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

Recently I was asked about some volleyball drills that someone could do by themselves.

Here are some of my suggestions:

If you are doing this indoors at home you can sit on a chair and set to yourself. Try to vary the height of each set. Before you start swing your arms and do a few stretches for your shoulders and neck.

Once you get good at just setting to yourself while seated for an extra challenge you can try doing the drill while doing slow situps. This is great for your setting control and for your core strength.

To help improve your spiking style you can practice your swing in front of a mirror. If you have room do the full run up and jump. If space is limited just do it standing. Make sure you do a full swing and use your legs.

Your vertical jump is important when playing volleyball. If you have some space you can do spike run ups and also block jumps against the wall. Always try to use good technique when doing both skills. I suggest sets of ten for each. Start with one set and try to build up to about five sets over time.

Now for some drills you can do if you have a yard or suitable place outdoors.

Something I liked to do to work on my setting and bump skills was run up and down a 5 to 10 yard area as I set or bumped the ball to myself. You can either run continuously or stop each set and bump. You mix the height and also how far in front of yourself you send the ball.

Once again you need to work on your jump so using the outdoor space practice a spike run up. Take three steps and jump, run backwards to your start position and repeat for 10 jumps. As you do this more often or if you are already fit do around 5 sets or build up to 5 over time.

Do the same for block jumps however pretend you are doing a middle block and then use a crossover step to get to the outside block. Do 5 of the double jump for a total of 10 jumps.

Next practice some movement. You can pretend you do a block and then sprint backwards to get into a position to receive a spike. Make sure you get down low with arms spread in a defensive position. It is easier to come up than go down so always start low.

If this is not enough you can find a wall to practice your bumps and setting against. With the bumps or digs sometimes you can throw the ball against the wall to get a different flight path before you dig it.

If you are looking for some extra fitness work you can do some short sprints. Sprint about 10 to 20 yards and then jog back into position and start again. Do about 10 or if you are really keen why not try 50?

Of course when doing all this type of training make sure you warm up properly and get checked out by a doctor if you have any medical concerns.

Hope you enjoy this.

Do you have any drills you can share with the readers. If you do leave a comment below.

Back then he was a secondary coach for the San Diego Chargers who also happen to be my favorite NFL team. Jim enjoyed playing beach volleyball at Mission beach in his time off. He was a reasonable player but not great. As the best teams always got to stay on the court he was quite often on the sideline’s with me.

After spending many days down at the beach we would talk about his job as an NFL coach. This was pretty amazing for me. I must say it all was pretty cool spending time at Mission beach as the USA indoor players would quite ofter also go down for a hit. Mike Whitmarsh was another guy I met there. Back then he was was just getting into beach volleyball after a basketball career. He would later go on to star in the AVP and took silver at the Atlanta Olympics.

The time was 1989, and getting back to my mate Jim Mora, he invited me to watch a pre-season match that the Chargers were going to play in August of that year. As it turned out on that same weekend I had a trip up to Disneyland and Yosemite planned with some Aussie friends of mine that were staying with me in San Diego.

Now a tough decision had to be made. I have to say after growing up watching Disneyland every Sunday night it was a big thing for me to visit the Disneyland. Also being a huge sports fan the offer of going to the Chargers game was pretty special. Did I mention I was able to go down on the sideline close to the action?

If you are an NFL fan you would know that Jim L Mora is the son of famous NFL head coach Jim E Mora. Jim L was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons for several years and is now an assistant head coach and defensive backs coach for the Seattle Seahawks.

Getting back to my decision where I had to choose a two day trip to Disneyland and a visit to Yosemite with a group of Aussies or a match on the sideline for the San Diego Chargers.

What would you do? Love to hear your comments.

I will tell you what my decision was after someone leaves a comment…

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