Wow. It’s crazy to think that 4 months ago I got on a plane headed off to America, ready to begin my time at The university of Charleston. To be honest i’m not too sure where to begin, so i guess I’ll start from the start. The university of Charleston is in the city of Charleston which is the capital of West Virginia, the campus itself is rather small however the facilities are really pretty amazing and we play at Division 1 (the highest division) of American collegiate volleyball
My first semester went by very quickly and was a very new experience, right from the moment I landed I was busy whether it was organizing my classes or meeting my new teammates in the first week I always had something to do. The volleyball program is undergoing a bit of a transitioning year this year, as the program is only in its 5th year, and with a new coach no one really what to expect from the coming semester, however coach made it very clear that there would be lots of hard work. We started practicing at the beginning of September, the first month or so of the semester we were on restrictions with the amount of practice hours as a team we were allowed to do according the NCAA so we practiced at 6 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays along with a lift at 5pm each day and to finish off the week we had a conditioning session on Friday evenings which would consist of us being pushed to our limits in terms of fitness. This would be continuing to be our preseason schedule until November 1st rolled around. From then on in we would practice every morning at 6am and lift on Tuesdays and Thursdays and conditioning on wednesday nights, this would also include a team study hall for an hour on mondays, wednesdays and fridays. Now I found out the hard way that when coach said practice at 6am he didn’t just mean be warmed up and ready, he meant two nets set up, all players warmed up and wearing our training gear and to be doing our serve and pass drill when he walked in at 6am, so whilst our practices were at 6am I was up everyday at 4:55 am. During this month we also did a jump serve speed test, we have a lot of jump servers on our so coach wanted to get a rough idea of the speeds, My fastest serve was also the teams fastest serve and it was clocked in at 70 miles per hour, which roughly translates to 112km per hour. Not only did we do a serve speed test but we did a jump touch test, and I got a personal best of just under 12 feet, which is about 355cm - 359cm.
Naturally with such a physically demanding volleyball schedule we (being most of the players on the team) would often nap during the day whenever we’d have a chance, and if there is one thing I have learnt here it’s to never underestimate the power of a good nap. After the Christmas break our team was required to be back on the 27th of December for our first morning practice on the 28th, with our first game against the Ohio State University, a team who have won 2 of the last 3 national championships, we began to practice twice a day until the 4th of January.
Whilst we did challenge the former national champions we did eventually go down in three sets and honestly we didn’t really perform to the level that was expected by our coaches or ourselves which was disappointing, the experience I personally gained from travelling to such well known university and playing the third set against the highest level of players I have ever faced was unforgettable. Despite the loss we look ahead to this weekend where we play twice more and are feeling confident that we can get our season back on track and be 2-1.
As the players we discussed at the start of the season we discussed what we think was achievable and what we would set out as our goal, we decided on really pushing for our conference championship and hopefully making it into the national tournament this year.
Also for those wondering, I am currently the third outside on my team so whilst I don’t start right now I have gotten some game time but my goal personally is to really push for a starting place over the next few months.
In terms of academics, I am studying a double in Movement Science and Business Administration, which means on top of my busy volleyball schedule I have twice the classes and therefore twice the homework of most other teammates. Despite the challenge of juggling school and volleyball it has quickly made me mature, and believe it or not taught me to be far more organised and to that all it takes is a consistent study routine and it becomes much easier than originally thought. So i’m sure mum would be wishing I learnt that in high school but better late than never I guess.
Currently I live in the freshman dorm, my roommates are all teammates which makes getting up early just a little bit easier.
Before I finish up, I would like to thank Luke Campbell and his work with GMVA from CoE all the way down to the youth level for all his work he has done for myself and plenty of other athletes, and to my high school coach Josh Cowan without the work the two of you have done for me I would not be where I am today. To any young GMVAers or any others looking to pursue a college career whether it be here in the USA or Canada I highly recommend going for it, and whilst scary and at times the home sickness kicks in it is definitely an experience worth going for! And believe it or not your coaches do know what they are talking about so when the tell you it is not all about bouncing balls they might be onto something.
For anyone who has any further questions or anything else please don’t be afraid to ask I am happy to help.
I hope everyone back home is enjoying the warm weather. Thanks for reading.
My first semester went by very quickly and was a very new experience, right from the moment I landed I was busy whether it was organizing my classes or meeting my new teammates in the first week I always had something to do. The volleyball program is undergoing a bit of a transitioning year this year, as the program is only in its 5th year, and with a new coach no one really what to expect from the coming semester, however coach made it very clear that there would be lots of hard work. We started practicing at the beginning of September, the first month or so of the semester we were on restrictions with the amount of practice hours as a team we were allowed to do according the NCAA so we practiced at 6 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays along with a lift at 5pm each day and to finish off the week we had a conditioning session on Friday evenings which would consist of us being pushed to our limits in terms of fitness. This would be continuing to be our preseason schedule until November 1st rolled around. From then on in we would practice every morning at 6am and lift on Tuesdays and Thursdays and conditioning on wednesday nights, this would also include a team study hall for an hour on mondays, wednesdays and fridays. Now I found out the hard way that when coach said practice at 6am he didn’t just mean be warmed up and ready, he meant two nets set up, all players warmed up and wearing our training gear and to be doing our serve and pass drill when he walked in at 6am, so whilst our practices were at 6am I was up everyday at 4:55 am. During this month we also did a jump serve speed test, we have a lot of jump servers on our so coach wanted to get a rough idea of the speeds, My fastest serve was also the teams fastest serve and it was clocked in at 70 miles per hour, which roughly translates to 112km per hour. Not only did we do a serve speed test but we did a jump touch test, and I got a personal best of just under 12 feet, which is about 355cm - 359cm.
Naturally with such a physically demanding volleyball schedule we (being most of the players on the team) would often nap during the day whenever we’d have a chance, and if there is one thing I have learnt here it’s to never underestimate the power of a good nap. After the Christmas break our team was required to be back on the 27th of December for our first morning practice on the 28th, with our first game against the Ohio State University, a team who have won 2 of the last 3 national championships, we began to practice twice a day until the 4th of January.
Whilst we did challenge the former national champions we did eventually go down in three sets and honestly we didn’t really perform to the level that was expected by our coaches or ourselves which was disappointing, the experience I personally gained from travelling to such well known university and playing the third set against the highest level of players I have ever faced was unforgettable. Despite the loss we look ahead to this weekend where we play twice more and are feeling confident that we can get our season back on track and be 2-1.
As the players we discussed at the start of the season we discussed what we think was achievable and what we would set out as our goal, we decided on really pushing for our conference championship and hopefully making it into the national tournament this year.
Also for those wondering, I am currently the third outside on my team so whilst I don’t start right now I have gotten some game time but my goal personally is to really push for a starting place over the next few months.
In terms of academics, I am studying a double in Movement Science and Business Administration, which means on top of my busy volleyball schedule I have twice the classes and therefore twice the homework of most other teammates. Despite the challenge of juggling school and volleyball it has quickly made me mature, and believe it or not taught me to be far more organised and to that all it takes is a consistent study routine and it becomes much easier than originally thought. So i’m sure mum would be wishing I learnt that in high school but better late than never I guess.
Currently I live in the freshman dorm, my roommates are all teammates which makes getting up early just a little bit easier.
Before I finish up, I would like to thank Luke Campbell and his work with GMVA from CoE all the way down to the youth level for all his work he has done for myself and plenty of other athletes, and to my high school coach Josh Cowan without the work the two of you have done for me I would not be where I am today. To any young GMVAers or any others looking to pursue a college career whether it be here in the USA or Canada I highly recommend going for it, and whilst scary and at times the home sickness kicks in it is definitely an experience worth going for! And believe it or not your coaches do know what they are talking about so when the tell you it is not all about bouncing balls they might be onto something.
For anyone who has any further questions or anything else please don’t be afraid to ask I am happy to help.
I hope everyone back home is enjoying the warm weather. Thanks for reading.
- Lachlan Bray
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