Dancing on the Volleyball Court

Did you ever take a second to think about how many dance steps professional athletes use when they're out on the courts? The dips, twists, spins and steps that athletes use to work their way around the court without taking their eyes off the ball are necessary skills for success on the court, but off the court most of them could star in a Broadway musical! The object lesson here? Grace and coordination, as much as skill and speed, are the keys to success when you're sending a ball flying across a net at high impact speeds.

Sure, you're probably laughing right now. But did you know that professional football players often learn basic ballet moves? And that ballet and dance are required for high level gymnastics competitors along with their regular training-both men and women? There's a lesson here. You don't have to be able to boogie on the dance floor to boogie on the court, but a little coordination and rhythm will go a long way toward giving your playing performance the extra boost it needs to be extraordinary rather than ordinary.

To pinpoint a specific example, take a look at your basic perimeter defense. Regardless of what type of game you're playing, there is one key rule that every player has to follow-keep your eye on the ball. It's impossible to do that if you have to look where you're going. That's why the cross step, also known as a partial grapevine, is an essential part of your perimeter defense. It affords you an almost unlimited range of motion without ever having to take your eyes off your opponent or the ball.

Come check out our huge supply of volleyball equipment at http://www.volleyballproshop.com/.

Indoor and Olympic Success

The United States has had very good success within these Olympics. Some of the success was expected, especially when you look at beach volleyball. Misty May and Kerri Walsh were expected to defend their Olympic gold title, given that they were ranked number one in the world and have not lost for so long. The number one men's volleyball team of Dallhauser/Rogers won gold, matching the team of May and Walsh.

What was not expected was the strength of the Americans and indoor volleyball. The women's Olympic indoor volleyball team defeated the Cubans in a three set sweep and moved on to the gold-medal game. This ensured the Americans they would have the best Olympic tournament finish since 1984. The women have played a particularly strong tournament considering their overall record of 6-1. The lone loss came at the hands of the Cuban team the US just beat. This explained why their recent win against Cuba was so satisfying. The US won rather handily in this game, finishing the three sets with the following scores: 25-20, 25-16, 25-17. The women had previously beaten China to set up the match against Cuba in the quarterfinals. That meant added drama due to the fact that the US is coached by one of the Chinese legends, Lang. To finish the tournament, the US lost to Brazil, which did not diminish the overall results.

The men's indoor volleyball team was up to the task as well. They had not finished with the medals since 1992 and are presently working to end that 16 year drought. The men were undefeated and had to charge back from a deficit to beat Serbia in five sets in a match which lasted a whopping two hours. The United States beat Russia and finally Brazil to win the gold medal.

From watching the United States play, it was very easy to see the kind of heart that they are playing with in every match. If you did not keep up with volleyball throughout the Olympics, the head coach left the team to be with his wife because her parents were both stabbed in Beijing. The father subsequently died and the mother’s condition stabilized and then upgraded to good condition. When unfortunate incidents happen like this, it often will inspire team to circle the wagons and push harder to reach a level of success it might not have expected before. This seems that it happened with the United States men’s team so far.

If you have any equipment needs like the Olympians did, Mizuno filled those needs. When you need equipment in the future, look towards http://www.volleyballproshop.com/.

Products (and bookmarks) for the Coaches!

Here is a great website with which you are able to view a strong variety of different products for your volleyball team. This can allow you to do most of your shopping from one main website so that you don't have the jump from website to website depending on what your team needs. Having a consistent source for your apparel, coaching needs and officialiating needs means you will be very good and efficient in your shopping needs: http://www.volleyballproshop.com/

You probably used this particular website before. If you haven't visited it, make that one of your actions for today. There are so many articles of information about volleyball in general. There is information about how the Olympics have been going and there are even different blogs from some of the actual beach volleyball teams.

If you want to catch up on some great material, you may want to look at some of the back issues of Volleyball Magazine. Here is a link to the different back issues you can find: http://www.volleyballmag.com/archive/. You will have to pay for the issues but if you need some up to date information, you will likely want to look here. They have great articles on many drills you can incorporate into practices for your girls’ or guys’ team.

Here is another good website if you want to work on preventing injuries to your team as well. This particular website speaks specifically about hand injuries: one of the more common injuries within the sport: http://volleyball.about.com/od/commoninjuries/.htm.

I hope that you enjoy some of these different websites that I've just given you. You can use these for product reviews, information as far as what is hot for the year, and just a general understanding and enjoyment of the sport. Hopefully you can bookmark one or two of these and visit them again.

Knee Pads: Protecting the Body

According to volleyball magazine, Mizuno Gear is designed specially to help you be the best volleyball player. If you coach junior varsity and have new players, this may be a good recommendation for them: LR6 Knee Pads. Other than shoes this is one of the most important item for volleyball players. It may be a good idea to stock up on some before the season begins if you have a great deal of new players.

When you are looking for knee pads, this can depend partially upon what you are looking for. You want to make sure that the knee pad is comfortable to wear, given that you want no clothing distractions during your matches. When looking at knee pads these days make sure they have a Dri-FIT fabric which has added support on the side of the knee pad. This can help anyone who may have problems with their knees. Mizuno has a wide variety of knee pads and it is important to read through the description for what you want.

All of Mizuno's pads are built with half an inch of dense foam to protect your knees. That are five different padded areas so that you know your knee is protected whichever way your body may be going. Mikasa also has a few knee pads you can look into as well if you are passionate about this particular brand.

When looking at these, prices could vary from as low as $4.06 to as much as $25.99. That should give you a better idea regarding prices and variations on knee pads if you need to buy new ones for your upcoming 2008 season. Just remember that the best in the nation wear Mizuno..................