[BobK]

https://gostanford.com/news/2021/11/10/m...gnees.aspx

Great comeback by coach Kosty.
A relative of mine although thru my sister in law and a relative of another poster

[BobK]

https://gostanford.com/news/2021/11/10/m...gnees.aspx

Great comeback by coach Kosty.
A relative of mine although thru my sister in law and a relative of another poster

[Langdude]

What do you think of these incoming players, Mick?

-m.

[Langdude]

What do you think of these incoming players, Mick?

-m.

[82lsju]

it looks like five of the six played for the same club, Bay to Bay Volleyball Club...

[82lsju]

it looks like five of the six played for the same club, Bay to Bay Volleyball Club...

[Mick]

What do you think of these incoming players, Mick?

-m.

Here are my thoughts:

1) Stanford normally has five recruits, and I would have expected six or seven this year.  So Kosty did a great job both being able to recruit and keeping his recruiting class together.

2) The SCVA (Southern California Volleyball Association) experience has been instructive.  The pandemic wiped out most of the original clubs.  When my sons were playing, they had 65 - 80 clubs in their association, now it's down to 34, and I only recognized 1/2 dozen of them.  And two of the top three teams are from Las Vegas.  This indicates that SoCal club volleyball has potentially lost its power.

3) This is important because five of the six recruits are from Northern California, not generally noted as a hotbed for men's volleyball. At the same time, NorCal boys' volleyball has exploded.  There are 55 club teams in NorCal, considerably outpacing SoCal. So the built-in competition exists up here.  

4) There wasn't a formal Junior Olympics program in 2020 and it was limited in 2021.  But the last two times these Bay to Bay Club recruits competed on the National level, it was in 2019 as 15 year-olds and 2021 as 17 year-olds, and both times they finished 3rd of about 70 teams. That indicates an exceptional skill level.  My son's team finished 10th in 2010, and they sent eight players to D1, including two National team players.  The third place finisher would be a much better team with much more desireable recruits.  

https://www.b2bvolleyball.com/alumni
https://results.advancedeventsystems.com.../standings

5)  Stanford's assistant coach runs the main team.  They run same/similar systems as to what Bay to Bay does.  They're steeped in the system. This is key because NorCal players take more time to mature, they have less beach time, so they are less of a fully-finished product as players from SoCal and Hawaii.  In other words, I think they're ceiling's a bit higher than you'd otherwise expect, once they start a D1 training regimen.

6) I have some pretty firm opinions on the individual players.  I know the mother of one of them well, she told me some weeks back that this was going to happen.  I'd rather not be specific as to the recruits.  I think two of them are very strong, two of them are essentially practice players, and the jury's out on the other two, but one of them needs to be exceptional because he's at a critical position.  Jury's out for a few years, because a lot of development happens at this age...they haven't even had their senior year yet.  I like the breadth of the recruits, and I don't think it matters that they all came from the same club.

Despite pandemic-based circumstances, I think these recruits have fared very well and they have succeeded at the national level for years.  It will be interesting to see how many of these athletes are playing in three years.  My overall opinion is that I really like this team, very strong, proven at a national level.  Very young right now and want to see how and where they emerge, and how they grow from here.  If you're in Northern California, you should be able to see them in both high school and club venues.  Bay to Bay plays this weekend at the Santa Clara Convention Center (last league match) and the NorCal club championships are at the San Jose Convention Center, December 18th and 19th.

[Mick]

What do you think of these incoming players, Mick?

-m.

Here are my thoughts:

1) Stanford normally has five recruits, and I would have expected six or seven this year.  So Kosty did a great job both being able to recruit and keeping his recruiting class together.

2) The SCVA (Southern California Volleyball Association) experience has been instructive.  The pandemic wiped out most of the original clubs.  When my sons were playing, they had 65 - 80 clubs in their association, now it's down to 34, and I only recognized 1/2 dozen of them.  And two of the top three teams are from Las Vegas.  This indicates that SoCal club volleyball has potentially lost its power.

3) This is important because five of the six recruits are from Northern California, not generally noted as a hotbed for men's volleyball. At the same time, NorCal boys' volleyball has exploded.  There are 55 club teams in NorCal, considerably outpacing SoCal. So the built-in competition exists up here.  

4) There wasn't a formal Junior Olympics program in 2020 and it was limited in 2021.  But the last two times these Bay to Bay Club recruits competed on the National level, it was in 2019 as 15 year-olds and 2021 as 17 year-olds, and both times they finished 3rd of about 70 teams. That indicates an exceptional skill level.  My son's team finished 10th in 2010, and they sent eight players to D1, including two National team players.  The third place finisher would be a much better team with much more desireable recruits.  

https://www.b2bvolleyball.com/alumni
https://results.advancedeventsystems.com.../standings

5)  Stanford's assistant coach runs the main team.  They run same/similar systems as to what Bay to Bay does.  They're steeped in the system. This is key because NorCal players take more time to mature, they have less beach time, so they are less of a fully-finished product as players from SoCal and Hawaii.  In other words, I think they're ceiling's a bit higher than you'd otherwise expect, once they start a D1 training regimen.

6) I have some pretty firm opinions on the individual players.  I know the mother of one of them well, she told me some weeks back that this was going to happen.  I'd rather not be specific as to the recruits.  I think two of them are very strong, two of them are essentially practice players, and the jury's out on the other two, but one of them needs to be exceptional because he's at a critical position.  Jury's out for a few years, because a lot of development happens at this age...they haven't even had their senior year yet.  I like the breadth of the recruits, and I don't think it matters that they all came from the same club.

Despite pandemic-based circumstances, I think these recruits have fared very well and they have succeeded at the national level for years.  It will be interesting to see how many of these athletes are playing in three years.  My overall opinion is that I really like this team, very strong, proven at a national level.  Very young right now and want to see how and where they emerge, and how they grow from here.  If you're in Northern California, you should be able to see them in both high school and club venues.  Bay to Bay plays this weekend at the Santa Clara Convention Center (last league match) and the NorCal club championships are at the San Jose Convention Center, December 18th and 19th.

[terry]

I can't remember a Stanford recruiting class in any sport that was so dominated by Bay Area recruits.

[terry]

I can't remember a Stanford recruiting class in any sport that was so dominated by Bay Area recruits.

[Softball Fan]

Just a follow up note on the SCVA.  They were using the American Sports Center in Anaheim for most of their tournaments.  ASC went out of business during the pandemic and was bought by some other company.  I believe the SCVA organization which had been ground zero for SoCal club volleyball relocated to Las Vegas.  There are now a couple of competing organizations hosting club volleyball tournaments in SoCal.  It remains in turmoil and has done substantial damage to SoCal girls and boys volleyball clubs.

[Softball Fan]

Just a follow up note on the SCVA.  They were using the American Sports Center in Anaheim for most of their tournaments.  ASC went out of business during the pandemic and was bought by some other company.  I believe the SCVA organization which had been ground zero for SoCal club volleyball relocated to Las Vegas.  There are now a couple of competing organizations hosting club volleyball tournaments in SoCal.  It remains in turmoil and has done substantial damage to SoCal girls and boys volleyball clubs.

[Mick]

I can't remember a Stanford recruiting class in any sport that was so dominated by Bay Area recruits.

Agreed, it's odd.  Stanford recruits on a national basis, and even in normal times, they'd have about 1/2 their MVB recruits from either SoCal or Hawaii, and the other half from around the country.  Take the 2017 roster, which mirrors that exactly:

https://gostanford.com/sports/mens-volle...oster/2017

And I distinctly recall that only a very, very small percentage of MVB recruits are admissable.  I know that Bay to Bay attracts academically qualified recruits, and that every year they send recruits to Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, MIT, NYU and the top half of the UC's.  The kids hear about the importance of academics from their first year (usually 7th grade) onward.

Incidentally, just as a funny aside, UC-Berkeley used to recruit for their men's club volleyball program. They take it very seriously there. They had enough players for two separate teams. I remember when my son was looking at Cal, he met with their setter, who was superb and had been recruited by UCSB. They were looking for national level players who preferred to practice and play at about 1/2 the time demands of varsity players.

[Mick]

I can't remember a Stanford recruiting class in any sport that was so dominated by Bay Area recruits.

Agreed, it's odd.  Stanford recruits on a national basis, and even in normal times, they'd have about 1/2 their MVB recruits from either SoCal or Hawaii, and the other half from around the country.  Take the 2017 roster, which mirrors that exactly:

https://gostanford.com/sports/mens-volle...oster/2017

And I distinctly recall that only a very, very small percentage of MVB recruits are admissable.  I know that Bay to Bay attracts academically qualified recruits, and that every year they send recruits to Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, MIT, NYU and the top half of the UC's.  The kids hear about the importance of academics from their first year (usually 7th grade) onward.

Incidentally, just as a funny aside, UC-Berkeley used to recruit for their men's club volleyball program. They take it very seriously there. They had enough players for two separate teams. I remember when my son was looking at Cal, he met with their setter, who was superb and had been recruited by UCSB. They were looking for national level players who preferred to practice and play at about 1/2 the time demands of varsity players.

[DC 86]

Despite pandemic-based circumstances, I think these recruits have fared very well and they have succeeded at the national level for years.  It will be interesting to see how many of these athletes are playing in three years.  My overall opinion is that I really like this team, very strong, proven at a national level.  Very young right now and want to see how and where they emerge, and how they grow from here.  If you're in Northern California, you should be able to see them in both high school and club venues.  Bay to Bay plays this weekend at the Santa Clara Convention Center (last league match) and the NorCal club championships are at the San Jose Convention Center, December 18th and 19th.

A broader question for you: why is it that Stanford has been unable to achieve sustained success in MVB? for obvious reasons Stanford has consistently fielded national championship contenders year after year in "club" sports (meaning sports where private club participation is usually more important than high school competition) such as soccer, swimming, water polo, etc. Stanford women's volleyball has been a national power for four decades but on the men's side we have had only intermittent success at the national level. Stanford has had some great players and a few great teams but nowhere near the level of other sports that seem to draw from the same recruiting cohort.

[DC 86]

Despite pandemic-based circumstances, I think these recruits have fared very well and they have succeeded at the national level for years.  It will be interesting to see how many of these athletes are playing in three years.  My overall opinion is that I really like this team, very strong, proven at a national level.  Very young right now and want to see how and where they emerge, and how they grow from here.  If you're in Northern California, you should be able to see them in both high school and club venues.  Bay to Bay plays this weekend at the Santa Clara Convention Center (last league match) and the NorCal club championships are at the San Jose Convention Center, December 18th and 19th.

A broader question for you: why is it that Stanford has been unable to achieve sustained success in MVB? for obvious reasons Stanford has consistently fielded national championship contenders year after year in "club" sports (meaning sports where private club participation is usually more important than high school competition) such as soccer, swimming, water polo, etc. Stanford women's volleyball has been a national power for four decades but on the men's side we have had only intermittent success at the national level. Stanford has had some great players and a few great teams but nowhere near the level of other sports that seem to draw from the same recruiting cohort.