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Iowa State University Athletics
No Such Thing As An Offseason For Volleyball
03.13.2012 | Volleyball
AMES, Iowa -The Iowa State volleyball team is already back in action. It has been back in action for almost two months. That's right. Do the math. The players started workouts about a month after their NCAA tournament appearance this past December. Everyone knows football has a spring game every year, but most people don't realize Cyclone volleyball has a jam-packed spring schedule too. Volleyball isn't just a fall thing. It's a year-round commitment, and looking at the Iowa State volleyball team's win column over the last few years, it is a commitment that has paid off for the Cyclone squad.
The team qualified for the 2011 NCAA tournament, going 22-5 during the regular season, and made it to the Elite Eight of the tournament bracket. The successful season left the team hungry for even greater levels of success. Instead of spending winter break reminiscing on their successful season, the players hit the weight room on their own time. No mandatory workouts occur over winter break, but senior Alison Landwehr knows the importance of getting right back to action.
"I did a workout three days a week [at home over winter break] similar to what we do here," Landwehr said. "But it's a body-weight workout instead of with weights to give myself a chance to recover a little bit."
Landwehr was not the only Cyclone who got right back in the gym. Junior libero Kristen Hahn saw winter break as an opportunity to get her body ready for the tough spring schedule. She did a lifting program like Landwehr. She also played with a club volleyball team from her hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
"I went to practice a couple of times just to get in some simple reps," Hahn said. "I joined in to help scrimmage and serve."
Hahn and Landwehr both felt like they returned from break ready to hit the ground running and dive into the spring training schedule.
"When we started workouts in January, we were lifting longer and more than we do in-season," Landwehr said. "We also do conditioning and have position practice with groups of four or five girls twice a week."
The harder conditioning program is part of what helps the players improve during the spring. The lifting is much more intense than what they do in-season and helps them build muscle and prevent injury. The conditioning during spring is tailored to the position of each player. Hahn says the type of conditioning she does as a libero is different than the condition tailored for the hitters.
"I work on sprinting and back pedaling with an elastic band around my waist," Hahn said. "I also do lots of shuffling and sprinting in short distances which is specific to my position."
While the conditioning and lifting improves the strength and endurance of each athlete, the individual practices two times a week focus on improving volleyball skills. The players are divided into two groups, again of four to five athletes. Head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch stresses the importance of these practices on skill development.
"The more touches you get, the better," Johnson-Lynch said. "We usually break it up by position for the first session of the week to focus on specific skills. The second session we usually mix up positions so we can compete with each other."
Spring is the perfect opportunity for players to get the extra touches Johnson-Lynch sees as so valuable. After competing in the regular and postseason during the fall, the seniors' careers end, and they do not participate in the spring training schedule. With the loss of seniors Kelsey Petersen, Caitlin Mahoney, Carly Jenson and Deb Stadick to graduation and Hannah Johnson and Hannah Willms during the offseason, the Cyclones are left with only nine active players practicing this spring. Hahn sees the decreased number of girls in the gym as a chance to improve as an individual.
"After the seniors graduate in the fall there are less of us around and that leaves room for more reps for the other players," Hahn said. "I excelled as a player 110% more in my first spring season than my first fall season simply due to the fact that I was able to get more individual time with my coaches and get stronger."
The Cyclones squad sees the spring as a chance to improve as individuals. They also put their improvement to the test. At the end of March, the team begins its spring competition schedule and unlike football, does not play only one game. The team is in action almost every weekend from the end of March to the end of April.
The first games of the spring slate are on March 24 against Creighton and North Dakota State. The fifth and final competition date is perhaps the most anticipated game of the spring as Iowa State will take on Nebraska in an exhibition game April 21 at Hilton Coliseum. The players are excited to improve throughout the spring and ready to put their skills to the test once March 24 rolls around.
"I think the off season is the best time to make yourself better," Landwehr said. "I can't wait to put our training to the test and see how much we've improved when we finally get to compete."
Volleyball is not a fall sport. It is year-round commitment. At Iowa State, you can't argue with the results.
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