April's Beach Volleyball Log

May-Treanor, Walsh plan breaks from beach

Image by Getty Images via Daylife


By USA TODAY staff A month after competing on the world's stage in the Beijing Olympics, U.S. headliners are recovering from the journey, finding inspiration in charitable causes and planning their future. USA TODAY catches up with swimming star Michael Phelps, taekwondo's Lopez family, track standout LaShawn Merritt and others.


May-Treanor, Walsh plan breaks from beach


"Now they crave something else: motherhood."

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• See Moments Missed in the 2008 Olympics

USA Volleyball Surveying Junior Beach Players

Image by Getty Images via Daylife




With the success of 2008 and the anticipation of 2009 in the beach volleyball world, USA Volleyball is asking for the help of junior beach players.




USAV is interested in feedback from junior players as it looks to expand its current Beach High Performance tryout (formerly known as the International Selection Camp) and Performance Camp schedule.




In order to best assess and address the needs of beach athletes in all regions, USAV is looking for juniors to fill out the linked survey and give your thoughts on the subject.




All participants in the short survey will be placed into a drawing for four exclusive USA Beach T-shirts and two USA jackets (as worn by Misty May-Treanor, Todd Rogers, etc.).




To complete the survey and be entered into the drawing, click the survey monkey link. www.surveymonkey.com/

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Olympian Brazilian Beach Volleyball Women aiming for USA volleyball players

From the Guardian

Beach Volleyball-Brazilians out to topple Americans

"We need a world convention to figure out how to beat them," said Australian Tamsin Barnett, who is playing with 2000 gold medallist Natalie Cook.

May-Treanor brushed off the pressure.

"We've had a target on our back for a long time," she said. "We've been around a while so we have experience of this kind of pressure, this kind of major event, which is good."

Click World’s Best Women’s Beach Volleyball players trying to figure out how to beat Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh to read the rest

"Your volleyball season is about to start and I know you want to learn the secrets of how the pros play like they do.

Strengthen and improve your volleyball skills while playing for your high school and club team, now!

Learn early, what indoor and beach volleyball Olympians and professionals know about:

1. The importance of gaining muscle strength for injury prevention, gaining speed and increasing your vertical jump while training for volleyball,

2. Volleyball nutrition and

3. Mental conditioning and gaining confidence in yourself and your game, on and off the court."

Sign up for the FREE Volleyball Voices Newsletter Be the first person on your team to get the inside track on how to stay off the bench and gain more playing time by improving your volleyball skills, fast! Just fill out that box in the upper right hand corner to receive today's volleyball news you can use.

April Chapple is a columnist for USA Volleyball, the American Volleyball Coaches Association Coaching Volleyball magazine, a contributor to Active,.com/volleyball, and has authored numerous playing and coaching volleyball articles. Look for her upcoming ebook "How to Stop Serving Like a Wimp". She can be reached at april@volleyballvoices.com.

What does it take to be selected to the Olympic Team?

Want to know what it takes to be selected as an athlete or staff to the Olympic Games? Click here to go to the USA Volleyball.org website to find out!

Then set your goals and make your plans for the future, good luck!

Remember the ball is in your court. Are you ">too small to play volleyball?

April Chapple is a freelance copywriter for volleyball products and promotions, columnist for USA Volleyball and the American Volleyball Coaches Association Coaching Volleyballmagazine and author of numerous online articles on playing and coaching volleyball. Author of the upcoming ebook "How to Stop Serving Like a Wimp" April's volleyball sites are volleyballvoices.com, volleyballvoyeur.com, beijingolympicvolleyball.com, and aprilsbeachvolleyballog.com. She can be reached at april@volleyballvoices.com

I know you want to learn the secrets of how the pros play like they do. The fastest way for you to do that is to sign up for the FREE Volleyball Voices Newsletter so you can be the first person on your team to get the inside track on how to stay off the bench and gain more playing time by improving all your volleyball skills, fast! Just fill out that box in the upper right hand corner to receive today's volleyball news you can use.

May-Treanor/Walsh Advance to FIVB Beach Semifinals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May-Treanor/Walsh Advance to FIVB Beach Semifinals

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 28, 2006) – The U.S. beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh defeated the U.S. team of Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs on Thursday to advance to Friday’s semifinals of Brazil’s US$400,000 Vitória Open, part of the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour.

Americans Join Brazilians in Vitoria Open Semi-finals

Another SWATCH "final four" for Juliana

Italian Women beat Team USA in Grand Prix Round Robin Play

Women lose to Italy.

U.S. Women Drop Four-Set Match to Italy

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 18, 2006) – The U.S. Women’s National Team (1-2) dropped a 21-25, 25-27, 25-18, 17-25 match to Italy (3-0) Friday on the third day of the World Grand Prix at Luczniczka Hall in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Italy is ranked third in the latest FIVB world ranking, while Team USA is ranked fifth.

Later today, Poland (0-2) hosts Dominican Republic (1-1) in the same four-team round-robin pod named Group C. The U.S. travels to Macau, China, next week to compete in Group D. Team USA faces China on Aug. 25, Brazil on Aug. 26 and Dominican Republic on Aug. 27.

The U.S. fell behind 13-8 in the early stages of set one, but rallied to within one point on four occasions before falling 25-21. The U.S. led 13-6 and 24-20 in the second set, only to see Italy save four set points en route to completing the comeback with a 27-25 victory. Team USA erased an 8-4 deficit in the third set by going on an 11-1 run to take a 15-9 lead and cruised to a 25-18 victory. Italy bolted a 7-2 lead in the fourth set and went on to carry the set 25-17.

“They played good,” Team USA Head Coach ‘Jenny’ Lang Ping said referring to her squad. “I am proud of them. Italy is a team on a very high level.”

The U.S. started Tayyiba Haneef (Laguna Hills, Calif.) and Therese Crawford (Kalamazoo, Mich.) at outside hitter, Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Jennifer Joines (Milpitas, Calif.) at middle blocker, Nancy Metcalf (Hull, Iowa) at opposite, Lindsey Berg (Honolulu) at setter and Candace Lee at libero. Danielle Scott (Baton Rouge, La.) subbed in the second set. She started the third and fourth sets for Joines at middle blocker. Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.) came off the bench in our four sets, while Cassie Busse (Prior Lake, Minn.) was subbed in the second and fourth sets. Lindsey Hunter (Papillion, Neb.) gained playing time off the bench in the fourth set.

Haneef led the U.S. with 19 points on 14 kills, four blocks and an ace. Metcalf added 15 points via 11 kills and three blocks. Bown contributed 10 points with seven kills, two blocks and an ace. Crawford tallied nine points for the U.S., while Scott charted eight points off the bench. Additional statistics and complete box score will be provided later today on the USA Volleyball web site.