Reminiscing With Jen

Reminiscing With Jen Flynn…
By Ace

Most of you might not know or even remember who Jennifer Flynn is but I do remember her for sure! She was the setter of the USA National Team who competed at the 2002 Women’s World Championship hosted by Germany. Jen was a last minute replacement for Robyn Ah Mow who got pregnant a few months before the tournament. When I saw the USA roster, I was like “Who is Jennifer Flynn? Where is Robyn?” and I initially concluded that despite winning the  World Grand Prix the year before Toshi Yoshida’s squad would have to work hard to medal.

With Charlene Tagaloa (back up setter from the 2000 Olympic squad) not on the roster, My first question to Jen was: How did she get it on the team?

I know there were a lot of conversations with the US staff as to who else they could bring in as a setter once they found out that Robyn was pregnant. I believe Robyn even mentioned my name as a potential setter because we were teammates in 1999 at the World University Games. The assistant coach, Kevin Hambly, also knew me from the United States Professional Volleyball League (USPV) so I think that also helped Toshi Yoshida make the decision to call me. When I got the phone call from Toshi, I was actually en route to a Detroit Pistons playoff game with my boyfriend at the time (now husband). I recognized the area code as Colorado Springs, but I was completely caught off guard when I heard Toshi’s voice. Even though I told him that I would have to think about it, I knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up!

Glad she took the chance! It was indeed a great opportunity for Jen to be playing with the young but fearless Logan Tom, veterans Keba Phipps and Tara Cross Battle, the ever smiling Heather Bown, the energetic libero Stacy Sykora and the great Danielle Scott.

I knew Heather and Stacy before my time on the National Team, so it was so much fun playing with them again and at that level. To say that I played with Dani, Tara and Logan is something that I still can’t believe sometime. My dream as a little kid was to make it to the highest level – and I did. I feel very fortunate to have played with the teammates I did – and it’s even better that I got to know them as people.

USA was in Pool C – the easiest group in my opinion. They crushed and dominated their matches against Puerto Rico, Argentina, Dominican Republic and Kenya. The most exciting match was their 3-2 victory against the Russian squad who lost their most universal player, Lioubov Sokolova, due to internal conflict (according to reports). USA took the #1 seed in their pool and joined Brazil, Holland and Germany in Round 2.

In case you didn’t know, the Brazilian team made headlines prior to the tournament when its star players (Virna, Walewska, Fofao & Erika) declined to play because they didn’t like the new coach, Marco Motta. Paula, Sheilla, Valeskinha, Sassa and Team Brazil lost to the Americans in 3 (20-25, 21-25, 24-26). After this match, I started seeing a bright future for Jen and Team in the tournament and my vision even became clearer when they beat the Dutch in a heart pumping 3-2 victory and broke the hearts of the home crowd when they beat Germany in 3. I told myself “USA can win this!”.

Team USA was not the top favorite to win this competition, I believe Russia won the vote. With towering players like Gamova and Artamonova, Karpol’s squad was definitely the team to beat. Despite losing their preliminary match against the US, Russia retained their title as the pre-favorite. Jen agrees…

Ah yes, we were not a favorite to win by any means. In fact, because of our inexperience at some positions (especially the setting position!), some critics were saying that we wouldn’t get past the first round! To me, each win was so important.

Then they beat the Russians in an epic 5-set semifinal match…

I think beating Russia in the first pool was a huge confidence builder for our entire team and that win not only helped us in the next few matches but later in the semi’s as well. I think Russia wanted revenge for the earlier loss – and we wanted to prove that we belonged on that stage. Our team was feeling pretty good going into that match and it could have gone either way, but it did feel pretty good to win that battle.

Let’s take a look at that match and reminisce the American celebration after winning a spot to fight for the world crown. The last time USA played in the gold medal match at the World Championship was in 1967 and lost to Japan.

I almost forgot to ask her how it was like to be in the same gym with Russian Coach Nikolai Karpol aka the “Howling Bear”. You know the coach who never stopped screaming at his players even if they were winning or losing. I found this clip of Karpol screaming at Sokolova. No wonder she left the team in 2002.

Luckily, the screams didn’t bother or scared Jen.

To be honest, Karpol’s coaching style didn’t bother me at all. I was so focused on our side of the court that I didn’t even know how much of a “screamer” he was until I watched video later.

Then came the Final Match versus Italy led by the heavy hitting Elisa Togut, the talented Francesca Piccini, the calm setter Lo Bianco and 2 very hardworking middles Leggeri and Mello. Italy beat China in the semis and was for sure the favorite to win the crown. With the crowd cheering for them & Togut’s unforgettable and unstoppable performance, the Italians won the match in 5. Jen shares…

I was very excited about that match going into it. Of course, I knew it was a championship match of a very prestigious tournament, but I had to treat it like the other matches that led up to it. We actually played Italy quite a bit that summer and knew it was going to be a battle. After the match, I was disappointed and upset. I felt like I could have played better personally and I think, as a team, we were upset because we felt like we gave the match away, even without having Keba Phipps in the lineup.

To Watch the Final Match, click HERE.

The Americans played really well in this tournament. They surpassed my expectations and put some critics to shame. They showed great volleyball against the top teams in the world like Russia, Brazil, The Netherlands and Italy. Jen and the rest of the team played their best and put their hearts out in every point they won. They held hands and huddled together when one made an error and when they were trailing behind. They displayed great teamwork knowing that half of the team made their world championship debut like Haneef, Logan, Bown, Metcalf and Bachman. Wining the silver medal was a great accomplishment for this team.

At first, I was disappointed about not having the gold medal around our necks. But after some time away from that level, I began to realize how remarkable our success was at the World Championships that year. I’ve watched video and I know I could have set much better, but what amazes me was the team’s ability to come together with a rookie setter (two rookie setters, actually) and a rookie right side hitter and be undefeated all the way up to the finals. It was a tremendous team effort and one that we should be proud of!

It was also coach Toshi Yoshida’s first trip to the World Championships. We thought and still think he did a great job and discovered a new set of talented players.

I really enjoyed my time working with Toshi. When I was in college and had the opportunity to train with the National Team for a short time, he was the assistant coach and I really liked his style of training. His emphasis on the fundamentals, but taught in a different style than I had learned, was key to our system and I loved learning something new. I remember working on “digging and rolling” in practice a ton, but didn’t get it until we started playing in matches at the World Championships – but when I did it against Cuba for the first time, I heard Toshi yell, “Dig and Roll!” That was awesome and something that I’ll never forget.

Being her first major competition, the World Championships forever holds a special place in Jen’s heart.

The World Championships in Germany were amazing. In our first city of Riesa, the fans were incredible – they were so excited to see such a high level of volleyball from all of the teams there. When we won our first pool and were able to stay in that city, both our team and I think the fans were excited for us to stay there for the next round. In the quarterfinals against Cuba, I wouldn’t say that the fans were completely on our side – but that’s because we wanted to see more volleyball. I don’t think that Cuba played their best match, but I know our team played with a mission and we played with the pride of our flag on our jerseys, as it was the year to the date of 9/11. We were inspired and won the match in 3 sets. The semi’s and finals in Berlin were something that I will never forget. To play in such critical matches in front of 10,000+ people was awesome. I have never competed in a louder arena.

She even enjoyed the rally point system which made its world championship debut in 2002.

I loved rally scoring. Each point was so precious and it was much better for the spectators. As a coach now, I couldn’t imagine going back to side out scoring for matches.

I thought she would stay on the team after 2002 and play in the 2004 Olympics but then came the time to move on…

Although I believe I had a chance at the Olympics, I was at a point in my life when I decided to move on, get married and start my coaching career. I was sad to leave the sport as an active participant, but I have no regrets retiring when I did.

Amazing. Reminiscing with a World Championship Silver Medalist was really fun.

It was my pleasure to reminisce with Jen.

Side Dish by Jen: I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was a left side hitter and occasional setter throughout high school and my club program. I was lucky enough to win a state championship my senior year of high school. I went on to play at Ohio State, where I was a right side hitter my freshman year, a setter my sophomore and junior years and a left side hitter my senior year. After my senior season, I went on to play with the USPV Dream Team in 2000 and was the starting setter for the championship team, Stars. I returned to Ohio State to finish my degree in Education, then played in the inaugural season of the USPV as a setter for the Grand Rapids Force. After that season, I joined the National Team in the summer of 2002, just before the World Championships. Currently, I am an assistant coach at the University of Illinois.  I got married in 2004 and my husband and I had our first son last May.

(images: volleyball2002.de)