Chicken Stew with Balsamic Roasted Vegetables

Here is a recipe that was originally published in the Taste of Home October/November 2009 issue, but I made a few alterations to it. For one serving there is 31g of protein and 3.8g of fiber for this stew and it smells incredible while it's cooking. This was my first time cooking with wine and it took me a good ten minutes to figure out what kind of wine I needed. I did need to ask Google for help. It does follow the typical stew definition where there is more solid than liquid.

 And I must add, it tastes really good.

Around the World and Other Spot Serving Drills

Serving is the only skill in volleyball that is not influenced by anyone but the player serving. Unlike passing, setting, and hitting which are all dependent on a previous move by another player, serving is entirely controlled by the one person. This drill focuses on placement of the serve and also requires players to judge for themselves if they achieve a certain goal. Make sure players get a few minutes to warm-up and warn them that they will be working on spot serving during the drill.

Easy Breakfasts that Last Until Practice

A few posts ago I mentioned that many high school athletes aren’t taking the time to eat breakfast in the morning. With that in mind, I wanted to do a post that included easy breakfasts that are quick to make and quick to eat that have enough protein to last through the day. Toaster waffles aren’t going to do it anymore. The three recipes I’ve included are all ones that I eat on a regular basis and I quite enjoy. Have fun making your own variations.

Layers of a volleyball

One of the great things about my mom is that she finds a surplus of something in her house and turns to me and says ‘do something with these.’ It works well, she collects and I then create. Thus I know how to crochet with plastic grocery bags bags, I know a few dozen recipes that use various forms of jam with pectin, and I know what to do with a surplus of old volleyballs that won’t hold air.

Drill: Ready Position Reactions

Because I'm very proud I'd like to start this post by announcing that my brother earned his orange belt this last weekend. He is very excited and looks forward to more training. He officially knows how to do something that I know nothing about.

I like to write about a lot of reaction time and quick change of reaction drills. This is partially because I feel they are extremelly important for training purposes. For this drill, you won't need a ball, or even any net set up. You can do this drill with all players at the same time.

Ego Like an Iceberg

All those setter’s out there who feel unappreciated in their role, let’s talk. Moms and Dads feel free to sit in so that you can see what is going on inside your setter’s head.

It sucks to go out and make incredible plays only to have the hitter get all the glory. Liberos even get more glory then setters do because they pick up some incredibly difficult balls. I’m not about to say that they aren’t important, it’s just really hard to only hear everything your doing wrong. You are expected to make these incredible sets and you don’t get praise when you do that. I read an article the other week that said that if you had to put a bad player somewhere, make them the setter. I might have complained rather loudly to my boyfriend for a good hour about how wrong that writer was.

Breakfast, Lunch, and a Snack Before Practice

We all have those days when we rush out of the house and forget to eat breakfast. Hopefully we have enough time to grab a piece of toast or a granola bar or something, but let’s face it, we sometimes have to leave the house in five minutes flat. Unfortunately, a large chunk of the teenage population who do have time for breakfast, don’t actually use that time to eat. They skip the meal.

Let Them Play

Last night as I was officiating I was again reminded of the words said years ago by an official I highly respect. 'If you're unsure, let them play.' What exactly does this means in terms of officiating? Well, if you are unsure whether something is a fault then give the players the benefit of the doubt and let play continue.

When Do You Show Up To Practice?

When do you show up to practice? Do you show up with enough time to put your gear on? I know some players show up with their gear on as practice starts, making sure they are in the huddle or on the line with just enough time that the coach can't punish them for being late. A word of advice: early is on time and on time is late.

How to Handle Being Cut

Being cut is awful. It feels like a confirmation of all your insecurities and worries. When you find out it feels like the coach is telling you 'out of all these girls, you weren't enough.' It is a miserable feeling.
It's okay to cry; it sucks to work hard for something and then not achieve your goal. What's even worse is the cultural assumption that if you work hard enough enough you will automatically achieve what you were working towards. This is ultimately untrue. Research has shown that it is not how hard you work but rather the number of hours spent working in a manner that improves your current skills.
Just remember, you are enough. The coach isn't trying to say that you are this horrible person who sucks.

This is a highly competitive sport with only 36 open positions and when you have 70 girls trying out, half of them will get cut. Most likely, girls who have put in countless hours of work and years of service to the program will get cut simply because there are not enough positions. You did work hard and that effort wasn't wasted. You improved YOU and you are imortant. You are your first priority. Like the airlines say, put your mask on first before you assist others. A bit morbid but a good analogy nonetheless.

Not Only Will I Stare, My Look Will Change Reality

Intimidation is a simple concept for those of us who are bigger and tougher than those around us. For those who are smaller and meeker, it can be a challenge. Women in general are considered less intimidating because of our smaller stature. People are genetically designed to interpret others to determine if they are a threat and we do this within seconds of seeing anyone’s face.

I've somewhat paraphrased someone with the title here. The direct quote is "I want my look to change reality," which I saw was said by Bell Hooks. I paraphrased because this is more of an affirmative than a wish, saying 'my look will; instead of 'I want my look to' is much firmer and stronger within your own mind.

Drill: Training Setter Peripheral Vision

For those teams with advanced setters, this is a drill I highly recommend. Many new setters have enough to deal with as it is and you might have to wait for the right player to come along to use this drill. I got to do this drill when I was sixteen and it is not easy. This is a skill that takes time and patience to develop.

Blockers are often taught to cheat while reading a setter’s body language. Most setters will position their body in a way that allows the blockers to tell which direction the ball will be going. Coaches need to help train their setters in maintaining consistent body posture so that they look the same before setting a ball to the outside as they would setting a ball to the right side. It is difficult and just takes time and focused practice. Once a setter has accomplished this, then the blockers have a more difficult time cheating and often times will misread the setter. This drill takes advantage of that cheat. One note, GOOD blockers will not cheat but often in high school volleyball, blockers are still training and feel the need to cheat in one direction or another.

Planning for Tryouts

August is well under way which means we only have a few weeks until try-out season starts; some of you have less than that. Most of you are in the two week window where you are not allowed to coach your players and some of you are about to start that. These two weeks are truly needed for players who’ve just finished club season along with team camp and individual camps. Players should be spending these next two weeks taking a break and simply training their body instead of playing.

Coaches, this is the time for you to clean up the equipment closet, prepare uniforms, and finalize tournament schedules. You should be e-mailing players the try-out schedule if you haven’t already and you definitely should be sitting down with the assistant coaches to plan out exactly what will be happening for try-outs. Having a drill by drill layout that is posted at the beginning of the day for coaches and volunteers to see is ideal.

Jen Welter: New Arizona Cardinals Coach

Many of you who keep up with sports have probably heard about the first woman to ever be hired in a coaching position for the NFL. Jen Welter was hired by the Arizona Cardinals as a intern coach for the team’s inside linebackers during training camp. This is a huge break for women in NFL, particularly when we are seeing other great breakthroughs in the NBA and in the officiating league to go along with it. This is all great and I’m excited but can we stop for a second and look at a few other things?

How Exercise and Activity Can Reduce Stress, and Avoid and Alleviate the Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety – Team Sports

The title is long winded but this series is wrapping up. In the previous post in this series, we discussed how  aerobic exercise can benefit not only your physical health but also your psychological health. The first post discussed the benefits of yoga on your mental health. This post will focus on how team sports, such as volleyball, can benefit your overall health.

Drill: Blocked by the Bleachers

Blocking is a commonly misunderstood skill. Most people feel they have failed at blocking if they are not able to prevent the opposing team from spiking the ball across the net. However, the point of blocking is to guide the ball to your own teammates by eliminating an alley on the court. It is always nice to block a ball though.

It’s not as much fun to be blocked however, and your teammates don’t really like you when that happens. Many teams struggle with being able to recover a blocked ball regardless of whether they’ve trained during scrimmages. This drill can be beneficial to a team that is struggling with recovering blocked balls and it has the added benefit of not needing two full teams of six (or seven if you include a libero).

Do You Want Me to Answer that as Your Mom or as Your Coach?

My mother had a running question for me during the nine years that she was my coach. Whenever I would say something to her she would ask ‘Do you want me to answer that as your mom or as your coach?’ The decision was not always easy. When I was upset about a teammate I would normally ask for my Mom but when it was a controversial topic I would always ask for her to be my coach. It was nice of her to offer the distinction for me.

Fast Twitch Not Slow Twitch

Do you want to know my biggest pet peeve in volleyball? Coaches’ who want their players running long distances. Want to know why? It doesn’t relate to volleyball. You can argue it increases your endurance but in all honesty it is more damaging to your training then it is helpful. There is a tradition with Olympic athletes where they run to train but it is outdated. We’ve done the research and there are plenty of exercises that are a better use of time and will benefit your body as a volleyball player.

"L" Cone Drill

This is a drill that I learned from one of my favorite trainers. It emphasizes several different motions as well as quick changes in directions. I call it the L-drill simply because I don’t have another name for it. It’s a drill that uses cones and I have a lot of those drills stashed away in the back of my mind.

The reason it’s called the L drill is because the cones appear in an L shape, or a right triangle. The cones are about six feet apart, a little over one body length. The L can also be in reverse but I’ll talk about that a bit more later. If you decide to do this drill on grass you want to make sure there are no hazards like holes or sprinkler heads. You also want to make sure that the grass is dry so that you won’t slip. One thing you’ll notice in my drill is that I use filled water bottles with a wide base instead of cones. I personally don’t own cones but water bottles work just as well as long as they aren’t top heavy.

My Argument Against Team Shoes

When I was sixteen I was talking to my club coach, a Rice University men’s volleyball alum, about volleyball shoes. He pointed out that when he was playing in college, the team bought them a new pair of shoes every month because that’s how hard they were on their shoes. Personally, between club, high school, and personal training, I went through two pairs of shoes and four insoles a year between the ages of fourteen and nineteen. I wished my family could afford to change that to four shoes a year and eight insoles but that wasn’t in the cards. The constant jumping and change of direction wears down shoes very quickly and the longer you go in an over worn pair of shoes, the more likely you are to get injured.