DRIVING THE ENERGY BUS!!!

Good Afternoon!  Now that we are all on board  the Energy Bus, we are that much closer to realizing our vision: players believing in players, coaches believing in players, players believing in coaches, and coaches believing in coaches (insert parents for players and we will be the 2015 State Champions!).  Since the last update, the girls have become Chief Energy Officers and are learning how to charge forward with positive and powerful energy and how to look at challenges as an opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed.  In the gym for this day, we asked the girls to write on a piece of paper what they bring to the team (talent, strenth, and/or skill) and build a bridge as a team across the court.  Afterwards we talked about how it isn't possible for 1 person to provide all that is needed, as well as how it felt to write down these positive things about ourselves.  They all agreed that it would have been easier to write down positive things about teammates and negative things about themselves.  Next, we moved on to learn about loving your passengers and the 5 ways to do so.  This opened up some good discussions about how to do this player to player as well as players to coaches/coaches to players.  The girls created a Positive Passenger Avatar with the following criteria:

1.    Head: what we think for the future of our program/team (vision)

2.    Ears: what we want others to say about us

3.    Eyes: how we want our teammates to see us

4.    Shoulders: challenges we may face

5.    Hands: how we will help guide our team

6.    Stomach: what will fuel our team

7.    Heart: things we feel strongly about

8.    Feet: things we have supporting us to reach our goals

The girls created some really great Avatars and I couldn't be more proud of their effort.  They were also given 7 certificates as a way to show their teammates they are being great passengers.  They have to give 1 per week to someone in their athletic period.  This past week we talked about how to drive with purpose and how to change fear into trust and how fear paralyzes you no matter your preparation and commitment.  Probably my favorite part of the book came up in this chapter when George was reminded "that afterall they don't call it a leap of fear.  They call it a leap of faith.  We discussed how we turn fear into faith and faith into resolve or another way to put it how to turn knowledge into action.  The girls brainstormed and shouted out what they thought was the bigger purpse/vision for what they do everyday in the gym.  We are headed to the end of our journey with the book, but just beginning the real journey come August 3!


I couldn't be more proud of these girls and the work they put in every day.  They are working really hard physically, but they are also working on the things we talk about on Mondays.  I have read and reread this book multiple times throughout this semester and I get something new from it each time.  What these girls add to the book every day with their efforts in the gym has taught me more than I could ever have imagined.  Today is the last day of circuits for the school year and I know the girls are excited.  We begin our final push for the 2015 season next week...1 day of team building and 4 days of volleyball per week.  Open Gym will continue on Tuesdays through May 26. 

April 7, 2015

Good Morning!  We have made it over half way through the rules and are really getting into the meat of learning how to drive our bus.  Last week, the girls learned about inviting people onto their bus and we began talking about how to handle our passengers as well as those that decide not to get on our bus.  We used the website, theenergybus.com, to send ticket invites but it was largely unsuccessful.  Because of this, I have attached the letter the girls sent as well as the bus ticket, "Destination Success."  Now that we have our passengers, we are really looking at how to handle those passengers that are the "Energy Vampires" and sucking the energy out of our vision and journey.  This week's activity dealt with these vampires and the girls worked through step 8 in the back of the book.  The girls were to anonymously type at least 1 person in their athletic period that they felt were negatively affecting the success of our ride.  They were asked to explain what this person (or persons) were doing that negatively affected the ride, as well as offer a course of action and encouragement to get them back on track.  My hope with this activity is that this will open the lines of cummnication for the girls, as well as help them become more comfortable in confronting situations that are negatively affecting the team.  This is an extremely hard skill, especially for 15 - 18 year old girls, but one that when done with trust and for the right reasons can lead to very successful teams. 

The girls are really doing a great job with offseason and the Energy Bus journey.  Today we start Open Gym and it will continue through May, every Tuesday.  As always, feel free to contact me with questions and or concerns. 

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March 26, 2015

Energy Bus update: So over the past 2 weeks, we have covered rules 2 and 3.  Rule 2 is Desire, Vision, and Focus move your bus in the right direction.  The girls were assigned to read the associated chapters, as well as begin the process of coming up with their own vision/mission statement as well as a program vision/mission statement.  Their activity in class was to draw their indiviudal vision on one side of a pair of glasses, and then the program vision on the other.  These came out super cute and the girls did a great job.  Once I get these up in the locker room, I will send a picture of their work :)  We have also covered Rule 3 with them which is Fuel Your Ride with Positive Energy.  Ask them about the dog and village story, as well as the golf shot theory.  We likened this to them getting their dream car and making sure they fueled it with the highest octane fuel and shared with them that their life doesn't have to be just a plain yellow bus.  Within these 2 chapters, Joy shared with George a book that gave him the exercise of a Thankful Walk.  So, we asked the girls to bring in 3 pictures of things they are thankful for and we had them walk around and share the pictures and why they were thankful.  It has been a very busy 2 weeks and I can honestly say I can feel a difference in the gym.  The girls seem happier and are working harder.  Next week we will learn how to invite people on our bus...stay tuned to your email.

I have to share a story from the Energy Bus that one of our athletes shared with us.  This particular athlete was experiencing a horrible time during a match where nothing was going her way, as well as nothing going her team's way.  After this particular match, the team had a meeting and things seemed to be going from bad to worse.  So this athlete remembers reading the thankful walk chapter and kind of laughing about it on the plane ride to this tournament, but figured what the heck things are bad so why not give it a shot.  She shared with us that she literally walked around the tournament facility talking to herself about things she was thankful for.  She said that after the walk she felt significantly better. This was awesome! What makes this better to me was that she shared that her team didn't necessarily play better, but she was able to handle things better and walk away with a positive outlook on her team. These are the success stories that make me want to spend time with these girls every day. 

Thank you for sharing your girls with me!

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March 3, 2015

Good Morning!  Well, after 3 sessions with The Energy Bus, all of the girls are driving!  After our pretty emotional and soul searching 2nd session, the girls really got a lot out of it and are excited to be on this journey.  Yesterday the girls came in and we talked about being the driver of their bus and how that probably seems pretty hard as teenage girls to think they are truly in charge of their lives.  We talked to them about claiming the power and responsibility of their life through their reactions to situations versus actually having a full say in what is going on.  The coaches shared personal stories of situations we have encountered as adults and as teenagers.  They shared their visions for the team, their life, and their relationships (family, friends, etc).  They were then assigned to design a license plate to go on their bus that describes them through letters, numbers, and/or symbols.  We are going to laminate these and have them hanging in the locker room.  When we return from Spring Break, we will venture into rule #2 (chapter 10) and disuss steps 3 and 4 from pg. 160.  We have a really cool acitivity planned for them with this rule that hopefully will really put this into focus and give them that visual of where we are headed.  Please encourage your daughters to write and highlight all over this book.  Each period I do the acitivities/disucssion and read to prepare for them, something new jumps out at me or I get another idea.  The girls are working hard in the gym and I can't wait to see how it all pays off in August.

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February 20, 2015

Good Afternoon!  Today, the girls were invited on my energy bus and we started our journey.  Today's activity included my action plan and an introduction to this journey.  To conclude the introduction, we showed the girls the Austin Hatch story from ESPN ("Austin Hatch is an uncommon man").  This story is truly inspirational as Austin has survived 2 plane crashes, the 2nd in which he had a 10% chance of suriving and being severely disabled, and is now a Division 1 basketball player at the University of Michigan.  The girls were assigned to read Chapters 1 - 6 this weekend (24 pages), as well as think about their #1 problem and bring it typed up, anonomously for Monday.  The main character in the book is a very negative person with a "the world is against me/woe is me attitude."  I realize we are doing something "negative" with them bringing their problem, but our goal is for the girls to realize that 1) they can overcome their problems, and 2) maybe it really isn't so bad/other problems are bigger than mine.  We are working first with the individual then circle back to the bigger picture of the team and our collective goals.  Please let me know if you have any questions/concerns as we go through this journey.



News

Regional Quarterfinal Champs!

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Area Champs!

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Bi-District Champs!

November 03, 2014   read more

Congratulations, Spartans!

October 31, 2014   read more

THANK U FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

October 29, 2014   read more

KHOU Athlete of the Week: Maggie O'Connell

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