Check this out...
Had an NCAA Diversity Speaker on campus last night... She talked a lot about class, race, gender- lots of good talking points that hopefully got the UMM teams thinking.
Working on our Junior Cougar Volleyball Visit Day for Monday... More later!
Coach B
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Crazy Week is over...
Hello-
Whew- what a week! Started with 3 practices early in the week... then I was prepping for the Tinman Triathlon (part of my intramurals job) most of the day and night Wednesday-Friday with it happening Saturday. Then back to the gym at 8:45 am Sunday for 8 hours of volleyball! It was a busy but fun week!!
It was great being back in the gym and coaching the Cougars!! We split into two teams for all of pool play, shuffling the teams back and forth so everybody got a chance to play with everyone else. It wasn't perfectly equal playing time, but everybody certainly played a lot of volleyball! By my unofficial count, both teams finished 10-4 on the day in games, tied for the 2nd best record.
What we did well-- we served very aggressive, especially the first half of the day when we were fresh! We spent a lot of time working on it this spring, just going back there and serving hard and hitting spots, getting teams out of system. We were very good offensively at times! There were points when other teams looked scared when we were on the attack! I thought we communicated well, in that we had a different group on the court almost every other game and I didn't see many balls just land there untouched between two players.
What didn't go so well-- for as much time as we spent on defense this spring, we still need to be better to truly compete at the highest level. We just weren't quite quick enough to get some of the balls, especially to the middle of the court. We also will continue to work on being vocal on the court and communicating from the first point to the last point... Everything can still get a little better but those two things stuck out to me.
Have a great week and I will keep posting, but not quite as often.
Coach B
Whew- what a week! Started with 3 practices early in the week... then I was prepping for the Tinman Triathlon (part of my intramurals job) most of the day and night Wednesday-Friday with it happening Saturday. Then back to the gym at 8:45 am Sunday for 8 hours of volleyball! It was a busy but fun week!!
It was great being back in the gym and coaching the Cougars!! We split into two teams for all of pool play, shuffling the teams back and forth so everybody got a chance to play with everyone else. It wasn't perfectly equal playing time, but everybody certainly played a lot of volleyball! By my unofficial count, both teams finished 10-4 on the day in games, tied for the 2nd best record.
What we did well-- we served very aggressive, especially the first half of the day when we were fresh! We spent a lot of time working on it this spring, just going back there and serving hard and hitting spots, getting teams out of system. We were very good offensively at times! There were points when other teams looked scared when we were on the attack! I thought we communicated well, in that we had a different group on the court almost every other game and I didn't see many balls just land there untouched between two players.
What didn't go so well-- for as much time as we spent on defense this spring, we still need to be better to truly compete at the highest level. We just weren't quite quick enough to get some of the balls, especially to the middle of the court. We also will continue to work on being vocal on the court and communicating from the first point to the last point... Everything can still get a little better but those two things stuck out to me.
Have a great week and I will keep posting, but not quite as often.
Coach B
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Chi Alpha Sigma-Sam Pfannenstein
Hello-
It's been a little while since I last posted... sorry, been a little crazy here! We just finished our last small group practice yesterday, only one more practice this spring and then our spring practices are all done already!
Wanted to let you know that we had one person gain membership to Chi Alpha Sigma, the National Athletics Honor Society. Only student-athletes in their junior or senior year are eligible if they have a grade point average of 3.4 or better... Special Congratulations to Sam Pfannenstein for her fantastic work in the classroom and on the volleyball court! Click here to read more and see all the UMM student-athlete honorees.
We are gearing up for the tourney this Sunday, April 25. Play will start at 10:00 am-- We are planning on having our current Cougar team split into two teams to maximize playing time and get the most of the day. Two alumni teams are coming along with Dakota State, Mayville State, Martin Luther and Bethany Lutheran. We will have 3 courts going most of the day and it should be a blast!!
See you soon!
Coach B
It's been a little while since I last posted... sorry, been a little crazy here! We just finished our last small group practice yesterday, only one more practice this spring and then our spring practices are all done already!
Wanted to let you know that we had one person gain membership to Chi Alpha Sigma, the National Athletics Honor Society. Only student-athletes in their junior or senior year are eligible if they have a grade point average of 3.4 or better... Special Congratulations to Sam Pfannenstein for her fantastic work in the classroom and on the volleyball court! Click here to read more and see all the UMM student-athlete honorees.
We are gearing up for the tourney this Sunday, April 25. Play will start at 10:00 am-- We are planning on having our current Cougar team split into two teams to maximize playing time and get the most of the day. Two alumni teams are coming along with Dakota State, Mayville State, Martin Luther and Bethany Lutheran. We will have 3 courts going most of the day and it should be a blast!!
See you soon!
Coach B
Monday, April 12, 2010
Doubles and Triples...
Hello-
Just a quick update- finished out 19 hours of JO Volleyball Tournaments yesterday... Lots of fun and time in the gym! Had practice today, we played a couple of 2 v 2 games, doubles, (on half a court) and 3 v 3, triples, (on the whole court). They seemed to enjoy that and it was fun watching them all serve, pass, set, hit and dig!! Only 5 practices left before the tourney!
Have a great day!
Go Cougars! (And Twins!! I see they are up 4-1 in their Target Field opener!)
Coach B
PS~ If anyone sees Coach Pennie will you please remind her she's also the ASSISTANT VOLLEYBALL COACH! Thanks-
Just a quick update- finished out 19 hours of JO Volleyball Tournaments yesterday... Lots of fun and time in the gym! Had practice today, we played a couple of 2 v 2 games, doubles, (on half a court) and 3 v 3, triples, (on the whole court). They seemed to enjoy that and it was fun watching them all serve, pass, set, hit and dig!! Only 5 practices left before the tourney!
Have a great day!
Go Cougars! (And Twins!! I see they are up 4-1 in their Target Field opener!)
Coach B
PS~ If anyone sees Coach Pennie will you please remind her she's also the ASSISTANT VOLLEYBALL COACH! Thanks-
Saturday, April 10, 2010
JO Volleyball Tourneys Today...
Hello-
Just sitting here at our 3rd UMM Cougar Challenge JO Volleyball Tourney... Fun Stuff! Also wanted to point out the new pictures on the flickr site- From our first practice. And yes, we did use volleyballs in practice!! Our Sports Information Director Chris Butler was there for the first 25 minutes or so when we were warming up and doing some movement work.
Megan Theis, Jordan Olerud, Allie Humphrey and Brita Humphrey were here early this morning to help set up for hte tourney... Megan and Jordan are the lucky ones that get to hang out with me allllll dayyyyy longgggg!
Enjoy your weekend and see you on the 25th of April!!
Coach B
This is Jordan and Megan reporting, and actually coach happens to be the lucky one today!!
Just sitting here at our 3rd UMM Cougar Challenge JO Volleyball Tourney... Fun Stuff! Also wanted to point out the new pictures on the flickr site- From our first practice. And yes, we did use volleyballs in practice!! Our Sports Information Director Chris Butler was there for the first 25 minutes or so when we were warming up and doing some movement work.
Megan Theis, Jordan Olerud, Allie Humphrey and Brita Humphrey were here early this morning to help set up for hte tourney... Megan and Jordan are the lucky ones that get to hang out with me allllll dayyyyy longgggg!
Enjoy your weekend and see you on the 25th of April!!
Coach B
This is Jordan and Megan reporting, and actually coach happens to be the lucky one today!!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Spring Fever...
Hello-
The weather here has been beautiful! The play in the gym has been pretty good as well... we are back from a short Easter break and had small group practices Tuesday and team practice yesterday and tonight. We have been focusing on serving aggressive and defensive work for this week. I just sent out a rough schedule to the teams for our Sunday, April 25th tourney-- It is looking like we will have Dakota State and Mayville State (both NAIA schools) and Bethany Lutheran and Martin Luther here. We will be splitting our current UMM team into 2 teams to maximize our playing time and opportunities this spring and we should have 2 alumni teams as well (a Young Team and an Old team... but they are sensitive to that so we have to call them the "Veteran Team!"). If you are counting at home that's 8 teams!! Should be lots and lots of volleyball and fun!
Otherwise, spending a lot of time working on the Tinman Triathlon, an event I am in charge of as part of my Intramural Coordinator position... that is Saturday, April 24th- good planning huh!? We will have close to 100 participants and almost that many volunteers to help with the swim, bike and run! I am also excited because we have a full bus (50 students!) going down to the Twins game on Tuesday, May 4th to watch them play the Tigers. Part of my IM job is to help sponsor a bus trip each year (last year we went to a MN Wild hockey game). Sometimes I love my Job!!
Have a great week!
Coach B
The weather here has been beautiful! The play in the gym has been pretty good as well... we are back from a short Easter break and had small group practices Tuesday and team practice yesterday and tonight. We have been focusing on serving aggressive and defensive work for this week. I just sent out a rough schedule to the teams for our Sunday, April 25th tourney-- It is looking like we will have Dakota State and Mayville State (both NAIA schools) and Bethany Lutheran and Martin Luther here. We will be splitting our current UMM team into 2 teams to maximize our playing time and opportunities this spring and we should have 2 alumni teams as well (a Young Team and an Old team... but they are sensitive to that so we have to call them the "Veteran Team!"). If you are counting at home that's 8 teams!! Should be lots and lots of volleyball and fun!
Otherwise, spending a lot of time working on the Tinman Triathlon, an event I am in charge of as part of my Intramural Coordinator position... that is Saturday, April 24th- good planning huh!? We will have close to 100 participants and almost that many volunteers to help with the swim, bike and run! I am also excited because we have a full bus (50 students!) going down to the Twins game on Tuesday, May 4th to watch them play the Tigers. Part of my IM job is to help sponsor a bus trip each year (last year we went to a MN Wild hockey game). Sometimes I love my Job!!
Have a great week!
Coach B
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
UMM History...
Hello-
Just between small group practices here- had two setters in the gym for the last practice, Natalie Thomas and Nichelle Grage- they were sucking wind pretty bad by the time we got done! We usually have our small group practices set up to go one hour. The workouts are often more intense practices because they are shorter then team practices and we are working on skills specific to their positions... I didn't count, but I would bet that Nichelle and Natalie set close to 1000 balls in the hour we were in there!
Also- found this information about the history of UMM in the UMM Retirees Association Newsletter. I think it is very interesting to know where we've been and what UMM used to look like. Enjoy!!
Coach B
The early years from the WCSA alumni web site: http://www.morris.umn.edu/alumni/WCSA/history/
Founding: “An intense effort was made to establish a University of Minnesota agricultural high school on the Morris campus in the early 1900s. Local legislator Lewis C. Spooner rallied the community, legislature, governor and the University of Minnesota regents in support of the new school. E. C. Higbie was hired as the first superintendent and on October 3, 1910, the West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station opened to 103 students.” The WCSA was one of four residential agricultural schools established in MN, served 15 counties, was one of the longest running in the U.S., and operated through 1963, serving over 7000 students. The other MN schools were in St. Paul, Grand Rapids, and Crookston. Waseca, a fifth school, opened in 1953.
Six month program: “The WCSA’s mission was to educate west central Minnesota youth on contemporary agriculture and homemaking methods and provide core academic instruction. Students accepted were at least 14 years of age and eighth grade graduates. Students enrolled in a three-year course of study that ran from early October after the fall harvest until late March before spring planting. Students continued projects at home during the summer, and visiting instructors monitored progress. Summer projects allowed students to share new agriculture practices with their parents. Typical classes included animal husbandry, cooking, sewing, carpentry, as well as English, math, and music. Short courses were offered for students who could only attend for brief periods.”
From the Gemini report: http://www.morris.umn.edu/preservation/WCSA_NRform.pdf/. Section and page numbers are noted in brackets.
Numbers of students: Class size varied over the years from 103 to 455, dipping during World Wars 1 and ll and surging after each war [8:11].
Campus: The central square (mall) was developed between1911-1916. A master plan from 1911 involved three sets of twin buildings all facing the central square, forming a pleasant symmetry [7:2-3]. Several of these buildings were in place by 1920, though most were under different names. Spooner (the WCSA Boys’ Dormitory, 1912-13) and Camden (the Girls’ Dormitory, 1912) faced each other across the square. Imholte Hall (Agricultural Hall, 1910-11) and Blakely (Senior Hall, 1920) flanked Behmler (Dining Hall, Junior Girls’ Dormitory and Gymnasium, 1918). The oldest building, the Multi-Ethnic Resource Center (Agronomy, then Music, 1899), dates to the Indian School and sat across from the Home Economics building (since razed for Home Ec 2, now the Humanities building, 1954). Engineering (later Community Services and now the Welcome Center, 1915) was placed on the western side of a north-south road. The Cattle Barn built in 1914 is now the Saddle Club Barn; the Seed House (1929) is the Recycling Center, the Infirmary (1923-24) is the Education building. Junior Hall (1926) is now Pine Hall [7:36].
The early years: “The WCSA's six faculty held the titles of superintendent, accountant, preceptress of the girls' dormitory, and instructor in home economics, animal husbandry, and iron work. In reality their roles were much larger, as the 1916 WCSA yearbook explains: ‘Those were the days when the accountant taught mathematics, acted as librarian, sold the postage stamps, mopped the dining room floor, fed the chickens, and gathered the eggs’ (Moccasin 1916)…. When the School and Station opened in 1910, the campus and farm were in disarray and the staff was at first consumed with repairing and improving the facilities. The 1914 yearbook explains, ‘In those days [circa 1910-1912] there was no sidewalk between Morris and the school so they [students and staff] were obliged to trail through eighty rods of very adhesive Stevens County clay....The whole campus, therefore, was a sea of mud, not a very beautiful sight at that time surely’" [8:9, quoted in Olson 1972:9]. When the funds became available for building, faculty member Bridgford wrote, “a real transformation took place” [8:10].
Making a difference: “The School and Station in Morris was also founded at a time when… agriculture was becoming increasingly technical….”[8:5]. “Two years after its founding, The Farmer, a long-running agricultural journal published in St. Paul, credited the institution with significant improvements in local agriculture: ‘This whole section of the state shows the influence of this new school already. Two years ago there were but two silos in Stevens County, and but little attention paid to stock raising. Today there are about 50 silos in the county, 20 being sold by one dealer this past season. There are 25 pure-bred Holstein sires in the county and a few dams and several pure-bred Guernsey herds. A number of herds of good grade cows are started. Fifty-one students in the school from the home county are transforming the ideas of farm life in their home neighborhoods. Numbers of them have started the building of silos on the home farms. More systematic records of cost and production are instituted; better seed is introduced‘” [8:10]. The WCSA /Experiment Station was making a difference.
Just between small group practices here- had two setters in the gym for the last practice, Natalie Thomas and Nichelle Grage- they were sucking wind pretty bad by the time we got done! We usually have our small group practices set up to go one hour. The workouts are often more intense practices because they are shorter then team practices and we are working on skills specific to their positions... I didn't count, but I would bet that Nichelle and Natalie set close to 1000 balls in the hour we were in there!
Also- found this information about the history of UMM in the UMM Retirees Association Newsletter. I think it is very interesting to know where we've been and what UMM used to look like. Enjoy!!
Coach B
The early years from the WCSA alumni web site: http://www.morris.umn.edu/alumni/WCSA/history/
Founding: “An intense effort was made to establish a University of Minnesota agricultural high school on the Morris campus in the early 1900s. Local legislator Lewis C. Spooner rallied the community, legislature, governor and the University of Minnesota regents in support of the new school. E. C. Higbie was hired as the first superintendent and on October 3, 1910, the West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station opened to 103 students.” The WCSA was one of four residential agricultural schools established in MN, served 15 counties, was one of the longest running in the U.S., and operated through 1963, serving over 7000 students. The other MN schools were in St. Paul, Grand Rapids, and Crookston. Waseca, a fifth school, opened in 1953.
Six month program: “The WCSA’s mission was to educate west central Minnesota youth on contemporary agriculture and homemaking methods and provide core academic instruction. Students accepted were at least 14 years of age and eighth grade graduates. Students enrolled in a three-year course of study that ran from early October after the fall harvest until late March before spring planting. Students continued projects at home during the summer, and visiting instructors monitored progress. Summer projects allowed students to share new agriculture practices with their parents. Typical classes included animal husbandry, cooking, sewing, carpentry, as well as English, math, and music. Short courses were offered for students who could only attend for brief periods.”
From the Gemini report: http://www.morris.umn.edu/preservation/WCSA_NRform.pdf/. Section and page numbers are noted in brackets.
Numbers of students: Class size varied over the years from 103 to 455, dipping during World Wars 1 and ll and surging after each war [8:11].
Campus: The central square (mall) was developed between1911-1916. A master plan from 1911 involved three sets of twin buildings all facing the central square, forming a pleasant symmetry [7:2-3]. Several of these buildings were in place by 1920, though most were under different names. Spooner (the WCSA Boys’ Dormitory, 1912-13) and Camden (the Girls’ Dormitory, 1912) faced each other across the square. Imholte Hall (Agricultural Hall, 1910-11) and Blakely (Senior Hall, 1920) flanked Behmler (Dining Hall, Junior Girls’ Dormitory and Gymnasium, 1918). The oldest building, the Multi-Ethnic Resource Center (Agronomy, then Music, 1899), dates to the Indian School and sat across from the Home Economics building (since razed for Home Ec 2, now the Humanities building, 1954). Engineering (later Community Services and now the Welcome Center, 1915) was placed on the western side of a north-south road. The Cattle Barn built in 1914 is now the Saddle Club Barn; the Seed House (1929) is the Recycling Center, the Infirmary (1923-24) is the Education building. Junior Hall (1926) is now Pine Hall [7:36].
The early years: “The WCSA's six faculty held the titles of superintendent, accountant, preceptress of the girls' dormitory, and instructor in home economics, animal husbandry, and iron work. In reality their roles were much larger, as the 1916 WCSA yearbook explains: ‘Those were the days when the accountant taught mathematics, acted as librarian, sold the postage stamps, mopped the dining room floor, fed the chickens, and gathered the eggs’ (Moccasin 1916)…. When the School and Station opened in 1910, the campus and farm were in disarray and the staff was at first consumed with repairing and improving the facilities. The 1914 yearbook explains, ‘In those days [circa 1910-1912] there was no sidewalk between Morris and the school so they [students and staff] were obliged to trail through eighty rods of very adhesive Stevens County clay....The whole campus, therefore, was a sea of mud, not a very beautiful sight at that time surely’" [8:9, quoted in Olson 1972:9]. When the funds became available for building, faculty member Bridgford wrote, “a real transformation took place” [8:10].
Making a difference: “The School and Station in Morris was also founded at a time when… agriculture was becoming increasingly technical….”[8:5]. “Two years after its founding, The Farmer, a long-running agricultural journal published in St. Paul, credited the institution with significant improvements in local agriculture: ‘This whole section of the state shows the influence of this new school already. Two years ago there were but two silos in Stevens County, and but little attention paid to stock raising. Today there are about 50 silos in the county, 20 being sold by one dealer this past season. There are 25 pure-bred Holstein sires in the county and a few dams and several pure-bred Guernsey herds. A number of herds of good grade cows are started. Fifty-one students in the school from the home county are transforming the ideas of farm life in their home neighborhoods. Numbers of them have started the building of silos on the home farms. More systematic records of cost and production are instituted; better seed is introduced‘” [8:10]. The WCSA /Experiment Station was making a difference.
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