'Major' changes lie in store for Volleyball team

New Penn volleyball coach Kerry Major hopes to get the Quakers back to the top of the Ivy League. With only a few players lost to graduation, the 1998 Penn volleyball team will be almost entirely the same as the 1997 edition. But one key feature, however, has changed, as Kerry Major replaces Margaret Feeney as coach of the Quakers. Major does not come to University City without some experience. A few years after graduating from William and Mary, she began her coaching career as an assistant at Georgetown. Major then went on to become an assistant at Hawaii for two years and an assistant at Alaska-Anchorage for another year. Immediately following her first season at Alaska-Anchorage, she took the position of head coach and held it for the next two years. Major's prior experience proved to be most valuable when she worked as an assistant at Hawaii under Dave Shoji, who won four national championships with the Rainbows. "He's one of the best technicians in the country," Major said. "He taught me some of the best techniques in the world, which is something I didn't get on the East Coast." According to Major, Shoji's success can also be attributed to his amazing ability to make beneficial decisions and changes during the course of a game. With the techniques she was taught in Hawaii and her experience as a head coach in Alaska, Major is excited to take on her new position at Penn. Major said she thinks Penn has a good balance of academics and athletics and she will stress that balance to her team. As far as athletics are concerned, Major wants to develop her athletes to think team concepts first. "I'm a teamwork and unity type of coach," Major said. "I'm not a cheerleader type of coach. I'm teaching them technique, so I will constantly be correcting them." Major spent the last six weeks recruiting for the 1999 team. But as she only arrived at Penn in March, she didn't get many recruits for the 1998 class. However, she commented that the current team members already have the personality she is looking for in her players. "I was impressed by their work ethic," Major said. "I don't need the best talent in the league. I need the hardest workers." "I was pleasantly surprised to see that they also have a lot of talent, and they made good improvements in the spring." Since this is Major's first season at Penn, she expects a period of adjustment. Nevertheless, this season has a lot of promise. "We're going to be peaking at the end of the season, because we'll still be learning the new format," Major said. That will be perfect timing for the Quakers. At the end of the season, the Ivy League Tournament is held, and the winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAAs. Major hopes to improve on last year's sixth-place finish in the Ivy League in her first year at the helm of the Penn volleyball program.

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