I've been tailing Coach Toy to volleyball matches for a very long time now, and in those many years I've witnessed at least 30 Senior Nights.  They always challenge me emotionally.  Time has always been my least favorite of God's creations, and "Senior Night" is a true indicator that time has indeed marched on.  This year, however will be even more difficult, for reasons I hope to explain.

Freshman Defensive Specialist/Outside Hitter Carlow University

Lyndsey Weiser

Written about her experience playing through the last few years at Kiski Area for her first major college writing assignment.  Well done Lynds!

Surviving and Transforming Through Life

​In May of 2012, while watching a junior varsity softball game against Gateway High School with my fellow varsity team members, I noticed that my knee was locking up each time I stood.  I thought it was nothing since my knee always had some slight pain.  However, this particular pain would prove to be much more serious than anticipated.  It was finally time for varsity to warm up, so we started our normal routine.   My knee was hurting a bit more than it normally did, and as I made a particular movement, something happened that hurt more than anything I have ever experienced in my life. 

     And so, after so much build up, hype, and anticipation, Jam the Gym 4 is history.  So many great moments, but we'll get back to that later.  First I have so many to thank!

     Jam the Gym is not possible without terrific participation from our local communities.  From the students who have always provided energy, to the administration, teachers, and fellow coaches, who are always looking for a way to help.  The local businesses who donated goods and services for our chinese auctions, and the many fans who came to the gym on a hot September night to support our cause.  There isn't even a way for me to thank everyone, but I must highlight some noteables...

A four sided geometrical shape.

 According to Wikipedia, "A rectangle is any quadrilateral with four right angles."   

In our case it's 30' X 60', bisected in the middle.  Two squares, as it were.

A rectangle or a refuge.
Is there something magical about rectangles?
Not all of them...

The rectangle has been a place we have gone in difficult times.  
Times have been difficult, but inside the rectangle we have found...

...solace
...togetherness
...support
...each other.

Our rectangle must have invisible sturdy walls.
The pain, worry, and sorrow we have felt rarely gets in.
The respect, admiration, and love, never get out.

So what is this magical place, what does one need to gain admission?
Pull up your knee pads.  Lace up your shoes.
The rectangle recognizes only one division.
The net that bisects it.
In truth it is a false barrier, because even though it divides a dozen people in half,
It cannot contain the respect one six has for the other.

All over the world, twelve people "square off" on these rectangles.
Games are played, practices held, dreams are made, winners crowned.
But the real purpose, I think, is that we find one and other.
There is no concept, strategy, or philosophy greater or more important than this.

So what stops us from taking what we have learned inside the rectangle and out into the world.
Nothing.





At Kiski, we have found that the magic has nothing to do with the rectangle itself, but rather in the people we choose to share it with.  Our sense of peace, through what has been a difficult time, has more to do with being together.  All athletics share the commonality of "TEAM" or better yet "FAMILY".
But our's were surely built...

inside the RECTANGLE.

After the dust settled from a very busy weekend of big matches and world travel I ask National Team member Cassidy Lichtman to "guest blog" for me, and view.  This is how it went from the Serbian side of "The Canyon"


When Alisha first told us about the amazing story she had stumbled upon via Twitter, the whole team was moved.  And when we get behind something we treat it with the same focus and passion that we bring to the court with us.  After discussing the situation over lunch and what we could do, we settled on inviting Coach Toy to be an honorary coach for what was sure to be a battle against a strong Serbian team.  After hammering out the logistics between matches and a few late night blog posts, we were all set to have Coach Toy on the virtual bench.
There was a slightly different feeling in the air before our match on Sunday.  As we wrote T4T on our arms I think it gave us a moment to reflect.  Not to drag attention away from the game ahead but rather to bring that attention to how special the opportunity was.  To remember to be grateful that we got to step on the court that day and do what we love because that opportunity is not always promised to us.  And to remember that the community involved in our sport is vast and diverse and infinitely inspiring.
Coach Toy tweeted in words of advice throughout the match.  Hopefully all of you have read them because there were some keen insights in there and helpful tips for volleyball players of all ages and experience levels.  I think my favorite was the one including #TheyAreRattled.  Because they were at the time.  And we weren't.  Because why would we be?  We came ready to battle and we had one of the leading experts on the subject at our side.
So, on behalf of the US National Team, I'd like to say thank you to Coach Toy for joining our staff for the day.  It genuinely meant a great deal to all of us.  

If you would like to follow the members of Team USA on Twitter, here are some of their Twitter names...

@aglass6

@CassidyLichtman

@ChristaHarmotto

@Lauren5Gibby

@TamaMiyashiro

@KellyMurph12

You will find their posts to be funny, inspiring, and insightful not only about volleyball, but also their experiences traveling the world, representing their country.  

Heeelllllllloooooo.

Heelllooo.  Hello.  hello.

Imagine the world of social media as a vast canyon.  

Heeeeeeellllllllloooooo!

Heeeelllloooo.   Heellllooo.  Hello.

Imagine that the canyon getting bigger everyday.

Twitter has over half a billion users and increases by 130,000 users EVERYDAY!

Facebook has a whopping 1.15 billion users.

This is one big canyon.

HHHHHEEEEEELLLLLLOOOOOO!!!

But in the vastness of the canyon, sometimes the right connection is made at just the right time!

I'll start this story of by saying before last Friday, neither Ellen or I had much of a connection to either Alisha Glass or the US National Volleyball team.  The closest we come was exchanging smiles at the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association's yearly clinic held at Penn State.  Five feet.  Three years ago?  We had watched Alisha win National titles on TV, even made the drive up to State College for big matches.  For a University of Pittsburgh alum, Ellen really enjoys the campus! 

As for the National Team, we were honored to have Christa Harmotto at last years Jam the Gym.

She signed every autograph and sat on our bench during our match, passing out great tips to the players as they subbed in and out of the game.  What a tremendous ambassador for volleyball.

Oh and Ellen once played against the National Team!  Pitt played a match against them at Farrell High School, maybe 1981?  Debbie Green, Flo Hyman, and Rita Crockett.  Rita was hitting balls off the floor and into the rafters!  Suffice it to say it was a short night for Team USA.  I think Pitt managed maybe six points all evening!

But that is as much connection as there ever was...

In the days going into Ellen's current treatment, there has been a sense of dread.  As good as she is doing with this, it does wear on her both physically and mentally.  It is thought that as this regimen goes forward, the effects will accumulate, and become more difficult with each treatment.  The time between the fourth and fifth was hard.  The sensitivity to cold in her hands and mouth lingered a little longer.  The dryness in her mouth and hands got worse, so much so that her lips cracked and bled.  Five or six days of this, she starts to heal up, only to have the dread of the next one coming.  

By Monday last week, I could tell this was more than just dread.  The process had her worn down.  The prospect of High School volleyball starting and her not being able to fully participate was bothering her. Tuesday it got worse.  Wednesday is treatment day.  She gets to the Hillman Center at about 9am gets back home at 4pm.  They send home a 36 hour dose of 5FU that runs on a pump she stays connected to until Friday afternoon.  She sleeps 12, maybe 13 hours in the days after treatment.  Then the side effects kick in again.

Friday morning I woke up for work.  I have a habit of checking this blog, seeing who is viewing, where they are and what they've read.  I also check my twitter accounts.  Our Jam the Gym event is fast approaching, and as Twitter users know, Friday is #FF day.  A day where users try to increase "followers".  I have a few friends that faithfully tag me in their #FF's.  With Jam the Gym being before the start of school, it is important to use this medium to carry information out to those who might potentially attend.  An idea was hatched.  A #FF contest!  Challenge followers to get @JamtheGym 50 new followers by midnight.  Using the popular event tee shirt as a carrot!  The new follower with the most followers wins!  Brilliant!

I sent out the challenge at around 8:30 am.  By 2pm we neared the goal, but things stagnated, so I added another tee shirt to the furthest new follower and the 200th follower.  For a while, the furthest follower was Pro Poker Star @berkey11.  Matt Berkey(he loves volleyball) lives in Las Vegas, and is a former student of Ellen's.  Then a young lad from the UK took the spot, @N_Neasch.  It looked like that might be where it ended.  But it didn't...

At around 4pm I had an idea that it would be cool to get the "most famous" follower as well.  Let these kids (most of the Jam the Gym followers are former or current players or students at Kiski and Leechburg) try and entice famous people to join us.  Our most famous follow, before Friday was one of the "Dance Mom" people.  It's not that we hadn't tried.  The kids attempts to get #EllenonEllen had been epic.  Probably THOUSANDS of tweets with that hashtag to @TheEllenShow with no reponse...

HHHHEEEELLLLLOOOOO...  

What was it that lead me to reach out to @AGlass6?  Not sure.  Maybe it was that smile three plus years before, I don't know but here is the tweet that started the whole thing...

@AGlass6 became our most "famous" follower, and has a tee shirt coming.  But she didn't stop there.  While I had her attention, knowing that Ellen's spirits were down I ask her for one little favor that she took to the max...

That wasn't the end either!  After reading our story, and sharing it with her National Team team mates, it was decided that Coach Ellen Toy would become the honorary coach during the team's BIG match with Serbia!    After a flurry of activity to set everything up, Ellen and I spent the afternoon Sunday enjoying a terrific volleyball match, with her live tweeting comments as "Coach".  It was by far the best Sunday after a treatment we have had so far!  So much so that Sunday night we went for a walk, and she ask to do it.  Another Sunday first!  

So what started out as a #FF ended up with a LOT of people more familiar with our story, a story so vast, so compelling that it moved The United States National Volleyball team to action.

God Bless every one of you, you made the space between treatments so much better.  All because of.

One Smile

One Tweet

One incredible memory.

Thanks and best of luck in Japan!!!

GO USA!

I promise an updated post about the particulars of how this all transpired, but for now here is the link to the USA Volleyball Blog Posts, and how Ellen Toy became Honorary Coach for the match against Serbia in Belgrade!  Awesome job of capturing the story!

Read The Story Here

Details are coming together for our fourth "Jam the Gym"! Here is what we know.

Date: Weds., Sept. 4th, 2013

Time: Varsity match starts at 6

Two Matches: High School-Kiski Area vs. Connellsville

 College-Point Park vs. Carlow

As in years past, many games, prizes, and give-aways! We purposefully scheduled our event on a Wednesday night to get the maximum amount of participation from our supportive base of local high school volleyball programs. If you haven't been to Jam the Gym in our previous 3 years come join us! Help us celebrate the opening of another exciting season of volleyball, Western Pennsylvania style! The ever popular Jam the Gym t-shirt will be on sale that night! Here is how it will look this year!

 The GooGoo Dolls "Rebel Beat" is a song that we have identified as meaningful to our program.  It will be "celebrated" for the first time after the varsity match at Jam the Gym!

I got an e-mail today, and I really wanted to share it with you here on the blog.  It was from Jaime's Aunt Dayna, who is Head Women's Basketball Coach at Cornell University.  It is testament to how powerful the good in our world is, so powerful that it continues after we're gone.  

The students at the Kiski Area Intermediate School produced a terrific video about our story, and the #EllenonEllen movement.  It is an honor to share it here on our blog!  Please watch it, rate it and share it with as many people as you can.  When Ellen is well she will be ready to tell the world our inspiring story!

http://whatsyourstory.trendmicro.com/vote-entry/598#.UWqCbcr74B4.twitter

Keep Coach Ellen Toy in your prayers, as she recovers from her latest surgery.

Thanks,

Tim

Ellen Toy is more than a coach to me; she is someone who I admire. I remember when I first met her in 7^th grade volleyball, I was scared of her. I did everything that I could to not mess up in front of her. Once I got a chance to talk to her during practice, I found out that I had no reason to be scared.

After I finished "There's Nothing in The Coaches Manual", I was really prepared to move forward, maybe do a few more "Guest Blogger" spots and write something positive about what we've been through.  It was time.  Our team has been surrounded by sadness for far to long.  Ellen and I talked about how we needed to find positive forces and images to help all of us back onto the court.

One of the ideas we came up with was a "celebration song" kind of like "Sweet Caroline" after the third quarter at Pitt games.  We felt like, win or lose, this coming season we needed to recognize the one important lesson we came away with was everyday is a gift that deserves celebration!  

The next thing to do was...

About a year ago, a package arrived in the mail for Ellen.  It was a gift from a former player, Jennifer McDowell.  Jenny has made volleyball her life.  After graduating from Plum High School,( and winning the PA state championship in her senior season) Jenny went on to play all four years at the University of Georgia, then Assistant Coach under her Head Coach at Georgia, Sid Feldman.  She accepted the Head Coaching job at Emory University in Atlanta in 1996.  In 16 seasons she has compiled a record of 512-128!  The gift made Ellen very proud!  It was Jenny's first book, a book of creative and competitive volleyball drills.  It would add more weight to the already bulky book bag Ellen carries to practice everyday.  Her backpack is filled with other drill books and handouts from clinics and camps she has attended.  She has made a habit of keeping as much of this accumulated information as that blue book bag can hold.  It must weigh 35lbs!  Add to that the experience gained by someone who has been coaching high school volleyball for 30 years.  Ellen has come up with a few innovations of her own, notably the "Setter's Box" employed to stop Kristy O'Hara from dropping her hands to her sides before and after setting, and the "Wrist Fusion" taping Jordan King's hands together, preventing her from playing balls with one hand.  Both of these inventions worked!  It would seem, Ellen had all the answers.