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; ...

March 15th @ Charlie's

The next tourney is 3/15 at Charlie's. 8:00 AM START. Usual stuff, but $15/ player for this tourney as we get into the regular season. Drop me an email to sign up, good list so far just from word of mouth. Update: Great turnout again. If not for a few teams dropping, we would have had 15 teams, wound up with a few less. After a morning indoors, we moved outdoors so the ladies could play their doubles tourney. Weather was good for most of the day, then got pretty gusty towards the end. Here's the results:
1) Adam Rubel/ Loric Box; 2) Chris Roosild/ Adam Cabbage; 3) Matt Valencia/Jeff Poole; 4) Christa Farris/ Jorge Alarcon; 5) Larry Cornwell/ Bryan Klein; 5) Dave/ Le; 7) Akram/ Rene; 7) Aaron/ Kameron; 9) Adam/Javier; 9) Ed Lucero; 9) Randy/ Mike; 9) Harris/ Paul

California (with wounded knee...)

Well, it is almost time again to get full swing into the new volleyball season. In just a couple of weeks, we'll be heading out to the heart of the beach volleyball world and setting up shop in Hermosa Beach for a little over a week. This is the perfect start to a season as not only will we get to be by the ocean and on vacation, but will get to play some top level competition with some great practice time. We're planning on playing a GAV event (which I hear are great events new to CA) and a CBVA, both opens. We're also bringing a couple of younglings so they can learn about beach volleyball on a real life beach!
So, on to the bad news. About a month ago, I started getting sharp pains in my knee on certain movements, which became very noticable during an indoor match and almost unbearable during the next days tournament. I still have full range of motion and didn't really have any swelling, but certain movements with my weight bearing on the joint were quite jolting. After a week of rest and little healing, I called Christy Valdez whom I met at a tourney last fall. She runs Spine & Muscle Rehabilitation and is really using some innovative, non-invasive techniques to diagnose and treat injuries. After checking out my knee with ultrasound, they found a bone spur and a good amount of fluid building up under the knee cap. Treatment involved some manipulations to relase ligaments and the knee cap so there is space for the fluid to drain, followed by using kinesiotape to enhance that space. Two treatments later, and there is definite improvement. I went out this past weekend to play, however, and things weren't too good. I was very cautious and aware of my knee and it was inhibiting my movement. After a few hours, it started getting achy and really didn't respond well - jump wasn't there, quick movements weren't there. So, I'm going to take some time off and continue treatment. I'm hoping to play on the 15th, but we'll see how the healing comes along. I'm going to get another ultrasound next week to see the progress and find out if any additional steps need to happen. Hopefully my aging body can recover fairly quickly, I wasn't expecting to feel like this for at least another ten years...

'08 - Time for a new season!

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!

February 9th Indoor Sand Tourney

Back to the old fashioned 2 on 2 format. Time to gear up for beach season (even though it is about 1 degree outside). This should be a good one, we've got some out of town guests coming in. 8:00 check-in, 8:30 start. $20/ team, mini-pool followed by double elim. Let me know by email if you want to register or if you need a partner. Limited space, so sign up fast (well, at least the last KoB tourney sold out). Here's what we got so far:
Update:

We maxed out our capacity with 12 teams AND a waiting list. Good sign for the sport going forward in Abq. Should be a reminder to teams that they need to sign up early. Some warm weather meant we could open up a 3rd court outside during the day, and play besides the snow. Great tourney overall, lots of evenly matched teams and some real battles taking place all over. Congrats to the AZ guys for taking the gold prize! 1) Brian Post /Drew Winterstein; 2) Adam Rubel/ Christa Farris; 3) Chris Roosild/ Jorge Alarcon; 4) Desi Vigil/ Brian Way; 5) Adam Cabbage/ Bryan Klein; 5) Jeff Poole/ Larry Cornwell; 7) Olli Tavarian/ Ruskin Blankenship; 7) Cameron Vigil/ Kameron Cheney; 9) Frank/ Kevin;9) Brad Berry/ Daniel Pimental; 9) Manny Padilla/ Matt Erickson; 9) Richard Zamora/ Rich Zamora

Jan '08 Indoor KoB Results

New Year, new season. Could this be the season of the youngbloods? That remains to be seen, but two fresh faces pulled out strong finishes including a victory in both of their entre's into the world of professional (albeit a $5-$20 profit) sports. Lots of playing during the day, many surprises and upsets and a final pool that saw games to 11 with the final results coming down to the last play in the pool and third place being decided by a playoff game to 3. 15 out of the 16 registered players showed up and it was a good chance for different players to try out some new partners. Congrats to the newbies for breaking in: 1) Bryan Klein 2) Adam Rubel 3) Adam Cabbage 4) Jeff Poole. Beyond that were all the other finishers, results were erased on the dry-erase board.