Last night, the team I play with in a very competitive league (not the one you see to the right) finished 2nd in the playoffs. It was a long and arduous road. We were tired as heck. The other team brought in some ringers. A few of our team members stopped “trying”. And still, we were never really out of it. While this was a championship that we definitely could have won, the team on the other side of the net just had it all clicking at the right time. We were out done. We get second place.

That sucks. It sucked so hard. But still, I know that we played a good season and accomplished a lot. So I will look back on the past three months and believe that it was a success.

So keep that in mind peeps. You might play the best season of your life. You might only lose once for the entire regular season. You might demolish every team in the playoffs on your way to the championship. And then you might run into a team that’s playing out of their minds and you’ll end up in second. That sucks. Practice harder so it doesn’t happen to you.

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You heard it right. That’s almost as old as John McCain. The sport originated in the United States, and is now just achieving the type of popularity in the U.S. that it has received on a global basis, where it ranks behind only soccer among participation sports. Today there are more than 46 million Americans who play volleyball. There are 800 million players worldwide who play volleyball at least once a week.

In 1895, William G. Morgan, an instructor at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, Mass., decided to blend elements of basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball to create a game for his classes of businessmen which would demand less physical contact than basketball. He created the game of Volleyball (at that time called, mintonette). Morgan borrowed the net from tennis, and raised it 6 feet 6 inches above the floor, just above the average man’s head.

During a demonstration game, someone remarked to Morgan that the players seemed to be volleying the ball back and forth over the net, and perhaps “volleyball” would be a more descriptive name for the sport. On July 7, 1896 at Springfield College the first game of “volleyball” was played. Wow, that was so quick. And the rest is history.

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First, “defensive specialist” has taken on a whole new meeting. Actually, it’s taken on a whole new name. Meet the libero. In 1998 the libero player was introduced internationally, the term meaning free in Italian is pronounced LEE-beh-ro (rather than lih-BEAR-oh); the NCAA introduced the libero in 2002.  The libero is a player specialized in defensive skills: the libero must wear a contrasting jersey color from his or her teammates and cannot block or attack the ball when it is entirely above net height. When the ball is not in play, the libero can replace any back-row player, without prior notice to the officials. This replacement does not count against the substitution limit each team is allowed per set, although the libero may be replaced only by the player whom they replaced. The libero may function as a setter only under certain restrictions. If she/he makes an overhand set, she/he must be standing behind (and not stepping on) the 3-meter line; otherwise, the ball cannot be attacked above the net in front of the 3-meter line. An underhand pass is allowed from any part of the court. Weird right.

Also, side out scoring had gone the way of the dodo. When the ball contacts the floor within the court boundaries or an error is made, the team that did not make the error is awarded a point, whether they served the ball or not.

There are other new rules, but those are the important ones. Don’t mess them up.

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First, get an outdoor volleyball net and some volleyball lines. Next, set it up. Then, start playing. Pretty easy. Well, you WILL have to make some decisions sooner or later. Like, do you want to install the poles into your backyard permanently (which entails digging holes and filling with cement) or do you want to keep it portable (most volleyball net setups can simply be shoved into the ground and supported with ropes, like tent supports). Or, you can go real old scool and install the poles into old tires filled with cement. That is super sturdy and still very portable. Plus, it just looks cool.

No matter what route you choose, installing a volleyball net in your backyard will lead to countless hours of family fun, possibly extend your life do to the extra exercise you’ll be getting, and it will be an easy party theme a couple times a year.

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Amp up your court game with the high-performance Nike Air Zoom Volleyball Shoe. Designed for indoor court sports, it has supportive molded layered synthetic upper, breathable ballistic mesh upper to keep the athlete cool in hot indoor court conditions, and durable 180-degree toe drag protection at the midsole. Also, the Nike Zoom has low-profile Phylon in forefoot for close-to-the-ground, responsive cushioning gum rubber outsole tread pattern for optimum traction with anatomically-placed flex grooves and pivot points for explosive moves and whatnot. Doesn’t that sound awesome. I thought so.

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Male:
– Karch Kiraly is arguably the greatest volleyball player in history of the sport.
– Karch Kiraly is the only volleyball player to win three gold medals (1984, 1988, 1996).
– Karch Kiraly is known as the sparkplug that inspired the 1984 and 1988 USA Men’s Olympic Volleyball Teams by playing outstanding volleyball and encouraging his teammates to play their best.
– Karch Kiraly has the most professional career beach volleyball tournament victories (148).
– Wearing his hot pink hat, Karch Kiraly was an easily recognizable figure during his days playing volleyball on the beach.

Female:
– Logan Tom is a phenomenal athlete and one of the most dynamic volleyball players in the world.
– Logan Tom’s impressive talent has made her one of the most famous volleyball players in the world today.
– At 6 feet 1 inch tall, Logan Tom plays volleyball with strength, power, and grace.
– Logan Tom was a four-time first-team All-American at Stanford.
– Logan Tom was a two-time NCAA National Player of the Year.
– Tom was MVP of the NCAA Final Four in 2001.
– In the Sydney 2000 Olympics, at 19, Logan Tom was the youngest player on the National Team, yet she started for the team and placed fourth.
– Logan Tom is an international superstar that has played professionally in Brazil, Italy and Switzerland.

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The mini volleyballs come in white. They come in yellow. They come in red, white and blue. I’ve seen them in gold. I think I’ve even seen some blue and pink ones. The piont is, you can find them in almost any color you want. Whatever floats your boat. Team colors, national colors, generic colors.

Another cool thing about the mini volleyball is that it’s light and bouncy, which makes it perfect to bounce off the wall in your office while you try to waste time at the office. Even if you work on an upper floor, the bll is so light, it won’t make any noise when it hits the floor. Finally something mini that isn’t embarassing your father.

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I’ve never torn my acchilles tendon (which serves to attach the gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (heel) bone), but I’ve heard from a few friends that it really hurts sooo bad. Interesting note: everyone has told me that it absolutely kills when it first happens and, after you have your surgery, there’s obviously going to be pain since you just had your foot split open by a sharp knife. But the time in between, the two days where you’re sitting around waiting for your surgery appointment, it actually doesn’t hurt at all.

Anyways, we’ve got to find a way to keep you from rupturing your achilles. I’m not trying to scare you, cuz in all actuality, the odds of this happening to you are very slim. But still. I’m a scaredy cat. So, if I’m going to be doing anything other than sleeping, I wrap my heel with an ace bandage. And if I’m doing anything that involes movement, I wear an achilles tendon support shoe. I suggest you overreact and follow my lead.

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Though, it doesn’t sound very hard, it takes a lot of coordination to combine all three pieces into one. You will definitely need to put in some practice in order to get it right. Here’s a helper.

All you need is a coach or friend and a spike trainer. Basically, it places a volleyball at the top of a pole in a manner similar to super tall boxing speed bag. The beauty of this training tool is that, since it’s all human controlled, your friend or coach gets to lower and raise the spike trainer to various points that you need to train. They can keep it fresh. They can really make you keep your elbow up, extend your shoulder, and reach. On the other hand, one of the downfalls of this device is that it is human controlled. Which means you’ll need to have at least one friend in your life to make use of it.

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One of the bad things about volleyball jewelry is that, since it’s not necessarily the most popular in the fine jewelry market, those who decide to make volleyball jewelry haven’t found it very necessary to get creative. The selection of volleyball jewelry is not very high-end. It’s not likely that you’ll ever find any volleyball jewelry that you’ll be wearing to that thousand dollar per plate charity dinner you’ve been planning on attending. But it’s good for a weekend movie with the girls, I suppose.

One of the good things about volleyball jewelry is that it’s usually quite cheap. The reason for this is very similar to the reason presented just prior to this. Jewelers don’t put much effort into making “amazing” volleyball pieces, so it’s a quick make and a cheap sell for everyone.

If you’re a lady, you should get some cute little volleyball jewelry and wear it a few times a year. At worst, it’s a conversation starter. If you’re a guy who plays volleyball, you should get your lady some volleyball jewelry. (I suggest a necklace or some earrings) She’ll probably hate it, but at least you’ll have marked your territory appropriately.

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