Traveling for business has slowed down a bit in the last month, but is all set to crank up again, and it did this past weekend.  I traveled to Wisconsin to work with the Nicolet Bible Institute students at Silver Birch Ranch in White Lake, WI.  This has become a semi-annual deal where I go back up to the camp I have long been affiliated with and try and give back to the place that has helped me so much.  Danielle was able to come with me and we got a day of skiing in at Ski Brule and we worked with the students and staff at Silver Birch on Friday.  It is so much fun and very energizing to help people figure out how they are wired, where they are headed, and maybe for what purpose.  Some of the staff went through this with me last year and they had more questions nine months later for me, as sometimes this stuff takes time to settle in and make sense.  All in all, a great weekend.  Special thanks to Dan and Sharon for having us over for dinner on Saturday night. 

This week will be incredibly full, today is a ‘day off’ but I will still crank things out here at home.  I have lots of volleyball – and then Friday I am flying to Seattle to work with Leadership Vision at a church named Timberlake in Redmond, WA.  I am excited to head to a hopefully not to rainy Seattle.  That will be a quick 1.5 day trip and then I will be back to coach my volleyball team on Sunday in a power league.

Speaking of our volleyball club, MN Select, funny thing happened the other day when I started reading the Sunday paper.  I saw this picture which I have imported for you on the left.  A young lady with a MN Select t-shirt on was on the front page of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: 

http://www.startribune.com/526/story/183139.html

This article makes the case about young players and how they are doing too much at a young age with sports, etc. etc.  On the one hand, it was great to have MN Select be on the cover of the largest newspaper in the city and state, but on the other side of things the article portrayed club volleyball in a bad light.  The best part was they did not talk about how club volleyball is totally optional and parents and players need to make a decision of whether to take some time off from sports – etc.  Anyway, interesting article about what I am involved with.  It did make me think about my players and making sure they don’t push themselves too hard -  Here is one more point I have about this article.  So, many girls play three sports in high school, these girls who play club volleyball are just not playing a sport in school for that season and are choosing to play out of the high school system, so it is really not that big of a deal.  At any rate – Just thought I would share.  And as they say in the PR business – all publicity is good publicity. 

More later this week.  JVD

Last weekend I made my head coaching debut with my Minnesota Select 16-3′s team.  We have practiced for the last six weeks and last Saturday morning my ladies (9 16 year olds and 1 15 year old) trotted out onto the court and proceeded to win all three matches, and did not lose a game.  So, we are 3-0 – way to go ladies! 

I could hardly sleep the night before our first matches.  I have not been a head coach for volleyball in over 10 years and I almost forgot what it was like to watch a team, encourage a team, admonish laziness, cheer on success, etc – it was great.  It was exhilarating, and even more fun because we won.  We played well enough that they will probably move us up to a tougher division, a division where we will probably not go 3-0, but we will cross that  bridge when we come to it.  

For now, we are 3-0 and the ladies are doing what we are having them do.  It is so great when you see things you drill in practice work on the court.  Our team is one where we are not going to overpower many opponents, but we can win by serving well and hustling, and playing killer defense.  So many times in volleyball I see teams working on elaborate offenses, hitting patterns, swing blocking, etc – but they can’t pass the ball.  Our team, and my personal coaching style, is that you must pass the ball without fail every time before you can run an offense.  Call me simplistic – but it works.  You can always get more sophisticated, but it is much harder to start off with a super hard fast offense, and then realize you can’t play to that level.  You can only play to what your personel will let you play to.  We learned that this year at St. Kates, where I am an assistant coach. 

When I was in high school there were 4 albums that were prominent at the time.  I never knew that I was living in an era where such awesome music was being made.  These four albums still stand the test of time:

Nirvana – Nevermind

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magic

Pearl Jam – Ten

Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream

Just top top music, each one a classic, all I still frequently listen to 15 years later. 

JVD

What are the things that you do where time seems to fly by?  Where, you are in an activity and it requires little effort to achieve the desired effect.  What are those things?  For me it is all about being focused and meeting and empowering high perfomers.  Another timeless activity for me is exploring new places.  I am always drawn to water, no matter where I am I find bridges, seashore, rivers, lakes – no matter how lame the city is that I am visiting I always find the parts that have water are better. 

Getting back to my main point – if things are timeless, they probably give you energy.  You usually don’t get worn out when time is flying by.  My challenge to you today is to focus on what is timeless.  Manage around what drains you.  If you are in a career that drains you every day – figure something else out – get out.  Trust me on this one. 

JVD

Yesterday was a really interesting day – a tale of two days if you will.  In the morning I worked at my office at Bethel doing catch up on admissions & recruitment work after being gone for the holiday break.  I almost always forget how I cannot possibly catch up on 10 days work in one morning, but I try to none the less.  After trying to catch up with some level of futility – I had to go work with my friends over at Youthworks!  Youthworks!  is a non-profit organization that has missions sites all over the USA, Canada and Mexico.  I was able to work with the Regional and Area Directors and help lead them through their strengths and how they apply to their teams and organization. 

So my afternoon was filled with helping that group unlock more of their potential and how to maybe work better together.  It was a great group to work with.  I am thankful they had me in.  I am thankful that anyone has me in to help them along.  It is fun, and time flies by when I do it.  What do you do that time flies by?  Can you do it as a career?  One of the sure signs you are involved with something that taps into what you are good at is if time flies by – also, does it seem effortless?  That is another good sign.  More on this in days to come.  JVD

Top Things I wish I knew when I was younger:

1)  Collectibles, e.g. baseball cards, comic books, beer cans, coins, stamps, are only as valuable as someone would pay for them.

2)  Cars only last if you take care of them. 

3)  Never burn bridges, never. 

4)  The world is way smaller than you think. 

5)  Carpe Diem   (I did learn this when I was 19 and hold to it tightly)

6)  The more ‘stuff’ you have, the more you have to worry about.

7)  Focus on your strengths, manage your weaknesses

8)  Its not about me.

9)  Give more than I receive.

10)  Connect the dots, don’t repeat mistakes.

11)  Care more about other people than I do/did about myself. 

12)  Speak less, listen more. 

13)  Respect your elders.

14)  Mentors are precious gifts.

That is all I have for you today – JVD