Thank You Ryan - by Kristen Stanek

I’ve never met someone as dedicated as Ryan.  For my first two seasons on the Fredonia Volleyball team, Ryan was at every single practice.  Whether he was helping run a drill at practice, or taking stats at a game, he was always working hard to make our team better.  This year was a little different.  Ryan couldn't make it to every practice, and didn't travel with our team, but he was always at our home games, and would poke his head into practice every chance he got.  I am lucky enough to have had Ryan as an assistant coach for two seasons, and a strength and conditioning coach still today.  Thank you for everything you have done for the Fredonia Volleyball program Ryan and congratulations on the new job!

Focused and Silent - Appreciating Ryan Maloney

As our blog hits a new point in it's life I feel the need to tell a story about our new Strength & Conditioning Coach, Ryan Maloney.  Ryan is much smarter than I and tends to be more concise.  Hopefully you'll still enjoy this story about my first experience with Ryan.

I first met Ryan when he was a student here at Fredonia and he was hired to work in intramurals.  He had poofy hair and a wry smile that appeared only so often.  Even then he had a very calm and mature demeanor.  His outstanding intelligence, dedication and professionalism were obvious, especially for a young college-aged man.  He was studying exercise science and took an interest in how athletes warmed up before practices and competitions.  I was excited to give him an opportunity to work with the volleyball athletes.

Towards the end of our fall 2008 season, during his senior year, he began warming up our team with dynamic exercises before practices.  He called it 'movement preparation.'  This was during a time when dynamic exercises weren't the norm.  Ryan was intense and had a sense of purpose.  The athletes were hesitant at first.  But something about Ryan's purpose caught their interest.  Even if only for Ryan's sake they were going to give him his ten minutes.

The last weekend of the regular season we had a non-conference tournament and on the second day we got beaten badly.  We dropped two matches 0-3 against New Paltz and Stevens Tech.  We lost the second set to Stevens 8-25.  Before we got on the bus, the players held a team meeting.  During the meeting the team decided that they were going to be focused and silent from now on during Ryan's dynamic warm-up at practice.  Everyone agreed.

During the SUNYAC Championship in Dods, the other teams laughed at our unique approach to our warm up.  We were focused and silent while moving when most teams socialized and didn't take it as seriously.  That weekend our team never lost a set and won our first ever conference championship in front of 800 fans.

The days that followed were chaotic as we prepared for our first NCAA tournament.  There was never any question that Ryan was going to travel with us.  No question at all.  He earned it.  The athletes would've paid out of their own pockets.  They'd only known him for about three weeks.

The 2008 Blue Devils at NCAAs

In round one for our first ever NCAA tournament match we faced nationally ranked Haverford.  Ryan warmed us up.  He was so engaged.  He actually kind of grunted a couple of times.  Every athlete was focused and silent.  Haverford watched us curiously and didn't know what to make of how we prepared for the match against them.  We defeated them in five grueling sets.  Round two... nationally ranked Stevens Tech (the same team that defeated us handily two weekends prior).  They watched us warm-up and seemed amused.  We were focused and silent.  We then defeated them in five sets.  

Our two assistant coaches and Ryan and I got back to the hotel and we were freaking out, jumping up and down and hugging each other.  The feeling was amazing.  We had just pulled off what another New York region rep called the biggest upset in the history of our region.

In our sweet sixteen match we were defeated in another grueling five set match.  We were physically and emotionally exhausted during that fifth set.  Even though we lost and our season had ended, the mood was a sense of accomplishment.  Everyone knew we gave everything we had and what we just experienced was special.

That was Ryan's first experience as a collegiate coach.  What a unique way to start!  He asked me if every season was like that.  I told him we have to work towards that.

Ryan has had many different roles in and out of our athletic department since then.  He lived and volunteered in Alaska.  He worked in sports information and polished his writing skills.  He has studied the sport of volleyball and has a better understanding of the sport from an analytical perspective.  He took a strong interest in developing our recruiting strategy and has become more outgoing and a stronger communicator.  He has managed social media accounts and really has a handle on how to promote and inform.  And he has strengthened his holistic approach to training athletes.

One day I was talking to him about my horrible eyesight.  I told him that if I lived in 'cave man times' before glasses were invented that I would've been picked off by a predator by now.  He immediately replied that I would've lived in a community where other people would see for me.

Ryan in his new office

That's what makes Ryan so special... his sense of community and service.  He is always trying to better himself so he can better others.  He has a real sense that he is part of something bigger than himself.  Ryan also finds the positive in everyone and everything.

I can't think of better qualities for a coach and mentor.  

I am proud to know Ryan and I am grateful for everything he has done for our volleyball program.  We speak to our athletes about leaving the program better than when you found it.  Ryan has done that every year he has been involved... and then some.

His new role as the Strength and Conditioning Coach allows him to work with all of our athletes here at Fredonia.  I can't wait to see what the future holds.

If you'd like a daily dose of Ryan and his many thoughts about developing athletes and more, he has a new blog that I highly recommend at https://jonryanmaloney.wordpress.com/

My last blog post

By Ryan Maloney



Every player and assistant coach has an exit meeting with Coach Braun after the season. On Monday I had mine, but it was much shorter than usual.

Normally we'd discuss how the season went, a recruiting schedule for the winter, and voluntary off-season workouts. This year, we instead discussed how many of those things I'd continue doing. Apart from the workouts, we both agreed on the answer -- none of them.

A major responsibility was this blog. I've written it for myself, first. It kept me thinking about this team, and it kept me thinking about ways I could help make it better. Over time, people started to enjoy reading it, sharing in the experience. I thank you for that. It's been a privilege.

Now I want to see if it's possible to care as much about Fredonia's entire athletic department as I have about the volleyball team, so I've started another blog: jonryanmaloney.wordpress.com (my given name is Jon-Ryan). The content of the new blog will continue chronicling my experience as a coach, it will just be framed differently.

The site is incomplete, but the first ten posts on the new blog are my favorites I wrote for this one. Some were popular, some weren't, they're in no particular order, but they were all significant to me.

Thank you for reading. Art isn't made until someone sees it.

After playoffs are over

By Ryan Maloney

After playoffs are over, and the NCAA tournament is over, and Sectionals, Regionals, and States are all over. we'll all wake up Monday morning and brew our coffee.

We'll make breakfast, and get the kids to school. We'll drive to work or walk to class, and what happened over the weekend will have no bearing on our selfhoods.

Accept the compliments of winning, and accept the disappointments of losing, but don't breathe them in.

(Photo from November, 2008)

The first step in becoming a better coach

By Ryan Maloney

Stop thinking. Stop talking. Just breathe.

Listen for what the athlete needs from you. She always needs something from you if she chooses to talk to you.

Somewhere in that space is the first step in becoming a better coach.

Repeat.

Should we even want perfect team chemistry?

By Ryan Maloney

Photo by Lori Poirier

"Dealing with conflict might be the hardest thing I have to do in my job. So much of our job as coaches depends on the team staying together and walking in the same direction. But conflict and issues are bound to come up, threatening the team resolve. Communication with purpose is always the answer." ~ Johan Dulfer

"Should we even want perfect team chemistry?" is a better question than, "Can we have perfect team chemistry?"

After all, if team chemistry were perfect, when would we say "I'm sorry?" When would be vulnerable? When would we truly see each other? When would we connect?

Connection happens during moments of imperfection. The danger is in having those imperfections go unacknowledged.

Be careful picking your major

By Ryan Maloney

My office bookshelf -- the books related to my college major (left) and those that bring me joy (right)

Be careful when you mick your major, not because of the starting career salary, but because when you pick a major, you get labeled.

People like labels -- the shortcuts that help us define you. We like to assume that what you're studying in college is exactly what you're interested in. "What's your major?" is a much easier conversation to have than "What brings you joy?"

That's fine, but don't fall for the trick.

Eventually your interests will change. It might take one year, or ten, but they will change, and the interests that led you to pick a major when you were 18 will no longer serve you at 28. You'll need to drop the label.

And drop the label as often as you need.

On losing

By Ryan Maloney

"The course of your life depends on how you react to those opportunities and challenges that randomness presents to you. If you're awake and paying attention, you will find that things happen. They might seem good, they might seem bad, but the important thing is how you reacted to it." ~ Leonard Mlodinow, author of The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives

Last night we lost. Our season is over.

Over the next three weeks every team in Division III volleyball will lose as well, except one. When they do, players and coaches (especially coaches) will wonder what they could have done better, then they'll furiously start making plans to win more next year.

But first it might be worth pondering, "How did I react to the loss?"

The physicist Leonard Mlodinow goes on in conversation with Krista Tippett:

"And so what I'm saying about life is you don't know a lot, even if you think you do, and you don't have a lot of control, even if you're a control freak. So a lot of things that happen to you in that sense are random. And the same thing with your reaction to it -- yes, maybe a god-like person who knew what the state of all the atoms in your body could tell how you're going to react. But since none of us are that, it really does matter, and you do have a choice. And that determines your life."

It's fun to win, and fun to get better. But meaning is found in choosing your reaction.

Thank you for being a part of our 2016 season.

Photo by Roger Coda

Being popular vs. being significant

By Ryan Maloney

Prior to a September match against Geneseo in Potsdam, N.Y. (Photo by Lori Poirier)

I've been writing this blog long enough to know if a post will be popular or not before I write it.

If I were to write the headline, PLAYOFF MATCH TOMORROW AGAINST GENESEO!!!!!, the post would be popular. Regardless of what's written inside, a lot of people would click on it. But that doesn't mean a lot of people would care.

A post titled Being popular vs. being significant will garner many fewer clicks. but those who do click will care. They click because they've enjoyed this blog in the past, and the title of the post isn't relevant. Incidentally, they're likely already coming to tomorrow's playoff match.

The Buffalo Bills are more popular than the independent theatre production on the other side of town, and The Simpsons is more popular than reading Shakespeare. But that doesn't make football or cartoons significant.

The mass audience has never had a good grasp on significance anyways.

A better way to give praise

By Ryan Maloney

Photo by Jamie Powell

Giving praise is more effective than giving criticism. Any coach worth her salt knows that. But given too often for too little, praise is meaningless.  The athlete begins to wonder if you're being sincere.

A better way:

Notice the praise an athlete gets behind her back, the praise someone else might be too afraid to give her. That praise carries more weight.

But all of the above is probably better than silence.

Are student-athletes different today than they were thirty years ago?

By Ryan Maloney

I'm too young to know for sure, but consider an analogy from bookselling:

Past: There used to be one book store in town. If you enjoyed reading, the bookseller probably knew you on a first-name basis. He knew what books you bought in the past, and what you might like to buy in the future. He knew your book preferences better than even you did.

Present: Then came Barnes and Noble. Their goal was to have every book you could want in one place, taking away the need for individual attention. But the best the chains could do was put "staff recommendation" cards next to certain books, and you certainly don't care that "Staff Member Jennifer" enjoyed the latest John Grisham novel. The individual attention went away.

Future: Then Amazon changed everything. Amazon's search algorithms are so advanced that it can recommend products for you better than you can search for them. It does exactly what the individual bookseller used to do, but at scale.

A lot has changed in the last thirty years of bookselling, but human beings still want to be treated like individuals. They want to be understood.

Student-athletes are no different.

Hard work is a teachable skill

By Ryan Maloney

Juniors Hallie Christopher (left) and Kristen Stanek during preseason, 2016

Hard work is a skill. Much like teaching a player to pass, run a slide, or close a block, hard work can be learned.

Sure, it's going to take a long time, but noticing daily, positive steps is a start: "Hey, I liked when you put extra effort into this." A new belief begins to form in the athlete's mind: "Oh, I must be someone who works hard."

You might not get through to everyone, but it beats the assumption that work ethic is innate.

(Note: hard work can be substituted with empathy, compassion, patience, or most other qualities we consider innate.)

The cycle of character, and our program's second home playoff game since 2008

By Ryan Maloney



"I'm often asked, in fifty years of doing this, what programs work to turn around lives. In fifty years I've never seen a program turn around a life. I've seen relationships turn around lives, and I've seen love turn around lives." ~ Bill Milliken, Founder of Communities in Schools

After Senior Night last Tuesday, one player stood up in front of teammates, family members, and friends to talk about how this volleyball program has changed her life. But if asked, she'd probably agree that it's not the program, rather the people within the program who caused that change.

And those people go back a long time. I've only been here since 2008, but patterns have already started to emerge.

A freshman admires some characteristic in a senior, wanting to be just like her. The senior may not realize it, but she used to admire the same characteristic in a player before her. And that player admired it in someone before her. Players cycle through the program, but that elusive characteristic remains. What's the characteristic, and where did it come from?

My favorite book from 2016 is The Road to Character by David Brooks. A memorable quote from the book goes, "We don't become better because we acquire new information. We become better because we acquire better loves. We don't become what we know. Education is a process of love formation. When you go to school, it should offer you new things to love."

Students come to college with a lot of loves. They love their parents and the friends they left behind. They love the excitement of college life. They love the parties they can go to. Unfortunately, some students stick with only these loves for four years.

But some see their loves change. They begin to love hard work. They love seeing their teammates do well. They love learning, helping, and sacrificing. Their older loves take a back seat to these new, higher loves.

Brooks went on in The Road to Character: "The tender character-building strategy is based on the idea that we can't always resist our desires, but we can change and reorder our desires by focusing on our higher loves ... The lover wants to sacrifice, to live life as an offering."

The admirable characteristic being passed on is literally character, which has grown through our program over the last eight years. Coincidentally, it was eight years ago that we won SUNYAC's in Dods Hall. On Tuesday, November 1st  at 6 p.m. we'll host another playoff game -- the quarterfinal round against Geneseo.

Thank you all for passing your character, and your love, through our program. It lives on.

If you don't like what's happening on your team, it's your fault

By Ryan Maloney

Preseason 2016 (photo by Jamie Powell)

"If you don't like what's happening on your team, it's your fault." ~ Dave Brant

The coach: "My athletes aren't good enough ... The school I work for doesn't have enough money ... My boss won't let me do what I want."

The administrator: "My coaches aren't good enough ... The school I work for doesn't have enough money ... My boss won't let me do what I want."

The athlete: "My coach doesn't know what he's doing ... Can't he see that if he played me, we'd win?"

The parent: "My daughter's coach doesn't know what he's doing ... Can't he see that if he played her, they'd win?"

It doesn't matter if you're right, because you've let the narrative strip you of power.

Over-communicating with your players

By Ryan Maloney

Head Coach Geoff Braun during practice on Thursday

"During one of my first years coaching, one of my outsides hit the ball out seven times in a row. I finally took her out, but I didn't want to walk to the end of the bench to tell her why. After the match, her and her mom come up to me and she says, 'I don't know why you took my daughter out.' Since then, I've made it a point to over-communicate. I just want to make sure they know where I'm coming from." ~ Amber Warners, Calvin Volleyball

As a whole, our society is excellent at over-communicating, if you define over-communicating as the number of sent e-mails, texts, Tweets, and Snaps.

Our society is also terrible at at over-communicating, if you define over-communicating as a willingness to have difficult, vulnerable conversations every day.

It just depends on how you define communicate. Your definition is likely to trickle down to those you lead.

[PS - The third round of SUNYAC Pool Play begins tonight in Fredonia at 5 p.m.]