stumble

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PAN AM Volleyball Beach Footwork

pan am volleyball beach          The switch isn’t automatic. Even an experienced indoor player needs practice finding her ‘sand legs’ in beach volleyball.  Sinking and stumbling as she learns to jump and run barefoot on (possibly hot) sand is a humbling new beginning. Eventually, her muscles stabilize and she gets used to landing on both feet. Movement forwards, backwards and sideways on the sandy court becomes second nature.  By the time her focus is on entirely on strategy, her light footwork barely disrupts the level sand. The court surface isn’t the only difference. Indoor volleyball has six players per side; beach volleyball has two. The pair must pass, set up, spike, block and serve to their opponents.

“Peeling” – Fast Footwork on Defence

Mid-rally decisions are frequent. If a beach volleyball player can track an incoming attacking ball, she steps forward and blocks it back. If she decides a block isn’t possible, she quickly ‘peels’ into a back court position.

In a ‘Cross, Step, Hop’ combination movement,  the player starts from a ‘loaded position’ with knees bent, one foot in front of the other.  On the right side of the court, her right foot is in front and on the left side her left foot is in front. She

  • Pushes off front foot with open body to the court,
  • Crosses outer leg with inner leg,
  • Takes an aggressive step away from the net, and
  • Swings into a large hop to face attacker. (1)

Go to – http://www.toronto2015.org/schedule

Resources: 

http://www.toronto2015.org/beach-volleyball

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3772587/

http://www.volleyball.ca/sites/www.volleyball.ca/files/Coaching_Entraineurs/Resources/COACH-BasicBeachTechniques.pdf

http://www.volleyball.ca/sites/www.volleyball.ca/files/Coaching_Entraineurs/Resources/COACH-TheBasicsofPeeling.pdf

www.avca.org/…/Fundamentals-of-Sand-Volleyball-Part-3-Blocking.pdf  (1)

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.   1 Corinthians 9:25 (NIV)

     TRAINING – COMPETITION – PODIUM

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Walking Down the Aisle

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CONGRATULATIONS TRISTAN AND REBEKAH

To Honour Your Wedding May 17, 2014…

 

“The flowers in my hand tremble as I walk down the aisle.

Through watery eyes I’m seeing you smile.

Lifting me up – presenting me clean

Reflecting God’s love and His covenant to thee.

Bring Him honor and glory with our most sacred vow –

Love each other as only God will allow.

Sweet things of these – a reflection of love

‘Tween husband and wife – a gift from above.

By the grace of our shepherd sweet peace do we find

And the glory and honor of our Father, most high.

I’m seeing His promise in your eyes, so sweet

That though we may stumble, if in Him do we seek –

Our path will be true, our hearts will be sure

And our love will reflect our Father, so pure.”

 

‘Covenant to Thee’, written by Jody Gomez

http://www.myujamaa.org/jody1.html

Photo Source

http://www.pinterest.com/artambassadors/painted-shoes/

 

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Calling out to God to Rescue your Feet

Praying from the MESSAGE version of The Book of Psalms: 

God! God! I am running to you for dear life; the chase is wild. If they catch me, I’m finished (7:1, 2). God! Please hurry to my rescue! God, come quickly to my side (70:1). God, give grace, get me up on my feet (41:10). I run for dear life to God, I’ll never live to regret it. Do what you do so well: get me out of this mess and up on my feet (71:1, 2). Make a show of how much you love me so the bullies who hate me will stand there slack-jawed, as you, God, gently and powerfully put me back on my feet (86:17). I’m feeling terrible—I couldn’t feel worse! Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember (119:25)?

I waited and waited and waited for you. At last you looked; finally you listened. You lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. You stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip (40:1, 2)?

When I run to you God, you save me (37:40). You did everything you promised, and I’m thanking you with all my heart. You pulled me from the brink of death, my feet from the cliff-edge of doom. Now I stroll at leisure with you in the sunlit fields of life (56:12, 13).

I bless you, God! I give you a thunderous welcome! Didn’t you set me on the road to life? Didn’t you keep me out of the ditch (66:8, 9)? Yes, because You are my refuge, You the High God my very own home, evil can’t get close to me; harm can’t get through the door. You ordered your angels to guard me wherever I go. If I stumble, they’ll catch me; their job is to keep me from falling (91:9–12).

I said to myself, “Relax and rest. God has showered you with blessings. Soul, you’ve been rescued from death; Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears; and you, Foot, were kept from stumbling” (116:7, 8).

God, you make everything come out right; you put victims like me back on my feet (103:6). Blessed be you Lord – day after day you carry me along (68:19). Thank you for your love, thank you for your faithfulness; most holy is your name, most holy is your Word. The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength (138:2, 3). Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps (49:7).

 

Sandhu, T.J. (2013). Walking with God: Praying through footwork metaphors in scripture. Unpublished manuscript.

 

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Losing Your Footing

I remember the last time I tripped and fell. It left me bruised and scraped. A good conversation distracted me on a rocky desert trail; I wasn’t looking straight ahead. I should have been more attentive to the path and to my feet. Can you remember your last stumble? What got in your way? How did you get back up on your feet?

Some wrong moves can have big spiritual consequences. The one time Adam and Eve turned away from God left a fallen legacy for all generations to come. Their weakness is mine and yours as well. The “Fall” is a baseline metaphor for sin. You can trace all faulty footwork to that first wrong move.

Look up “fall” in the dictionary and see how much vocabulary resounds with the fallout from that original sin. Samples from the Oxford Reference Dictionary:

  • “Fall away” means to desert or vanish.
  • “Fall back” means to retreat.
  • “Fall flat” means to fail.
  •  A “fall guy” is an easy victim or scapegoat.

The unplanned physical moves of stumbling, tripping, and falling are a picture of the human spiritual condition after that first momentous “fall.” Thankfully, God doesn’t leave you in this predicament. He reverses the effects of the “fall” with His own resurrection. He gives you His Spirit so you can walk with your eyes on Him.

Quiet your inner spirit as you contemplate the following two Bible verses. Ask God for a revelation of His goodness, mercy, and sovereignty over your footwork. He is in control; His plan is a path forward and He is on it with you.

“The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand”.  Psalm 37:23, 24 (NLT)

“I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run you will not stumble”.  Proverbs 4:11, 12 (NKJV)

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Excerpt from:

Sandhu, Teresa (2013). Walking with God: Praying through footwork metaphors in scripture. Unpublished manuscript.