Summer Training...

Cadet Leadership Development Training

Cadet Karen Powell (senior and captian the volleyball team) converses with local villagers at the traffic control point outside the combat outpost. During the combat outpost exercise, companies of cadets were tasked with securing their area of operation from insurgent attacks while maintaining good relations with the local villagers. Missions ranged from negotiations with the village sheik, quick reaction team responses to attacks, medical evacuations and route clearing operations. The three-week Cadet Leadership Development Training for rising cows and firsties at West Point, N.Y., included marksmanship training, platoon attack engagements and urban operations to uncover high value targets (insurgent leaders) as the objective. Photo by Mike Strasser, West Point Public Affairs

Rolled and Ready for Graduation

A Class of 2010 cadet’s diploma with the commissioning certificate on top is rolled and placed inside its individual container May 14. Before they are presented to the cadets, each diploma and certificate is cleaned and proofread for accuracy. It takes about two weeks to proofread and another week to package the nearly 1,000 sets of diplomas and certificates. Graduation Week activities start on Tuesday with the Alumni Review and Exercise and culminates on May 22 with the Class of 2010 Graduation

The Terrible TEE's are OVER!

Friday...today is the day that most students have been waiting for since the first day of school, especially the seniors. Today is the last day of finals (or TEE's). That means only a week until graduation and summer. The students are off for the weekend and return to campus Sunday night for graduation preparations. At least the hard part is over! No more studying and stressing about finals. Just parading. :)

On another note, Army Athletics is taking the Patriot League by storm! Lacrosse, baseball, woman's tennis and softball are all Patriot League Champions! Softball and baseball are hosting the Patriot League Tournament here on campus this weekend while lacrosse and woman's tennis begin the first round of the NCAA tournament! Good luck to all the teams! How awesome is that!?

Well the weekend is only a couple hours away and the weather is nice, couldn't ask for anything else. Until next time...

18 days!

Here at The Point, warm weather has invaded the campus with record high temperatures this past weekend. Temperatures are rising as the number of class days here are dwindling. Cadets are itching for the next two weeks to go by quickly and anticipating Graduation Week, especially the seniors. Rumor on the street has it that Obama might be the key-note speaker this year. But I won’t believe it until I see it. As graduation fever engulfs the seniors, sophomores are struggling with the idea of signing their lives away to the Army or returning to the simplicities of being a civilian. Whereas plebes are just ecstatic that they won’t be plebes anymore. No more walking with your hands cupped outside or hugging the side of the hallways in the barracks or only being able to take one pass a semester. Oh yes plebes, I know you can see the light at the end of the tunnel now! So, for most cadets here at the Academy it is an exciting and scary time of year to say the least.

With only 18 days left until graduation, everyone is trying to get that last homework assignment in, study for their TEEs and say their last goodbyes to friends before they head off for their summer assignments. Here’s to hoping these next three weeks go by quickly…

Penn State Scrimmage

As the girls walked through campus, bystanders gawked at the sight of huge, tree-like girls walking around taking in the history of West Point. That only meant one thing...Penn State volleyball team had arrived. The day was a success. On Saturday morning our girls and the Penn State team got together to run a few drills and get some tips from 3-Time Nationals Championship coach Russ Rose. It was a competitive morning filled with intense drills, hard hitting and all out defense. Penn State even got a tour of West Point. They got to see the dorms, classrooms, Cadet Chapel and ]even got to eat in the Mess Hall. Yummy.

Each team was impressed by the other. Our girls were humbled to have the chance to play with 3-Time National Champs and Penn State was humble to learn about what it takes to be a student-athlete at a place like West Point and the commitment our team has not only to volleyball but to their country.

All in all it was a great day, each team learning a lot about the other. An unforgettable Spring Tournament for sure! Now our team has two more practice to get ready for our last tournament at the University of Rhode Island. Bring on the challenge!

Penn State comes to West Point...

The Army volleyball program will offer a free youth clinic on Saturday, April 17, following its spring season practice session with three-time defending national champion Penn State (No big deal). The clinic is scheduled to run from 4-5 p.m. at Gillis Field House with registration beginning at 3:30 p.m. The Army-Penn State scrimmages, which begin with a 9-11:30 a.m. and session are now open to the public. Whooohoooo!!!

The Nittany Lions and Hall of Fame head coach Russ Rose will tour West Point and eat lunch at the Mess Hall in between sessions. The second scrimmage will take place in the afternoon with a target start time of 3 p.m. All scrimmages are open to the public and will take place at Gillis Field House.

Girls from the ages of 8-18 and with all skill levels are welcome to attend the clinic. One of the young, rising stars within the volleyball coaching world, reigning two-time Patriot League Coach of the Year Alma Kovaci and her assistants, Jeremy Sands and Julie Chester will run the clinic. They will be joined by players from the 2009 Patriot League Championship team.

Depending on skill level, clinic attendees will learn the basics of volleyball and/or improve existing volleyball skills, all while gaining exposure to a collegiate environment and hanging out with the Army Volleyball players.

To pre-register for the clinic, email Director of Marketing Elle Nichols at ellen.nichols@usma.edu or call the Army Marketing Office at 845-938-2294. Walk-up registrations will also be accepted the day of the clinic from 3:30-4 p.m.

Don't miss this chance! It should be a fun day down at Gillis!

If Not Now, When?

Friday the Army Volleyball team had the privilege to have lunch with Jack Jacobs. Army First Lieutenant Jack Jacobs was serving as an advisor to the South Vietnamese when he and his men came under devastating attack. Severely wounded, Jacobs took command and withdrew the unit, returning again and again to the site of the attack to rescue more men, saving the lives of a U.S. advisor and thirteen Allied soldiers. Colonel Jacobs received the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor (Show in picture above, receiving a signed ball from one of our seniors Karyn Powell).

While eating lunch with the team he discussed stories of the Army, West Point or as he called it "The School of The United States of America" and his current job as a military analysis on TV. He was humorous, courteous and full of knowledge. It was certainly a treat for the volleyball team to have the honor of talking with such a great ambassador for the Army.

Other than that the girls had a morning lift and the afternoon off so they could start their Easter weekend off early. The weather here is perfect and this week the team is preparing to travel to Hofstra for their second spring tournament.

Until next time...