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Post by sunger4222 on Sept 17, 2016 12:43:23 GMT -5
Does anyone know who will be attending USC as a freshman beach player for 2016-17? Claes and Hewes are entering their senior years, Strange and Nightingale have graduated, and there are openings on a number of their pairs. Who do you think will take the #2 position? How about the 5 spot? Can the Trojans dominate this next season as they have the past 2? Who is their most difficult competition? Heck, pick the 2-5 pairs if you're feeling strong.
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Post by downtheline on Sept 17, 2016 15:32:01 GMT -5
Dennis might be the true freshman that breaks into the top ten.
Bustamante needs to step up big time from last season and could jump to #2 with SB .
The big Soph from NY, Big T may break into the top ten as she shows nice improvement.
Then you have the dynamic duo at number three if they stay together, which I hope they do.
The smooth lefty JB could play with the freshman.
They will contend if mentally strong but have lost some solid seniors.
The biggest question might be what does AC do for an encore to her inaugural class? They have all started since freshman..
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Sept 17, 2016 16:59:22 GMT -5
I think Joy Dennis starts from day one on either the 2's or 3's - she's that good. The other freshmen are Lainy Thomas and Cami Dorn. Thomas is really good, but she's got a lot of experienced upperclassmen ahead of her. Dorn seems like more of a project.
USCs next recruiting class (2017) is absolutely stacked, with Haley Hallgren, Sammy Slater, Maja Kaiser, Peri Green, and a kid coming over from Latvia who is a U-18 European champion.
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Post by sunger4222 on Sept 17, 2016 22:57:25 GMT -5
Thanks Geddy, I'll look them up.
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Post by thelat on Sept 21, 2016 5:03:23 GMT -5
Tina Graudina is the girl from Latvia, U18 and U22 European CHampion
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Post by downtheline on Sept 21, 2016 19:11:35 GMT -5
I was up @ USC area on business and dropped by for a sneak peak at one of their early workouts.
Pretty intense atmosphere with folks laying down their stuff to earn those open spots. Saw some interesting pairings abiet obviously early with coaches getting fresh looks.
The one thing I don't see is the surprise 5th year athlete that has served them so well these past 2-3 seasons. Zoe lit it up last year.
You can see room for a freshman in the mix, with Dennis looking good early. Not as strong or quick as I thought but a big upside for herself & USC.
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Post by Wolfgang on Sept 21, 2016 20:23:53 GMT -5
I was up @ USC area on business and dropped by for a sneak peak at one of their early workouts. Pretty intense atmosphere with folks laying down their stuff to earn those open spots. Saw some interesting pairings abiet obviously early with coaches getting fresh looks. The one thing I don't see is the surprise 5th year athlete that has served them so well these past 2-3 seasons. Zoe lit it up last year. You can see room for a freshman in the mix, with Dennis looking good early. Not as strong or quick as I thought but a big upside for herself & USC. What pairings did you see?
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Post by downtheline on Sept 22, 2016 11:14:29 GMT -5
I can say that one of the go to pairs for 3 years was split up at this time, but obviously could be just experiments by coach.
I don't want to give away any info since I'm allowed to sit and watch but if the coach thought I was publishing Info from a private practice I would be banned.
Although anyone could watch from the parking lot but it would be not cool to give away the teams early inner workings, imho.
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Post by Hawk Attack on Sept 27, 2016 15:47:25 GMT -5
What does an incoming freshmen class look like for a top draw like USC in terms of range of experience? Like the top player who comes in to the "bottom" (I hate using that to describe a kid). Least experienced would probabaly be better.
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Sept 27, 2016 22:17:59 GMT -5
What does an incoming freshmen class look like for a top draw like USC in terms of range of experience? Like the top player who comes in to the "bottom" (I hate using that to describe a kid). Least experienced would probabaly be better. If I understand the question correctly, pretty much every kid has significant beach playing experience in AAU, USAV, and local tournaments. Most of them have been in the USAV High Performance program for several years, with some getting U-17 and U-19 world championship experience as well. They're also training at a local club (either beach-only or an indoor club w/ a beach program). And the kids are increasingly giving up indoor club by their junior year or so (although a number of them keep playing for their high school) to train/play beach full time. With each successive year, it seems like kids are entering college bigger, stronger, and smoother than the previous class.
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Post by sunger4222 on Sept 29, 2016 13:15:13 GMT -5
It makes perfect sense for freshmen or nearly freshmen players who want to play sand, to spend most of their time with sand play before they play college ball. If you look at the very best collegiate sand girls, they are generally (some exceptions) beach only. To be offered a full ride at USC, Florida, etc, a player needs to be ready to go right off the bat. Developing schools will use indoor players for sand as well, and have some success, but the top contenders will be full of mostly sand committed athletes.
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Post by slackerdad on Sept 30, 2016 12:23:13 GMT -5
Is it pretty safe to say then that pretty much all of the kids going to the top schools are from areas where outdoor beaches/tournaments are accessible all year round? Here is southern California, a lot of youth teams play/train year-round because we have 1) good weather, 2) free courts and 2) a lot of high quality youth AND adult players. It doesn't cost much, if any, to get pretty good at beach volleyball. Aside from Florida, I'm not sure where else you'll have that combination. Beach volleyball is one of the few sports where a still-growing youth can play competitively with or against adults. I started playing with my daughter when she was 10. Sure, she was unskilled but we could rally with other skilled players or against many adults with only a few years of experience. At 11, her ball control was good enough to play competitive games with me. In youth tournaments she's played against adult A-rated girls. She sees good beach volleyball all the time so she knows she has to improve. I'm sure if she were somewhere where beach volleyball wasn't so common she would get a lot of praise and not push herself. Keeping her humble and intrinsicly motivated to improve are keys if she wants to become an elite player. With so many good youth and adult players around southern California, humility shouldn't be a problem. We live within 45 minutes of 6 D1 beach programs (UCLA, USC, LMU, Pepperdine, LBSU, CSUN). That being said, I see lots of great youth teams from Arizona, Texas and Florida that come during the summer and do very well in the tournaments. I think the transfer of skill from indoor is high and the size and athleticism help initially; however, I think southern California has the advantage when they get older because we have girls (and boys) HS beach volleyball and many AAA, pros, ex-pros around to train with. It would be pretty easy for a kid who can get to the beach to play 340 days a year with good players. It could also cost next to nothing (a few balls, a set of lines, sunglasses & sunscreen). My friends in Texas and Arizona tell me you have to join a pricey beach volleyball club and there are limited options for pickup due to control of courts and weather conditions. I do pay for some group training with a top AVP player who is very reasonable. However, I could see any kids becoming pretty good at beach volleyball if they just had a love for the sport and a way to get to a southern California beach.
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Post by Hawk Attack on Sept 30, 2016 12:57:13 GMT -5
Well. California sounds pretty great right about now lol. Finding ways to grow the sport in the Midwest has certainly been challenging. Being realistic about the type of players these kids are competing with for beach scholarships is difficult because they just don't have the exposure to that culture.
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Post by slackerdad on Sept 30, 2016 15:53:49 GMT -5
I wasn't trying to make California sound like a better place to live. We have good weather and decent beaches, so naturally you'll have a strong beach volleyball culture here. We also have very mediocre public schools, traffic, crime, high home prices and a lot of very self-centered, aggro people. As a native Californian, I swear we attract douchy people who want to become models/actors.
I think a lot of the young, elite players from other states train here in the summer. Not that many of the elite girls are beach-only until 15 or 16 and most quit indoor because of their lack-of-size.
I think if you can get some more public parks to build beach volleyball courts that will help a lot. There needs to be places for kids who want to play pickup games. Again, I don't think you need coaches to get pretty proficient. Grass doubles (it has to be doubles!) has a pretty high transfer rate and is much easier to transition to from indoor, so I'd start there. I don't think indoor sand facilities are the answer. They tend to be expensive and the lack of wind doesn't train people to play in true conditions.
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Post by sunger4222 on Oct 3, 2016 17:42:44 GMT -5
Sand is a very hot sport everywhere right now, and I wouldn't be surprised to see indoor courts opening up in areas where the weather is an issue. Indoor wouldn't be perfect due to no sun, wind, etc, but its a whole lot better than nothing. And Slackerdad, you left politicians out of the list of California's problems. I believe they head the list for your state.
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