Day 1 NTDP: Early Observations from the U17 courts

U17s General Thoughts

Day 1 from Colorado

The absence of the U17 National squad made way for some new faces at the Spring NTDP training session, and the fresh faces got right to work today in Colorado. I’ll catch up on more of my notes from the “Vets” tomorrow and just share your U17 general notes tonight.

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I did spend extra time watching the middles today, as I wanted to watch the Twin Towers of HPSTL a little closer, and it didn’t take long, even on a slower drill and technique work Day 1 for the bigs, I’m even more sold now. Both Rilynn Wingenbach and Gillian Pfeiffer are legit viable options for major P4 programs on June 15th. I came in knowing about what to expect from Wingenbach, but Pfeiffer showed me more athleticism in her movement today than I was expecting. I’m not sure if a little time off has given her legs a little extra juice, but she was lighter and had more quickness in her get-off when she jumped than I was expecting.

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Caroline Conroy (’29 Metro) showed a little position flexibility in her game today when she let a couple of shots go in transition. One was behind the 10’ line and the other was in front of it (not sure if it was a bad timing a different route or what, but they made it work and Conroy hammered it for a kill. She looked very good out in space today, better than she did up at the net vs. some of the older athletes on day 1.

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Sayge Chandler (’29 Madfrog) is a Middle that definitely looks the part out there. She was the one who looked like she should have been up with the 19s. Again, the group was limited in much full-out action today, but let’s just say Sayge moves like an athlete, so I’m very interested to see more this weekend as they ramp up the drills and controlled 6 v 6 a bit more Sunday.

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Aviana Mack (’29 Austin Juniors) at 6’3”. Mack is the tallest of the group, it appears, and I’m interested to see how she will do when the speed picks up. Mack is also one of those athletes that I talked about a week ago on my podcast when I said that the NTDP is about “growth and development,” and the coolest thing about being able to be there each time is when you get to see athletes come back time 2 or 3 and how much they improve and adjust to the speed. I can tell right now that Mack has a huge college ceiling, and it might take her a session or two, but she will be a dominant middle.

Just a couple of LIbero notes, as there was a whole lot of them running around.

I hadn’t watched Harper Broyles (’28 Alliance) for almost two months, and she has really gotten stronger. It’s improved her control and her base; she doesn’t get moved or shaken at all, and I think part of that is her core and additional leg strength; she is solid. She made a couple of really nice coverage plays.

Also, Kalenna Thiele (’29 AZ Storm) is huge for a bro sho looks more like an OH in the group, but she had a really good day with the older girls again. Serve and receive were very good today.

Finally, Ava Nowling (’28 Nebraska), who has been to NTDP before, was on today. She plays quite a bit like Broyles. We have both of them right in that same pack, and Nowling may have a bit of size on Broyles? The Nebraskan had a very solid day one as well.

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Back at it tomorrow. I will update my “Veterans Notes” early and then try to get a mid-day update. #USAUSAUSA