2004 NORCECA Junior Tourney Pics

[Nutter]

Here are a few more, from USA vs. Puerto Rico:

Beachman is very high on No. 11, who's been ID'd as Alexis Crimes.


I'm going to need help with this one, sorry, I do not know who #3 and #8 are of the US Team.


You can read the match report here:
secure.isomni.com/iset7/vc/en/newsView.aspx?TID=79&ID=104

[foreignball]

#3 Harmotto
#8 Fawcett

[BonJoeV]

Nutter said:

Here are a few more, from USA vs. Puerto Rico:

Beachman is very high on No. 11, who's been ID'd as Alexis Crimes.
....

This is one of the (if not the best) "vertical" pictures I've ever seen. That's got to be 36+". Wow!

[Nutter]

foreignball said:

#3 Harmotto
#8 Fawcett

Thank you!

[brybry]

BonJoeV said:

This is one of the (if not the best) "vertical" pictures I've ever seen. That's got to be 36+". Wow!

Ugg. I'm sure she has a great verticle but the reason she has like half her torso seemingly over the height of the net is because the camera is shooting from a higher level above the height of the net.
If it was shooting below the level of the net, it would look like she has a piss poor verticle and her opponent would have Spiderman leaps.

[Deleted]

Holy crap. I don't see how this is a trick angle.

[sonofbarcelonabob]

Doesn't really matter how high she jumped. The blocker still got a soft-block on this attack, despite the fact she was late and is still ascending at the moment of contact.

Having a big vertical is of no advantage when you hit into a block.

EDIT: One of the biggest faults of young attackers (particularly middle attackers on quick sets) is to hit straight down the body line (as in this photo). If she were to learn to hit sharper power angle and cutback out of the middle, she'd be much more effective.

[Deleted]

SonofBarcelonaBob said:

Doesn't really matter how high she jumped. The blocker still got a soft-block on this attack, despite the fact she was late and is still ascending at the moment of contact.

Having a big vertical is of no advantage when you hit into a block.

EDIT: One of the biggest faults of young attackers (particularly middle attackers on quick sets) is to hit straight down the body line (as in this photo). If she were to learn to hit sharper power angle and cutback out of the middle, she'd be much more effective.

Agreed.

But the fact the attack is being soft-blocked is another reason why I don't think it's an optical illusion. She's hitting down on the blocker's hand.

[BonJoeV]

I look at the angle of the camera view and see the player in the back ground, at the ten foot line, if the camera angle is steep, then wouldn't the top of the net be projected closer to the top of her head? I think the camera angle is only slightly above the top of the net. Considering the estimated distances, the girl's still got one "hecka" vertical.

Also, the attacker is so close to the net, the camera angle would have to be very (+/- 45 degrees) steep to make a big difference in the appearance of the net in relation to the attackers body.

Is this girl really Alexis Crimes? Alexis Crimes is noted to be 6'-3" tall by LBSU. If it is ... YIKES! The kid can probably touch 10'-8".

[sonofbarcelonabob]

BonJoeV said:

I look at the angle of the camera view and see the player in the back ground, at the ten foot line, if the camera angle is steep, then wouldn't the top of the net be projected closer to the top of her head? I think the camera angle is only slightly above the top of the net. Considering the estimated distances, the girl's still got one "hecka" vertical.

Also, the attacker is so close to the net, the camera angle would have to be very (+/- 45 degrees) steep to make a big difference in the appearance of the net in relation to the attackers body.

Is this girl really Alexis Crimes? Alexis Crimes is noted to be 6'-3" tall by LBSU. If it is ... YIKES! The kid can probably touch 10'-8".

If she's 6'3" with a (reported) 36" vertical, then her touch height would be higher than 10'8", unless she's got extremely short arms, which is doubtful given the pictures.

At any rate, vertical jump and touch height are overrated. Fun to watch, but not a predictor of success in volleyball. An athlete may be able to get significantly higher than his/her opponent, but the ball still has to be directed down into the opponent's court.

[fightingminime]

Mumsie said:

That's not very nice!

I never said I was nice . . . and we weren't chanting it very loudly anyway, more for our amusement than anything.
The whole point being, their aren't many women in the world who make me feel SHORT.

[brybry]

BonJoeV said:

I look at the angle of the camera view and see the player in the back ground, at the ten foot line, if the camera angle is steep, then wouldn't the top of the net be projected closer to the top of her head? I think the camera angle is only slightly above the top of the net. Considering the estimated distances, the girl's still got one "hecka" vertical.

Also, the attacker is so close to the net, the camera angle would have to be very (+/- 45 degrees) steep to make a big difference in the appearance of the net in relation to the attackers body.

Is this girl really Alexis Crimes? Alexis Crimes is noted to be 6'-3" tall by LBSU. If it is ... YIKES! The kid can probably touch 10'-8".

First off, the girl in the foreground is not necessarily standing on the 10 ft line. She must be in front of it. The line in the photo is the middle dividing line.
If the camera went steeper, yes, the foreground girls head would start sinking below the net and Crimes would seem to go even higher over the net. If it kept going steeper, you could see her feet over the net.
Anyhow, it seems like LBSU got a fine player. However, she probably can't jump high enough to get her boobs over the net on the average spike. But heck, you don't need to do that when you're 6'3.

[beachman]

Brian G. is a pretty damn good judge of talent....proof is in the pudding I think Having said that we feel pretty darned good about Alexis at the Beach. She IS the real deal, and consistently jumps with her armpits above the net. Her HS listed her at 6'4", but I would say she is more like a very legit 6'3" or 6'3 1/2". She was the only recruit that Brian was really interested in as he had only 1 scholarship to give this year. We are gonna be young and very physically gifted.....I like that as a starting point for a season where I expect that the team that Long Beach puts on the floor in September will get a whole lot better by late November!

[RobertCB]

I agree with Beachman that there is a lot of young talent on this team. I am more excited about this up coming season than I have been in a long time. I enjoy watching a young team improve over the season and this team should do just that. If the setting comes around this team could become very dangerous at the right time. As for Crimes, she has the potential to become one of the program greats and I am not the only one to think that.

[beachman]

Mumsie said:

So, Beachman, when the heck is your team going to list the 2004 roster? Geez, practice starts next week! I'd like to see who we have to deal with next month.

The team reports on Tuesday and two a days start on Wednesday. We take the individual and team photographs Tuesday evening, so I suspect that the roster will be updated with pics by Thursday or Friday of next week.