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Post by beavis on Dec 30, 2014 13:18:53 GMT -5
After watching Branagh at 3 tournaments last year, it looks like her best days are behind her. Also, it does not appear that a really strong US second team (let alone 3rd and 4th) is going to emerge out of the current group. I sure hope that I am wrong, but April and Kerri seem to be at a totally different level than the rest, and are, in my opinion, the only ones who are going to be able to compete with the Brazilians and the Chinese on a regular basis. Just my two cents - wish I felt differently, and I know Summer is still very young, but she is going to have to work really, really hard to take a step toward the upper international level, and I am not sure she has that in her. If Phil does not come back as strong as before on the men's side, it looks like the men are going to have even more trouble competing at the highest level. When you look at who made a little noise internationally, Hyden, Gibb and Lucena are all headed toward the downslope, and it was sad to see some of the newer guys have such poor results against even the end of season, watered down fields (Casebeer, Montgomery, etc.). Been watching sand pretty steadily for 25 years, and it is really sad to me that there are really no primo up and coming U.S. teams on either side. Hate to sound so pessimistic, but it seems comparable to U.S. tennis - we have really fallen behind the rest of the world, and I'm afraid it is going to be really tough to catch up.
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Post by beavis on Dec 30, 2014 16:54:31 GMT -5
Man, my last post sounded negative, and I am usually a pretty upbeat guy - OUCH!
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Post by volleyballjim on Dec 31, 2014 13:11:04 GMT -5
Well, I would really like to listen to some counter arguments to your post but hard to argue it is not a pretty good summary. Things rarely workout the way we predict, though, so that is always in our favor. Summer is the one I'm interested in watching. I don't think she "looks" aggressive, but not sure her game is outclassed by many. Who WAS Emily Day and what will the partner switch and year of additional experience bring to Summer Ross?...I don't think many can predit that, but if Whitney and Heather can take Walsh/Ross in the finals of Huntington like they "almost did", I think Summer, with a solid partner, might do even better...who knows...Still, like you say, Walsh/Ross are a cut above . . .
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Post by guest2 on Jan 1, 2015 15:29:26 GMT -5
I think some indoor converts are needed. The switch isn't as hard as it once was and the current young talent isn't there on either side. There are a few who could, maybe, make it in the long term (Lane, Crabb, Casebeer) but no one really stands out as a likely future star. I think the men will medal in 2016 (Phil and Ryan are the likely blockers, Rosie should still be ok, and maybe Lucena?) as will Ross and Walsh, but beyond that, its hard to see much world elite potential among the current beach crop.
Matt Anderson, Aaron Russell, Rooney (probably getting close to the too old threshold now), Taylor Sander, are the ones I would pick but I dont follow indoor that much anymore. Would love to see Destinee Hooker as well. What we need is a Dr. Doug style abrasive coach to drive some of these guys to the beach. Now that the Russian economy is looking troubled maybe the indoor money goes down some and beach becomes more viable?
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Kessy-Day
Jan 3, 2015 15:53:04 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by stevek on Jan 3, 2015 15:53:04 GMT -5
Just saw on Facebook that Kropp is coming back and playing with Whitney. Could be interesting to see if they can recapture the chemistry they had a few years ago.
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Post by JB Southpaw on Jan 5, 2015 16:11:22 GMT -5
I think some indoor converts are needed. The switch isn't as hard as it once was and the current young talent isn't there on either side. There are a few who could, maybe, make it in the long term (Lane, Crabb, Casebeer) but no one really stands out as a likely future star. I think the men will medal in 2016 (Phil and Ryan are the likely blockers, Rosie should still be ok, and maybe Lucena?) as will Ross and Walsh, but beyond that, its hard to see much world elite potential among the current beach crop. Matt Anderson, Aaron Russell, Rooney (probably getting close to the too old threshold now), Taylor Sander, are the ones I would pick but I dont follow indoor that much anymore. Would love to see Destinee Hooker as well. What we need is a Dr. Doug style abrasive coach to drive some of these guys to the beach. Now that the Russian economy is looking troubled maybe the indoor money goes down some and beach becomes more viable? I'd like to see someone like Kelly Murphy come to the sand. A great all around game. Also, the Right side for the indoor team is pretty stacked.
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Post by crawdaddy on Jan 7, 2015 15:28:23 GMT -5
Highly doubt any player (male or female) who is National Team/Professional level indoors, is going to jump to beach. Makes no financial sense.
But if we're playing that game, Kim Hill is the one who has the brightest beach future. Plus, I always thought Klineman was well suited for the beach. Would take her some time to make the transition, but she has a pretty unique combination of height and ball control skills.
Any new news out there on female teams for 2015? Are Summer and Fopma committed to playing with each other?
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Post by johnbar on Jan 7, 2015 20:30:54 GMT -5
Plus, I always thought Klineman was well suited for the beach. Would take her some time to make the transition, but she has a pretty unique combination of height and ball control skills. Alix Klineman played in a few AVP qualifiers back in 2005 & '06.
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Jan 10, 2015 0:55:24 GMT -5
Highly doubt any player (male or female) who is National Team/Professional level indoors, is going to jump to beach. Makes no financial sense. But if we're playing that game, Kim Hill is the one who has the brightest beach future. Plus, I always thought Klineman was well suited for the beach. Would take her some time to make the transition, but she has a pretty unique combination of height and ball control skills. Any new news out there on female teams for 2015? Are Summer and Fopma committed to playing with each other? Summer and Fopma are playing together this season. A couple of other teams: Pavlik and Kropp, Dowdy and Branagh, Bensend and Urango.
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Post by mjnaleva on Jan 10, 2015 9:41:39 GMT -5
The fall and slow rise again of the AVP over last few years certainly hasn't helped with developing new players and keeping players that want to try to make something of a living from beach volleyball. While there's certainly bright areas like the sport becoming a women's NCAA sport that at least in theory could lead to a really strong future on the women's side, it's really a challenging environment to get a decent-sized group of young guys focused on the sport. It's an ongoing problem until more money hopefully gets pumped into the sport. This starts going back into the discussions of the "model" for the sport and what's broken about it but with so much money going into sports like football, basketball, baseball, and so on, I really don't see an answer to where the money can come from. The sport is really tough to follow for the average joe so until that improves, I don't see how from a spectator standpoint, the sport can generate much revenue on its own.
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Post by crawdaddy on Jan 10, 2015 10:00:13 GMT -5
Highly doubt any player (male or female) who is National Team/Professional level indoors, is going to jump to beach. Makes no financial sense. But if we're playing that game, Kim Hill is the one who has the brightest beach future. Plus, I always thought Klineman was well suited for the beach. Would take her some time to make the transition, but she has a pretty unique combination of height and ball control skills. Any new news out there on female teams for 2015? Are Summer and Fopma committed to playing with each other? Summer and Fopma are playing together this season. A couple of other teams: Pavlik and Kropp, Dowdy and Branagh, Bensend and Urango. Thanks Geddy. Interestingly, I think I'm most intrigued with Dowdy/Branagh. Is Nicole committed to playing internationally? If she is, she's had a full year to get her game back and the upside with Dowdy is pretty big. Don't see enough defense with Summer/Fopma and while I love Kropp, Pavlik's ceiling is what it is. This also indicates that Carico and Dicello are sticking together. Would have to see some real improvements in that team (particularly Kim's offense) for them to challenge for that second spot in Rio. Seems like a real possibility we only qualify one female team for Rio.
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