Tashi Deleg

 On May 29th, 1954, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzig Norgay of  Nepal accomplished what no humans had before them- they stood atop Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world.

It was Norgay's 39th birthday and his sixth attempt at the summit of Everest. He used his experience to guide Hillary to the top of the world. When Everest had finally been navigated, (you don't conquer Everest), both were world famous but Norgay, a Sherpa, downplayed nearly all of his assistance and support. In this video, Hillary talks about how Sherpa Norgay saved his life and at video's end, you hear how the Nepali viewed his place in history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4egTHmDYho

Hillary described Norgay as, "A charming, rather quiet person; someone who would listen to what you had to say, who was not dogmatic. In other words, an almost self-effacing sort of personality—which didn’t seem to go with the great climber he had obviously become."

Sherpas are indispensable in the climbing of Everest or any of the other 14 highest peaks in the world. They carry supplies, set the routes of the climbs, attach ropes and lay ladders that go over large deadly cervices in the ice. They even cook and make tea for their clients, all of whom pay tens of thousands of dollars to say they climbed Everest. But without the Sherpas, most would never come close.

If you are still wondering why this blog is called VolleySherpa, you have missed the point.

This is a coaching blog. It is through the Arizona Region of USA Volleyball but all are welcome to it. In this blog, we will try to help navigate, like the Sherpas coaches should be, the rocky and unsteady terrain of coaching; in this case volleyball.

We will refer to science instead of subjectivity, facts instead of fanaticism. As coaches who are serious about becoming better, we use these guardrails .

As VolleySherpas, we celebrate our athletes and other coaches getting better and succeeding. We work FOR them, we are of service to them. We are transformational, not transactional.

This blog is for serious coaches, parents and even athletes. It is open to criticism and conversation as true learning should be. Coaching isn't the black and white that it's made out to be by those on the outside looking in, but it's the 29,031 feet of gray in between. 

Welcome Sherpas.