My Christmas Wish for the Great Lakes Region
The event is a coed international tournament held in the United States with the purpose of developing the international game of youth athletes in the United States. In 2019, the tournament returns to Fort Lauderdale, which last hosted in 2017
What teams attend?
Internationally, teams from Chile, Puerto Rico, Australia, to name a few to compete against USA HP Teams which are selected through camps and tryouts. Teams from other regions such as Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, have attended. The USA High-Performance programs send multiple teams to the event.
Why should the Great Lakes Region send a team(s)?
Players get recognized. Illinois has a lot of players that never get noticed because they don’t attend HP tryouts or their teams do not compete at nationals. This is another way to get noticed by USA and collegiate coaches.
Great competition builds great competitors. The more you play at a higher level, the better you become. The opportunity to compete usually brings out the competitor in us. Playing international competition is always a fun opportunity to meet others from another country.
Pride. One thing that is clear to me now that wasn’t when I first started writing this year, is that Illinois volleyball (both girls and boys) have alot of talent that slips under the radar. The Great Lakes teams would have a tryout weekend, followed by a few practices weekly before the tournament at the end of July. Most regions send a region representative and hire coaches from existing clubs or college coaches that want to attend and coach. To me, coaching at HP Championships was a highlight of my career as I’ve coached players and also with coaches that went on to win National titles.
Cohesion. This is also an opportunity to play for other coaches and with other clubs, etc. The opportunity to learn and grow a region is important and this is one other opportunity to become closer instead of creating riffs between clubs.
So Santa, if you can stack a couple dozen of tickets and hotel accommodations for teams to go to Fort Lauderdale in late July, please let me know. The cookies and milk are on the table next to my practice bag.
Sincerely,
Gib