Katie Olsovsky's USA Journal!

You know what we haven't had recently? A journal from a USA National Team member. What with all the Utah "stuff," we need a palate cleanser.

And just like that, Katie Olsovsky gives us an update on her glamorous life playing pro ball in Italy and living near Rome. Personallly, I didn't even know that the former Trojan was still a part of USA Volleyball, but then what do I know.

After telling us about her favorite things about Rome, such as the weather ("It is just like Southern California, never snows!!"), her experience with his royal Popeness ("I went to the Vatican for midnight mass and sat inside the church for the Pope’s service."), and her familiarity with places I've never heard of (Vittorio Emanuele II and Via Condotti), Katie tells us that the drivers are nuts in Italy:

Making a left hand turn and yielding to oncoming traffic doesn’t even cross someone’s mind here! It is a very different way to drive, and for my first time being here I decided not to drive.

Crazier than the 110 at rush hour? C'mon, Olsovsky!

"I probably pass by the Coliseum two or three times a week and just say, 'Oh there’s the Coliseum again.'"

Kinda like "Look, kids! Big Ben, Parliament!"

But the one thing I really admire in professional athletes is their discipline and dedication, and Olsovsky's no exception.

"The day I got here I went on the Tiramisu diet."

OK, so she's kinda on a modified regimen. But that's OK because she hasn't forgotten "the real reason why I am here, to play volleyball!"

As a player in the BBC 1Classe Roma league, her greatest hurdle has been the discrepancy between the short socks her teammates wear ("because I was told it makes your legs look sexier") and her new-fangled American style ("I think I am a forever long sock lover!").

American dudes exposed to Greek ruckus

Remember a few weeks back when some Greek volleyball fans when nutso after a match and a guy was killed? Well, according to a new article on USAVolleyball.org, it turns out that Reid Priddy plays for the men's team for one of the clubs involved, Olympiakos Piraeus, and several other Americans also compete in Greece.

Kevin Hansen, a national team setter, related details of another such incident where after a match the volleyball hooligans actually threw flares at fans as they left the gym.

"Every single car window in the parking lot was smashed," Hansen said, "and luckily the police were there to catch them.”

To catch them? What about, you know, being there to stop them before they broke all the car windows? What kind of parking lot security is going on over there when hundreds of cars getting their windows smashed and no one notices until they're all done?

"Looks like they're done, boys. Round 'em up!"

USA staff apparently (OK, "allegedly") screwing with other people's livelihoods

"We just got back from the A2 tryouts and the staff said the conference was just not that tough," Salvo's mother Lori said. "They're not playing against top players in top conferences."

That's Lori Salvo, mother of Utah deserter Airial Salvo after news broke that Airial and teammate Sydney Anderson are bailing on the Utes for loftier heights, apparently after receiving advice from "the staff" at the A2 tryouts.

That sound you hear is the USA Volleyball infrastructure crumbling to the ground, combined with Tom Pingel developing an instantaneous ulcer.

Don't you think head coach Beth Launiere would love a little conversation with the rocket scientist at USA Volleyball that gave her two budding young stars such stellar advice?

"Hey, thanks for that. Really. You're a peach. Did you want to run over my dog, too?"

Can we expect more super terrific interventions in the future from USA staff members? If so, why would any college coach at a school other than Stanford, Penn State, Washington, etc., advise their players to tryout for any USA team?

Why would you? Why send your talented kids to USA Volleyball when there's a danger of someone telling them they need to leave their current school because of a lack of competition?

And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Utah a Top 10 team last year? With everyone returning? And aren't they playing in the AVCA Showcase next year?

Well according to Mrs. Salvo, Airial and Anderson "want to play for a national championship and become Olympians."

And that's impossible as a Utah Ute? Sure, the odds of achieving the former are tougher at Utah than at Nebraska, Stanford, Penn State, and Washington, but what do you want, the whole thing handed to you on a silver platter?

As for wanting to be an Olympian, this really has even less to do with where you go to school. Stacy Sykora, Lindsey Berg, Charlene Johnson, Demetria Sance, Tammy Liley, Liane Sato, Janet Cobbs, Mickisha Hurley, and Yoko Zetterlund did not play for Top 5 programs. You know what they did do? Play in the Olympics.

More Sheila Shaw? It's already been broughten.

USAVolleyball.org must have gotten a fantastic response to their Q&A with new arrival Sheila Shaw, because they quickly followed it up with a journal entry from her today. I'm all for it. Shaw has what we like to refer to as "personality," and we'd like to see a video blog with her, Senior Ham Jillian Davis, and Courtney Thompson. Plus it's hard to dislike anyone who refers to their home state as "home of the best cheese curds :)".

Shaw relates how the team played in a local college tournament, and a conspicuous "Editor's Note" lets you know that they beat Oregon, Colorado, Western Nebraska CC and Colorado State, in case you'd heard differently.

"Dude, I heard they lost to Western Nebraska!"
"Nah, man, I read it in that Editor's Note that they won."
"Bonus."

Ever wonder how WNCC got invited to this shindig anyways? Let's see, we'll get the USA squad, some other D1 programs, and then...hm...what's the most random school we could also invite?

Best part of the article is when Shaw describes doing the "incline," which is apparently a very steep and treacherous set of steps on the side of a mountain (Whitney Webb! Lookout!). Shaw says "It's one of the steepest trails I’ve ever seen, but then again I am from Wisconsin."

Good point. Not a lot of steep trails in Wisconsin, are there. Oh, and apparently Tom Hogan is out of traction.

Tayyiba Haneef's "From Russia with Love"?Not so much.

We honestly couldn't wait to read Tayyiba Haneef's online journal after enjoying Danielle Scott's so much. And we were not disappointed. Haneef plays in a Russian volleyball league, so we're betting she has some great experiences to share with us.

"Whoever said 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' must have lived in Russia."

Eep. That's, that's not a good sign.

"On most days we wake up to Grey skies and cold weather."

Oh Lord. This is gonna be ugly, isn't it.

"It is springtime but you would never know it by looking outside at the grey skies and snow covered ground."

Yeah, I'm, I'm gonna go read "Cat in the Hat" or something after this, cheer myself up.

But then again, might as well find out what life is like in the former Soviet Union. Turns out things in Kazan, Tartastan, Russia, are not exactly organized. Haneef reports that traffic is a "disaster," where "everyone makes their own lanes," and that she sees 4 or 5 accidents a day. (That's no different than the 405, is it?) Haneef also writes that hot water is not always easy to come by, and that Internet connections are few and costly.

"We do however have a McDonald's and an Ikea."

Wait, wait, wait. Kazan doesn't have lines on their streets, hot water you can count on, or reliable Internet service, but they do have Happy Meals and easy-to-assemble Swedish furniture? Maybe Russia should reconsider capitalism. I'm beginning to think they're not ready yet.

However, life isn't all doom and gloom. Haneef and teammate Therese Crawford, have Lloy Ball and Clay Stanley in town, "so we are able to go hang out with them for fun."

Yes. Hanging out with Lloy Ball and Clay Stanley is fun, isn't it.

As the article comes to a close, it's obvious that Russia isn't for Haneef. She's looking forward to returning to California, as well as her impending marriage and subsequent honeymoon in Jamaica. Living in Kazan, Tartastan, Russia has led her to "truly cherish what I have at home":

Family, friends, good food, clean water and a nice home to say the least. Once you have lived in another country you value even the little things, such as peanut butter or pancakes and eggs, SO much more!!!

Peanut butter. Pancakes. Eggs. God bless America.

Sheila Shaw, come on down!

Sheila Shaw, Wisconsin native and now National Team Training somethingsomething Roster member, participated in the much-ballyhooed USAV Q&A, giving us yet another piece of the national team puzzle.

For instance, who does Shaw think is the funniest person on the national team? Lindsey Hunter. This throws kind of a monkey wrench in our belief that Jillian Davis was Senior Ham within the program. How many comedians can one program have? Are we at risk of a Two-Many-Cooks-In-The-Kitchen kind of situation?

Shaw also proves to be a bit of an enigma, as she cites brats, pickles, and cheese as her favorite foods, like all good Wisconsinites should. But when it comes to Shaw's favorite restaurant, she goes with The Olive Garden. The Olive Garden? Not the Nitty Gritty? Or the Great Dane? Or anywhere other than The Olive Garden?

Also mentioned is Shaw's favorite TV show, "The Hills," which we totally agree with because there's nothing more interesting than when Lauren and Whitney totally gab about Heidi and El Schmucko (Spencer) and what was that birthday toast? but there's not time for that because Lo is back! and Jen's all "It's just a boy" and Lauren's all "You are SO off my show" and the clueless dude is all "Where are you from?" as if "Laguna Beach" never happened and...

...well, you get the point.

USAV slips one past us

Did anyone else notice this? USAVolleyball.org posted a story on February 22 that seemed like just your run-of-the-mill announcement of changes to Junior Olympics Lite, aka the invitational tournament.

But those changes are nothing if not tantalizing. One, the invitational is being opened to teams outside the U.S. The press release only mentions Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, so it doesn't appear that the Dutch will be sending a contingency anytime soon.

Also new for this year is the stipulation that a team may play in BOTH the standard Junior Olympics and the invitational. So why would a team that qualified for JOs want to play in the invitational? I imagine the USAV thinks that the lure of playing international competition may be enough to bring teams.

Why would international teams come here to play in JOs Lite? At first, they may not come in droves, but you can foresee a day when the stronger teams start to come if they know they can play Mizuno Long Beach, Sports Performance, and the like.

Of course, allowing international teams to come means -- potentially -- more teams in the invite. But, what if...

What if one day the top teams decide it's more prestigious to play in the newly international invite instead of JOs? Is there the chance that Front Range skips JOs to save their energy for the invite? Will that lessen the prestige associated with a JOs title?

"Well, you won 16 Open, but Golden West wasn't there."

...that's all I got. Not a whole heckuva lot going on right now, and I kinda got all Mike Wallace for a moment.

We take the USA Volleyball Quiz!

Get out your #2 pencils and dive in to the latest bit of fun at USAVolleyball.org, a 13-question quiz that tests your knowledge of the 11-member national team training roster! Weeeeee! I can't wait for the hidden picture contest and word find next month!

#1 - Which three players on the current U.S. Women’s National Training Team played on the same volleyball team for at least one season with their sisters during college?

A. Don't insult my intelligence. Nu'u, Bowman, and...um, I'll come back to this one.

#2 - Which player on the U.S. Women’s National Training Team played in two NCAA championship matches at different positions?

A. Don't be distracted by the presence of Huskies on the roster. The answer is Busboom. Next.

#3 - Lee Maes was this current U.S. Women’s National Training Team player’s club coach prior to attending college.

A. Again, it's quite easy to look in the wrong place. Answer: Allison Anderson, who played for Golden Bear.

#4 - Yoshie Takeshita and Tiger Woods are the favorite athletes of this current U.S. Women’s National Training Team player.

A. I don't even know who Yoshie Takeshita is, let alone know who's in love with him. Her. Whatever.

#5 - Which player is one semester short of a psychology degree?

A. Tom Hogan.

#6 - As a sophomore, this player led NCAA Division I with nine triple-doubles.

A. The only player I remember getting triple doubles with any regularity is Misty May when she set at Long Beach, and Bowman used to set AND hit rightside, so Bowman is the answer. Bowman.

#7 - After her volleyball career, this player envisions teaching ESL to young children.

A. Tom Hogan.

#8 - Which player captured the Class D 100-meter high hurdles title at her state track and field meet?

A. Busboom. She's got that hurdler look to her. I'd love to say Candace Lee, just because the idea of a libero zipping over high hurdles is appealing.

#9 - Which player wants to become a college athletic director after her volleyball playing career is over?

A. The thing you have to ask yourself here is, Which one of these players appears to be a person who could survive despite the constant annoyances of the A.D. job? Who would excel in the soul-grinding minutiae of being an A.D.? Here's where I go with Courtney Thompson. She could throw a drunken cross country runner off a team for public drunkenness in the blink of an eye and still find time to enjoy that day's Ziggy cartoon.

#10 - In addition to volleyball, this current training team player competed in the triple jump in college for one season.

A. Trick question. None of them.

#11 - Which player is obsessed with Shark Week on Discovery Channel?

A. You could go with Candace Lee. She seems to be the silent-but-deadly type that appreciates the efficiency of a shark, but I think I remember The Ham (Jillian Davis) saying she enjoyed this show.

#12 – Which current training team player moved to middle blocker as a college junior after playing her first two collegiate seasons as an opposite?

A. It's gotta be Tomes, doesn't it? The next tallest player is 5'10", and while I know Bowman is multitalented, I don't remember her cracking any 1-balls for the Gophers.

#13 - Which player competed on four state high school volleyball championship teams?

A. This is tricky. You'd want to pick Drury because she's from Louisville, and in all likelihood that means she played for Assumption, and they lose to an in-state school only once every 30 years. No, I'm going with Fenton, because Marysville is nutso for volleyball in the Mitten State.

BONUS QUESTION:
Who will be the next player added to the U.S. Women's National Training Team? (answer not provided on answer key page)

A. What? No answer to this one on the key page? You didn't want to announce who made the team by posting it as the answer to a fun web page quiz? That's...actually very decent of you. I have no idea who the next player added will be. Hunter's been around a while, but Busboom's a crazy good athlete. So I'm gonna plead the 5th and wait. I got time.

The answers reveal that we got 9 out of 13 right. Not too bad, but I'm guessing Bill Kauffman isn't impressed.

The Travel Gnome sold somebody a bill of goods

USA Volleyball has announced that Portland, Ore., and Green Bay, Wis., will host the first two weekends of domestic competition when the U.S. Men’s Volleyball Team plays in the 2007 FIVB World League.

I'm assuming Fargo, N.D., and Yuma, Ariz., were busy on those dates?

According to USA Volleyball grand poobah Doug Beal, Portland has hosted matches before, "including the sold-out matches"--Oh, I stand corrected. Perhaps Portland is a solid choi--"between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1985."

The Soviet Union in 1985? Pardon? Well, I'm sure not much has changed in Portland in the last 22 years...right?

As for Green Bay, Beal states that "Its support of the Packers is unmatched in any other NFL city." Yes, the Packers, not men's volleyball. Unless you can cite previous sellouts during the Eisenhower administration.

"We hope to get similar support for our team."

Yeah, and I hope Jennifer Love Hewitt moves in next door. This ain't "The Shawshank Redemption," Douglas, and you're not Morgan Freeman.

John Kessel: Volleyball's Mr. Nice Guy

According to USAVolleyball.org, John Kessel -- Bob Knight's polar opposite in the coaching world -- "was one of 19 individuals selected as a 2007 Sports Ethics Fellow as chosen by the Institute for International Sport and the Positive Coaching Alliance at Stanford University."

That's really just a fancy way of saying "Gosh you're swell!"

Among the 19 others selected for the honor is Bart Conner. So that's now two things that Kessel has in common with former Olympic gymnast Conner: this award, and an irrational fear of pommel horses.

Other nicknames in USA Volleyball

And the Cheese Mallet (Hugh McCutcheon) is having a root canal on Tuesday...just, you know...FYI.

By the way, Tom Pingel is the Golden C-Clamp, John Kessel the Clay Spatula, and Doug Beal the Monkey Wrench.

Link to Lang Ping video

Danielle Scott is SO big time

So USAVolleyball.org has given us a lot of online journals from youngsters such as Candace Lee and Dani Busboom, so it's a nice contrast to have one from Danielle Scott, a USA veteran with a wealth of international experience.

The differences between these entries are subtle, but they're there. Plus, Scott is as big a player as we've had the last 10-15 years, and we don't hear nearly enough about her.

So why is Scott big time? Because she casually talks about things I have no concept of. Whereas journal entries by the youngsters talk about how much fun they're having in Colorado Springs, Scott talks about playing in the Brazilian Superliga for Cimed Macae. I don't even know where or what Macae is, but it sounds good. The youngsters talk about getting to know former colleges foes, while Scott writes things like "we drove from Sao Paulo to Paraty (Parati) during carnival," and "we stayed in a quaint Pousada," and doesn't bother explaining any of it to us. The funny part is I don't even mind. But I appreciate her letting us know that Paraty is better known as...Parati.

Scott closes up the article by telling us that Wiz Bachman (she became "Wiz" apparently when Lang Ping became "Jenny") is playing for Toshi in Japan, but has a cold right now because "it's freezing in Yamagata YIKES!" I have no idea what she's talking about, and yet I can't help but be intrigued. My new goal is to figure out a way to work "Yamagata" into casual conversations.

"I forgot my coat. Good thing I'm not in Yamagata! Ha! Ha-ha...heh."

Kristen Fenton: Clearly bored out of her skull

Former Fresno State outside hitter Kristen Fenton is one of the 10 or so athletes that have been training with USA Volleyball for the past few months, and from reading her latest online journal entry, one thing is clear: She's bored to tears.

Now, she doesn't come right out and say that, but we're pretty savvy. We can read between the lines. Take these few sentences:

"As I mentioned, it has been pretty intense and coming from a hitter's standpoint, defense is not my most favorite aspect of the game to focus on for six weeks."

Translation: SIX WEEKS?! I'm a hitter, yo. How can anyone be expected to work on defense this long? Isn't there some kind of accelerated program I can do instead?

"However, it is a very important part of volleyball and I realized just how much I do need to focus on defense to better my overall game."

Translation: I realized this right about the time the USA coaches told me I needed to focus on it.

"I have been given some opportunities in practice to swing on the outside during competition drills and I look forward to that part of practice everyday!!"

Translation: It's the only part I look forward to. Other than that, I long for the carefree days of Child & Family Studies in Fresno, with the wind at my back and a song in my heart.

"Seeing that there are only 10 of us as of now, we haven't been able to play full six on six games."

Translation: What brain surgeon decided to only bring in 10 of us? Pingel, I'm lookin' at you.

"I'm not going to lie, I didn't know what to expect because we haven't been put in many game situations during practice."

Translation: See previous mention of the number 10.

"...there are still things that we need to work on, but it was good to actually get to play."

Translation: Did I mention the six weeks of defense?

"Overall, I had fun today and it was awesome to be able to play a full volleyball game."

Translation: SIX freakin' WEEKS! AUGHGHGHGHGH!!!

Of course, we could be wrong.

Kitchen sink also expected to try out

USA Volleyball will be conducting what amounts to a two-day tryout starting at 6 p.m. on February 23 and ending at 11 a.m. on February 25, and they've invited a "tentative" list of 110 athletes to participate. (You can see the whole list here.)

With a list of 110 people, our question is, ONLY 110? Are you sure you don't want to go deeper than that? Who wasn't invited? (Besides anyone from Penn State.) And who are some of these people?

Case in point: Lea Rosborough is listed as a libero. As far as we can tell, she never played collegiate volleyball, but did finish second as part of the 4x100 relay race team for Forth Worth Dunbar High School in Texas in 1988. I'm sure I'll learn later that she's a tremendous player, but until then, aren't we covered in the libero department with names such as Ailes, Cusack, Jennings, and Blackburn?

Far be it from us to criticize Lang "Jenny" Ping, but are you sure you don't want to go deeper than just 110 athletes? I mean you've given yourself a whole three days (really two) to look at these players, why not ratchet up the degree of difficulty?

Sarah Drury's Journal: More fun than we first thought

We anxiously awaited the next player journal from USAVolleyball.org, hoping it would give us some insight into the status of senior citizen Tom Hogan's recent back injury. Unfortunately, Sarah Drury's entry doesn't help us out much.

After letting us know that the team calls her Puff Daddy -- or something like that -- Drury lets us know that Coach Hogan was a nice guy and gave them last weekend off. Well of course he did; he's in traction. There were no other clues as to Hogan's health, though, and Drury spent much of the rest of the entry talking about wrestling.

The best part might be another John Cook sighting in Puffy's action shot! If you squint, you can make out Cook and his Boy Wonder (yeah, that means Cook is Batman, we know), Lee Maes, cozying it up in the background of the picture. Is he living in Colorado Springs now?

If you recall, Cook was in the background of Courtney Thompson's action shot, chewing the fat with Kevin Hambly while an anonymous dude splayed his legs suggestively.
In this new shot, Cook seems to be showing Maes something: "And here's the gold-plated Winnebago I bought with my bonus." Or perhaps they're looking over a list of candidates for the vacant assistant coaching job:
"Schaub?"
"Hired by MSU-Billings."
"DAMN! OK, what about Hazelwood?"
"Went to Austin Peay just the other day."
"Well, you're just no help at all, you know that? What am I paying you?"

Tom Hogan: The AARP tolls for thee

If you happened to read Candace Lee's latest USA Journal entry, you learned that USA coach Tom Hogan "blew out his back." Candace goes on to say that Hogan's taking "happy meds" while waiting for his back to stop spasming. Not having any medical training of any kind, we went online to make a completely unscientific diagnosis for Coach Hogan based on what we could find on the Internet (which is never wrong).

According to sportsinjurybulletin.com, back spasms are "a response to an injury or inflammation of the spinal region." More specific causes can be the "repeated rotational movements of the spine, such as the swinging motions" found in many sports. Thankfully, volleyball involves none of those, especially when you're coaching...

Mentioned on many websites is that age can be a contributing factor in the occurrence of back injuries. Osteoporosis, arthritis, vitamin deficiencies, all come with age. They can all lead to the spasms, too.

Well, that seals it: Tom Hogan is obviously getting too old for coaching, as evidenced by this photo.

The website goes on to recommend a number of different exercises to help combat back injuries, including, interestingly enough, picking up litter. So if you find yourself at the Olympic Training Center sometime soon, and you see Tom Hogan walking around the parking lot picking up pop cans and discarded gum wrappers, you know why.

Godspeed, Tom Hogan.

Candace Lee dreams of an Asian Jennifer Garner

In the latest installment of USA Volleyball's attempt to inject personality into USAVolleyball.org, we learn a little more about stellar former Washington libero Candace Lee with another installment of..."20 Questions"!

If a movie was made about your life, which actor or actress would you want to play you?
Probably an Asian one but I like Jennifer Garner

Hard to keep the image of a Japan born-and-bred Jennifer Garner out of your mind, isn't it?

Candace Lee's favorite quote is Romans 11:36, which struck us as funny, because we thought that's not really catchy. Can't really use that as a clever rejoinder the way you can "And was that a 'niner' in there?" or "You're my boy, Blue!" Suddenly yelling out "Romans 11:36!" and punching a buddy in the arm while you all share a laugh...

But of course we know that it's the actual Bible passage Romans 11:36 that Candace meant, not the words "Romans 11:36." We just thought it was funnier the other way.

By the way, notice the following explanantion before every "20 Questions" feature?

This series will be a regular feature promoting the U.S. national team players.

When trying to inject more personality into your website with a feature, it's not really necessary to, you know, explain what you're doing. It's like a comedian telling an audience "I will now present humorous observations for your enjoyment while you suck down the two drink minimum."

Portrait of a ham: Jillian Davis

, There may be a new leader for the women's national team in the category of Most Personality.

We've long considered Courtney Thompson as the college player with the most personality, given her superb performances at the past three All-American banquets. But Cal Berkeley's Jillian Davis is slowly starting to creep into the picture. The libero has already been mentioned in previous articles for her apparently stellar Ron Burgundy imitation, so it was with great anticipation that we perused "20 Questions with Jillian Davis."

We were not disappointed.

Among those she would most want to invite to dinner? Sure, there's the standard answers such as John Wooden and Peyton Manning, but then Davis throws a curve in mentioning Parker Posey and Catherine O'Hara, mainstays of Christopher Guest movies. The question of favorite movies yields more mainstays of today's collegiate athlete, but then goes old school in eliciting "Uncle Buck," and, continuing the Christopher Guest theme, "Best in Show."

But the best moment of the article is Davis' biggest pet peeve. Bad drivers? Nope. Early mornings? Nah. Jillian Davis can't stand it when her hands smell like food. I didn't know this could even be a pet peeve. I've heard of people hating it when their hands smell like fish, onions, liverwurst, but never food in general. Davis goes on to claim she thinks the pet peeve is hereditary, too, as she shares the affliction with her dad.

We also appreciate the nod to teammate Courtney Thompson, who Davis says "hands down" is the funniest person on the squad. Perhaps these two could get their own Internet talk show (USA Volleyball, I'm talkin' to you): "Davis & Thompson;" "D&T;" "The DTs!"

I'm Ron Burgundy?

No. 1 obscure fact revealed in USAVolleyball.org's new player journal feature: Cal Berkeley libero Jillian Davis does a mean Ron Burgundy imitation. We're just glad that the web site is trying to actually attract visitors, as opposed to being the web equivalent of C-SPAN.