Middle Hitter.com Second Season

[redhawkvb]

This is an excerpt from a recent mailing to DI, DII, DIII and NAIA coaches and SID's.

I wanted to take a few minutes to re-introduce www.middlehitter.com. Over the past 10 years, I have observed and learned about the state of men's & boy's volleyball. I set a goal last December (2005) to promote the sport through a web based combination of news, information and multimedia. Over the past twelve months, I have been listening to feedback I received from players, coaches and parents on what they find useful in learning more about the game. There is an strong interest in learning about the options to play after the high school and junior club years.

New Content for the 2006-2007 Season

DI News Links - I had enough feedback from visitors that I decided to add a DI news section on the main page. My main reason for excluding it last year was that my experience is that the 22 or so DI schools already had a pretty good following and there was good knowledge among the target audience about the programs at these schools. I originally focused on the schools that received little to no attention. I am asking for help in keeping up with the significantly more news releases in DI schools. I need the SID's or assistant coaches to copy me when a release occurs.

MHPR - The Middle Hitter Pablo Ranking - Those of you familiar with the women's game might have heard of the Rich Kern Power Index (RKPI) and the Pablo rankings. These are ranking based on mathematical calculations usually using wins, losses, strength of opponent, scores, etc... Some women's programs even mention the rankings in their press releases. This year I am going to attempt to create a men's ranking that uses the same information and will be calculated by the same person who performs the Pablo rankings. I just have to collect the match data needed for the calculation. I have written an email to most school SID's but could always use a little help in getting them to input/provide the information needed.

JO Info - Last season, I kept track with the winners of the bid's from the JO qualifiers. The page with the list was a popular one. This fall, I expanded the JO Info to include some historical information on past JO Medal winners and All-Tournament Team (ATT) selections. As the boys graduate and new boys replace them, the history of some of the clubs may get lost or distorted. The JO Medals lists provides a JO performance perspective (not necessarily the most important aspect) . The All-Tournament Team list allows the players, parents, coaches and fans to follow the progress of some of the players on their favorite college team(s) as they came up through the juniors level. It also demonstrates that some of the great players in today's college game were not on any of the ATT or Fab50 lists.

I will continue to be searching for match video, match photos and news on men's volleyball. If you have a video (scouting video) of a great match, please consider sharing it with the rest of the volleyball community throughout the US (and the world). I will work with you on how to get the video to me for display on the site.

Currently, the Master Schedule and 2007 College Commitments list are the busiest pages. The recent NLI Early Signing period generated a lot of interest. If you have any boys who have committed to playing at your school, I would greatly appreciate an quick email telling me who. The players, and of course the parents & coaches, are always interested in seeing the names on the list. I will distinguish between verbal and written if that information is provided. DIII schools can only have verbal commitments (after acceptance in the school) in accordance with NCAA regulations.

www.middlehitter.com