Power Surge Volleyball - Respect All, Fear None

Congratulations to everyone who participated in our recent July 6th BCS training in the sand at Sunnyside Beach. If you’ve never played in the sand before, you will be amazed at how different it is but how much fun it is. Congrats to Ron & Emily Beach for winning our impromptu Family Doubles tourney this past Sat July 6th at Sunnyside Beach. With a last name like “Beach” it’s no wonder they won in the sand, Lol!

Our next BCS training in the sand is this Sat July 13, 11 am to 1 PM, same place, Sunnyside Beach in Steilacoom. Everyone is invited, current and former Power Surge families. We will have another family doubles tourney again so bring your sand game, a sack lunch, lots of water/soft drink, shades, and sun screen.

Our annual Power Surge picnic coming up Sat August 10th at Sunnyside Beach. More details to come soon.

We came, we flew, we conquered!

I would like to thank all the Orlando players and parents who committed to going to Orlando with this combined Power Surge team. Without your full commitment, this trip would have never happened. This combination team was truly a last minute “coalition of the committed,” and I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of players to be a part of such a historic event for our Power Surge club. Even though we never got the quality practices as a team where everyone was available at the same time, nor did we get to test our team in a legitimate competition beforehand, I cannot be more proud of your performance in Orlando. I was amazed everyday in Orlando and am still amazed today at how well you all came together and played like you have been playing together all season long. The wonderful memories will be with me for a very long time.

It was the first time for a Power Surge team to attend the AAU Nationals, even though it was a long time desire of ours to play in the largest Girls National Volleyball Competition in the world. So you ten players made Power Surge history, paving the way for many other Power Surge teams. More importantly, all 10 of you were stellar representatives of our club and played so well together. I name you all below with so much pride and honor. It was truly a privilege for me to coach this team in Orlando, a privilege and honor I will not soon forget.

1. Alandra Acido-Pastor 2. Chalyse Fuimaono 3. Eliana Luteru 4. Jazalyn Dizon 5. Parisa Mirjalili 6. Tevlin Britten 7. Callie Wimbles 8. Jalysah Randolph 9. Pamela Dalton 10. Mikaela Garcia

You are pioneers and have set a high standard of excellence for all other Power Surge teams to come, 22nd out of 134 teams in the 2019 U17 Club Division. Those who follow will have some huge shoes to fill for sure.

I also want to thank Coach Lou for assisting on and off the court. For a first year apprentice coach, Coach Lou did an outstanding job. I also want to thank Ms. Tanya for all her help and especially her fantastic videography skills. If you have not seen the incredible video she posted on our Power Surge VBC Family facebook, you should see it right away. The highlights will fill your heart with so much pride. I also want to thank our event planner, Ms. Tevy for making our StarFlyer/Team Dinner combination event happen flawlessly. I don’t know how many dinner plans were made and then changed so many times thereafter because our team kept coming back to life in the tiebreakers. I also want to thank Miss Amanda for helping Miss Tevy with the chaperone duties at the Disney Typhoon Water Park Party. I also want to thank all our parents too, but especially our parents who could not be there but still supported our Orlando effort by allowing their daughters to attend without them. I appreciate that trust. Your daughters were amazing.

Finally I want to thank Bonnie, my honey, for being there with me. I could not have survived without you there. Love you always.

Mahalo Team Orlando, and don’t forget to check out Miss Tanya’s fantastic video on our Power Surge VBC Family facebook. Again, thank you Miss Tanya for taking the time to put together that precious and outstanding video of wonderful AAU/Orlando memories for our viewing pleasure.

Aloha Pumehana,

Coach Kama Kalalau

Summer League is well on it’s way, and after 3 Monday night practices at Lakewood CC, and a scrimmage at Washington HS on Tue 6/18, Team Orlando heads to the AAU Girls National Championships, the largest girls volleyball national championships in the United States and the world.

While Team Orlando is gone, Coach Roland and our Summer League/Ball Control School players will pick up the slack and carry on defending our league title, thus continuing our long and proud history in the Lakewood Summer League.

Good luck to Team Orlando in Florida and also good luck to our SL/BCS players next Monday night Jun 24th. Go Power Surge!

Aloha Power Surge Ohana,

Congratulations to our Power Surge 12 Gold team, better known as “THE Babies,” for their outstanding season. They started with 9 committed players, and finished with the same 9 committed players. In our club this 2019 season, that is a very noteworthy and outstanding accomplishment. They were the only team this season that can proudly claim that honor.

I would like to thank my assistant coaches, Roland, Tana, & Lou for helping out with the babies this year. Without them, it would not have been possible for me to coach both the 17s and the babies. Coach Roland and Coach Lou took the babies to their Gig Harbor tournament Feb 24th while I was with our 18s at their PSR Bid tourney. And then on Apr 20th Coach Tana & Coach Roland took the Babies to their Cowlitz Tourney in Longview, WA, their first “travel” outside our region tournament, while I took our combined 17s & 18s team to the Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon, WA. It’s very nice to have coaches who can swing from one team to another as needed. And the reason we can do that is because in our club, we teach the same system of defense, offense, rotations, and transitions for all age groups, with a few necessary age and skill-appropriate modifications for each team.

When our babies first started out, it was very evident that we would be having a rebuilding year; not from the ground up but from below the basement up. That was very evident at tryouts and even more evident when we scrimmaged PJ and Puget Sound in early Jan. But to be fair, rebuilding at the U12 level was not so unusual a few years ago. In the past, usually at U12 it is a rebuilding year for the majority of most U12 teams. But today, many players are starting their volleyball careers at 10 years old so by the time they are 11 or 12, they are already way ahead of the competition. And at the highest U12 levels in the nation, they are almost playing like high school varsity teams.

But that’s okay, I was happy to have a team at that age group no matter where their skill level was and if we have to start from the beginning so be it. I’m a strong believer in taking what walks through our doors, and make them the very best they can be. As long as they are committed, teachable, positive, and willing to work hard, I can work with that. However this is not a team I can hand over to anyone, and I’m already committed to our 17s. It so happens, however, our 17s play on different days in Power League than our 12s. There are some other conflicts but with help from my other coaches, I should be able to take the 12s as well. And so off we went.

I added extra practices, increased their practice time by 30 minutes, determined to whip them into shape before the tournaments started. There’s so much to do in such a short amount of time but we’re gonna get there, I was confident of that fact. In the beginning it was challenging but I kept reminding the parents (and myself) that this is what the beginning of greatness looks like.

Then the first tournament came along on Jan 6th, great opportunity to see where we are at before the all important Power League near the end of the month. A snow storm hits our area and the tournament is canceled, due to a Power Outage at Sunrise Courts, after we all show up . But a few die hards like us still want to play so we head to practice instead at Sprinker.

While we are at Sprinker, we get an invite to scrimmage Puget Sound’s two U12 teams at Bellarmine HS. It was a disaster, but only if you paid attention to silly little details like the scores. But for me it was a much needed scrimmage to get our players to see what a real game looks like and why it is very important that they all learn their lineups, rotations, serve-receive formations, and their transitions. If you are lost out there, you simply cannot be on the court. And in those two scrimmages, we made some great strides in learning our lineups, rotations, serve-receive formations, and transitions, enough so that we weren’t that lost out there by the end of the day. Unfortunately those accomplishments didn’t immediately translate into points for us that day.

What makes this team special, however, is the fact that they kept doing all the things we needed to do in practices at Sprinker, on the racket ball courts, where all the magic takes place. Every drill, every exercise, every push up, every muscle memory that needed to be developed, was developed. Evey hand-eye movement that needed to be coordinated, was coordinated, and practiced over and over again.

For more than a solid month we worked on all the basic individual skills, footwork, ready positions, arm swings (on the right and left sides), tosses, positioning, contact, platforms, 2-2 setting position, timing, techniques, tons of push ups and crunches, homework assignments, etc. At the same time we are also building cohesiveness and gaining knowledge and understanding of all the necessary team systems we need to learn and execute seamlessly in order to play like a team. As if this isn’t enough, we must also learn how to keep score, track the libero, line judge, and R2. I often take a team by myself, so even at this very young age, my 11 and 12 year olds must learn how to keep score by themselves at the score table. No matter how you look at it, we demand and expect a lot from our babies. But on the other hand, we get a lot too.

But the real test is about to come, Power League. In PL1, we win the first match, lose the 2nd, win the 3rd and lose the 4th and 5th matches, 2 and 5 is our record. Not bad for our first tournament of the season. We actually won 2 matches and not just a few games here and there. But Power League #2 is just around the corner, a mere 3 weeks later. Another storm hits our area and PL2 is canceled. We head to Gig Harbor for a local tournament and finish 2nd in Silver, we actually played for the Silver Championship. Something happened after Gig Harbor and the babies return to PLs 3 & 4 with a vengeance. They take PL3 by storm and win all 4 of their matches. A month later they come back for PL4 and do exactly the same thing, win all 4 matches.

They go on to the 2-day Regional Championships and win all their matches on Day 1. Lost just 1 match on Day 2 and finish 3rd in the Jade Division. They were just 1 match away from winning the Jade Championship.

Looking back at their beginning, it was indeed a beginning that was full of challenges, not very inspiring, nor promising. But it goes to show once again, that you can never put any player or team in a box, especially when they are this young. If you keep showing up, if you never quit or give up, and if you keep working hard and improving, wonderful things can happen. If you don’t show up, nothing will ever happen. I am so proud of our young ladies, Power Surge 12 Gold.

In the beginning I figured we would win a few sets here and there, and maybe a few matches here and there. For a first year team to club ball and a very young team also, that’s a good thing. But they exceeded all our expectations winning 16 matches and losing just 4 matches in Power League and the Regional Championships. The “babies” showed up in a huge way, they defied the imagination, and shocked us all.
Well done ladies, and keep doing your homework assignments over the summer. See you all next year.

Finally, none of this can happen without the support of our parents. So a big thank you to all our parents for their unwavering support. Our 12s’ parents also distinguished themselves at the tournaments too, by being the loudest in the gym. Actually, to be more accurate, they were the only ones cheering at all, usually. So after a while, everyone knew exactly when Power Surge was playing, just follow the roar.

A season to remember for sure, thank you all!

Coach Kama

Note 1: The ball control test will be administered on Thu Apr 4th. The goal for all 6 exercises for the month of April is 40 reps. You must complete all 6 exercises, 40 consecutive reps each, one exercise at a time, one exercise after the other. If at any time you mess up just one rep from any of the 6 exercises, you have failed the test and therefore you are done for the night. At the last practice of the season, each team will be administered the ball control test and anyone who successfully completes the entire ball control test, will be added to our Power Surge Ball Control School (BCS) Hall of Fame. In 2018, no one passed the test and therefore no one was added to our Hall of Fame. The opportunity to change or make history is in your hands.

Note 2:  It is also a Power Surge tradition for the parents to play their daughters in an end-of-season volleyball match.  That match will be held at the last practice of the season.  That evening, the ball control test will be administered first and then the parents will play their daughers.  So parents, dust off them old gym shoes, and bring your game!

Mon 1 Apr 2019
     6 PM to 7:30 PM at Sprinker, 12s

Tue 2 Apr 2019
     6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at PLS, 17s & 18s

Thu 4 Apr 2019
     6 PM to 7 PM at PLS, 12s
     6:30 PM to 8 PM at PLS, 17s (except for those who have already left for Vegas)
     6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at PLS, 18s 

Fri 5 Apr 2019
     17s head to Vegas for the SCVA's Red Rock Rave Qualifier, 6-8 Apr.  Players must arrive in Vegas by Noon, team check in to hotel at 3 PM, team check in to the tournament at 6 PM, team dinner at 7 PM, Lights out at 10 PM. 

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Sun 7 Apr 2019 - 12s Play in their final Power League #4. This is the last opportunity for us to improve our standing, which will be used next year to help seed us in the first Seeding Day power league tourney. So this one is very important! Coach Tana & Coach Lou will be taking the 12s to this tourney as I will be with the 17s in Vegas. Have a great tournament Babies and Coaches!!! 

Note: For many school districts, Spring Break is right around this timeframe, starting last week and well into next for some. We recognize that Spring Break is a time for family and if you will be out of town during your Spring Break, those absences will not count against you as far as our practice policy is concerned.  Please inform your coaches in advance.  However, if you are in town, and you have family coming to visit in town, I still expect all our players to attend their 2-hour practices. Have the family come to your practice and see what a goof ball you are.

Mon 8 Apr 2019
      6 PM to 7:30 PM at Sprinker, 12s - No Practice, enjoy the eveing off!

Tue 9 Apr 2019
      6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at PLS, 17s & 18s

Thu 11 Apr 2019
      6 PM to 7 PM at PLS, 12s
      6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at PLS, 17s & 18s

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Mon 15 Apr 2019
     6 PM to 7:30 PM at Sprinker, 12s
  
Tue 16 Apr 2019 - Team Photos Tonight
      6 PM to 7:30 PM at PLS, 12s

      6:30 PM to 8;30 PM at PLS, 17s & 18s

Wed 17 Apr 2019
     6 PM to 8 PM at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) Gym, 17s 
     Note:  The 2 seniors from the 18s (Shariah & Preshy) will be joining the 17s in this scrimmage against SSVBC-17.  This scrimmage is for the Tacoma Volleyball Official's Board to conduct training for their new high school and college officials. Our 17s and South Sound are providing the high school team match.  Players will wear their white long sleeve jerseys, libero in black solid.  Please mark this date on your calendars, do not be late, in fact, be there at 5:45 PM if you can.  

Thu 18 Apr 2019
     6 PM to 7 PM at PLS, 12s
     6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at PLS, 17s & 18s

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Starting this week and continuing through the end of our 2019 season, most of our practices will be held at Stahl JH in Puyallup.  Some practices may be held at Washington HS, Franklin Pierce HS, Northwest Christian School, and others. Please always check our practice webpage for the latest practice locations. Mahalo.

Mon 22 Apr 2019
     6 PM to 7:30 PM at Sprinker, 12s

Tue 23 Apr 2019
     6 PM to 8 PM at Stahl JH, 17s & 18s

Thu 25 Apr 2019
     6 PM to 8 PM at Stahl JH, 12s
     Note:  Final practice for our 12s.  12s, practice for 30 minutes on one side of the court while parents warm up on the other side.  12s take their final ball control test to see who makes it into our Power Surge Hall of Fame, then they scrimmage their parents.  Bring your game, have fun, and make some great final memories!  Always Ready!

     6 PM to 8 PM at Stahl JH, 17s & 18s (Share a court (half court each))

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Tue 30 Apr 2019
      6 PM to 8 PM at PLS, 17s & 18s

Thu 2 May 2019
      6 PM to 8 PM at Stahl JH, 17s & 18s

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