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Post by bigfan on Dec 8, 2017 12:28:25 GMT -5
You know more about beach volleyball, do you think that luck did play a part in this.........being in the right place at the right time? I think its almost exclusively luck, start with being 6'4, but Ross/Walsh breaking up for non-VB reasons, the current US blocker drought, the result of the WC final, Claes/Hughes staying together for non-VB reasons were all great breaks for Alix. Hope she runs with it though Sand volleyball has always been so political and emotional on the decisions made.............................LMAO!
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Post by guest2 on Dec 8, 2017 12:32:13 GMT -5
I like this team.I would like Kerri on SandCast but only if she is willing to answer the questions fans have. Are you possibly referring to the questions that April was not willing to answer? There were few topics that April did not want to discuss right off the top, so they didn’t. I’m sure that would be the same deal with Kerri. She has already answered the questions about the AVP & I’m sure she will tell us once again why she decided to not resign. She actually spoke at an event in CA a short while ago and spoke in length about her decision regarding the AVP. I’m sure what she won’t discuss is all the reasons why her & April Split.And there are several. I am a big April Ross fan as well as a big Kerri fan, but this sadly has been painted as Kerri being the bad guy and dumping April right before the season started, etc....The issues went both ways....Not one person to blame. If I’m way off base about the fans questions you would be referring to, I apologize. My first question to Kerri would be why aren’t you going out and taking a chance on an up and coming young defender? Love for Nicole aside, I wish she would, although I am not sure who is out there. I can see Alix becoming an amazing player due to her physical skills if everything breaks right, but hard to see a young defender with that kind of potential other than Hughes
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Post by earlkoppelman on Dec 8, 2017 14:28:49 GMT -5
So previous work on her indoor craft has nothing to do with this. Only one year on the beach? Something to be said for belief in good things happening to those whose who work hard. Not saying that she didn’t get incredibly luck my to land Ross. But Ross saw something in her. My humble humble opinion..... Agree. Here's hoping deep run TOKYO yes.
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Post by tamz on Dec 8, 2017 23:19:56 GMT -5
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Post by ajm on Dec 9, 2017 13:20:27 GMT -5
I think its almost exclusively luck, start with being 6'4, but Ross/Walsh breaking up for non-VB reasons, the current US blocker drought, the result of the WC final, Claes/Hughes staying together for non-VB reasons were all great breaks for Alix. Hope she runs with it though Sand volleyball has always been so political and emotional on the decisions made.............................LMAO! That's one of the reasons it may be better for USAV to choose beach partnerships. Could you imagine if the indoor team was chosen this way? You grab your 5 best friends and then maybe find a coach. Then you compete with other domestic 6-person teams for the right to represent the USA at the Olympics. Or you could have Sean Scott or whoever is in charge at USAV Beach choosing the teams for FIVB events. You don't like your assigned partner? Then you are off the team and no FIVB or Olympics for you!
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Post by downtheline on Dec 9, 2017 20:18:00 GMT -5
No one wants S.S picking teams, nor J.D. Competing for team spots like every other Olympic sport might work but the office staff is more politically charged than most folks can ever imagine.
The old guard is still influenced by the old guard, it starts in CO and trickles down to Redondo.
Since beach is a partnership, and not an extended team, it brings another dimension into play that is difficult to assess and mange by statistical means or Norceca W/L records or international points.
And BTW, C&H stayed together for VB reasons, not friendship. KC is the best alternative at the net in the USA, a gifted athlete. AR is not a net player and whom could argue with her logic, KW is no longer a viable 2020 option unless she takes a job @ NBC and every one knows that but her.
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Post by guest2 on Dec 10, 2017 7:09:16 GMT -5
No one wants S.S picking teams, nor J.D. Competing for team spots like every other Olympic sport might work but the office staff is more politically charged than most folks can ever imagine. The old guard is still influenced by the old guard, it starts in CO and trickles down to Redondo. Since beach is a partnership, and not an extended team, it brings another dimension into play that is difficult to assess and mange by statistical means or Norceca W/L records or international points. And BTW, C&H stayed together for VB reasons, not friendship. KC is the best alternative at the net in the USA, a gifted athlete. AR is not a net player and whom could argue with her logic, KW is no longer a viable 2020 option unless she takes a job @ NBC and every one knows that but her. No they didn't. The best options at the net last year were Kerri, then April. You could maybe make that claim this year, but right now Summer and April are both better than Kelly at the net (depending on how much Kelly and Summer have improved this offseason) Why isn't April a viable net player? Her years of experience split blocking? The fact that she would be one of the taller blockers on tour? It may not be ideal for those people to pick partners, but from an international standpoint it would be optimal to have someone other than the players do it. That enables long term planning from a country's perspective, allows teams to get over petty squabbles that may otherwise ruin the 2nd or 3rd best team in the world, and keeps emotion out of a lot of breakups. Perfect example is 1997, when Stoklos and Johnson were the two best non Steffes/Loiola players. Stoklos wouldn't play with AJ because he had been dumped before, and so he got 19 consecutive seconds with Troy Tanner. Had an impartial third party put them together (and broken them up in the first place) both would have more wins. Same with EY and Annett Davis never playing together. Claes/Hughes weren't ready to win last year, but Sara could have gotten top level experience with Kerri. I guarantee you one factor in staying with Kelly was the thought that she might hurt Kelly and affect her chances of playing together down the road. If a neutral person made that decision, when Kelly caught up and that partnership made sense again, then bad feelings would not come into play.
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Post by downtheline on Dec 10, 2017 14:04:13 GMT -5
We all saw how it ended with KW.
Her total lack of respect for NCAA rules and her & LA jeopardizing Sara’s eligibility gives you insight into why it was easy to steer clear.
You don’t seem to have the insight you think you do into the decision making processes going on behind the scenes.
April asked Hughes to play & apologized for her efforts during a horrible Norceca outing at MB. Moved on to try Claes & Klineman so it is clearly oblivious she did not want to change positions.
Now that both teams have committed to continued workouts together they may just rise to the top 2 USAV teams. Summer is a long time friend of Sara’s and they both decided it was best to stick with their current partners. It will play out on the courts and not on VT.. lol.
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Post by donnyw on Dec 10, 2017 14:16:46 GMT -5
We all saw how it ended with KW. Her total lack of respect for NCAA rules and her & LA jeopardizing Sara’s eligibility gives you insight into why it was easy to steer clear. You don’t seem to have the insight you think you do into the decision making processes going on behind the scenes. April asked Hughes to play & apologized for her efforts during a horrible Norceca outing at MB. Moved on to try Claes & Klineman so it is clearly oblivious she did not want to change positions. Now that both teams have committed to continued workouts together they may just rise to the top 2 USAV teams. Summer is a long time friend of Sara’s and they both decided it was best to stick with their current partners. It will play out on the courts and not on VT.. lol. Kerri asked Sara on numerous occasions to partner with her. Sara couldn’t answer her while in the mist of the NCAA tourney. eventually she said no and decided to stick with Kelly....I am one that also believe that Sara should have played with Kerri for a year. But it is what it is. Water under the bridge now. Down the line....You seem to think 🤔 that Kerri is not a viable option for 2020? I’m interested in your thoughts as to why? Maybe she isn’t maybe she is, but just curious what makes you so sure that she’s not. Also..Who knows...Maybe Donald Sun won’t even be the owner of the AVP by 2020 either.....
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Post by guest2 on Dec 10, 2017 14:34:20 GMT -5
We all saw how it ended with KW. Her total lack of respect for NCAA rules and her & LA jeopardizing Sara’s eligibility gives you insight into why it was easy to steer clear. You don’t seem to have the insight you think you do into the decision making processes going on behind the scenes. April asked Hughes to play & apologized for her efforts during a horrible Norceca outing at MB. Moved on to try Claes & Klineman so it is clearly oblivious she did not want to change positions. Now that both teams have committed to continued workouts together they may just rise to the top 2 USAV teams. Summer is a long time friend of Sara’s and they both decided it was best to stick with their current partners. It will play out on the courts and not on VT.. lol. So you are saying that April's half-assed effort with Sara was a real try out for this coming year? Now who seems to be claiming insight? I dont think I have any insight into the decision making process at all, except that I, like any other person with common sense, could see that in VB terms, the correct choice for Sara was KW or AR. Sara and Kelly were non-competitive on the FIVB and both KW and AR had high finishes with mediocre players. Not only was Sara not thinking in VB terms, she wasn't thinking in financial terms either. As an agent, Armato would be a great choice. Look at his past VB client list.
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Post by ajm on Dec 10, 2017 19:05:40 GMT -5
No one wants S.S picking teams, nor J.D. Competing for team spots like every other Olympic sport might work but the office staff is more politically charged than most folks can ever imagine. The old guard is still influenced by the old guard, it starts in CO and trickles down to Redondo. Since beach is a partnership, and not an extended team, it brings another dimension into play that is difficult to assess and mange by statistical means or Norceca W/L records or international points. And BTW, C&H stayed together for VB reasons, not friendship. KC is the best alternative at the net in the USA, a gifted athlete. AR is not a net player and whom could argue with her logic, KW is no longer a viable 2020 option unless she takes a job @ NBC and every one knows that but her. If beach players want the kind of funding support for training, coaching, that indoor players do, they need to be willing to relinquish control of who their partners and coaches are. And if the US beach teams don't start winning more on the FIVB tour, I think USAV needs to take control of these decisions regardless.
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Post by JB Southpaw on Dec 11, 2017 8:31:25 GMT -5
We all saw how it ended with KW. Her total lack of respect for NCAA rules and her & LA jeopardizing Sara’s eligibility gives you insight into why it was easy to steer clear. You don’t seem to have the insight you think you do into the decision making processes going on behind the scenes. April asked Hughes to play & apologized for her efforts during a horrible Norceca outing at MB. Moved on to try Claes & Klineman so it is clearly oblivious she did not want to change positions. Now that both teams have committed to continued workouts together they may just rise to the top 2 USAV teams. Summer is a long time friend of Sara’s and they both decided it was best to stick with their current partners. It will play out on the courts and not on VT.. lol. So you are saying that April's half-assed effort with Sara was a real try out for this coming year? Now who seems to be claiming insight? I dont think I have any insight into the decision making process at all, except that I, like any other person with common sense, could see that in VB terms, the correct choice for Sara was KW or AR. Sara and Kelly were non-competitive on the FIVB and both KW and AR had high finishes with mediocre players. Not only was Sara not thinking in VB terms, she wasn't thinking in financial terms either. As an agent, Armato would be a great choice. Look at his past VB client list. I think the difference for you two, is valuing Kelly as a partner. It seems you don't think as highly of Kelly as DTL. I don't think it's set in stone that Sara will be the better of the two when it's all said and done. It's going to be interesting to see it play out this year. I'm more excited to see the women's side than the men's this year.
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Post by guest2 on Dec 11, 2017 9:35:58 GMT -5
So you are saying that April's half-assed effort with Sara was a real try out for this coming year? Now who seems to be claiming insight? I dont think I have any insight into the decision making process at all, except that I, like any other person with common sense, could see that in VB terms, the correct choice for Sara was KW or AR. Sara and Kelly were non-competitive on the FIVB and both KW and AR had high finishes with mediocre players. Not only was Sara not thinking in VB terms, she wasn't thinking in financial terms either. As an agent, Armato would be a great choice. Look at his past VB client list. I think the difference for you two, is valuing Kelly as a partner. It seems you don't think as highly of Kelly as DTL. I don't think it's set in stone that Sara will be the better of the two when it's all said and done. It's going to be interesting to see it play out this year. I'm more excited to see the women's side than the men's this year. I like Kelly a lot. Especially her demeanor and her aggressiveness at the end of last year, but come on, at the start of last year, Kerri and April were both top 10 in the world and Kerri was the 3rd best bloker, behind Sarah and Kira. There isnt a credible case to be made that last year Kelly was even close to either as a player. Maybe this coming year or in a few years, but at the start of last year? No one thought Kelly was better Couldnt agree more on how exciting the women's side looks this year. Can't wait to see the Hague event
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Post by JB Southpaw on Dec 11, 2017 11:51:21 GMT -5
I think the difference for you two, is valuing Kelly as a partner. It seems you don't think as highly of Kelly as DTL. I don't think it's set in stone that Sara will be the better of the two when it's all said and done. It's going to be interesting to see it play out this year. I'm more excited to see the women's side than the men's this year. I like Kelly a lot. Especially her demeanor and her aggressiveness at the end of last year, but come on, at the start of last year, Kerri and April were both top 10 in the world and Kerri was the 3rd best bloker, behind Sarah and Kira. There isnt a credible case to be made that last year Kelly was even close to either as a player. Maybe this coming year or in a few years, but at the start of last year? No one thought Kelly was better Couldnt agree more on how exciting the women's side looks this year. Can't wait to see the Hague event last year Kelly and Sara were in college, not sure why the comparisons then? Sara couldn't commit to training with either of them. Then April hurt her toe and Kerri was done.
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Post by donnyw on Dec 11, 2017 14:06:22 GMT -5
I was looking forward to seeing how April & Alix stacked up against the best right now, which I think is Laura & Kira. Guess we’ll have to wait awhile on that one. Once Kira returns I expect that team to be a force once again...I like how they play the game!!!
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