Sarah Palmer, 2008-09 Gatorade Hawaii Girls Volleyball Player of the Year

Congratulations to Sarah Palmer for being recognized as the 2008-09 Gatorade Hawaii girls volleyball player of the year. Sarah, a junior outside hitter for Hawaii Baptist Academy, helped to guide her team to their second consecutive Division II state title. She was also recently honored as the Star-Bulletin’s state volleyball player of the year. The Gatorade State Players of the Year are selected on the basis of outstanding athletic excellence accompanied by high standards of academic achievement and exemplary personal character demonstrated on and off the field. Sarah has verbally committed to the University of Texas.

Maximizing Performance Through Core Training

Let me start by stating we do PERFORMANCE TRAINING. Many people confuse what we do with “core training.” Core training is a small component of performance training. It would be like telling a basketball coach that he only coaches dribbling.

In order to better understand core training, we must first define the core. The core is the area from your hips up to your shoulders. We also refer to that region as your trunk. Many people mistaken the core for just the abdomen and lower back, but it also includes the upper back, chest, and hips. With core training, there is a progression we follow. As I mentioned in a previous post on the performance training pyramid, performance training follows a stability, strength, power progression. Core training follows that same progression. First, we start by working on core stability. Next, we train for core strength. Finally, we train the core to produce power. [CONTINUE READING THIS POST..]

All-State Girls Volleyball Selections

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin announced their 2008 All-State/Fab 15 Girls Volleyball Selections. Congratulations to Sarah Palmer, a junior outside hitter for the Hawaii Baptist Academy Girls Volleyball team for being voted the 2008 Player of the Year. Sarah recently gave a verbal commitment to play setter/libero for the University of Texas.

Also recognized in the Star-Bulletin Fab 15 were Candace Soares, a senior outside hitter for Mililani High School and I’isha Keliikoa, a senior outside hitter for Iolani School. Both are members of the Jammers Volleyball Club and were coached by Tanya Fuamatu-Anderson.

Honorable Mention selections to the Star-Bulletin Fab 15 were Malie Yoon, a junior setter for Iolani School, Brianna Lovett, a junior outside hitter/middle blocker for Hawaii Baptist Academy, and Elissa Ji, a senior outside hitter for Maryknoll.

Congratulations to all of our athletes who were recognized for their outstanding play!