Photo courtesy of FIVB

Qualifiers have kicked off in Brasilia. With the women’s draw now complete there have been a couple of interesting results.

Firstly two of the three qualifying Dutch teams have made it through, Van der Vlist-Mooren and Meppelink-van Gestel, both upsetting higher seeded teams in the final round. They will join Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel making a total of three Dutch teams in the main draw.

The British team of Johns-Boulton (GBR) defeated Angie Akers and Brittany Hochevar (USA) in a close three set match and a pretty big upset. This is a great start for the Brits given that they so close to playing as the host country in London this July. Luckily for the US team, they are through to the main draw as the lucky loser. The bad news here is that they will take the place of Austria’s number one team Schwaiger – Schwaiger who withdrew due to illness.

The men’s qualification draw will start in just a few hours. I’ll be watching closely to see how the Australian team of Mercer-Slack go. Will Mercer has some huge potential, and playing along side the experience of Josh Slack, he has a chance to make an impact. Other teams to watch, the Canadians Saxton-Redmann and the Austrians, Huber-Seidl.

In the Americas (NORCECA), the last round was decided by a sudden death set to 15 points. Some pretty intense beach volleyball with Canadas Martin Reader and Chaim Schalk coming out on top, with a great ace to finish. I’ll be looking out for this pair in the final rounds of the qualifiers in June.

The laydown is a great technique to learn and it will definitely help you to make more defensive plays.

I learnt this technique from a good friend of mine who runs coaching sessions at Manly Beach. If you are ever in Sydney, sign up for a class at beachvolleyball.com.au.

As with all goals that you would like to achieve the first, most important point is to make your goal measurable. I would highly recommend preforming a standing jump test to firstly see how high you are jumping at the moment.

After that write down on a piece of paper how high you want to jump, with a date at when you want to do it.
 
Once this is done we are ready to move ahead!
 
When training to jump higher one of the common mistakes people make is to concentrate to much on calf muscles and not enough on your primary thrusters QUADS and HAMSTRINGS.

Calves, glutes and hips are all important, but they aren’t the main focus when you are working out how to jump higher. They will all get worked in the exercises below.
 
The first step is to build up your strength. If you are a beginner lifter, I would get a trainer to help you through the first month at least, just to get you going. For the intermediate and advanced lifters beware that if you haven’t done leg weights in a while start off slow for the first few weeks just to get into it.

Here is a guide to easing yourself into the first month.
 
Week 1: 15 reps, Light Weight, Tempo: 4 seconds eccentric phase, 0 seconds pause, 2 seconds concentric phase
Week 2: 12 reps, Light-Medium Weight, Tempo: 4.0.2
Week 3: 10 reps, Medium Weight, Tempo: 3.0.2
Week 4: 10 Reps, Medium Heavy Weight, Tempo: 3.0.1
 
( Stretch all key lower body limbs and lower back everyday)
 
 
Once you have this platform set you are ready roll!

Note: if you jump straight into this program just beware that you will be walking around like the tin man for a few days!

Follow This Program for anywhere up to 6-12 Weeks.
 
Dynamic Warmup
Squats- 4×4-8 Reps, 2.0.1 tempo, 2-3mins break after each set (concentrating on good depth and being explosive on way up towards roof)
 
Foward Lunge
3×6-8 Reps, 2.0.1 tempo,1.30-2.30 Break after each set ( Keep it powerful again, watch your form)
 
Jump Squat
3×8, 1.0.1 tempo, 2mins break at end of each set ( Can add some small weight, set a height goal in your gym, every jump to the moon!)
 
Romanian Deadlift
2×10, 2.0.2 tempo,1.30 Break at end of each set (your getting tired now watch your form a lot!)
 
Big stretch Warm Down ( all lower Limbs and lower back )
 
Follow this in the gym and you’re on the right track to be jumping higher than Julien Prosser or Natalie Cook.

Remember to stretch at the end of every session. Having big strong muscles that can’t move through a range of motion is useless! If you are continuing to play beach volleyball on the weekends, get this program done as early in the week as possible, to limit your fatigue in games.

If in doubt ask your local trainer or feel free to contact me at:
 
jimi_m_11@hotmail.com
 
Train hard!

Jimi

Thanks to Jimi and the personal trainers at New Level Brookvale for providing the information for this article.

So, to get the ball rolling, Victoria has announced their tour dates, so start marking your calendar:

Get more at VicBeach.com.au