Major ready to debut on Penn sidelines

With only two players lost to graduation, the 1998 Penn volleyball team will be almost entirely the same as the 1997 edition. One key feature, however, has changed, as Kerry Major replaces Margaret Feeney, who resigned last December as coach of the Quakers. "We are very pleased that Kerry Major will be joining our staff," Senior Associate Athletic Director Carolyn Schlie Femovich said in a press release upon hiring Major. "Her coaching and playing experiences, combined with her enthusiasm and commitment to academic excellence will be a great enhancement for our volleyball program." Major comes to University City with plenty of coaching 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 two seasons before coming to Penn. 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 six weeks during the summer recruiting for the 1999 team, but having not arrived at Penn until March, she didn't get many recruits for the 1998 class. Despite not having what could be referred to as "her" players in the program, Major said 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." Major noted that her athletes worked hard over the summer to improve their conditioning from the level it was last spring when she first practiced with the team. Players' desire to start games this season motivated their efforts over the summer. 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. At the same time, since this is Major's first season at Penn, she is realistic about the likelihood a period of adjustment. "I've really never seen these girls in a typical game situation," Major said. "In the spring it was very atypical with the new scoring format, so I'm going to throw them all into the game. Everyone is going to see playing time. "We're going to be peaking at the end of the season, because we'll still be learning the new format." 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. The end of the year is still a long way off. For now, Major will be working to get her system off the ground and get a Quakers team playing better -- together -- than they have in a while.