OK, new season, new focus, new leaf. Last year left kind of a bitter taste in my mouth and was sort of ho-hum. There were a lot of tournaments - a whole lot. Too many, I think. Made it hard to stay enthused about the game and I think it eventually hurt the turnout locally. This season doesn't look like it will be any different with regards to the number of events in NM. I think it makes more sense to personally concentrate on big events and then play some of the local ones for fun. I might see if I can pull myself away from volley on some weekends to do some different things with my wife. We'll see. Big trips on the radar so far include SoCal in March and NorCal in May. Both good vacations, and both good timing to jump start the season and put the rest of the year into perspective. I've been working with Sonny behind the scenes to get the Sandia Mountain Classic together this year. It will be held 5/17-5/18 and should draw some excellent competition as well as be a top notch event. We'll see about how many of the CO tourneys are worth making the trip for. Time on the road gets expensive fast, so it may depend somewhat on how much I am working and how much sponsor support we can real in. BTW, thanks to Wayne Steen for jumping in and supporting us again this year through his State Farm office! I've been in the gym since mid-October or Novermber. I added about 7-8 pounds of lean body mass right away, and it hasn't fallen off yet. I've been going through the program I am studying, as I am working on getting certified as a personal trainer. This involves a phase of joint stabilization followed by strength endurance. Next I will focus on working power into the equation. I have been keying in on increasing core strength and have also been working with tools to improve eye-hand coordination and quickness. I've gotten to play indoor volley, football and now basketball once a week that it is real cold outside, that is doing wonders for my cardio-conditioning. The other piece of the puzzle I think is to develop leg strength in the tendons and ligaments to be able to absorb the force generated by playing on artificial sand surfaces. More than anything, I think the landings were causing fatigue during tournaments. My body is pretty tired on a regular basis from the training, but next comes power development, so that should hopefully add a spring to my step. Good news from Loric that he doesn't appear to have a tear in his knee, just a minor issue with his bone which should heal over time. I think the last pieces of the puzzle are skills development, which will hopefully start this week during indoor sand and mental conditioning to keep focus. I think this could be another breakout year for us!PS: I have the 2008 NM volleyball schedule and will post it once I have time to figure out how to format it for this site!
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Wayne Steen - State Farm
