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Post by crawdaddy on Mar 22, 2016 10:23:40 GMT -5
Happened to catch the finals of the Four Nations tournament. Sponcil is really really impressive. First time I've seen her play. At first I was not particularly impressed with her partner (Van Winden) until I found out she's still in high school. Big kid with good ball control given her age. Future might not be so bad for the U.S.
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Post by FOBRA on Mar 22, 2016 11:29:10 GMT -5
Van Winden's actually at UCLA in a couple of days, but yeah, super young. Seems like they just got together for the U21 qualifier tournament in Chula Vista and ended up winning it outright (beating Bustamante/Muno, who will also go the U21s as qualifiers).
This is the gold medal match against Brazil:
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Post by downtheline on Mar 22, 2016 11:35:15 GMT -5
Sarah is one of the best young beach players in the US. She possess all the skill sets including a tenancious will to win.
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Post by vbvalley on Mar 22, 2016 11:43:47 GMT -5
Is Van Winden eligible to play this year? UCLA has a big weekend on the East Coast (at Stetson) starting Friday with Stetson, Florida State, FIU. and Hawaii.
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Post by FOBRA on Mar 22, 2016 11:56:31 GMT -5
Is Van Winden eligible to play this year? UCLA has a big weekend on the East Coast (at Stetson) starting Friday with Stetson, Florida State, FIU. and Hawaii. Seems pretty risky to burn valuable eligibility like that. If she had enrolled in winter that would make sense, but I'm guessing she's just going to concentrate on acclimating and indoor off-season for now.
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Mar 22, 2016 12:35:42 GMT -5
We'll see if Sealy even allows Van Winden play beach.
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Post by vbvalley on Mar 22, 2016 12:42:49 GMT -5
Risky? Not if you have a chance for a national championship. Although UCLA looks to be getting very good in the upcoming years, USC is not appearing to be the lock that everyone predicted several months ago and from what I saw on this video, this girl could make a difference. You only get so many opportunities for a NCAA championship.
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Post by crawdaddy on Mar 22, 2016 12:52:49 GMT -5
Risky? Not if you have a chance for a national championship. Although UCLA looks to be getting very good in the upcoming years, USC is not appearing to be the lock that everyone predicted several months ago and from what I saw on this video, this girl could make a difference. You only get so many opportunities for a NCAA championship. Speaking of 'SC, wondering why they don't break up their #1 team to try to make their #2 team stronger (which has lost their matches against Pep and FSU)? Hughes would still win with whomever she plays with and teaming Claes with someone else makes your #2 team much stronger. Since there is no singles title, seems like you should do whatever you can to get team victories. Assume there are no restrictions on this type of move.
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Mar 22, 2016 13:02:13 GMT -5
Risky? Not if you have a chance for a national championship. Although UCLA looks to be getting very good in the upcoming years, USC is not appearing to be the lock that everyone predicted several months ago and from what I saw on this video, this girl could make a difference. You only get so many opportunities for a NCAA championship. Speaking of 'SC, wondering why they don't break up their #1 team to try to make their #2 team stronger (which has lost their matches against Pep and FSU)? Hughes would still win with whomever she plays with and teaming Claes with someone else makes your #2 team much stronger. Since there is no singles title, seems like you should do whatever you can to get team victories. Assume there are no restrictions on this type of move. Break up the best team in the country and put them with players they've never played with before - in the middle of the season?
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Post by crawdaddy on Mar 22, 2016 13:34:25 GMT -5
Speaking of 'SC, wondering why they don't break up their #1 team to try to make their #2 team stronger (which has lost their matches against Pep and FSU)? Hughes would still win with whomever she plays with and teaming Claes with someone else makes your #2 team much stronger. Since there is no singles title, seems like you should do whatever you can to get team victories. Assume there are no restrictions on this type of move. Break up the best team in the country and put them with players they've never played with before - in the middle of the season? You only get one point, whether you beat a team 9 and 10 or 15 and 16. Who cares if they're the best team in the country? You're trying to win a team national championship. Agree that switching in the middle of the season is problematic - probably should have been considered at the outset (or alternatively, have the players switch around enough in practice that they're comfortable making a switch mid-season). I've always thought the time required to adjust to a new partner is not as significant as it's often made out to be. But then again, I'm a guy posting on a chat board while at work, and not coaching 'SC.
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Post by gobruins on Mar 23, 2016 5:28:27 GMT -5
We'll see if Sealy even allows Van Winden play beach. He doesn't seem to have a problem with Muno, Anderson, Buechler, Chandler, Drolson, etc. playing beach. Why would it be a problem for Van Winden?
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Mar 23, 2016 12:07:59 GMT -5
We'll see if Sealy even allows Van Winden play beach. He doesn't seem to have a problem with Muno, Anderson, Buechler, Chandler, Drolson, etc. playing beach. Why would it be a problem for Van Winden? UCLA wants to follow the current Pepperdine model, which is a roster largely consisting of beach-only players with 1-2 indoor players players added to the mix. They're going to have another 5-6 beach only kids coming into the program in the next few years, but right now they still have to use the indoor roster to fill out the team. That will change. Also, Van Winden - along with Miller, who is also a beach player - are Sealy's meal tickets for the next four years. He wants 'em in the gym, fall and spring. Note that Van Winden is enrolling early specifically to train indoors, even though she's eligible to join the beach team. I'm in no way guaranteeing that either Van Winden or Miller will never join the beach program. But given the big picture, I have doubts. We'll see how it all shakes out.
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Post by FOBRA on Mar 23, 2016 12:21:54 GMT -5
I can see Miller never touching the beach, it's been a relatively minor part of her junior career and she might be in a position where she wouldn't break the top 5 teams.
I think it's a little different for Van Winden who definitely play, and ultimately it's better off for recruiting to be able to point out players that are competing at a high level in both indoor and sand. That's something no other school in the PAC can really offer right now.
From the beach side, I think Stein could definitely use incoming players like Van Winden, May and Harrer to provide some size options as his recruits have mostly been smaller ball-control players.
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Post by crawdaddy on Mar 23, 2016 14:46:35 GMT -5
He doesn't seem to have a problem with Muno, Anderson, Buechler, Chandler, Drolson, etc. playing beach. Why would it be a problem for Van Winden? UCLA wants to follow the current Pepperdine model, which is a roster largely consisting of beach-only players with 1-2 indoor players players added to the mix. They're going to have another 5-6 beach only kids coming into the program in the next few years, but right now they still have to use the indoor roster to fill out the team. That will change. Also, Van Winden - along with Miller, who is also a beach player - are Sealy's meal tickets for the next four years. He wants 'em in the gym, fall and spring. Note that Van Winden is enrolling early specifically to train indoors, even though she's eligible to join the beach team. I'm in no way guaranteeing that either Van Winden or Miller will never join the beach program. But given the big picture, I have doubts. We'll see how it all shakes out. I think the Pep model is the right way to do it (for both the beach and indoor programs). Once Stein gets more of these beach-only athletes, the indoor players won't contribute much even if Sealy does let them play. But occasionally, you will get a player who is clearly a stud in both (as Van Winden appears to be) and it might be a recruiting advantage to be able to let them do both (something 'SC isn't doing). I hope Van Winden made playing some beach part of her agreement with Sealy when she committed.
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Mar 23, 2016 15:45:51 GMT -5
UCLA wants to follow the current Pepperdine model, which is a roster largely consisting of beach-only players with 1-2 indoor players players added to the mix. They're going to have another 5-6 beach only kids coming into the program in the next few years, but right now they still have to use the indoor roster to fill out the team. That will change. Also, Van Winden - along with Miller, who is also a beach player - are Sealy's meal tickets for the next four years. He wants 'em in the gym, fall and spring. Note that Van Winden is enrolling early specifically to train indoors, even though she's eligible to join the beach team. I'm in no way guaranteeing that either Van Winden or Miller will never join the beach program. But given the big picture, I have doubts. We'll see how it all shakes out. I think the Pep model is the right way to do it (for both the beach and indoor programs). Once Stein gets more of these beach-only athletes, the indoor players won't contribute much even if Sealy does let them play. But occasionally, you will get a player who is clearly a stud in both (as Van Winden appears to be) and it might be a recruiting advantage to be able to let them do both (something 'SC isn't doing). I hope Van Winden made playing some beach part of her agreement with Sealy when she committed.Certainly possible. Although I don't know really how committed Van Winden is the the beach game. She declined multiple opportunities to try out for age group beach world championships in order to play indoor club. And I don't count the Four Nations Cup, which was pretty much just a paid spring break vacation to Australia. I hope she does continue to play beach, as she's a real talent. BTW, Mick has backed off his "no indoor players on the beach team" dictum - for the right player or players. Plummer definitely would have been allowed to play both if USC had landed her. It would have to be a pretty special player, though.
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