Anniversary Time!

D3VbWest enters second grade soon as we turn 7 today. I was living in Virginia when I was 7 going to Hunter Woods Elementary (I think that was the name). I remember having to walk under an overpass which doubled as a sewer or runoff for rain. I then walked through a heavily wooded area (there was a walking path). I remember revisiting the area in my 40s and genuinely being a little freaked out walking through that wooded area. It was a different time back then. I also remember being signed up for karate class by my mother but had to go to the first class alone. Everyone was there with their parents but me. The instructor walked up to everyone in a line asking for payment. I had no money. Freaked out, I walked out before he got to me (back through the woods) but saw a soccer practice going on at the school’s field. When I got home, I told my mother I wanted to play soccer instead of karate because I didn’t want to tell how scared I was. She was annoyed because she had prepaid for the karate lessons. Thankfully, I’m a little more structured than my mom was at that time and I’ll always be here for you. Side note, my daughter was a really good soccer player until she was introduced to volleyball in middle school. She told us she wanted to switch sports because it was air conditioned. I guess that means you can thank the Texas heat for this website.

As always, I request no presents (until later in this article) but I do ask that you let your team’s parents, players and coaches know about this little world. My hope is that they all respond that they are not idiots and already know about the site.

I will once again take a look back at the site’s statistics as this is the one day I’m allowed to be self-absorbed. (About the site. I’m typically self-absorbed, normally.)

Posts:

• There were 205 posts for the year (doesn’t include this one). That is the fourth most over the seven years.

• I’ve added more than 246,000 words this past year, which is a new record. The posts are averaging the most words than it ever has (around 1,200 words/post).

• Total words over the seven years are now at 1,320,508.

• The most popular post written this past year was “Selection Eve (2023)”. This continues a tradition for this annual post winning this award. It is one of the most fun and most nerve-wracking experiences I have with this site each year.

• The most popular page (left side menu) over the last year was “2024 Recruits”. Another tradition continues.

• The most popular post all-time continues to be “What Volleyball Position is the Hardest”. As I have mentioned previously, I wrote this to capitalize on the most common Google search that would find my site. This article has over 6,200 views and still scores big every year.

• Most page views for a month occurred during November 2023. It was the second highest month in our history (first is November 2021).

• Overall, there have been around 80,900 views on the website this past year, which is third all time.

• Most views for a day was November 12, 2023 with 2,378 views. That day I posted “Projected NCAA Field of 64” and “Selection Eve (2023)”. The record is still November 4, 2018 with 2,831 views.

• Outside of the USA, the site is most popular in Canada and the Philippines. United Kingdom, Australia and St Kitts are tied after that. I’m kicking myself as I made a trip to New Zealand this past year and I could have skewed things!

• The site now has 192 followers or subscribers, which is 20 more than last year. Remember that you can follow through email or a WordPress account. I don’t use the emails or sell them in any way.

I get these stats from the website. In some regards, things are kind of limited. I did find it interesting that we had the most views in December than any previous year (for December only). The benefits of playing the championship in December, I guess.

I definitely enjoyed learning about NPI this past year. I think it’s going to be a very bad development for our sport but it was fun learning that. I really have to thank all of the Latvian Hackers out there. Whether it’s helping with NPI or helping with selection tools or sending me tips about what is going on, it’s greatly appreciated. The site is made better through your efforts. Special thanks to the coaches (and administrators) out there. I treasure your (in most cases) virtual friendships and I take great joy in meeting you all in person, when able. I do want to start a new trend. I think you all need to bring me a team workout t-shirt when you see me. Men’s large extra tall or men’s extra-large should be fine (both normal sizes your team needs, I’m sure). Trinity is excused from this practice and I swear if I see Julie with a large t-shirt walking to me, I’ll bolt. What do you get out of it? Well, nothing but I’ll try to wear it for one of your matches. I’ll also give you a shout out in a future article. Also, a big thank you to the parents that take the time to introduce yourself. (Except for that jerk dad on Juniata.) My advice, as always, is to really enjoy and cherish this time and support your daughter and her team regardless of playing time or success. You will miss these moments for the rest of your lives. Trust me.

Alright. Seven years in the books. Matches start in a little over a month. It’s going to be a fun one!