How's this for defense?

[bunnywailer]

idahoboy said:

Mine was "hey, why is this doctor spanking me!?"

Yeah, but you forgot to mention that your second thought was:

"Ooh...I kinda like that..."


;D

[Murina]

I think the point of the original post was wasn't so much the initial dig by the libero, but the commitment and pursuit of the middle back and outside hitter who eventually returned the ball to the opponent. Regardless of what you think of Gulden's dig, Esra and Stacey made great plays to keep that rally alive.

There are very well respected coaches who would argue both sides of how well Gulden positioned herself on this play. I don't have any idea what Marco Motta's opinion on this is, but I seriously doubt that Gulden would be to far away from where she was expected to be. If she had made a habit of going places she didn't belong she wouldn't be Motta's libero now two years into his tenure.

There are very credible coaches who are teaching a defensive stance where the trunk is mostly upright. Toshi Yoshida being one of them. These coaches sometimes position their left back diggers as far into the court as Gulden is positioned in this clip. This is one of a few theories being used at the higher levels. As the camera pans to the dig, Gulden is clearly extending the knees from somewhere close to a 90deg bend to straight in order to get to the ball. She was "sitting" as the ball was attacked and "stood up" to make this play. In many circles this is the prefered method.

As I watch the clip, I see an attacking mistake more than a digging mistake. This appears to be a well set ball that gave the attacker a great chance to attack the line or the line blocker. Instead she chose to try to attack the meat of a fairly well formed double block that was taking an awful lot of the cross court away. In my opinion, the attacker could not have hit the ball around the block to zone 4 and hit it in the court. When you look at the block relative to the attacker, Gulden would have had to go awfully close to the net to get out of the blocks shadow. Instead she chose to position herself to dig a potential shot that makes it thru the arms of the block. That ball would most likely land in the general area that Gulden positioned herself. Instead the ball hit the top of the block, and Gulden had to adjust on the fly and dig the ball with a jump and punch movement. I think that if Gulden had positioned herself more near the sideline she still would have had to make a similar movement to make this play (although to her right insted of her left). There are definately a lot of highly respected coaches who would call this a great play - if maybe not the way they would draw it up on the chalkboard.

[bunnywailer]

The hitter did attempt to hit line (albeit not a very crisp line). The ball was blocked by the right hand of the RF blocker, not the middle blocker.

And if the hitter did manage to hit it through the seam of the block, that would have still been the responsibility of the middle-back defender, not the libero who was playing left-back.

[Murina]

bunnywailer said:

The hitter did attempt to hit line (albeit not a very crisp line). The ball was blocked by the right hand of the RF blocker, not the middle blocker.

I was able to freze the video on contact. To me it looks like the hitter hit the ball at about 10 o'clock and was trying to go sharp angle... She did indeed hit the outside hand of the RF, but I don't think that was the hitters intent - it was the positioning of the block (RF's right hand on the attackers angle of approach - way inside the hitter!) that made that happen.

And if the hitter did manage to hit it through the seam of the block, that would have still been the responsibility of the middle-back defender, not the libero who was playing left-back.

Humm... So if the hitter had hit this ball thru the seam of the block where do you think it would have landed? If you draw a line from the attack point thru the seam of the block and extend that line, in this case the line will pass a lot closer to the libero than the middle back. So should the middle back have moved over to where the libero is standing and given up the whole endline?

[Barefoot In Kailua]

I don't see what the big deal is. Great defense is when a player dives into the fourth row of the crowd to save a ball. Anything done on the court isn't nearly as impressive.

[Barefoot In Kailua]

Btw, Skynard, your Mahu friends Kawika and Kaleo miss your defense behind the bushes at Paki park.

[Wolfgang]

barefootinkailua said:

Btw, Skynard, your Mahu friends Kawika and Kaleo miss your defense behind the bushes at Paki park.

OLO!

[Gorf]

murina said:

Humm... So if the hitter had hit this ball thru the seam of the block where do you think it would have landed? If you draw a line from the attack point thru the seam of the block and extend that line, in this case the line will pass a lot closer to the libero than the middle back. So should the middle back have moved over to where the libero is standing and given up the whole endline?

So defenders should be taught to expect seams in their team's blocks and position themselves behind the block instead of trusting their block to be closed and position themselves outside of the block's expected coverage area(s)?

[abcd098]

It must be the off-season.

[bunnywailer]

barefootinkailua said:

Btw, Skynard, your Mahu friends Kawika and Kaleo miss your defense behind the bushes at Paki park.

That was somewhat funny.

But you still have Daikon Legs.

[sIsam]

OK folks, I had a chance to talk with Gulden today and asked her how this is supposed to work. She says unlike many other coaches Marco expects her to cover balls that go up off of the block which is why where she was...

[OverAndUnder]

Well.

I guess unless anyone else cares to one-up firsthand testimony from the player in question, we'll consider this case closed.

Book'em Danno, Aloha.

[bunnywailer]

vbtr said:

OK folks, I had a chance to talk with Gulden today and asked her how this is supposed to work. She says unlike many other coaches Marco expects her to cover balls that go up off of the block which is why where she was...

Well, hell, if that's the coach's orders, then the correct way to play balls that are deflected off the block is to position yourself about 3 feet beyond the endline (or three feet past the opposing sideline) and then just sit back there and wait.

[silversurfer]

bunnywailer said:

vbtr said:

OK folks, I had a chance to talk with Gulden today and asked her how this is supposed to work. She says unlike many other coaches Marco expects her to cover balls that go up off of the block which is why where she was...

Well, hell, if that's the coach's orders, then the correct way to play balls that are deflected off the block is to position yourself about 3 feet beyond the endline (or three feet past the opposing sideline) and then just sit back there and wait.

You're STILL talking about this? As Dr. Jones told Henry Jr., "Indiana? Let it go."

[bunnywailer]

silversurfer said:

bunnywailer said:

Well, hell, if that's the coach's orders, then the correct way to play balls that are deflected off the block is to position yourself about 3 feet beyond the endline (or three feet past the opposing sideline) and then just sit back there and wait.

You're STILL talking about this? As Dr. Jones told Henry Jr., "Indiana? Let it go."

Bah. I hope the Fantastic Four kick your butt in the next movie.