Author: chisagolakesvolleyball

Our 2020 fundraiser is already off to a great start! Thank you all for your tremendous support of our program. You can find the link to donate & share here!

For this fundraiser, our program commits to serve the Chisago Lakes community 1,000 hours of service during the 2020-2021 school year. Each coach closely monitors their athletes’ service hours. Some examples of service in the past include tutoring, babysitting for free, walking dogs at the humane society, picking up trash from roads and parks, painting park benches, helping the library with their book sale, community clothing drives, and more.

I’d like to give you a little insight on how we use the money that is fundraised each year. All of the money that we raise goes directly into the program’s activity fund. This fund is specifically for the athletes- all purchases must be signed off on by a student-athlete, coaches, and administration. The goal of this account is to enrich our program with team-bonding events, activities and tools to connect and encourage our players, and tools that help us connect with the community. It is also occasionally used for equipment if we have surpassed our equipment budget for the year and the program captains request an equipment purchase to help all athletes train.

Some examples of things we purchased with fundraising money in the 2019 school year:
-Renting the Abella Farm room for the banquet
-Chisago Lakes volleyball backpacks for all players to borrow for their volleyball equipment during the season
-Parent night flowers
-Chisago Lakes volleyball masks for all players
-Hudl software to allow for community live stream of games plus video analyzation, highlight reel creation, scouting, and stat taking for Varsity
-Last year each individual team was given a budget to spend on some team-bonding activity. Some teams went to dinner together, went to the pumpkin patch, had a pumpkin-carving contest with prizes, etc.
-Pink out night t-shirts for all players
-Block out cancer night t-shirts for all players
-Duke volleyball t-shirts for hall of fame induction
-Team trophies/plaques for each team’s awards
-25 new practice volleyballs
-Warm-up shirts for varsity (we are hoping to raise money for enough of these for each team this year!)
-Captain’s training curriculum
-Promotional materials (t-shirts nd small gift cards for prizes as prizes for half-time competitions at games)
-Yearly website software
-Senior gifts
-Locker room decorations for sections, senior night, and team buddies
-Stopping for ice cream for the whole program after a big win
-Prizes and incentives for completing virtual practices

Thank you for supporting our program by showing our athletes that their community service is meaningful and valuable. This program allows us to give to the community and invest in the betterment of our program. We are so thankful that you have partnered with us!

Please reach out with any questions.

-Hannah & the CLVB staff
hlindstrom@isd2144.org

Hello volleyball families,

WOW! Volleyball is back and we are 4 days away. We couldn’t be more excited!

There are still many questions, as usual. Here’s what we know:

• Season starts on Monday, September 28, 2020. Tryouts will be the first 3 days of practice. We will practice in the main and ward gyms from 3-5:30pm.
• We will have 9 weeks of regular season and 2 weeks of post-season for Varsity (structure of post-season TBD). 
• Our first competition is October 8. The entire practice and competition schedule can be found here.
• Fall practices will continue as scheduled this week (Friday, Sept. 25 7-9pm & Saturday, Sept. 26 8-10am). Next week we transition to tryouts and regular season schedule.

If you missed last night’s meeting, please watch it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fK7nrQi7P-h9V7HthoOD0ll7gVumueUE/view?usp=sharing

• This video contains very important information about our COVID-19 precautionary measures. Many things are different this season that athletes and families need to be aware of.
  -This includes locker room use, transportation, spectating, mask wearing, food sharing, hygiene, sanitization, team building, etc. 
• For new families, this presentation also explains MSHSL violations, CLHS communication policies, concussion protocols, and other important information from the activities department.

Please reach out to myself on program questions or to Tanya regarding registration/sports physical questions.

The gym will be the happiest place on Monday. We can’t wait!

-Hannah & the CLVB staff

Good evening Chisago Lakes Volleyball family,

Between multiple meetings, we have been slowly getting more and more information about our season changes and are happy to relay some updates. Thank you for all of your patience as we navigate this- rest assured we are answering your questions as soon as we get the answers ourselves!

I am happy to add important items to the list of “what we do know“:

• The MSHSL is allowing 12 practices this fall between the dates of September 14 and October 3. Our schedule has been made to try to accommodate as many athlete’s schedules as possible. We will be practicing in the WCC on the following dates:  Sept. 14, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25, 28, 30, Oct. 2 from 7-9pm (all MWF) and Sept. 19, 26, and Oct. 3 (Saturdays) from 8-10am.
• High school coaching staff will be facilitating the training sessions. We will adhere to all precautionary guidelines and this will be communicated to players at practice.
• Due to court space limitations, these fall practices are ONLY open to high school athletes (those going into 9th-12th grades). If we end up having more space than we anticipate, we will open enrollment up to middle school athletes and will let you know as soon as possible.
• Students who participate in the fall training season must meet MSHSL and school eligibility requirements for participation which means that students must be in good academic standing, register online and have a physical on file in the Activities Office.  Registration will open on the school website on August 31, 2020 and there will NOT be a fee for this season.
• Athletes MAY participate in our fall practices AS WELL AS a current fall sport or fall club sport through another organization. There are no eligibility issues.
• I did find one more local fall volleyball opportunity specifically for middle school athletes. Northern Edge is putting a group together and having tryouts this weekend for those going into 6th-8th grade. Please reach out to our 8th grade coach, Mallory (mmholmen@hotmail.com), for more information.
• All masks and missing apparel will be delivered to your house by the end of the weekend. Masks are only for those who participated in summer camp. I am waiting on some sizing information from a few of you before apparel items are mailed.

What we do NOT know and are waiting on more details from the MSHSL:

• The exact start and end date of the season.
• Our competition schedule (potentially only conference matches, potentially no weekend tournaments, potentially no section playoffs, etc.)

It has certainly been a strange few weeks not being in the gym with our athletes. For many of us, this is our first fall without volleyball. There are many emotions, ultimately building up to even more excitement for this spring season. I’ve been so encouraged to hear that many of our athletes are pursuing activity in safe ways through participating in cross country, tennis, fall volleyball, and others. Our athletes are resilient and I am proud to be their coach!
Thank you for supporting Chisago Lakes Volleyball through this transition. We are incredibly thankful to have such a wonderful community!

Have a great night,

-Hannah & the CLVB staff

Hello Chisago Lakes Volleyball family,

Wow! What a week in the volleyball world. I’ve been waiting to gather more information before updating you, but there are still so many questions. I want to give you what we know.

First of all, you have all seen that our volleyball season has been moved to the spring. This is applicable for our high school and middle school program.

Here is what we know:

• The school year will be split into 4 seasons, so the “normal” spring season is now in the summer. This means that athletes will not need to choose between volleyball and their spring sport. They will not overlap.
• The season will be condensed to 8 weeks (instead of 11 like normal), roughly from March 15- May 15. 
• We will be able to hold some practices this fall. Most likely evening practices, most likely in the WCC.
• Many club programs are offering full fall seasons for high schoolers (for the first time!) and for middle schoolers. Many of these options are cheaper than full winter seasons. You can find details about these programs at Crossfire, Kokoro, Minnesota Select, Northern Lights, and MN Premier and more by following these links. Some of these programs are solely scrimmage leagues, some of these are full training seasons (with practices, weight lifting, and competitions). Please read carefully. 
• Our captains are creating some opportunities for our athletes to connect this fall and winter. They are creating some social options that will follow social distancing guidelines. More details to come.
• The healthier our community is, the better chance we have of a fantastic season this spring!

What we do NOT know and are waiting on more details from the MSHSL:

• The exact start and end date of the season.
• Our competition schedule (potentially only conference matches, potentially no weekend tournaments, potentially no section playoffs, etc.)
• The exact parameters on our fall practices (what we have heard is 12 total practices from mid-September through mid-October. This is NOT official and we do not know yet). 
• If fall club or winter club commitments will affect eligibility for fall school practices or spring competition season. 

What is coming:

• Details on our fall practices will be posted soon- as soon as the MSHSL approves them I will email you all! Answers to the above questions will be answered as soon as possible.
• Masks for all the summer campers (and those who ordered more) will be sent to your houses within the next two weeks!
• Apparel delivery and exchanges (only applicable to shorts, kneepads, and socks)- if you need to exchange a size or have not received your shorts, kneepads, or socks yet, send me your address and they will be sent to your house. For some reason, these were all delivered to the school.

It has been SO wonderful to work with our athletes in the gym this summer. They have worked so hard and we’ve seen tremendous growth in a short amount of time- you can tell they’re all just thankful to be in the gym! Our full high school coaching staff was able to work with the girls all summer and it was fantastic. Thank you to all who were able to attend. 

You may have heard some exciting news that I am pregnant with our first child. My husband and I are very excited! While I am due in February and this shift in schedule creates some challenges, I have assured our athletes this will not affect our season or future seasons. I’m thankful for an incredible personal support team to help in this way. Thank you to all who have shared your congratulations!

Our athletes have shown resiliency and positivity in this fall change. It is not easy- it is frustrating, confusing, and painful. But we have worked hard to process those emotions together, provide outlets and resources, and to move forward with positivity and “controlling what we can control”. Thank you for assisting in this effort and being a resource of support for your daughters. 

We will get through this together, and this spring will be the best season yet!
As always, please reach out with questions and expect more updates for me soon. 

Go Wildcats!
-Hannah & the CLVB staff

We are excited to announce our 2020 volleyball captains!

The selection process is not easy. We follow the same process as many programs at CLHS and using recommendations from the Minnesota State High School League:

1. Each spring, all returning Varsity are emailed an application and an explanation of the process. They have two weeks to submit applications to our coaching staff including short essay questions, references, leadership experience, and ideas for the program.
2. The coaches review the applications, discuss our experiences with each applicant, reach out to references provided by the applicants, and ask the applicants follow-up questions when necessary. Then the coaching staff makes the captain selection based on athlete’s leadership experience, mentorship capabilities, work ethic in the gym, and other notable qualities. There is no voting by players (this becomes a popularity contest). All applicants are notified if they made it or not. All captains must apply each year, even if they were a captain the year before.
3. From there, the captains meet weekly with the coaching staff all summer to prepare for the 2020 season. They go through a leadership book study (this year it’s Energy Bus by Jon Gordon), their handbook/expectations, and multiple planning tasks (apparel selection, social calendar, virtual training, promotions, etc.). They also help write curriculum for our program this fall where they will lead weekly lessons from our summer reading to help develop our program’s team-oriented skills.
4. The captains also meet weekly with the coaching staff during the season for communication and connection to the team. They will continue planning events for the group, helping mentor and teach the younger girls, and representing the program as a whole to the community.
   
   Our 2020 captains are as follows:

Samantha Paulsen: “I would like to be a captain of the Chisago Lakes volleyball program because I love to be a role model and a person that younger athletes can look up to, whether that be for advice or just to be a positive influence. I want to be able to show the younger athletes the importance of being self motivated but also a team player, and I want to be a person they look up to to be able to do that. I also think that by being a captain of the CLVB program, I would offer an outlet to any players who are having troubles with school, volleyball, or anything else. I think that by becoming a captain I would be able influence all of the athletes in our program by showing them the importance of bringing a positive and motivated mindset to practice and games everyday.”

Samantha Olson: “I would love to be one of the program/ team captains for the 2020 volleyball season for so many reasons. Being a captain was so much more than I expected. It was an honor, very exciting, rewarding, a commitment and so special. I love to lead and take charge; especially for a volleyball program that I have been a part of all my life. I appreciated how much my coach included the captains into making program decisions. I loved leading drills, captains’ share, huddles, and being someone our program can look up to. Being a captain allowed me to bring the energy in our huddles and on the court. It has allowed me to express my love for volleyball to the other girls. It has allowed me to connect and create strong relationships. It has taught me to become a leader. It was a major blessing to be a captain and I hope to experience this amazing opportunity once again.”

Anika Zins: “I love volleyball and it would be a huge honor to be a captain for the program that I love and have been involved in for years. It would be such a great opportunity to help lead the team that I have invested so much energy and time into.”

Emma Bjelland: “I would like to be a volleyball captain, because I want to form relationships with all the girls and be committed to showing up on time and working with the younger girls as well, because I know from experience older girls can have such an impact on the younger girls lives.  I would like to impact other girls to stay with volleyball throughout the years and show them how fun it can be, and all the relationships and activities you can be involved in. I love to put myself in leadership roles and leave an imprint on the program.”

The coaching staff could not be more thrilled with the group of 2020 captains. “We have an exceptional group of seniors this year, and this was not an easy choice. We fully believe that many of our student-athletes would make excellent leaders. This season will be very special and I’m thrilled these ladies will be leading that effort,” Coach Lindstrom said. “Each of them has a big heart for the program, an outstanding work ethic, strong character, and a desire to build relationships and contribute to our program. They will represent us very well.” The captains have already been working hard this summer and are excited for what the 2020 season has in store.

Wow, lots of exciting news today! 🙂

Our apparel store is OPEN starting today and will be accepting orders until June 29. These items are expected to arrive by the start of our season. We will open the apparel store again for orders in August, but please understand those items will likely not arrive until after the season is over. We highly recommend ordering now. You can order here.
We understand the concern that fall sports will potentially not be offered this year due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please know that all recent news tells us we will have a season. But in the off-chance that we don’t, returns will not be able to be made. We hope you will be happy to support our program by wearing 2020 volleyball gear either way.
Our student-athletes wear Chisago Lakes Volleyball gear to school and on the bus to away games. Our captains have chosen a “team uniform” they are asking families to purchase to be unified in this way. They have chosen the following (with photos attached):

Please know that purchasing apparel is not a requirement and will not affect team participation or placement in any way. If you have severe financial need, please reach out to see if we can arrive at a solution. 
Please help us spread CLVB cheer by sharing this link with family, friends, and fans! Just another step toward an awesome 2020 season 🙂

Go Wildcats!
-Hannah

Hello volleyball families, 
We are thrilled that we are able to train safely this summer, and cannot wait to get back into the gym! Here is an update on our plan: 

This will be the entirety of our summer training (Notice there is no week-long camp. With the restrictions we must follow, this would not have been beneficial training). We are very thankful for the training we are allowed to have. Those of you that registered with Community Education before this switch was made will be contacted to switch your registration to this new program.
Thank you all for your patience and encouragement during this transition. We hope you are all doing well. Our coaches CAN’T WAIT to get in the gym with our athletes!

As always, please reach out with any questions. Have a great day!
Go Wildcats!
-Hannah & the CLVB staff

Hello Chisago Lakes Volleyball,

I have been dreading this announcement, but Chisago Lakes Community Education in cooperation with Chisago Lakes High School has officially postponed all summer training and uses of the school building until after July 6 due to COVID-19 concerns and restrictions. 

At this time, we do not know the new plan for summer training including our Tuesday/Thursday morning training sessions or our week-long camp. We have been told that one solution the MSHSL may offer is allowing us to train the first couple weeks of August that are normally in a “no-contact period”- if this were the case, we wouldn’t lose any training sessions, it would simply be pushed back to start in July and end right before tryouts. This will all depend on changes to restrictions and the current progression of the COVID-19 pandemic. I promise to keep you informed as much as I am able and relay new information immediately. The calendar at www.chisagolakesvolleyball.com
 has been updated to reflect these changes to avoid confusion.

We know this pandemic has caused grief and mourning for the athletic community in many ways. I am thankful our leadership is prioritizing the health and safety of our athletes and athletes’ families. Rest assured we are doing our best to provide the best plan possible, and to provide training in creative, safe ways later this summer. We will be back, and we will be stronger. Our girls are tough and talented!

I can’t wait to get back in the gym and I hope you feel the same way.

Have a great night and go Wildcats!
-Hannah & the CLVB staff

Registration for our 2019 season is open! We begin our season on Monday, August 12th. Athletes are asked to be registered by noon on Friday, August 9th to help us adequately prepare for tryouts. Click here to register.

If you missed our Fall Sports Registration Night Meeting on Monday, August 5th, the Tryouts Expectations document as well as the volleyball presentation tab can be found on the “Resources” tab of our website. Reach out to Jodi Otte to receive her presentation regarding necessary MSHSL and CL policies.

As always, let me know if you have any further questions.
Go Wildcats!
-Coach Hannah