Looking for a good pair of beach volleyball sunglasses at a great price? So was I, and I think I found them.

I finally decided that this season it was time to buy myself some new beach volleyball sunglasses, so I started shopping through the usual stores, looking at the usual brands, and it struck me that $150 was a lot to pay for a pair of sunglasses that would probably live most of their lives in the bottom of my sports bag underneath a wet pair of board shorts and a half eaten sushi roll…

So I started looking around for some alternatives and I found a site offering a good range of sunglasses at extremely good prices. Obviously I was suspicious about the quality, so I decided to test a pair to see if they are any good.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they are excellent.

I chose the The SW Polarized Sport Style #1681

Firstly, the construction of these glasses is very good. There are no faults or misalignments in the hinges or between the frame and lenses that you often find in glasses in this price range.

I tried two different lenses, the Smoke lense and the Amber lense. The first game I played was in overcast conditions, and the amber lenses were great. (Also very good for mountain biking in the forest ) The Smoke is better for brighter sunlight. The lense quality is excellent. I couldn’t really tell the difference between these lenses and the brand name glasses that I checked out in the shopping mall.

The frames are light weight and fit well. One of the highlights for me about this particular style is that it pretty much covers my vision completely. The frame is not bulky, and when I look up, I see sky, not the bridge of the frame.

All in all, these glasses are great, and at this price, you can buy three pairs and still pay one third the price of a brand name pair.

Check them out here in the sports range at the Sunglass Warehouse.

You can find the style that I tested here.

Photo curtesy of fivb.org

Brasilia Swatch World Tour 2012

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser have started the season as they finished the last one, winning the Brasilia Swatch World Tour 2012 FIVB event, but they did it the hard way after losing in the second round to Santos-Vitor Felipe.

The big surprise was the second placed Fuerbringer and Lucena, who also battled through the losers bracket, losing in round three to Herrera-Gavira ESP but then repaying the favour to beat the Spaniards in the semi final. Also worth noting was the victory in the game for 9th where they eliminated Olympic qualification rivals and fellow Americans Gibb-Rosenthal.

Ricardo also made sure his presence was also felt, taking the third place on the podium with team mate Pedro Henrique Cunha.

Injury Alison-Emanuel BRA: Alison-Emanuel were forced to withdraw from there 7th place match against Roger-Dalhousser when Alison injured himself chasing a ball over the barriers. It is reported that he has received nine stitches.

In the Brasilia Swatch World Tour 2012 women’s tournament China has started the season with a win, Xue-Zhang Xi beating Brasilians Talita-Antonelli convincingly in the final. There was not a lot to separate the last 6 teams in the women’s event, with five out of six of the final games decided in the third set, and four of those by only two points.

Photo courtesy of FIVB.org

The race for USA’s second Mens Olympic Beach Volleyball qualification place is a tight one, and might come to a head in the play off for 9th in Brasilia!

The current FIVB Olympic rankings show Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena on 3,700 points while Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal are on 3,640 points, just 60 points behind.

Right now, Fuerbringer-Lucena have the advantage in seedings and this may have been the difference so far in Brasilia, where Gibb-Rosenthal have lost their second match in a close 3 setter to Erdmann-Matysik GER (7), while Fuerbringer-Lucena won fairly easily against Dollinger-Windscheif GER [13]. they both have tough matches coming up, but with no losses yet Fuerbringer-Lucena are already one round ahead and still have a second chance.

However, Fuerbringer-Lucena meet the Spanish team Herrera-Gavira next, and if they fail there, then Gibb-Rosenthal will have the opportunity to force a showdown in the playoff for 9th.

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.

It deals with a situation where the attacker plays a poky just over the top of your block. This is actually often quite easy to defend, if yuo use the correct technique. Without the correct technique, you will probably lose the point every time.

The video includes a simple drill and a game that is good for warm ups.