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Beach volleyball en route to TaiwanTeam trained in California instead of Chia-Yiby Leila Hanaumi on September 3, 2009 As most of the U.S. Deaflympic Team wraps up training camp in Chia-Yi, Taiwan, the lone holdout, beach volleyball, prepares to join the rest of the American athletes in Taipei before the Games open Saturday. U.S. Beach Volleyball Team coaches Lauren Mills and Said Souikane chose to hold their own training camp in the States and practice on the beaches of San Diego, Calif. Since Chia-Yi facilities only offered a grass court, both coaches said they thought the players would benefit more by training in San Diego’s deep sand. This approach had its pros and cons. Although the players were able to practice in more challenging conditions, remaining in the U.S. meant the players would have less time to adapt to Taiwan’s heat and humidity. While the rest of the U.S. Team had about a week to acclimate, the beach volleyball players will have only three days. However, Mills said she isn’t concerned because San Diego’s high temperatures have helped prepare the players. “The temperature has gotten up to 90 around midday and is good preparation for the heat we will face in Taipei,” she said. “The teams are improving vastly day by day and we're ready to compete. “I do not feel that we are at a disadvantage one bit.” The team faced another potential hurdle long before they had to worry about the lack of training time in Taiwan. Mills and Souikane could not train all their teams together or personally, due to players living on opposite coasts. Mills decided to resolve this issue by sending the two women on the east coast to do drills together, while she personally trained the other two who live on the west coast. Laurie Achin and her partner, Stacy Nikiforov, the east-coast residents, also signed up for several local tournaments. “We will be playing a lot more this month throughout the summer to get ourselves more trained for the Deaflympics,” Achin said earlier this summer. Men’s beach volleyball coach Souikane said that while he has worked with player Mike Bruning for the past six years, he didn’t have the opportunity to work with other players until he organized practices and training for all the players in July. Still, he remains positive: “I strongly believe that the teams will do well. The players are strong and possess great skills. [Bruning] is a great blocker and has many years of international volleyball experience.” Bruning echoed his coach’s optimism. “Dimitri is the on the east coast, and I’m on the west coast, so our training opportunities are few and far between, but Dimitri and I have been involved in volleyball non-stop for the past 20 years.” However, the challenges don’t stop there. The level of competition in international beach volleyball is rising. The sport makes its second appearance as an official Deaflympics event this year in Taipei with a dramatic increase in the number of teams participating. In 2005, only six men’s and seven women’s beach volleyball teams competed in the Melbourne Deaflympics. This time around, 35 men’s and 25 women’s teams will participate in the Taipei Games, a whopping total of 47 more teams than four years ago. Mills credits this to Misty May and Kerri Welch’s phenomenal performances at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics. The duo’s gold medals helped focus America’s — if not the world’s — attention on beach volleyball. “The Olympics are watched world-wide, and to win back-to-back gold medals is an amazing accomplishment,” Mills said. Beach volleyball’s popularity is relatively recent, and some expect the sport to grow even more. “The beach volleyball phenomenon, although hugely visible, is still just in its infancy,” the official Olympics Web site reports. “Beach volleyball has opened up volleyball to a completely new market.” Souikane said it’s only in the past decade that the sport has increased in popularity with a wider set. Because of this, the U.S. Beach Volleyball Team is preparing to play more countries that have been training in Taiwan longer than they have. Despite these roadblocks, the beach volleyball team stands firmly on the sand. Bruning said he’s determined that he and Dimitri Nikiforov have the best shot at becoming champions. “I’ve got to get that Deaf Gold,” he said. “It’s been escaping me for the last 16 years.” |
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