talk to a recruiter at the Vegas Qualifier. Elissa will attend Yavapai College next year.

Congratulations Elissa First year Zia player and senior Elissa Hancock, who drove to practice and tournaments from Wickenberg and back, had her dedication and hard work pay off as she has accepted a full scholarship to Yavapai Community College to play for first year coach Traci Corey. Well done Elissa Marie. Your Tsunami and the rest of Club Zia are proud of you.

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Congratulations to 16's Coach Melissa Maddux who has accepted a volleyball scholarship offer to attend San Jose State University this fall. We're sorry to lose her, but we here at Zia are excited about her opportunity. Well done Melissa...

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Zia Teams Moving Up as Season Winds Down

Zia's 13 teams continue to improve and impress as the 2003-04 Region season crosses the midway point and heads to Regionals.

Dale Jones's Smashers have done much better than people had expected. They started out in Division 7 and are already up in Division 5. They have played well as a team and the girls have bonded well togethter.Each girl brings something special and unique to the game which has brought them as far as they've come already. Keep up the good work girls and they'll keep moving up...

Tim's Li'l Chicas started in Division 9 and are curently in Division 6 with a 10-2 record in region play, including a stunning upset of the Arrowhead 14-1's team at the Cactus Classic. Well done!

The Diablos have ping ponged back and forth from Division 1 and two all season long. The young'ns continue to improve with every practice and match as they prepare for Southen Cal and finally Regionals in the next 5 weeks.

JoDee's 17 N'Credibles are playing extremely well. JoDee has seen a change in the girls ever since they returned from Las Vegas. Although their win/loss record from Vegas doesn't reflect their success, the overall tournament was their most successful journey yet. THe girls got a chance to bond as a team and they displayed this teamwork on the court against every opponent. JoDee thinks the fun thing about coaching the team is thier great attitudes and the fact they always are working hard despite the score. After starting in the bottom of their division, they came back from Vegas and took second in their tournament in Division 3, and followed that up with a first place win sending them to division two. Ouitstanding job ladies...

The Zia Crush team, is doing great. Doug's girls started in Division 10 and with a tough draw went down to division 11. At that point, things began to look up for the team. The Crush won two tournament sin a row. THe last tournament, they took fifth after a close first match. Currently in Division 9, they are 9-3 in region matches. The girls continue to improve and have fun.

The Tsunami have surprised a ton of folks with some spirited play despite being such a young team in the 18's division. They are all excited that both Liz and Bekah have secure scholarships for the upcoming college season. Having lost only to two region teams all season, the Tsunami has yet to beat the Northern Arizona Starlings team and for the third tournament in a row, lost to them in the finals of the Divsion 1 tournament. But the girls continue to work hard and looking forward to their next chanve to unseat number 1...

Heather and Sabrina’s Krush started the season as a team full of individual players, but are now playing like a team. They’ve progressed in their tournaments from Division 5 to their current standing of Division 2. The Krush have not only improved individually, but have accomplished their team goals. Some of the team goals were to communicate, become closer friends, and to give 110% of our effort. They are working hard to finish their season with maintaining those goals. When they are down they managed to pull ahead and have smiles on their faces. The Krush’s practices are improving as they head towards the Southern California Tournament, in April.

They’re official name is Zia-12 Kim’s, but they like to be called Sugar & Spike. What an exciting season it has been up to this point. They started our first tournament as the 3rd seed, placed 14th out of 34 teams. They quickly saw that even as beginners they had potential. They’ve been as close as the 1st seed, in 6th place and they are now currently seeded 2nd pool in 9th place.

The most exciting thing about Sugar & Spike is their growth as a team. They no longer look like 12 girls, but they look like one strong team. In a recent evaluation by their parents most of the team thought they had at least a 50% improvement from the beginning of the year if not more. They have strength in setting and the serving has been a force to be dealt with. They are about the only team truly running a 6/2. They are doing well and all of the coaches are very proud of them.

Would you like a little Sugar with the Spike? Go Zia!!!

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Zia Tsunami-18's setter and defensive specialist Liz Levardo has accepted an offer to play at Grand Canyon University under the tutelege of coach Kris Naber.

We want to congratulate Liz and her family on this great news. She finishes her career at Sunrise Mountain High School as the all-time leader in assists and her performance with Zia the past 4 seasons has been of the highest caliber. Congratulations Liz...

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Zia Coaches Help Earn Academic Honors

Zia Coaches Kim Eastin, Christa Greseth and Brynne Hodgson can be proud of themselves and their college team, the Phoenix College Bears Volleyball team. Under the direction of Coach Pat Mooney, the Volleyball squad not only earned NJCAA Academic All-American Team honors, but were also selected the Academic Team of the Year by sporting the nation's highest grade point average of 3.65.

Zia Assistant Tabitha Magnan, the goalie for the PC Women's Soccer team helped them place second nationally with a 3.26

Zia congratulates these coaches for practicing what they preach to our athletes. Well done ladies...

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Zia 18-Tsunami setter Rebekah Phillips has recieved a scholarship to Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. The NAIA school is coached by Mary Penrod. Congratulations to Rebekah on an outstanding career here at Zia and at Centennial High School and we wish her all the well in the future.

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Cactus Classic Report

Zia cemented itself early in the 2004 volleyball season as one of the dominant clubs in the Valley with a stellar showing at the Cactus Classic in Tucson, held January 17th and 18th.

The 14-Diablos took second place overall in the 14's division and were one of six Zia team to finish in the top 23 teams overall, an unprecedented accomplishment. Tim's 13's stunned Arrowhead's 14-1's team in the Saturday pool and took 8th overall. Heather's 14's took 13th out of 44 teams. Dale's 14's won the Cholla division, finishing 17th overall. Christa and Brynne's 13's took 21st and Doug's 13's took 23rd. Kim's 12's took 7th in their first tournament, out of 16 teams from across the state.

Adding to the hardware over the weekend, Bob's 16's won the Cholla division in the older age group, finishing 13th in a division that featured 15-18's teams. Tracee's 16's won the Organ Pipe division taking 19th overall. Kim's 15's finished 21st and Marideth's 15's 17th out of 30 teams.

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Congratulations to Zia's 17's coach Bob Levardo who was named the National Assistant Coach of the Year for Volleyball by the American Family Life Assurance Co. for his work with the Sunrise Mountain Volleyball team. Judges from the award's co-sponsor, Scholastic Coach and Athletic Director magazine, picked Bob. Bob has been with Zia for the past three seasons. Congratulations to Bob and the rest of the Levardo's.

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Zia Spike-o-Path's setter Kim Backus was the Most Valuable Player of the 2003 AIA All Star Volleyball game played in June between the 4A and 5A High School All Stars of Arizona. Kim's 4A team, which also featured the Spike-o-path's Sarah Fleming on the squad beat the 5A team that featured another Spike-o-Path, Jen Gresham, 3 games to 0. Kim was selected MVP while Sarah was second in MVP voting. Zia Volleyball congratulates to these stellar All-Stars and their accomplishments!