The Top 35 U.S. Players of All Time

Volleyball Magazine just came out with the Top 35 U.S. Players of All Time.  I appreciate the list to bring these great players to light and recognition to the history of our game.  I’m not sure if I agree with the order (especially Gene Selznick), but that’s half the fun of a list.  How many of these great players do you know and recognize?  I believe it is extremely important for the continued growth of our sport in the United States to know (and want to play like) these players. Continue Reading

One look at Phil Dalhausser, and it’s obvious, he’s not on steroids.  Sorry Phil, you are in great shape, just not in the false muscle bound, vein popping way that has become an acceptable norm.  NPR recently published the following article, Who can a young fan look up to? Professional Beach Volleyball Player, Phil Dalhausser is a great Continue Reading

Darren Baker is a friend of mine that’s been playing beach volleyball for years.  Darren began playing volleyball at a competitive level since 1998.  Cutting his teeth on beach/sand volleyball while also playing club volleyball at the University of San Diego before returning to the Augusta, GA area.  He has played numerous outdoor tournaments at an Open level, including Columbia: AVP, Clash and Crown, EEVB, and Fudpuckers events.  Personal highlights are having played against or with Olympians Jose Loiola, Ricci Luyties, Alan Alan, and Phil Dalhausser.

By: Darren Baker

Looking at the statistics of doubles beach volleyball one might say to me: “But Darren, look at the number of blocks vs number of championships in last season’s AVP tour.  The top two blockers, Phil had 2.11 blocks per game and Sean had 1.71 blocks per game this translated into nine (9) championships, first on tour, and Hyden-Scott had four (4) championships second on tour.  You said that this isn’t important in DRILL Continue Reading

Well, it happens to by my birthday today, but that’s not the good news.  Jon Guida took all my online advice {sarcasm}, from my blog, Blocking to the AVP Tour, and qualified for the AVP Tour.  I wish I could take the credit, but it’s all Jon.

Yup, he and Jake Elliot out of Charleston, SC beat the #1 Qualifying Team, Continue Reading

This is painful to watch.

Big Jon Guida is making his way through the AVP Next Tour with partner Jake Elliot. They just won last weekend’s AVP Next, East End Volleyball’s stop in Hilton Head Island, SC (Jon’s home turf).

A few weeks back, Jon asked for a little guidance with his blocking. I put together a piece for him which I later shared here: Continue Reading

A friend of mine is about to break on to the AVP Tour. Big Jon as he’s known by the locals of South Carolina. A natural athlete that played professional basketball in Europe and picked up volleyball in his mid-twenties. A 6’7″ frame along with a 35″ vertical doesn’t hurt either. He’s unsure of his blocking game and came to me looking for a few pointers. Following is my advice.

There is so much about blocking. Here is some thought, perspective, and insight.

Compare your blocking game with the greats. Phil Dalhausser, in 2008 he led the AVP Tour with 2.12 blocks per game. Lambert, 2.04 blocks per game. Gibb 1.96. How many blocks per game are you getting? Two or three blocks a game is not a big number, so don’t put too much pressure
on yourself to HAVE to make blocks. In a game, you could get 30 block attempts (hits against you…this includes shots). Based on 2 blocks per game, that means 7% of all attacks against you will result in a
block (that means out of those 30 block attempts, 28 will be hit around
you). Make it a goal to get 3 blocks a game which correlates to 1 block for every 10 attempts (this would be phenomenal if you accomplished this goal). Continue Reading

During the season at the U of MN, Mike Hebert received an email from a club coach of which he passed along to me. The club coach was concerned with devising an offense system for a team with very little height. The club coach was quick to point out that the team had three great liberos. Here is my reply with Mike’s blessing, it also gives some insight of things I learned at the U of MN:

I hope this email will help save some trees and save you some money from all the paper you are using trying to devise an offense. But let’s look at two things first: 1) Defense 2) Height, and then we can discuss offense. Continue Reading