April's Beach Volleyball Log

Misty and Kerry lose to Brazilians Leila Barros and Ana Paula Connelly

The wind was a major factor in the upset win for Leila Barros and partner Ana Paula Connelly over Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh. Another All-Brazilian Women’s Finale

Leila sparks Brazilian success Friday Vitória, Brazil, September 29, 2006 - For the fifth-time this season and the 33rd-time in the 15-year history of the women’s SWATCH-FIVB World Tour, two teams from Brazil will compete for an international Beach Volleyball gold medal after winning semi-final matches here Friday on Camburi Beach.   More

Bonnie Kenny's new book

Check out University of Delaware's Head coach new book Volleyball: Steps to Success.

About the Product

Cover the court with confidence by mastering the essentials of the game. Volleyball: Steps to Success offers a comprehensive, progressive approach with a proven system for learning, expert instruction, crisp illustrations, and 60 drills to improve play on both sides of the net.
Bonnie Kenny has coached volleyball at the college level for more than 20 years at the University of South Carolina (1984-1992), the University of Massachusetts (1993-2001), and currently at the University of Delaware since 2002. Having won almost 400 career matches, Kenny ranks among the top 50 active Division I coaches for victories. She earned Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year and Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year honors in 1996 and 2004, respectively. Kenny was elected president of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) for the 2006-2008 term. She earned academic all-America and all-SEC honors while playing at the University of Tennessee, where she was a four-time volleyball letter winner and led the Lady Volunteers to two SEC championships, three NCAA Tournaments, and a four-year record of 137-56. Kenny was also a 1982 U.S. Olympic Festival participant. In 2006 she was inducted into the University of Tennessee Lady Vols Hall of Fame.

"Coaches Kenny and Gregory provide a wonderful coaching resource that presents the sport in an easy to follow and sequential manner. I found this format to be logical and user-friendly, and I particularly think the sections that provide training exercises will prove valuable to a wide range of coaches. Volleyball: Steps to Success is one of the best new works in our sport in some time."
Doug Beal
CEO, USA Volleyball

tags: university of tennessee knoxville lady vols bonnie kenny cindy gregory volleyball steps to success university of delaware head volleyball coach american volleyball coaches association university of massachusetts doug beal ceo usa volleyball hall of fame olympic volleyball april chapple aprilsbeachvolleyballblog.com   

What do you like to practice the most?

What's Your Favorite thing to Practice?

• Serving?
• Serve Receive?
• Setting?
• Defense?
• Blocking?

What fundamental do you like to practice the most and why?

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 usa volleyball olympic volleyball aprils beach volleyball blog girls volleyball interrnational volleyball womens sports sports nutrition food womens college sports diet obesity club volleyball junior 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

Watching Video

Watching Video

Watching Video can seem like the most boring aspect of game preparation but like most things you just know how to MAKE it work for you -

Yesterday, Friday, Vladia and I watched video at Mark's. We watched beach tapes of the AVP Tour guys and girls finals. I'd say those are great examples of players doing the right thing.

It's easy to get lost in the moment of the game but if what I wanted to do was watch the best players serve receive. That's the part of the game I'm working on right now so I watch how people are passing the ball.

What are they doing , how are they standing while the server has the ball still, do they have a stutter step or jump as the ball is crossing the net? Which foot is forward? Where is their upper body facing? Are they straight legged or are they in a squat position.

What happens when I'm watching video...

If Im watching someone serve receive well. I see this player execute the right technique over and over and over again. I want to take that "scene"  and take that "visual" with me so I start playing that scene repeatedly in my head. I start visualizing that player doing the same thing in my mind after I've stopped watching. When I go home, when I go to bed, when I'm washing dishes, before practice I get used to seeing this player do the serve receive correctly.

Then... I start hearing my coach's words on how to do this skill correctly. So I hear my coach, I hear my coach say step to ball, present my platform, use my legs, and I keep hearing my coach's words over and over like a tape recorder in my mind. (This is actually kind of easy because when you aren't performing a skill correctly THAT is when your coach starts yelling at you anyway, right? so what they are yelling at the top of their lungs already exists in your mind so you just start playing that tape, over and over.)   

Then little by little both what I SEE  in my mind and what I hear in my head start meshing together. When I re-play this continuously in  my mind these two things start coming together where I form a mental movie of my own. When this mental movie starts playing then after awhile my body starts to respond to the mental voice I hear and the mental picture I've been playing.

My body starts doing the things that I have been rehearsing over an over again in your mind. I start seeing myself -take the place of that player and in my mind I see myself performing the pass correctly over and over.

And the aspects of the game that I am playing over and over start to become automatic and I start doing thses things physically- not just mentally- in real life.

That's how I make video watching  work for me.

Now its Saturday I did bike (cardio) and legs- lots of leg curls. Now Im watching video of AVP finals now too. Extra tapes that Mark gave me for homework! Damn Him! Just kidding.

It's great when you can hear someone who has played for years commentate on the game. Right now Singin Smith is commentating with Chris Marlowe. Soem say Singin is the greatest player in the history of the AVP while Chris Marlowe is an Olympic Gold Medalist for Volleyball Indoor. Listening to them talk about the game is like going to volleyball school.   

tags:

girls volleyball club volleyballvolleyball+camp video sports psychology singin smith chris marlowe avp tour

beach volleyball

Practice Today-Wed July6th

Today we worked on serve receive and serving. Vladia my workout partner and I worked with our coach Mark Barber. He coached Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes and a bunch of other beach legends and players.

I have to really work on not breaking my wrists or bending my arms when I pass. I have to Present a really really SOLID platform.

My arms have to become like a tennis racket. THAT straight never bending or breaking apart.

• Pass with my legs.
• Get my legs to get me to the ball quickly.
• Left leg forward if I'm on the left and playing or passing to my right side partner.
• Squat- Get underneath the ball with my SOLID Platform then...
• ..step towards my target. Step to my target.

We did alot of reps today. Over and over that IS the best way to get better until you can do it in your sleep... if you had to.

The fundamentals or the the basics are what you need to rely on when a game is close or when you get tired in a game. If you do 3000 of these in practice then its just automatic - and won't cost your team an easy point in the game.

Somebody...please remind me that I said this...in a month.

apchap

tags:

volleyball training serve receive passing volleyball coach<