Motion Volleyball Supports Director's Battle with Cancer

Mike Pridavka, Dave Goetzel and Dave Strackbein are volleyball parents who, as a group, formed Motion Volleyball Program (a.k.a. MVP) during the summer of 2012. 

These ambitious parents teamed up with an excellent coach, Kurt Derenne, and launched the club's first team, a 16U squad.

As club directors, these three learned that organizing a team, creating a handbook, training, entering tournaments, finding players, creating a web site and all the other club-director jobs was a lot more work than it looked from the outside. They developed a deep appreciation for what other club directors and coaches go through with their 12-14 teams. Especially since they sometimes found it difficult to do their "real" jobs even with just one team!

The club was running smoothly until the program was blindsided by the news that Dave Goetzel was diagnosed with cancer. Everyone was shocked and saddened that Goetzel would be away from the team for significant periods while going through chemotherapy treatment. 

Added to the worries and fears associated with a cancer diagnosis was Dave's concern he may not be able to make it to the tournaments. His daughter, Brittany, was on the team. 

Goetzel had put his heart and soul into forming this club, so Pridavka and Strackbein made it their mission to keep Dave connected to the team he worked so hard to create. 

They experimented with an iPad app called Event-Cast (http://www.event-cast.com), which allows users to stream sports and other events live via the internet for an hourly fee. Dave Strackbein called the owner of Event-Cast, Ed Seitz,  to see if there was a way to modify the app. After Seitz and Strackbein made several changes to the Event-Cast software and the Motion Volleyball Program (http://www.motionvolleyball.org) web site, they were broadcasting! 

It was a huge relief for Dave and his family. He was able to focus on his battle with cancer and still watch the team and participate in their season!

Since then, the broadcasting capability has taken on a life of its own. Parents, grandparents, and friends of MVP players are now able to register and request access to live and archived video of matches when they cannot be there in person. College coaches are also embracing the concept and subscribing to the video feed. It has allowed them stretch their recruiting budget and maximize their precious time. 

Please join the members, friends, and family of the Motion Volleyball Program in wishing Dave Goetzel and everyone else in the Badger Region volleyball community that is battling cancer BEST WISHES and a return to the court as soon as possible.

Boys Overseas Experience

We are excited to let you know about a programming opportunity that's kicking off this summer.

A group of boys' volleyball players, ages 14-17, will have the opportunity to travel abroad and compete in IRELAND and LONDON this summer! The boys will participate in a community service project, interacting with local teams, soaking in the culture and competing in about four matches against local volleyball programs.

Alan Capps, director of Eclipse Volleyball Club, is coordinating this opportunity. Capps has extensive experience internationally and has been taking teams overseas to play and experience different cultures for several years.

Any boy from any club is welcome on this trip. Parents are invited as well!

The trip is scheduled July 26-Aug. 6, 2013 and will coincide with that of the Eclipse Volleyball Club, but be run as a separate trip.

Prior to leaving, the team will participate in training sessions at dates/times to be determined after teams are formed. Coaching staff will depend upon how many participants sign up.

The group of participants will be selected on a first-come basis.

An informational meeting will be held on Monday, Feb. 11 at 7:00 pm at the Badger Region Volleyball offices at 7001 W. Center Street in Wauwatosa.

Please contact Deb Stadick (deb@badgervolleyball.org) or Alan Capps (director@eclipsevolleyball.org) if you plan to attend the meeting or have additional questions. 

We hope to see you at the meeting and have you join us for this phenomenal experience!

Capps is opening up the Eclipse trip to girls from other club programs. If you are interested in this opportunity, please attend the informational meeting on Feb. 11 at the Badger Region offices or email Alan at director@eclipsevolleyball.org. 

Chellie DeGelleke is Running the US

Chellie DeGelleke has big plans for this summer. In addition to coaching her Milwaukee Sting 15 Black team, the fitness fanatic is strapping on her running shoes and embarking on a jaw-dropping mission.

Chellie has committed to run the equivalent of six marathons in six days as part of the 2013 MS Run the US relay, which kicks off April 15 in Los Angeles, Calif. and concludes Sept. 6 in New York City, New York.

Chellie and 21 other participants each have a segment of the country to cover. Chellie’s leg will span from Los Angeles, Calif. to Barstow, Calif. 

The runners are hoping to raise $500,000 to help cure multiple sclerosis.

BR: So how did you get hooked up with this event?

CHELLIE: Two years ago, I met a girl who was trying to get a lot of fitness professionals to work together more. Ashley and I became really good friends through that process, and I learned about her charity, MS Run the US. Ashley’s mom was diagnosed with MS in her adult life. So many people get diagnosed late in life. It is a very life-altering disease for the individual and their family. Every day someone new is diagnosed with MS. People are suffering from it. Often, their symptoms parallel other diseases so it is missed for a long time and goes untreated. Simple changes in nutrition and exercise can relieve symptoms and provide help. She gained the awareness of that and also knowing MS is unfortunately not uncommon. Through that experience, Ashley decided she wanted to do something to get involved and help those people.

BR: So how did she decide a run across the country was what she wanted to do?

CHELLIE: Ashley was an athlete in college. In 2010, she decided she wanted to run across the United States for her mom. She shared her story with me and I told her I would love to be involved by helping to spread the word and fundraise. She gave me a call and told her it was going to be a relay and wanted to know if I would be a runner. She told me it would be six marathons in six days. I just wasn’t sure, so I told her maybe.

BR: What made you change your “maybe” into a “yes?”

CHELLIE: Awhile later, we were at a coffee shop working on something. She was abnormally quite. Eventually she told me that she didn’t think she had enough runners to actually make the run happen. She thought she could only cover half of the US. She was just feeling defeated. I gave her my best coach’s motivational speech and pumped her back up. She told me that she was super excited, and if I could make her that excited that I could run the six marathons in six days. I went to bed that night and woke up knowing she was right. If anyone is more equipped than me they were probably already running. I know about nutrition and training to effectively and safely run it. I have the time. There was no reason I shouldn’t do it for her and for this charity.

BR: So what did you do after you committed to running?

CHELLIE: Two weeks before Christmas, I officially went through application process and got accepted as a runner. It was pretty surreal. I went through the interview process and was presented with the offer. Of course I was jumping up and down. Then I hung up the phone and was like holy crap. I have to run six marathons. I have never even run one before. I have always enjoyed running. I have run larger distances. But NEVER been an ultra-runner. I went into panic mode for a few hours. When I finally settled down, I started writing down what it would take and the time I had.

BR: When you realized what it would take, what did you do next?

CHELLIE: I started training that week. And I haven’t looked back since. I currently am training five days a week. I build miles anywhere from 3-5 hours a week. I do a distance run 2-3 days a week. This week I am doing two eight-mile runs back-to-back days, then strength training two days and then speed/interval/form training one day. In total right now, I am going about 12 hours a week. But that will increase as I start hitting double-digit mileage.

BR: It sounds like you have the training part on lockdown. What is going to be the toughest part about this run for you?

CHELLIE: Knowing I could be alone running for six days straight. It is a very terrifying thing. Even on my long runs, it isn’t the fact I feel like I can’t run the full marathons. It is waking up every day and doing it over and over again. I am going into this knowing I could be doing it alone for all six days on the road. If no one comes out and supports in that region, I will run alone every day. And I had to accept it. I have talked to several ultra-runners and they recommended books on tape. I will listen to those while I run.

BR: What can people do to get involved and help you out as you embark on this mission?

CHELLIE: We need for everyone to get involved with it. Our runners are going across the country. Every city we stop at is listed on msruntheus.com and we are looking for people who can connect us within the communities we are running through, be it with high schools, community official, churches, etc. We are counting on communities to come out and run with us! People run every day. We would love for you to hit the road with us. That support as we go cross-country is really big.

BR: What about on the fundraising side of things?

CHELLIE: There will also be a variety of events in the Milwaukee area. I am hosting a few volleyball clinics and the funds will be going directly to MS Run the US. Anyone who wants to help host a fundraiser or are willing to send out information, donate gym space or anything like that, I would love to talk to them. I will run as many clinics as possible. 100% of profits go right to MS research. Sponsors pay for the RV, gas, food, etc. None of the money we raise is used on the operations of the relay, which is really cool.



Check out the MS Run the US website for city listings and additional information about the relay.

To follow Chellie’s journey, check out her blog.

To donate to Chellie’s run and MS Run the US, click here.