On the weeked just gone the Brazilian women’s team earned the right to defend their title at this summer’s Olympic Games in London when they beat Peru 3-0 (15-12, 25-16, 25-9) in the final of the CSV Women´s Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament at the Milton Olaio Filho Gymnasium in São Carlos, Brazil on Sunday. The USA men also won the right to defend their gold medal from the Beijing Olympics.

Wing-spiker Fernanda Garay top-scored for Brazil with 15 points while FIVB Hero Sheilla Castro chipped in with 13 points.

“We played a good qualification tournament, but we have a lot to improve, principally serve and counter-attack,” said legendary Brazil coach Jose Roberto Guimarães. “We cannot think that we are fine because the level outside is higher than here. We have to get better in the physical part, the players need to get stronger.”

Brazil, the defending Olympic champions, have now qualified for nine successive Olympic Games after missing the first four editions and will be aiming to enhance their record which has seen them win two bronze medals in Atlanta and Sydney before claiming the Olympic title in Beijing.

A total of eight women’s teams have now qualified for the Olympic Games.

Olympic Games Women’s Volleyball Qualified Teams

Hosts Great Britain
2011 World Cup winner Italy
2011 World Cup runners up  USA
2011 World Cup third place China
Africa winner Algeria
NORCECA winner Dominican Republic
CEV winner Turkey
CSV winner Brazil
AVC winner (To be determined at joint World and AVC Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan from May 19-27)

Last three vacancies will be filled at joint World and AVC Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan from May 19-27style=”margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;” title=”Brazil celebrates their win at the Olympic qualification tournament” src=”/images/volleyball-brazil-celebrate-olympic-qualification400.jpg” alt=”Brazil celebrates their win at the Olympic qualification tournament” width=”220″ height=”206″ />The London Olympics are set to officially open on July 27 which at the time of writing this post is 72 days away. Teams around the world have been or will be fighting for a spot in the Olympic volleyball tournament.

On the weeked just gone the Brazilian women’s team earned the right to defend their title at this summer’s Olympic Games in London when they beat Peru 3-0 (15-12, 25-16, 25-9) in the final of the CSV Women´s Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament at the Milton Olaio Filho Gymnasium in São Carlos, Brazil on Sunday. The USA men also won the right to defend their gold medal from the Beijing Olympics.

Wing-spiker Fernanda Garay top-scored for Brazil with 15 points while FIVB Hero Sheilla Castro chipped in with 13 points.

“We played a good qualification tournament, but we have a lot to improve, principally serve and counter-attack,” said legendary Brazil coach Jose Roberto Guimarães. “We cannot think that we are fine because the level outside is higher than here. We have to get better in the physical part, the players need to get stronger.”

Brazil, the defending Olympic champions, have now qualified for nine successive Olympic Games after missing the first four editions and will be aiming to enhance their record which has seen them win two bronze medals in Atlanta and Sydney before claiming the Olympic title in Beijing.

A total of eight women’s teams have now qualified for the Olympic Games.

Olympic Games Women’s Volleyball Qualified Teams

Hosts Great Britain
2011 World Cup winner Italy
2011 World Cup runners up  USA
2011 World Cup third place China
Africa winner Algeria
NORCECA winner Dominican Republic
CEV winner Turkey
CSV winner Brazil
AVC winner (To be determined at joint World and AVC Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan from May 19-27)

Last three vacancies will be filled at joint World and AVC Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan from May 19-27

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A large crowd of around 9,000 saw Italy defeat Germany 3-2 (25-22, 26-24, 19-25, 22-25, 15-12) to qualify for the London Olympics. Italy were Olympic silver medalists at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Argentina also advanced to the London Olympics after winning the CSV Men’s Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament played on home soil. They defeated Venezuela 25-19, 25-10, 27-25.

Javier Weber, Argentina’s coach, said: “It was a dream and a very hard challenge. We controlled our nerves and we managed our limitations. We worked for four years and all it takes is three days for a team to go to the Olympic Games or stay at home.”

Argentina and Italy join hosts Great Britain and Russia, Poland and Brazil – who finished in the top three at the World Cup – as well as Argentina, Tunisia and USA, who qualified at the Africa and NORCECA Olympic Qualification tournaments respectively.

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The win gives the USA a berth in the London Olympic volleyball tournament.

The following teams along with the USA have already qualified for the London Olympic Games:

Women: 1. Italy 2. USA 3. China

Men: 1. Russia 2. Poland 3. Brazil

CAVB Continental Olympic Qualification

Men: 1. Tunisia | Women: 1. Algeria

CEV Continental Olympic Qualification

Women: 1. Turkey

NORCECA Continental Olympic Qualification

Women: 1. Dominican Republic

You can keep up-to-date with the qualifying process by visiting the Road to London page on the FIVB website.

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Darling Harbour beach volleyball, Rob Keating blocking Lachlan Granger

Having played volleyball as a professional and just for enjoyment I know that it takes a large amount of time to build your skills to a high level. It takes thousands of hours of repetitive movements to control the passing, setting and hitting techniques used in a game. The great thing about volleyball not like football, is that you’re using all your muscles to use and rely on instinct and reflexes to play your position during each second of the game.

You must always be ready to ball comes your way, be it during an offensive attack or while digging a cross shot from the opponent’s power-hitter. Anticipation and location is a big part of your time on court, and it takes a long time to get it right. But when you make your master footwork, move with the ebb and flow of the game as natural as if you were to take a walk down to the beach.

This article targets gamers who want it is to maximize their mental strength on court, and then increase their value at high pressure games. A confident, communicative player helps keep their teammates focused, and helping to drive them to play to their full potential. Conversely, a weak-minded player – no matter how talented – can drag down a whole team spirits and greatly affect offensive or defensive momentum.

The key is to have confidence. The trick is to know that whatever it is you need to do is it to do so. You are constructed for your role on the track, and you are hungry to perform this role. There are thoughts that safe, valuable players bring to the games they compete in, and it is also the approach that adds to the momentum the team members will play as a cohesive unit .

Just how do I develop this confidence?

It all starts on the practice court with your skills during practice. It starts with refining your technique with the assistance of a person who has patience and experience to help you build a solid foundation in passing, blocking, spike approach, serving and all other aspects of the game. If you have a clear understanding of how to move your body the way the coach has instructed, it is up to you to dedicate countless hours to perfect the movements. This means to spend fifteen or twenty minutes before each game all the time to put a ball against a wall, without moving your feet, so that your control is absolute – even if you’re not a setter.

When you’re on your way to get your volleyball specific skills in place, it is time for your mind to mature. There are too many talented players who make a mistake, and let their whole game to go down the drain. You’ll never see a national player, or an Olympic player throwing a tantrum after missing a serve. The key is to  mentally note the error tuck it away for later adjustment, and move on. The last thing you should ever do is dwell on a mistake you or anybody else on your team have made. This is one of the surest ways to lose confidence as a player and as a team, thus exposing the vulnerability your opponents can exploit.

How do I build this mental strength?

If you are in a game, admit your mistakes to your team. Claim your fault points with a little wave of your hand to your team prove that:

1. You are responsible for missing a pass, block, dig, etc.

2. You get it next time.

Next, always support the players on-court with you. This will raise their spirits and encourage the other players in your group work support also. Supportive teams improve faster, play better, and usually better than the teams that are fighting with each other.

Finally, when you are not on the field of battle, take the time to review the results. Once you have a moment for yourself (preferably not while driving), close your eyes and recreate some of the most important moments of the game in your head. Picture what your body was doing well and, if possible, try to have made mistakes that you can remember. Then think of what it was you needed to do and actually visualize yourself doing it. This will build connections in your brain that will enhance your ability to react next time you face a similar scenario. Visualization techniques are used all the time by professional athletes – there is no reason why you can not do it as well.

The 10th Coota Beach Volleyball Festival took place on the weekend on 20-21 February 2010. For the past seven years it was Tip Top Canberra that had taken out the title.

Tip Top were once again back to take on all-comers at the Coota Beach. The beach was created on Friday afternoon after the trucks dumped hundreds of tonnes of sand on Murray Street. Four courts were setup along the street with one permanent court adjacent.

The Coota Beach Volleyball Festival weekend is one of the big events for the local community. The population is less than 8000 and with 84 teams in the six-a-side tournament perhaps ten percent of the town were down at the beach. There could have quite easily been more than 84 teams as at least ten were knocked back.

It was a carnival atmosphere with young kids all the way to the more senior locals giving it a go.

On Saturday each team played three grading matches to establish the rankings for day two. There were then an A, B, C and D division.

On Sunday it became clear there were two teams most likely to make the final. Tip Top Canberra and the Sandy Spikers were looking good. As the matches were played on Sunday it was in fact those teams that met under the hot Cootamundra sun in the final.

The Sandy Spikers  got out to an early lead before the seven-time defending champions pulled back. The match unlike regular volleyball was played in two ten minute halves. With around five minutes to play the Tip Top team were ahead 12-9 only to see some great hustle and a big block or two from the Sandy Spikers to get them level at 14-14.

The full-time hooter sounded and it was the first team to get a two point advantage. The Sandy Spikers  edged ahead 15-14 then on the next point there was a huge rally which saw the ball going back and forth until the ball was hit out by the Tip Top team.

The Sandy Spikers  had done it.

The weekend was a great event. It was well run and the Tip Top Canberra team conducted two coaching clinics for the local kids. It was great to see how keen the kids were and how quickly some of them could pick up the skills of volleyball. If they continue they will show up their parents.

Congratulations to Cootamundra for putting on such a great event.

The tournament first started in 2001 after a drink over a beer had given birth to the idea of a tournament in Cootamundra. The visionary man was Simon Sutherland.

“I remember as a kid seeing the Kuta clothes brand and hearing about Kuta Beach in Bali and wondered if we could ever make a link to Coota,” he said.

“I was sitting in the bar at the Olympic Hotel having a beer one night and looked out at the intersection of Parker and Bourke Streets and thought that would be a great place to set up a beach volleyball court.”

That’s right the tournament takes place in the centre of town on the main road. This year there will be five courts in action and a total of 84 six-a-side mixed teams.  The sand is trucked in and dumped on the road to setup the courts.

Teams travel from Sydney, Canberra and Wagga Wagga to participate in the event.

How do I know all this? I am actually competing in the tournament. I got a phone call out of the blue asking if I could fill in at short notice so that is where I will be this weekend.

It is a long way from the beach volleyball action I am used to when I played on the Australian Pro Beach Volleyball tour in the late 80′s and early to mid 90′s.

According to the 2006 census in Australia, Cootamundra is a small town of 5566 . As the crow flies it is 306km south west from Sydney.

Cootamundra is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Australia’s cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman.

Check back next week for photos and a report from the Coota Beach volleyball tournament.

‘Australia has a proud and successful Olympic history in beach volleyball and it’s important we continue to look forward and build on that fine record,’ Tutton said.

Despite struggling to have a national tour in Australia the country has a good reputation internationally. The highlight coming for Australia when Kerri Pottharst and Natalie Cook won gold at the Sydney Olympics.

This took place in the morning. Was she sick or out partying all night?

This all comes as a bit of a shock for the volleyball community. As I wrote yesterday Mike was a very popular player on the AVP tour. In 1989 he came downunder to Australia to play on the PBVA tour. He was a really nice guy.

I can’t say what led to his suicide but only can say it is a great loss, not only for his family but for volleyball fans around the world…

RIP Mike Whitmarsh.

Mike Whitmarsh was a handy basketball player, he found even greater success on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) tour in the 90′s. Whitmarsh teamed up with Mike Dodd to win silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics in the first ever Olympic beach volleyball event.

According to newspaper reports Whitmarsh was found dead inside the garage of a Solana Beach home Tuesday morning. He was 46 years old.

This came as sad news to me as I personally knew Mike from some time I spent training in San Diego in 1989, and later that year when he played on the Pro Beach Volleyball Tour in Australia.

Big Mike went on to launch himself on the AVP tour in 1990 winning the AVP Rookie of the Year honor. Whitmarsh earned more than $1.6 million during his career as well as winning 28 titles.

Standing at 6’7″ Mike’s strong point was his block. He was awarded Best Blocker in 2002 on the AVP tour. I remember fondly many of his roof blocks that he embarassed his opponents with when playing with Rande Turner on the PBVA tour.

I had the good fortune to face Mike across the net in a PBVA tournament at St Kilda Beach in Melbourne, Australia. I have to say I did manage to avoid any roof blocks on that occasion.

When playing in Australia Mike was great to watch, he was also a great bloke off the court. On the AVP tour Mike was a crowd favorite, this view was backed up by Leonard Armato, CEO and Commissioner of the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour in what he said on the AVP site.

“We are all deeply saddened by the loss of Mike Whitmarsh, a true a beach volleyball legend and one of AVP’s all time greats,” said Leonard Armato. “Mike was gifted competitor, a crowd favorite, and one of the most well liked and respected players on the AVP Tour. His legacy will live on as a silver medalist in the first-ever Olympic beach volleyball competition as well as a great ambassador for the sport. The AVP family’s thoughts and prayers are with the Whitmarsh family during this tragic time.”

Before Mike became a star of the AVP he enjoyed a shortlived basketball career. He played for the University of San Diego and was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers in 1984. Mike was part of the Minnesota Timberwolves roster in 1989. He also played for three years professionally in Germany.

In 2003 Mike Whitmarsh was awarded the AVP Special Achievement award and in 2004 was awarded a Lifetime Achievement by the AVP.

Mike is survived by he wife, Cindy. “We are all devastated by the passing of Mike,” Cindy Whitmarsh said in a statement. His wife added that,  “His family, friends, teammates and colleagues will miss him terribly. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time; it means more than we can express.”

I would love to hear your comments about Mike Whitmarsh. You can leave them below.

Beach Volleyball Database – Mike Whitmarsh