Making the AV Proud

Tuesday August 19, 2008

Before the Olympics officially began on Aug. 9, two Valley products were already representing the United States this summer in sport.

Andrea Buckner and Lindsay Lawmaster participated in the High Performance Program, governed by USA Volleyball.

Both had different roles, though. Buckner attended as a coach and Lawmaster as a player.

Lawmaster made the most of her selection to the elite squad made up of 13- and 14-year-olds, as the Southern California Red team won the gold in the Girls National Select division on July 27. To win the title, the Southern California Red defeated Iowa, 25-23, 25-19, 25-20.

"(Lawmaster) did great," Buckner said. "I was really proud of her."

Buckner, a 1992 graduate of Antelope Valley, was selected as a coach for the Southern California Red team, one of 16 teams that made up the Girls International Youth division.

While coaching volleyball has been an integral part of her life since she graduated from University of Hawaii, Hilo, the honor of representing her country in an international tournament added a special significance to the Antelope Valley Volleyball Club coach.

"It was the single-most amazing coaching experience of my life," Buckner said. "Just to work with the best of your country, and to know that you are representing the red, white and blue."

According to Buckner, the team was assembled, practiced for a week and then competed in the week-long tournament.

Aside from the challenges of quickly learning individual personalities, styles and strengths of the high-school aged girls, Buckner said that getting used to international rules, the same ones they are currently using in the Olympics, was the most difficult.

Her team got off to a rough start, losing its two opening matches in pool play, but then jumped back to win six in a row, including the bronze consolation prize, beating Southern California Blue, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22.

Buckner, now a teacher at Antelope Valley, said she will assist the girls team at Lancaster this year.

Lawmaster and her family have moved to the Santa Clarita Valley where she will attend Valencia High School.

ebaca@avpress.com

January 2008 Newsletter:

On behalf of the Directors and Coaches we would like to wish our Volleyball Families a

very Happy New Year!

Announcements:

  • AVVC Hitting Clinic started January 9th. Space will be limited to 10 players and players

    must be pre-registered. Ages 14-16. Cost: $5.00 per night. Time: 7:30 pm-9:30 pm. For

  • AVVC Serve-a-thon- Offset your daughter’s club cost by having her participate in the

    Serve-a-thon. Serve-a-thon forms can be found on the website: Serve-a-thon 08

  • Sponsor Letters – Another way to offset the cost of the club. Sponsor Letters may also
  • Tournament dates are fast approaching:

    Girls 14 - Saturday, January 12th

    Girls 12 - Sunday, January 13th

    Girls 15 - Sunday, January 20th

    Girls 16 - Sunday, January 26

    Refer to your SCVA Parent Handbook (red cover) for tournament dates.

    *Note: Tournament locations are posted on the SCVA website the Wednesday

    before the weekend tournament.

    • Juniors
    • Girls
    • Weekend Sites

    Division is denoted by age and club name followed by coaches names.

    Example: AVVC 14 Kristen

    Or call your coach or club director (phone number at top of this page).


  • Dave’s 18 and Andrea/Rachel’s 16 “All Tournament Teams” are preparing to play

    in the Fiesta Classic held in Phoenix, Arizona, January 18 – January 21, 2008.

    Good Luck Players and Coaches!!!

    Lost and Found

  • Found – cell phone – Contact Allison Vocke – 722-8768

    • December 29, 2007:

    There are two sponsor/fundraiser forms and the HITTING CLINIC iregistration form. If you want to make copies for each of your kids you may. Registration for the hitting clinics will be extended to Jan 7th and is for 13-16 age groups HITTERS only (trying to keep the group small and focused). The first half hour will be plyos and the next 1:30 hitting work. It was great to hang out with some of you at the coaches party...for those sick or otherwise unable to attend, hopefully we will get another chance soon. Good luck to everyone in their opening tourneys!

    Andrea Buckner
    www.SportsNutritionEtc.com

    AVVC Hitting Clinics
    AVVC Sponsor Forms
    Serve-a-thon 08

    AVVC Ready for New Season with Plethora of Experienced Coaches

    This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Monday, November 5, 2007.

    By STEVEN NIX
    Valley Press Sports Correspondent

    When searching for the right Volleyball Club to play for, coaching as well as player talent are two major factors.

    Antelope Valley Volleyball Club has both.

    AVVC has an outstanding cast of coaches that have both played in college and found tremendous success as head coaches in the Valley.

    "We have coaches from all of the top schools in the area," Cherland said. "We all have the same goal of developing the talent out here."

    Started in 2000 by Todd Cherland and Allison Vocke, AVVC was a much needed relief to players who had to travel south to play club volleyball.

    "It mainly started because there wasn't any volleyball happening in the Valley," Cherland said. "We wanted to give all the talented athletes in the Antelope Valley a place to play."

    The coaching staff is made up of the best of the best from the Golden League teams. Larry Vocke has had tremendous success at Quartz Hill, and Dave Gutierrez, who had a great deal of success in the Santa Clarita Valley at Canyon High School and also won a GL championship in his first year as coach at Lancaster.

    Rounding up the all-star staff is Mike Kelley. Kelley took his Paraclete boys team to the semifinals of the Southern Section playoffs last year

    Rachel Behen, paired with Andrea Buckner, led the 15 one's team to the Gold Division last year, which is the first time a team from the Valley has competed in the top division, ever.

    "We have had tremendous success and ended up being the highest ranked volleyball team to ever come from this Valley," Buckner said. "I spend my time and money going to camps and clinics so that I can bring all of that information back to the Valley, because some of the girls may not have the time or money to do so."

    Arlene Stockhausen and Ariane Labrzycki are two up-and-coming players in the Valley at their respective schools, and know just how much playing for Behen and Buckner have helped them.

    "I made varsity as a freshman at Paraclete and the high performance team for the USA team this season," Stockhausen said. "I think that they show a lot of care for their players, and not only with your personal development but helping expose you to college coaches."

    Sophomore Labrzycki is having a very successful year in her first season on varsity at Lancaster.

    "I chose AVVC because the Revolution practices were too far," Labrzycki said. "I like it because the coaches are dedicated to coaching. They take their time with you, they work with you, and they do their best to make you a better player."

    Behen played college volleyball at the University of Wyoming, and consistently built solid teams during her reign as the varsity coach at Littlerock. Bucker found her own success as the varsity coach for Highland, and also coached at Whittier College, and started Nai'a Volleyball club in 2001.

    AVVC combined with Nai'a in 2005 to keep from spreading the Valley's talent to thin.

    "We thought we could produce stronger teams by keeping the playing talent in one club," Bucker said.

    With Behen and Buckner molding the younger players, it makes the job that much easier for the coaches of the older teams.

    Gutierrez is heading the 18's one team this upcoming season, which is his first-year coaching an 18's team for a club.

    He definitely has the experience to do so.

    Gutierrez held the coaching position for seven years at Canyon High School in the very competitive Foothill League, earning one FL championship to go along his GL championship with Lancaster in 2006.

    "I needed a club job and I knew that they were an established club and would run things efficiently," Gutierrez said. "I think it is a great club and really well run. I think it's going to be exciting to coach the 18's this year, and it's something I'm looking forward to."

    AVVC players have also benefitted from the club, and moved on to play at the college level.

    Mojave graduates Shakora and Shanora Smith earned scholarships to play at Alabama A&M.

    Randy Cooper was recruited by Midwestern University in Texas, Tara Henn played for Pierce College and is now at CSU Northridge and Cora Peeler went to Behen's Alma Mater, Wyoming.

    Last year's Golden League MVP and major contributor to Lancaster's first GL title, Roxy Neely, is now enjoying her time on the team at CSU East Bay which is one of the top Division III schools in the country.

    Neely played for all three of the Valley's club teams.

    She started out with Buckner and Nai'a, moved to Revolution for their first year, and ended her club days at AVVC last season.

    "When I played for Revolution I couldn't make their practices because they weren't as close as AVVC was," Neely said. "I knew Andrea (Buckner) from Nai'a and Gutierrez was going to be there as well. I knew a lot of the coaches and they made me feel a lot more comfortable.

    "The girls were also very competitive which made it fun for me," Neely continued. "If you know your team wants to win as much as you do it makes it a lot of fun."

    With the end of the girls season near, club tryouts are looming in the next couple of weeks.

    As the girls make their decisions for who to play for, the strong coaching staff as well as the quality volleyball players that AVVC has produced in recent years will be hard to ignore.

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