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USA Juniors to Compete At Keystone Games

Push The Rock will be sending a USA Juniors 16U team to the Keystone Games this year. The two day tournament will be held at the York Convention Center July 25-26. Ten teams representing various volleyball programs throughout the state will be competing in this annual state event. Members of the USA Juniors Team include Outside Hitter Taylor Beck (Bethlehem Catholic), Outside Hitter Carolyn Rocatto (Parkland), Outside Hitter Alexis Puzzella (Parkland), Middle Blocker Kaitlin Schnalzer (Liberty), Middle Blocker Sami Steich (Southern Lehigh), Middle Blocker Jen Grenauer (Freedom), Libero Tabitha Maurer (Southern Lehigh), Setter Rachel Schnalzer (Southern Lehigh) and Setter Katie Lantaff (Parkland). The team has been getting ready for the event with practices at East Side Youth Center. Please pray for our athletes as they prepare for this competition and represent the Push The Rock sports ministry.

Announcement

Howard Vernick has joined the coaching staff for the Girls' volleyball program at Bethlehem Catholic High School. He will be assisting the head coach with the varsity volleyball program and he will be in charge of developing the junior varsity athletes. Howard also serves as Club Director and Coach for our Push The USA Juniors girls' volleyball club program.

Volleyball Update

Push The Rock USA Juniors Volleyball Club wraps up its 3rd season at the end of May following 5 months of exciting and fun competition with other clubs from all over the East Coast and beyond. Our club has continued to grow. This year we fielded 6 teams with a total membership of 58 athletes. Our traveling teams competed in high level tournaments in a variety of locations including Washington, DC, Baltimore, Richmond, Philadelphia, and many other sites in Eastern PA. Last year our club earned 2 berths at the USA Volleyball National Championships in Minneapolis. Our goal this year was to send at least 1 team to the 2008 National Championship event in Dallas but we were unsuccessful. We came close with two of our teams finishing 5th in the qualifying bid tournaments, but we lost in quarterfinal matches. In other competition, many of our teams earned awards throughout the season, we often finished in the top 3 in tournament competition.

This year our club devotional theme was the "Fruit of the Spirit". At our tournaments, coaches held devotional sessions to share how the Gal. 5:22 provides powerful guidance for Christian character on and off the court. As a Christian club, Push The Rock USA Juniors is different than other clubs in our region. Volleyball competition provides an excellent opportunity for Christian athletes and coaches to let their lights shine and have a positive influence on others.

The outlook for 2008 is for continued growth in athlete membership and coaching staff. I am projecting that we will field at least two additional teams in 2009 with a membership increase of about 30%. I ask that you continue to pray for our club ministry as we expand to other sports beginning with soccer this year.

Summer Open gyms

PTR USA Juniors will be conducting informal open gyms, in June and July, Thursday evenings from 7 - 8:30PM at East Side Youth Center, 1140 E. Clair St., Allentown, PA 18109. This is not a KRVA sanctioned event, therefore the events will be insured by Push The Rock. The cost is $5 per session. If you have questions, feel free to contact Howard Vernick at 610-730-6484 or Jeff Stephens at 610-770-9586.

ATTENTION FEMALE VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS!

Push The Rock is running a Volleyball Academy for high level women’s volleyball players ages 13-17. It will run the mornings of July 21-24 at East Side Youth Center (ESYC) in Allentown. This camp will be directed by Philadelphia Biblical University’s (PBU) Men and Women’s volleyball coaches, Jade and Julie Brubaker.

Julie Brubaker, PBU’s women’s volleyball head coach, experienced tremendous success as a middle hitter during her collegiate career at Clearwater Christian College and received recognition as 1st Team All-American three years in a row for her efforts. In addition, her team was crowned two-time National Champions and two-time runner up during her four playing years. She graduated from Clearwater with a Bachelor of Science in Health and Physical Education along with a minor in Coaching.

Julie’s head coaching experience includes three years of high school volleyball before arriving at PBU. She has led the Crimson Eagles the past three seasons to a combined 63-42 overall record. In addition to Coaching Women’s Volleyball and assisting the Men’s team, Julie is the Assistant Athletic Director at PBU

Jade Brubaker has coached the men’s volleyball team at PBU for three years. Jade graduated from PBU with a Health and Physical Education degree in 2005 while playing on the men’s volleyball team for all four years. He earned All-Conference honors and helped lead the team to the NCCAA DII national tournament in Washington State. Additionally, Brubaker was an integral part of the PBU team that gained national recognition after being ranked in the top 15 USA Today Poll.

Besides coaching at PBU, Jade is in his second year coaching club volleyball for Club Lehigh's 18's team, as last year’s group finished 5th at Junior Olympic Club Nationals in Atlanta Georgia.

Spots for this camp are going fast and are reserved for volleyball players wanting to play at a high level. The camp will be run like an up-tempo college practice and are not geared to the beginner. Push The Rock will be running two other women’s volleyball weeks on July 14-18 and July 21-25 at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Trexlertown. These are all day camps and will be geared towards improving all levels of skills through fundamentals and repetition. These camps will be run by John Gump, Head Women’s Coach at Kutztown University. For more details on either camp, call the office at 610-967-6861 or register online at www.pushtherock.org.

The club was established in 2006 with two primary purposes.

1. Create an environment that would encourage athletes to develop their character through the expression of their Christian faith.

2. Provide an opportunity for athletes to achieve success at a very high level of competitive volleyball

USA Junior Team Updates - To view information including tournament season updates, select the team page from the menu on the left.