October Coach's Corner with Rick McArthur

A really great way to improve your volleyball IQ is to watch the best teams
in the world play the sport. Who knows, you may become a fan of one of the
top teams in the world. It is difficult to find games to watch as most of
the pro league teams and matches are in Europe and are not shown on
television here. Most countries have huge professional leagues with teams in
many cities.

The NCAA Women's Championships will be coming up in November so find out
which teams are in the top 10 this year, get on their websites and become a
follower of your favourite team.

YouTube is the best way to set pieces of games, great plays, great players.
Type in China vs Korea Women's Volleyball and see what comes up. While you
are watching, concentrate on what the players are doing to make plays. You
maybe able to improve your own skills. Remember that those players have had
tens of thousands more contacts than you have had to get where they are.

Finally, you might be able to find some on line games being played some
where and watch them live.

Keep working.

Rick 

The importance of H20

You’ve probably heard the advice a million times: Drink eight cups of water a day. But “one size fits all” doesn’t apply when it comes to hydration. If you eat a lot of fruit, vegetables, and dairy, and are in good shape, you probably don’t need that much water. On the other hand, if you’re overweight or tend to get most of your calories from salty, processed food, sticking to those 64 daily ounces could actually help to augment your weight loss. Here’s how:

1. IT COULD LOWER YOUR BMI: A 2010 study review in Nutrition Today linked H2O intake with lowered body mass index. Turns out most guys tend to drink the same amount of liquid each day, so if you make an effort to drink water, you will end up drinking fewer calorie-laden beverages.

2. YOU’LL BURN MORE FAT: The review also noted that you can burn up to 40% more fat after drinking water compared with a higher-calorie beverage. Drinking water with a meal also helps to bring insulin levels back to normal two hours earlier than if you drink something with calories.

3. IT’LL HELP YOU EAT LESS: Drinking 16 ounces of water before a meal can significantly cut the calories you wolf down. A 12-week study found that those who drank two glasses of water before very meal ate less and lost 44% more weight compared with the control group’s calorie-laden drinks.

4. WATER FIGHTS HANGOVERS: Staying hydrated is the best way not to feel lousy the day after a party. Drink at least a couple of glasses of water in the hours leading up to your event, then do a one-to-one match of water to alcohol once you start imbibing.

5. IT’LL IMPROVE YOUR GAME: Even a couple hours of touch football on the beach can put you at risk for dehydration and slow you down. A 2011 study found that sweating away just 2% of your body’s water content drastically affects athletic performance.

Cary Castagna

 

USA VOLLEYBALL- 10 New Commandments of Volleyball

John Kessel, USA Volleyball Director sent out the New 10 Commandments of Volleyball for Coaches. Here are the things that stuck out the most.

"The NET is GOLD, the BALL is SILVER and the COURT is BROZE"- We always want to make sure we are performing over the net.

"Begin with, and Focus on Teaching Good Errors, not Bad Errors"- For example serve over, not into the net, pass/dig up, not tight or over the net, set too high, not too low, set too far off the net, not too tight or over, hit over the net not into the net etc. Good misses over bad misses.

"Teach using BOTH hans to play a ball over the net" - No pokies, cobras, two hand up etc, this is NOT beach! If the ball is set too far out use your left hand to attack the ball instead of reaching with your right and save your knees.

"Make things GAMELIKE as possible"- If the players become the world's best at a certain drill will they be doing what is wanted from them in a game? Unfortunately NO! The best drill is Volleyball. (6 vs 6 This includes scrimmages)

By: Amanda Vigna

How to Deal With Stress

Being a College student, dealing with stress is definitely a problem I always encounter. Whether you're a College student like me, or it's your job, or being a parent, stress can get the best of you. But we all should learn how to deal with it, at least knowing how to reduce it. Being stress-free not only makes your life a whole lot easier, but you feel more confident, happy, and positive about your yourself. So, instead of naming the obvious and predictable ways people can reduce stress (ex. "making the right choice" or "set goals for yourself"), I decided to list more practical things you can do truly help reduce stress.

1) Listen to music. Whenever I plug in my iPod (commuting to and from school, or laying in bed before I sleep), it's a time when I get to be in my own world. A time when I can just enjoy the music and let loose. Sometimes I can actually connect to the meanings behind songs and that helps me deal with stress.

2) Take a hot bath or shower. This is something that definitely helps relieve stress. Taking a nice, long hot bath or shower deeply relaxes me. It can allow you to just put aside all your worries for a bit and enjoy the time to yourself.

3) Take a break from the computer. I think I spend 80% of my day on a daily basis on the computer. I am in a Graphics Design program at school, so that always involves a computer. When I go to work, I have work to be done (again, using a computer). And even when I am on my free time browsing Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter, etc - again, I am also on the computer! Sometimes I find it relaxing to just take a step back and get away from a computer. By watching TV, cleaning up my room, or cooking!

4) Bake something scrumptious. From time to time, I find that baking helps take my minds off things. For me, it's quite fun to bake, especially when you're doing it with your friend, your little sister, or your partner! Making cupcakes or cookies is fun work, and you definitely know you are getting a scrumptious reward at the end.

5) Get some fresh air. If you have a dog to walk, this is a perfect thing to do. Or why not go out for a quick run? Jogging around the block or just taking a nice walk will help you enjoy the atmosphere of nature, instead of being indoors at your job or school all the time.

6) Get active, play a sport! Whether it be basketball, volleyball or floor hockey, playing a sport is really fun with or without people, or whether you're good at or or not! It helps take your mind off stress and the time flies by! It's fun competition.

Remember that Victory offers drop-in Volleyball everyday, which is a perfect hobby and way to deal with stress. If you're a teenager dealing with high school stress, no worries we also offer free teen drop-in every Friday!

- Vanida Lim

*Nerd Alert!*

I was online the other day doing some research on how to run faster, when I came across the following website: www.sweatscience.com.  Sweat Science is a blog that examines the science of exercise, fitness and training.  The writer, Alex Hutchinson, looks at studies published in various journals, and breaks them down so you don’t have to read pages and pages of research procedures and material. 

When I found this site, I read almost every article, and have been reading his posts daily. It’s a really good resource if you like this kind of stuff, so I just thought I’d share with the other nerds out there.  Enjoy! 

Ps-If you know of any other cool running, sports, fitness, etc. sites, please send them over to Rach@victoryvolleyball.com

Thanks! <3

Victory Acquires New Talent!

Its time to serve up another edition of meet the interns!

I plan on “killing” this so hopefully you’ll “dig“ it!!!

To start off I want to ask a quick question.  (Answer at bottom)

What can you serve but not eat?

Anyways just wanted to introduce myself.  My names William Liambas and I’m
one of the new interns at Victory.  I look forward to meeting everyone.

I went to school for both Marketing and Sport & Events Marketing.  I
really enjoyed both and now hope this is the opportunity I was waiting
for.   I live for sports.  I will play every sport atleast once before I
decide if its for me or not.  Play hockey, golf and tennis regularly.


Now I wanted your opinion on what I name my fantasy football team.  With
the NFL season set to kick off this weekend I wanted to get your thoughts
on what I should name my Fantasy football team for the coming season. 
Here are the choices:

The conVICKs
Show Me Ya TD’s 

The answer to the question I asked at the beginning is: A volleyball

Coach's Corner with Rick- September Edition

It's that time of year when the school will hold tryouts looking for the volleyball players in the school. They will look at the quality of your current skills, your athleticism and your coachability meaning can you follow instructions and make changes to improve your skills. Getting some extra instruction may make the difference in making the team this fall. If you really want to make the team get instruction from qualified coaches then find the fun that comes with working hard.

-Rick