April's Beach Volleyball Log

sponsor Me by Investing in Your Health!

I decided to start my sponsorship fundraising campaign today.

From the beginning of this year it has been my goal to fully participate on Every stop of the 2006 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. The tour this year will visit 16 cities including five new additions - Birmingham, AL, Sacramento, CA, Atlanta GA, Brooklyn NY, and Lake Tahoe NV.

Many professional and Olympic athletes are responsible for their own travel and training costs. (Check out the Home Depot Olympic Job Opportunity program Many people dont realize that thousands of elite athlete's have to work regular jobs in order to train and compete.)

To offset these expenses athlete's typically raise funds or recruit sponsors in exchange for media exposure. To me It doesnt always feel like an even exchange..."Please give me money and I will put your name on my shirt".  It just feels funny.      Soooo...

THIS Year I'm doing Something Different.

I've started an online business www.newlifespring.com that has the exclusive rights to the NUMBER ONE selling Health and Fitness Supplement Company in the world!

I'm offering friends, supporters and potential sponsors the opportunity to be GOLD, SILVER or BRONZE clients. Everyone can purchase from my site www.newlifespring.com their Food Supplements, Vitamins, Protein Shakes, Meal Replacement Bars, Energy Drinks, etc.  The proceeds will cover my expenses and help me achieve my goal of participating FULLY on the 2006 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour this summer.

The FOUR (4) categories from which to choose products are listed below:

1. Vitamins
2. Weight Management and Sports Nutrition
3. Energy
4. Women's and Men's Health

GOLD CLIENTS - Select a total of 6 products from the categories above.

SILVER CLIENTS - Select a total of 3 products from the categories above.

BRONZE CLIENTS - Select a total of ONE product from the categories above.

The advantages of supporting my business:

1. Clients receive an Instant ROI (Return on Investment) by Investing in Their Health!
2. No RISK!!! - 100% Money Back Guarantee!!!
3. Convenience Delivered To Your Door.
4. 100% ORGANIC & NATURAL Products from the Number ONE Selling Supplement Company in the World!
5. High Touch - One of a Kind Incentives! *My GOLD Clients receive a customized Incentive Program.

What is great are the purchasing options - you can purchase online or you can call your order in from the 800 number provided on my site.

I think this is a great solution because I'm getting the help I need... by giving someone a chance to help themselves out first by investing in their health. With the obesity problem we have in the US right now this kind of makes me feel like Im helping to solve two problems with One solution which quite frankly feels AWESOME.

Anyone interested can email me at aprilsassigns@yahoo.com for personalized access to www.newlifespring.comReferrals welcome.   .

tags: sponsors, girls volleyball,gold, silver, bronze, torino olympics, beijing olympics, home depot olympic job opportunities program, summer olympics, winter olympics, womens health, mens health, energy, weight loss, weight management, nutrition usa volleyball, high school volleyball,  beach volleyball aprils beach volleyball blog

I've surrounded myself with the best five coaches!

As of today , having officially completed my first session of beach volleyball with Dave Sorrells I now officially have five coaches.

One of the best ways to be successful in life is to surround yourself with people who are much smarter than you are. (If anything, it really makes you - feel good about yourself, and it kind of makes you look smart too!) Think of the benefits.

Here is my world class team.

Performance Coach - Alfonso DeRose - Mental, Psychological, Behavioral Performance training

Yoga Coach - Bryan Kess - Flexibility  and Conditioning training

Weights and Conditioning - Jan Gable - Olympic Weight Lifting and Core Plyometric/Agility training

Business - Christopher "CJ" Jones - Business Success and Winning Principles

Volleyball - Dave Sorrells - Beach Volleyball

P.S. With Alfonso, I set several goals to achieve and the only way I could achieve these goals was to  educate myself and get around intelligent people who could teach me what I needed to know. So far so good.

I havent learned so much in such a short amount of time since college...this is awesome. 

tags:nfitness health flexibility goal setting mind games psychological mental training beach volleyball business principles core training plyometrics olympic weightlifting conditioning female athletes sports beijing summer olympics torino winter olympics yoga life coach aprils beach volleyball blog coaching volleyball coaches weightlifting coaches

Oprah, My Hero

Was just watching Oprah a very powerful episode today on Living with Secrets.

One of her guests had interviewed Gayle, Oprah's best friend and I can't remember the question it may have been what makes Oprah so special? Gayle responded "Once she is pulling herself up with one arm she is helping pull others up with her other arm.

A great lesson in leadership. Team captains are leaders that are chosen for their ability to be selfless, to set an example, to sacrifice, to go above and beyond to organize-both themselves and their teammates, to take on responsibility often not only theirs but that of others.

Newsweek's cover story is How Women Lead with of course my hero Oprah Winfrey on the cover.

There is an additonal article which profiles eight female leaders but Oprah's profile "How I Got There" is absolutely amazing. What I found so great was confirmation of the lessons I've learned on my own and with the help of my performance coach just in these last few months where I've made "me, myself and I " a priority. Something I haven't done since I got back from Italy 7 years ago.

I understand that the common denominator in the human experience from the thousands of people that I've talked to is that everybody just wants to be heard.Opray Winfrey

Wow, this is exactly why I started this site. So many female volleyball athletes have stories to tell, share, comment on and learn from and I wanted to create a place where everybody could come and tell their story and be heard...

How do I accelerate my humanity? How do I use who I am on earth for a purpose that's bigger than myself? How do I align the energy of my soul with my personality and use my personality to serve my soul? My answer always comes back to self. There is no moving up and out into the world unless you are fully acquainted with who you are. You cannot move freely, speak freely, act freely, be free unless you are comfortable with yourself. Oprah Winfrey

It doesn't matter how old you are to begin asking  yourself these questions. You can be 13,15,17 or 19 learning how to be comfortable in your own skin is an ongoing process.

Playing volleyball for me has always been an expression of who I am. If I didn't play  or compete in some way, shape or form I didn't feel right. Also whenever I play it seems to release or activate my creative juices in all other areas because that's when I come up with my best artistic/business/creative ideas. In fact I've learned to carry an idea notebook with me to write things down when Im working out.

Whether it was photography or my writing or creating this blog or creating ideas for other businesses my best ideas were produced when I was physically active playing or training for my sport.

I tell women all the time that you have to fill up yourself so that you have enough to give to other people. Running around on empty does not serve you or your family or your work. If I go too long without a break, I start to feel it. It's like an engine running out of gas. I just physically don't have what it takes to be as up, clear and connected with the audience. So I have to give myself rejuvenation time. For me, that's walking through the woods with my dogs. That is sitting under the oaks reading or doing absolutely nothing. I have to replenish my well; it's essential for me. Oprah Winfrey

This is ONE of the biggest lessons Iearned from my performance coach, Alfonso. He had me re evaluate/re"look" and redefine the words "selfish" and "selfless" and  I learned from him to look at those two concepts completely differently. And as I reported in my previous post you have to allow for time off to rejuvenate, rest and relax. "Its an investment in yourself" as my performance coach says.

        Oprah Winfrey Child Predator Watch List. Recently on our show, I asked viewers to help me track down child predators. Within 48 hours, we had captured two of the men we featured. As a victim of child molestation, this was big for me and for millions of others. When you can use your voice in a way that really speaks to people, it resonates. Whether it's a school or a book or just an idea. That's what fun is. That's what living really is. Living with a capital "L". Oprah Winfrey

Enough said.

Tags: team captain leadership success management Communication Managing oprah winfrey newsweek how women lead oprah how i got there newsweek msnbc usa volleyball olympic volleyball aprils beach volleyball blog girls volleyball

Researching the Beach Volleyball Game

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday, I had morning beach practice for two and a half hours, then yoga class (which is great)  and then I went to the Amateur Athletic Foundation Sports Library to do research...on the beach volleyball game.

I decided to learn as much about it as I could by gathering past article on instruction. Never too late to learn and since its wintertime and I have the time I might as well start from the beginning and learn about the concepts of the game I don't know enough about.

Mostly training tips ...which were written by Karch Kiraly or his coach Mark Barber and several others by the best female players to play the game Carolyn Kirby,Kathy Gregory, Liz Masakayan.

One of Karch's articles talked about learning how to play by watching the best do what they do. Alfonso, my performance coach, told me how successful people model themselves after someone. You pick the good qualities of someone you admire and you model yourself after what they do. Apparently Oprah modelled herself after Steven Spielberg.

The game hasn't changed much so the advice, tips and recommendations I feel are still valid. Especially suggestions on ...drills. Even though indoor and beach volleyball are team sports...how well you perform your individual fundamentals..often determines how often you win.

So practicing individual drills as much as you can are always the best thing to do!

Taking a risk...

I took the advice of my performance coach (formerly called life coach but that's misleading) and decided to take a risk... to change some things..a big change in some cases in order to reach the goals I set for myself . That's so I can train on the beach during the winter time. Scary...can I survive?

Last week Alfonso had me start to assess - my weaknesses to see/list the things I had to work on for the next nine months before the next beach season starts. Sometimes it can be very well let's ssay "interesting" for lack of a better word to hold a mirror up to yourself and actually take a look at what things need to be fixed.

You have to look at the Spiritual, Emotional, Physical and Mental parts and see what it is that that's less than 100% and determine what it is you have to do -to get everything up to 100% or over. That whole process sometimes can be painful but it doesn't have to be.

One of the things I want/need to improve is my flexibility. I use to dance - ballet, tap, modern dance, hula. I did it for 17 years all through elementary and high school until I had to decide what I wanted to pursue in college. Dancing is great for flexibility which I havent practiced or anything for the last lotta years.

So today I took my first yoga class. It was fantastic. What was pretty cool was learning that alot of the volleyball "stretches" that we do are a basic part of yoga.

I wasn't that bad! The balancing on one leg movements and down dog stuff and floor work wasnt that bad but anything that had to do with sitting on my knees was. THAT's what I will be working on. Sitting cross legged again, sitting on my calves and improving my knee flexibility will be one of my top priorities for the next nine months.

Flexibility today. Speed and Plyometrics tomorrow.

tags:

girls volleyball womens volleyball womens beach volleyball usa volleyball volleyball olympic volleyball volleyball voices girls health girls fitness girls sports womens health womens fitness college volleyball indoor volleyball grass volleyball disabled volleyball volleyball worldwide international volleyball womens sports sports nutrition food womens college sports diet obesity club volleyball junior volleyball usa volleyball olympic volleyball aprils beach volleyball blog girls volleyball

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tags:

girls volleyball womens volleyball womens beach volleyball usa volleyball volleyball olympic volleyball volleyball voices girls health girls fitness girls sports womens health womens fitness college volleyball indoor volleyball grass volleyball disabled volleyball volleyball worldwide international volleyball womens sports