We're Back!

Well after a long road of recovery, I've made it back to the sand. Turns out a 6 inch abdominal muscle tear can be quite debilitating. Lots of rest (many months) and many treatments later, including accupuncture and soft tissue massage/ kinesiotape (thanks to Reform Spin & Injury Center, who was the ones to accurately diagnose the injury after a good 11 months), and physical conditioning (I've been training with a Russian Kettlebell instructor, good stuff) and my body is feeling close to normal, at least for my age. Loric had taken time to recover from a ligament tear in his ankle, which seems to be better as well, as long as he stays on soft, sandy surfaces. We played this weekend for the first time since the Sandia (and my first time playing since last June) with good results. Bryan has done a good job in affiliating with Great American Volleyball and had a solid turnout in spite of cold (50 deg, maybe), rainy weather. We went undefeated on the day and pulled out a 7:00 victory under clearing skies. Was lots of fun. We're hoping to get a few more tourneys in before the Sandia in May, which is shaping up to be another strong event. OK, with my resurrection to the sand comes the return of filling this blog, for anybody that is left out there reading. Let me know what you'd like to hear about, though I have been (thnkfully) relieved of my duties in coordinating events.

Out for the Year

Well, it's been the worse year personally for trying to play volleyball that I have ever had. First a knee injury at the start of the season, then some abdominal problems since April. Turns out to be a significant enough injury that is only going to heal with rest and time away from intensive physical activity. So, looks like I'm out of everything - playing, training, yardwork - for about six months, which means hopefully things will heal up so I can start working back into some kind of shape around February. As I'm going to be out of the loop and my future in New Mexico is uncertain, this site is going on hiatus and will not serve as an updated resource for volleyball information, at least for now. Mike McKracken will be taking over the email list, and I am sure will do a great job at keeping the 400+ volleyballers on it informed of all that is happening related to the sport in the state. Bryan Klein will be taking over the sand tourneys. His info is: vballnm@gmail.com and he has a blog, kinda like this that he is maintaining tourney info on at: vballnewmexico.blogspot.com

Thank you all for the good times and for helping to grow the sport in New Mexico!

July 12th Sneakerz Tourney

Lemme know if you wanna sign up. If we don't get a full list of teams, maybe we should switch over to some other KoB or draw type of format??? Anyhow, same deal as last time, see below. Here's teams so far:
1) Bryan Klein/ Adam Rubel
2) Matt the Rex Valencia/ Adam Cabbage
3) Larry Cornwell/ Desi Vigil
4) Bryan Atwood / Derrick Robinson
5) Cameron Vigil/Harris Zeyaee
6) Paul Sanchez/ Ray Garcia

Sneakerz Tournament June 28th

Next Sand Doubles tourney is at Sneakerz, June 28th. Looks like we will have some out of town players. Drop me an email for this one if you want to sign up. Here's the teams so far:
1) Loric Box/ Adam Rubel
2) Chris Roosild/ Brian Post
3) Drew Winterstein / Jeff Dumbrell
4) Matt Valencia/ Adam Cabbage
5) Rob Pierce / Jorge Alarcon
6) Harris Zeyaee/ Asa Warren
7) Fred Ader/ BenWallis
8) Bryan Klein/ TBD
9) Mike McKracken/ TBD
10) Paul Sanchez/ Ray Garcia
11) Ed Lucero/ TBD
12) Jeff Poole/ Larry Cornwell
13) Josh Coffing/ Jim Coffing
14) Amy Wong / Sarah Kwasigroch
15) Kameron Cheney/ TBA

New Mexico Games - June 21st @ Charlie's

The New Mexico Games for 2x2 Beach Volleyball will be held at Charlie's Sandbox on June 21st. I believe entry is $35/ team with shirts for participants and medals for top finishers. To register, contact Adam Cabbage: acabbage@unm.edu
Here's the teams so far, additional updates should come in the comments as I will be unavailable most of this week:
1) Loric Box/ Matt Valencia

Looking for a partner:
1) Josh Rodgers

Back in the Swing!

Well, I'm hoping my knee has recovered enough that I can get back into playing full tilt. It still hurts, but I think I am starting to show signs of being able to jump again. I just finished an intense 4 week period in the gym, working on building up my max strength. Time to coast now and get focused on upcoming events. We'll get back to practicing this weekend. We have a few weeks to get ready for the Sandia Mountain Volleyball Classic, which is going to bring fierce national competition to our backyard once again. Should be a great time, and we are looking forward to avenging our narrow losses from last year. While I've been able to get out and get some touches in Santa Fe, it will be great for Loric and I to get back together and get in sync before the tourney. After that, next big one is a trip up to Vail. Hopefully we'll keep the fire to push ourselves for more strong finishes!

4/12 Charlie's Tourney

Same as usual, 8:30 check-in, 9:00 start, email me to register. Maybe we can run 2 divisions or split if there are enough teams and interest. Here's who is in so far:
1) Chris Roosild/ Adam Cabbage; 2) Matt Valencia/ Desi Vigil; 3) Bryan Klein/ Dave Girts; 4) Jeff Poole/ Larry Cornwell; ...