Dig, Set...SmAsH!! 3 more inches!

Back in action! Great volleyball session at the rec center last night. Played with a pretty cool crowd of dudes and gals last night which was a pleasure playing with (psst! They are much younger than me that's for sure...but they are darn good!). Started off with a warm up at home before driving up to the rec where there were 3 open courts that were pretty much full from the get go. From 2 man, to 6 man and then 4 man (I played the full 2 hours but I noticed even the young ones tire out too. Haha!)...the session lasted a good 2 hours and 10 minutes of pure fun and and one helluva an exercise for me. Had to cut it 40 minutes short because I had to head home for the night and be a dad/husband once again. But volleyball is truly a great outlet for me for sure!

Stats for the night (again this was recreational and all in good fun):
4 nice, solid kills. 3 at the "5" and 1 at the "1" hitter positions. I like to angle alot so most of my hits go diagonal. I would like to get to a point where I can actually hit more vertically at the point of squaring my hips to the ball in the air, especially at the 1 position (Pretty much want to guide where my hits go off the fly again. I know I'll progressively get back to that hitting style soon! Need more air under the feet but alot has to do with your setter knowing your hitting style). Pretty impressed with the power of my hits this week compared to last week. Definitely coming back for me.
1 nice kill off a solid block at the net for a side out (power in effect here. Should count that as my 5th one)
A good solid block for a point off the other teams primary hitter! (whoohoo!)
Several nice dig/passing plays on defense
A few nice looking sets to set up my teammates for some good hits as well (returning the favor ya know).
And a few ace jump serves to boot for fun...
A couple of "floaters" (fatigue at the last 30 really did me in) just to keep the ball in play was good enough at this point.
Other than a few ugly ones here and there, it was a pretty good night for me being this my 3rd recent outing in ages.

I'm really appreciating more the benefits of strength training and functional training. I did alot of exercises this week focused on alot of squats, jumps, a few total body circuits via Turbulence Training, core training and cardiovascular exercise (HIIT). I also did a few exercises centered around developing shoulder strength as well. Before going to the courts yesterday evening, I even did some yoga type stretching which really helped my flexibility in game which really was evident last night.

Had my neoprenes on again (always wear em) but this time I got a few shiners on a few dig attempts and have some nice little bruises, with some dry skin peeling off right just below both knees (has nothing to do with where my knees have been sore in the past by the way). Just a few bruises there but otherwise I'm feeling good after some ice and some Motrins last night. My neoprenes have a donut opening which is why I got them so I may have to invest in some knee pads soon as well. No biggie.

Did another vertical jump assessment yesterday morning. 3 more inches added to my vertical jump so that brings me to an unofficial 25 inch vertical. Proud of that as well as my overall play to this point. If I can get to 30 inches...that would be a huge accomplishment as I haven't jumped that high since college.

Off day today...and I have no volleyball games planned on the table next week as it is a short workweek with July 4th just around the corner so may be concentrating more on a TT workout next week and giving my knees some much needed rest here. Don't want to overdo it here.

Update on my friend...he's doing good so far. Has been pretty much in alot of pain post op with Percocet round the clock. May be out of any type of workouts for the next several months. I look back at this and always think at the back of my head: "what if that was me." Call him pretty much everyday since the incident since he won't be returning to work until after a good 2 weeks. His spirits are up so that I'm really happy about.