The Bradsher Beat
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
By Bethany Bradsher |
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Torbett
aims to change volleyball's 'habit'
By
Bethany Bradsher
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Julie Torbett has been sitting
right behind the bench to witness each of the five national titles won by
her alma mater. As a former Penn State player, she was immersed in each
championship victory and embraced a volleyball dynasty that she helped
forge.
It’s that unyielding drive
that Torbett brings to an East Carolina volleyball program desperately
in need of a confidence infusion. With just six total wins over the last
three seasons, the Pirates are welcoming Torbett and her commitment to
the reinvention of the ECU volleyball program.
“I’m well aware of the
record,” said Torbett, who was named the new head coach on Feb. 5. “They
didn’t hide that from me. They brought me in so that I would make some
changes, and we’re going to make some changes that you’re going to see
in how we do things on the court, how we conduct ourselves.”
Torbett holds firmly to
the Vince Lombardi maxim that “Winning is a habit.”
Unfortunately, she said,
losing can also be habit-forming, and she means to institute a
three-pronged emphasis of work ethic, competitive drive and loyalty that
will create the kind of climate hospitable to victory. She doesn’t
pretend that turning the tide will be easy, she said, but she knows it
can be done.
“If they’ll do those
things we’re going to win more than two matches,” she said. “I think
we’ve got to get into a habit of winning. And that’s not going to be
easy. I’m not a magician. I’m not going to wave a magic wand and all of
a sudden, we’re good. It’s going to take a lot of hard work.”
As the head coach at UNC-Asheville
for 17 years — she was named to that position when she was only 24 — and
two seasons at Winthrop, Torbett became the winningest coach in Big
South history with two Big South Coach of the Year selections and three
regular season conference titles.
At East Carolina, she has
the chance to be an architect, a role she embraces.
The team has only had a
few practices together so far, and Torbett is still in the early stages
of assessing the team’s strengths and weaknesses. But she has so
emphasized those three chief values — work ethic, competitiveness and
loyalty — that the Pirate players have already teased her that they plan
to get them tattooed on their bodies.
For players like Nicole
Willis, a junior right side hitter from Raleigh who looks to be one of
the offensive sparks of the team, the key to thriving during the
transition is laying aside pre-existing ideas about how to do things and
letting their new coach take the reins.
“I know a lot of us have
been given a lot of different ways to do things with regards to
techniques and how to play the game,” said Willis, who transferred to
ECU last year from LSU. “But for her to implement her new program, we
have to buy in 100 percent, and if we don’t we’re going to suffer the
consequences for it.
"I think we’re all so
eager just to learn something new and something positive it’ll go off
without a hitch.”
With the deep loyalty and
school spirit of Penn State in her background, Torbett has been
encouraged at the enthusiasm of the Pirate Nation, particularly when she
learned that every one of the returning players who came in under
previous coach Pati Rolf intended to stay at ECU.
“None of them bailed,” she
said. “When you have players that love to be here and really enjoy their
university, my job is to train them to know how to play volleyball and
to bring in even better players in the future that will make this a
stronger program.”
Outside hitter Hannah
Allgood, one of seven seniors on the squad, said that Coach Torbett has
emphasized her own principles but has also taken the time to listen to
her players and understand their backgrounds and their dreams for the
team. With just one year left to wear a Pirate jersey, Allgood and her
fellow seniors welcome a fresh start.
“We want to be able to go
out and say we gave it our all, and even though it’s our last year we’re
going to work hard so that the classes below us can also carry out a
winning tradition,” Allgood said.
Torbett will have a more
accurate picture of her team and its potential after playing a slate of
spring scrimmages that include matches against N.C. State, Duke, Elon
and Winthrop. And as she continues to collect advice from her former
head coach Russ Rose and his dominant Penn State program, she will pour
all that she can into the Pirates who hope to follow her into a brighter
future.
“I’m a fighter,” she said.
“I just absolutely do not ever think that I’m going to go into a match
and lose. So they will garner some of that strength from me, and that
winning attitude from me. I’m hoping that will give them some
confidence, that there’s going to be a change and they’re going to win
matches next year.”
E-mail Bethany Bradsher
PAGE UPDATED
02/27/13 12:04 AM.
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