|
Post by geddyleeridesagain on Aug 26, 2016 21:06:00 GMT -5
I think the reason some of the top teams aren't here is because of the calendar placement. The week after the Olympics is a horrible spot. I think Long Beach is pretty much the biggest event every year aside from the years with Worlds/Olympics. BTW NBC Sports Network has coverage from 9PM-11PM CST. Not sure if it's live or tape delayed stuff. NBC then has a block on Saturday and Sunday. They have passed on the US events for some time now. May have something to do with travel as a lot of the FIVB events seem to be mainly in Europe but who knows.That's the biggest part of it. Last year had a full field, because there was nearly a month layoff between the prior event and Long Beach. 2013 & 2014 had Long Beach sandwiched between European events, so a number of teams skipped the long round trip.
|
|
|
Post by tinman2 on Aug 26, 2016 21:29:03 GMT -5
Kerri Walsh NEVER comes out flat. If Phil/Nick aren't motivated to win this after a disappointing finish in Rio, they should go ahead and retire. She'd NEVER lost in the Olympics before. She lost in the Olympics, owned it, and came out the next day, NOT FLAT, and showed the heart of a champion. She NEVER comes out flat....
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2016 21:43:36 GMT -5
Watching the NBC Broadcast....They also say Kerri should go back to her old side.....April is not interested in switching at all...Interesting....Maybe both Kerri & April both go to Tokyo with different partners?
|
|
|
Post by socalplayer on Aug 27, 2016 0:30:56 GMT -5
Richard Lambourne is planning streaming via periscope most of the day. ( www.periscope.tv/richyusa) Has Hughes/Claes vs Betschart/Huberli right now. He's mentioned he'll be doing it except when he's coaching. What team(s) does Lambourne coach? Billy and Theo
|
|
|
Post by guest2 on Aug 27, 2016 6:54:26 GMT -5
She'd NEVER lost in the Olympics before. She lost in the Olympics, owned it, and came out the next day, NOT FLAT, and showed the heart of a champion. She NEVER comes out flat.... I think you missed a lot of their events this year. Besides depending on how you are defining flat, the very event you are talking about contradicts you
|
|
|
Post by crawdaddy on Aug 27, 2016 10:07:51 GMT -5
Spent the day at Long Beach yesterday. First time I've been down there. Everything about the setup/venue is nice (easy parking, booze on site, etc.).
The only big drawback is the sand, which is both hard and very dusty. If only they could import some Hermosa sand. Also, a minor annoyance, but I found all of the vendors hawking stuff to be too aggressive. It's like you're getting assaulted when you walk down the main strip of the venue. Since it's free, I guess a small price to pay.
Watched the Crabbs get eliminated by a young Polish team in a match they probably should have won. Both the Poles are younger than Taylor, another indication that the rest of the world is producing great young talent. As has been said before, there's not much joy when the Crabbs play - they just don't look like they're having a good time - but that's probably just their personalities and maybe a brother thing.
Watched Brunner/Allen beat Hyden/Bourne. God bless John Hyden to have played at such a high level for so long, but the end is near. He struggled to side out at crucial times in the match. Looking forward to seeing Tri in the next phase of his career.
Lane and Summer battled pretty well with Kerri and April. They've clearly made slow and steady improvement as a team throughout this year. I hope that continues. Tough draw to get Kerri & April (who I think will win this event pretty easily) given the rest of the field.
Didn't catch Claes/Hughes - but sounds like they got spanked by Larissa.
Finally, the extended format of FIVB tournaments must be stressful on Leonard. You're kinda screwed if Kerri and April (or Phil/Nick) lose one of those Friday elimination matches and you go into the weekend without your US Olympians and with a bunch of teams no one here has ever heard of. Even as is, he doesn't have any of the other US teams for the weekend. As a promoter, the AVP format is MUCH better.
|
|
|
Post by downtheline on Aug 27, 2016 12:22:45 GMT -5
C&H have taken the show about as far as it can go until Claes can stop making poor decisions and compete at this higher level.
I've never seen any pro go over on two as much as she does. Her partner makes a great save or dig, pops up to take a swing only to have her throw it over on two, usually out long or to the side. She was about 4 for 20 on these plays this weekend.
I was disappointed at her level of energy and seemed late to every block attempt only getting 2 or 3 the entire weekend.
Meanwhile the defender seems to be hustling, laying it out and giving everything she has to stay with these top level teams. It must be very frustrating to try and complete with the best in the world when the same errors have plagued them for 2 years now.
|
|
|
Post by haze on Aug 27, 2016 12:34:07 GMT -5
C&H have taken the show about as far as it can go until Claes can stop making poor decisions and compete at this higher level. I've never seen any pro go over on two as much as she does. Her partner makes a great save or dig, pops up to take a swing only to have her throw it over on two, usually out long or to the side. She was about 4 for 20 on these plays this weekend. I was disappointed at her level of energy and seemed late to every block attempt only getting 2 or 3 the entire weekend. Meanwhile the defender seems to be hustling, laying it out and giving everything she has to stay with these top level teams. It must be very frustrating to try and complete with the best in the world when the same errors have plagued them for 2 years now. I completely disagree. These are kids who don't even know what the FIVB is all about. If they have been on the FIVB for 3 years full time and she's still the same player then I would say the comment has some validity. All these matches their playing on the FIVB this year, and next year, are learning matches for them to get a gauge on what they need to do to get better. They play a lot of these teams like they play college teams because that's all they know. They'll figure it out that it doesn't work and make changes to get better. I think it would be ignorant to say that both those players, moreso Claes, are as good as they are ever going to get right now.
|
|
|
Post by guest2 on Aug 27, 2016 13:02:17 GMT -5
C&H have taken the show about as far as it can go until Claes can stop making poor decisions and compete at this higher level. I've never seen any pro go over on two as much as she does. Her partner makes a great save or dig, pops up to take a swing only to have her throw it over on two, usually out long or to the side. She was about 4 for 20 on these plays this weekend. I was disappointed at her level of energy and seemed late to every block attempt only getting 2 or 3 the entire weekend. Meanwhile the defender seems to be hustling, laying it out and giving everything she has to stay with these top level teams. It must be very frustrating to try and complete with the best in the world when the same errors have plagued them for 2 years now. I completely disagree. These are kids who don't even know what the FIVB is all about. If they have been on the FIVB for 3 years full time and she's still the same player then I would say the comment has some validity. All these matches their playing on the FIVB this year, and next year, are learning matches for them to get a gauge on what they need to do to get better. They play a lot of these teams like they play college teams because that's all they know. They'll figure it out that it doesn't work and make changes to get better. I think it would be ignorant to say that both those players, moreso Claes, are as good as they are ever going to get right now. I agree with this. The FIVB takes some getting used to. The speed, height and athletic ability of these girls is so different. I think Claes will learn the changes she needs to make (strength, consistency, hit the ball more) and will be fine. I dont think college benefits them any more because you can see a lot of the stuff they do in these matches that doesnt work, but it would where they have been playing. I would be very surprised if they dont end up on the podium at least once next year and probably a couple times. At a minimum Hughes looked unbelievably fast on a couple plays against the Swiss
|
|
|
Post by swim4life107 on Aug 27, 2016 15:56:04 GMT -5
I'm wondering how much upside Laboureur/Sude have? Obviously they've rounded into form this year and was even able to win a major in the leadup to Rio (with a deep field. Only Kerri/April sat it out). I'm thinking at worst, they will ease into the #2 German spot. It's too bad the way the 18 month ranking system works because to me they were the 2nd best German team and should have been in Rio. I'm wondering if size will hold them back.
There's also going to be an opening at the top. I don't see the Brazil teams staying together. I think it's already been said that Talita wants to retire. 3 of the 4 are already "old." Only team I'm 100% confident that stays together till Tokyo is Kira/Laura. I think Kerri/April will stay together for 2017-2018 but I could see April switching if it becomes clear Kerri can't make it to Tokyo and/or there is a better partner.
|
|
|
Post by guest2 on Aug 27, 2016 16:33:18 GMT -5
I'm wondering how much upside Laboureur/Sude have? Obviously they've rounded into form this year and was even able to win a major in the leadup to Rio (with a deep field. Only Kerri/April sat it out). I'm thinking at worst, they will ease into the #2 German spot. It's too bad the way the 18 month ranking system works because to me they were the 2nd best German team and should have been in Rio. I'm wondering if size will hold them back. There's also going to be an opening at the top. I don't see the Brazil teams staying together. I think it's already been said that Talita wants to retire. 3 of the 4 are already "old." Only team I'm 100% confident that stays together till Tokyo is Kira/Laura. I think Kerri/April will stay together for 2017-2018 but I could see April switching if it becomes clear Kerri can't make it to Tokyo and/or there is a better partner. I think after these last two results Larissa may want Talita to retire as well. One reason the country v country format is lousy is it limits switching. It looks like Kerri/April will win this weekend, but had they had a run of average to bad results to end the year I would have been really curious to see what April did. If either wanted to split though where would they go? Split up Claes/Hughes maybe but otherwise talent essentially dictates they have to stay together. Its the same in a lot of countries. The switching of teams used to be one of the best parts and Id like to see it more. Phil may be the player most affected by the prohibition. I doubt he cares, but if he had been able to pick up Bruno when he dumped Sean his all time numbers could have ended up being ridiculous
|
|
|
Post by tinman2 on Aug 27, 2016 16:44:05 GMT -5
She lost in the Olympics, owned it, and came out the next day, NOT FLAT, and showed the heart of a champion. She NEVER comes out flat.... I think you missed a lot of their events this year. Besides depending on how you are defining flat, the very event you are talking about contradicts you What are you talking about? They won 85% of their matches this year. Where did you ever see them flat? No way were they flat at the Olympics. Kerri was the opposite. Apparently you don't know what flat means.
|
|
|
Post by guest2 on Aug 27, 2016 16:53:15 GMT -5
I think you missed a lot of their events this year. Besides depending on how you are defining flat, the very event you are talking about contradicts you What are you talking about? They won 85% of their matches this year. Where did you ever see them flat? No way were they flat at the Olympics. Kerri was the opposite. Apparently you don't know what flat means. In Gstaad they were just awful. Didnt seem ready to go at all. China where they lost to one of the Swiss or German teams, when they almost lost to Sarah and Kelly, are the three that came to mind, although the third I only saw part of. Kerri is at an age where she simply cant bring it every match like she once did and April has been much less consistent since Kerri got back to full health. (she looked awesome against the Germans today though) Kerri and April have a very good record this year but their play has been up and down and in two of their wins they didnt beat a top team. Also, I didnt see them play Lauren and Brooke but there is no way that Kerri/April are ready to play and going 100% that they go to 15-13 in the third with them.
|
|
|
Post by swim4life107 on Aug 27, 2016 17:22:34 GMT -5
Kerri and April have been inconsistent this year. Perhaps that is what makes their year pretty amazing. Despite their inconsistency, they've yet to fall before the medal rounds. They've only finished outside of the medals ONCE (which thinking about it now, would have been even more heartbreaking if they came out of Rio without a medal) Even Laura/Kira and Larissa/Talita haven't had anywhere near that kind of consistency (and they've matched/bettered their best results). I think the FIVB format is tough for them. Having to play 7 (or 8) matches in 4 days where at least half of the team can give you a run for your money if you aren't on top of your game is tough.
It's kinda amazing with all the holes in their game they are basically tied with 2 other teams for the best team (with one of them likely splitting up). I mean Germany clearly has the hot hand now, but the best team varies from tournament to tournament and all depends on the draw. I mean even though they only have one REAL/GREAT win all season (a major where all the top teams were present and rounding out into their best form, etc), they established themselves with their wins early in the season. It's very clear that when at their best, or even when they are sub-par, should only really be losing to the best teams.
I think April would stay with Kerri just as a pure business decision. Beach Volleyball is a sport that barely pays well when you are winning every other week. I think she has to realize if she wants any type of exposure (and thus attracting those endorsements) she has to notice that the cameras follow Kerri. She constantly is going to be the marquee TV match. Without Kerri, the TV matches will basically default back to the men like they do in nearly every sport (which is what happened when April had to play without Kerri last Summer. I think only her final with Fendrick got the TV slot. They went with the men every other time). Also the way the Olympics work, in order to capitalize with endorsements, you really have to go another Olympics otherwise real sponsors won't bite. I mean she was just exposed to a worldwide audience by being in primetime with an audience of 20+ million for 2 weeks in a row. The only real chance of that happening again is if she goes to Tokyo with Kerri. Also, it's not like Kerri is a scrub. She's still the best blocker in the world, by a mile.
|
|
|
Post by guest2 on Aug 27, 2016 17:42:31 GMT -5
Thats one thing that I didn't think about it at all, the degree to which being Kerri's partner, win or lose, is a financial advantage. Excellent point
|
|