Across the Netadidas Advancement Academy Newsletter

2018 - Issue 2What’s Happeningu Uniforms - As this year’s jerseys, shoes,

backpacks, and other gear arrived, it wasdistributed to the players. Please know that wehave not received all of the items quite yet, butwe are working diligently with adidas to obtaineverything the girls need and will distributethem as soon as possible. We are also awarethat there were instances of missing orincorrect items as they arrived from adidas. Ifyou have any issues, please email your coachdirectly so it can be addressed. Thanks forremaining patient with us as we iron out theseissues. We want the players to have what theyneed just as much as you do.

u Player Bios - No one likes to be left out. It’snot a great feeling. Please make sure yourplayer survey has been completed so the“Featured Teams” section of future issues ofthis newsletter can be complete witheveryone’s information. It’s fun to get to knoweach other, but tough to do if we don’t allshare a little bit about ourselves!

12 Emerald girls having some fun in their photo booth!

Who will we see in the next issue of Across The Net?

Please email photos to A2newsletter@advancementacademy.org

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17 Green on the court

15 Emerald carrying their Coach 15 Shamrock – Gotta’ Eat

15 Emerald – So much fun it should be illegal!

Fitness & Nutrition TipsReverse the effects of sitting too much!

We’ve all know that we sit too much during the day and that sitting is dangerous to our health. While we know moving more isimportant, your movement needs to REVERSE the effects of sitting. You’ve got to make sure that you 1) loosen tight musclesand 2) get those weak and inactive muscles activated and working correctly again. It is critical to work on improving hipmobility AND working on glute activation!

If you sit a lot during the day, your hips are tight from being in constant flexion (aka bent). This tightness causes your glutes tooften shut off, which means all of that squatting, lunging and deadlifting may not actually be working those butt cheeks! It maymean you’re actually potentially risking pain and injury because other muscles are engaging and working so that you can dothose things. Those are muscles that SHOULDN’T and CAN’T really handle the load! Wonder why your low back so often hurts?Or why you only feel your quads during some of these compound moves? It may be because your glutes aren’t actuallyworking because they aren’t activated! And why aren’t they activated? Because your hips are locked up!

To unlock your hips and activate your glutes, do these 3 moves DAILY!

Half-Kneeling Hip (and Quad) Stretch – Do this stretch as often as possible. It is the perfect way to reverse theeffects of sitting and to activate your glutes. You can do a few differentvariations and hit your hips from a couple of different angles and reallystretch out your quad as well. One HUGE key to getting this stretch toactually work though is ENGAGING YOUR GLUTE! Too often people dothis and don’t ACTUALLY extend their hip because they lean forward orsimply arch their low back. If you don’t engage your glute and focus onextending your hip, guess what?! You don’t actually unlock your hipsand you don’t really reverse all of the effects of sitting!

So no matter which version you pick, make sure to truly engage yourglute, extend your hip and not simply your lower back. If you arestarting out, the version described here is a great place to start! Fromthere you can add in the quad stretch by grabbing your back foot orplacing it up on a bench.

Fitness & Nutrition Tips (continued)

To do the basic Half-Kneeling Hip Stretch, start half kneelingon the ground, as shown in the illustration on the previouspage. Flex your back foot and squeeze your glute as youdrive your back hip forward. Reach your hand up overhead sothat you feel a nice stretch down the hip of the back leg. Youcan reach both hands up or simply the hand on the side thatis back. Squeeze the glute of your back leg so that you arefully extending your back hip and not simply arching yourback. If you just hyperextend your low back, you will beperpetuating the problem. Make sure you are truly extendingyour hip.

Breathe as you hold, and reach your hands backwardoverhead, or turn this into a dynamic stretch by releasing andthen repeating the stretch. You can also reach your arms tothe side over your front leg if you want to hit your hip from adifferent angle and stretch your TFL muscle and the musclesof your back that help you bend to the side.

Leg Swings –

Doing this daily, along with the Half-Kneeling Hip Stretch, isgreat because it not only works on balance and activates themuscles that stabilize your feet and lower legs, but it alsowakes up your core, activates your glutes AND opens up yourhips. And it does all of these things in different planes ofmotion, which means you’ll be mobilizing your hips so youcan move well in every direction!

There are three main variations of the Leg Swing. You canreally swing in any direction. Just make sure to engage theglute of the standing leg to help you balance and use the gluteof the other legs to swing, especially on the rotational one!

To do the 3-Way Leg Swings, stand on one foot. Feelyour foot gripping the ground and engage the glute ofthe standing leg to help you balance. Brace your absand stand up nice and tall. Keeping both legs fairlystraight, but not locked out, begin to swing the otherleg forward and backward. Swing from the hip. Don’tjust bend your knee and kick your lower leg. Thebigger your swings are, the more your standing legwill have to work to balance.

Do not hold on to anything as you do this move. Ifnecessary, just perform smaller swings and tap yourfoot down as needed to reset and stabilize. You canhold onto a wall if you want to remove the balanceelement and just focus on mobilizing the hip, butremember that you are then eliminating the balancework and not building core stability.

Complete all reps of the forward/backward swing.Then, still balancing on the same leg, switch to lateralswings. For the lateral swings, swing the leg up to theright and then to the left in front of your standing leg.You may even feel the outside of that glute working toraise the leg up as you swing it. The bigger yourswing, the more you will open up your hip and forceyour standing leg to work hard to balance.

(See illustrations on next page.)

Fitness & Nutrition Tips (continued)

After performing the lateral swings, bend the knee of the legyou’ve been swinging to 90 degrees and perform rotationalswing. To do rotational swings, bring the bent knee in front ofyou and then open it out to the side. Bring the knee backforward, keeping the leg bent the entire time. Focus on openingfrom the hip with this move. You should really feel the glute ofthe standing leg working as you rotate. The more your rotate,the harder the move will be, but also the more you will openyour hips and get your glutes activated.

Once you complete all three swings, switch to the other sideand do all three swings. If you do this move correctly, you willfeel your foot, calf and even your shin muscles working tobalance. You will also feel your glute and core engaging as youswing your leg to open your hip.

Again, start with a more basic balancing pose if you can’tmaintain balance or perform smaller swings. The whole pointof this move is to improve your mind-body connection and getthings activated so you can balance.

Bridging –

If you aren’t doing some sort of bridge almost daily, you aremissing out on a great chance to not only improve your hipextension, but also activate your glutes!

Unlocking your hip flexors and keeping them unlocked isn’tonly about stretching. Because if you stretch and then go rightback and sit, you’ll simply tighten everything back up, BUT ifyou actually get the muscles activated and working andstrengthened through the range of motion you’ve established,

you can actually improve your mobility, unlock yourhip flexors and prevent and alleviate low back and hippain (as well as even knee pain among other things!).

No matter how advanced an exerciser you are, youshould always include a Basic BODYWEIGHT GluteBridge in your routine because a) it is important toalways return to basics and establish/maintain yourmind-body connection and b) because withbodyweight exercises, we are often actually able tocontract our glutes harder - making sure they areactivated and working correctly!

Fitness & Nutrition Tips (continued)

To do the basic Glute Bridge, lie on your back, bend your knees and put your feet flat on the ground. Your feet should beabout hip-width apart. You may need to adjust your exact foot positioning based on how tight or mobile your hips are. Youcan move your feet slightly away or slightly closer to your butt, but just make sure you don’t move them so far away that youfeel your hamstrings taking over.

Bend your elbows to 90 degrees so that only your upper arms are on the ground. This will help you really be able to drivedown with your elbows, upper arms and back to help you bridge straight up instead of pushing yourself backward. Thenbridge up, driving through your heels and upper back and arms to lift your glutes up off the ground. Drive your hips up ashigh as possible, squeezing your glutes hard as you brace your abs. Keep your belly button drawn in so you don’thyperextend your back. Focus and consciously squeeze your glutes at the top.

When you bridge, do not push backward off your heels. Make sure you are driving straight up and that your knees aren’tcaving in. Even think about driving your knees forward over your toes to help extend your hips and prevent you from pushingyourself backward. Squeeze your glutes for a second or two at the top and lower all the way back down to the ground beforerepeating. Do not rush through the move. Glute activation and unlocking your hip flexors not only means reversing theeffects of sitting, you can prevent and alleviate injury and can lift more and run faster!!

Missing/Incomplete OVR RegistrationsThere are still players who have not completed their full OVRregistrations completely and properly. They MUST do this or they willnot be permitted to play in tournaments per OVR rules. Please go tothe OVR website and verify that your player’s membership isaccurate as soon as possible. If this does not get done soon, playersmay be unable to practice until if gets done. Help us get thiswrapped up for the entire club! Thank you.

Upcoming TournamentsTournament ResultsIn the Boys Winter Championships:

u 14 Green Boys finished 5th in gold and qualified for a national bid! Great job!!

u 17 Green Boys and 18 Green Boys also participated.

At South Metro Sports:

u 16 Green Boys won 1st place in silver.

u 17 Silver Boys and 18 Silver Boys tied for 3rd in silver.

At Elite Sports Ohio:

u 12 Green Boys finished 1st in gold!

u 12 Shamrock Boys finished 5th in gold.

u 14 Green Boys finished 2nd in gold.

u 14 Shamrock Boys finished 3rd in silver.

At Courts 4 Sports:

u 16 Green Boys, 17 Shamrock Boys & 18 Shamrock Boys finished in silver.

u 18 Emerald Boys finished 3rd.

1/27-1/28 All National Teams

13—18 Girls

Winterfest

2/2-2/4 18 Green Ohio Valley Bid Qualifier

2/3 14 Forest Game Time Sports

2/3-2/4 12 Green Sports Express

2/3-2/4 14 Green Central Zone

2/3-2/4 16 Green Central Zone

2/4 15 Jade Buckeye V-ball Ctr.

2/4 11 Green Game Time Sports

2/4 12 Shamrock Game Time Sports

2/4 12 Emerald Game Time Sports

Featured Teams & Coaches

14 Green - Boysu Coached by Clint Gentry

u A huge beach volleyball fan and coach, Clint also has indoor coaching experience at Hilliard Bradley,Centennial, and Columbus School for Girls. He loves to travel, his favorite song is “Sitting on the Dock of theBay” and he wishes a coach would have told him that wanting something isn’t enough, you have to work forit and earn it.

u Team Roster

u Michael Cavanaugh ~ St. Paul; his role model is his dad; favorite quote is by Muhammad Ali: “I hated everyminute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’”

u Tommy Donnelly ~ St. Paul; loves Notre Dame football; admits to being afraid of bugs; his role model isJustin Thomas, of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

u Ben Fisher ~ McCord; Skied a Double Black Diamond in British Columbia last Spring Break; his role model ishis English teacher, Mr. Beattie; favorite team is the Buckeyes.

u Zander Green ~ Arcadia; his favorite quote is “Never give up on anything you can’t go a day without thinkingabout.” He loves seafood and the Cleveland Cavaliers; role model is Tori Green.

u Sam Marchio ~ St. Paul; is a big fan of the Baltimore Oriels and spaghetti & meatballs; his grandpa is hisrole model. His favorite song is “Lean on Me.”

u Narit Mongkollugsana ~ St. Paul

u Carson Walters ~ New Albany

u Colby Whiteside ~ Olentangy Hyatts; his favorite team is the Buckeyes,; maybe he’ll be one someday himself!His role model is Nicolas Szerszen, OSU volleyball player. Favorite quote is “Hard work pays off.”

Featured Teams & Coaches

15 Green - Girlsu Coached by Whitney Magers

u Whitney has coaching experience at a variety of clubs, but of course, A2 is her fav! She’s also coached at WestervilleCentral and played as an outside hitter for 4 seasons at Heidelberg University. A country music fan, her favorite song is“Rodeo” by Garth Brooks. Whitney would like to encourage her players to cherish even the smallest of moments – onand off the court.

u Team Roster

u Avery Boyd ~ St. Francis DeSales; favorite season is winter; Coach Whitney is her role model; “Stop doubting yourself.Work hard, and make it happen.”

u Grace Cummings ~ Worthington Kilbourne; did Irish dancing for 9 years & qualified for the Mid AmericanChampionships; her mom is her role model; she loves the Columbus Blue Jackets.

u Josie Curan ~ Westerville Central; favorite song is “Havana”; her brother Lucas is her role model; loves mashedpotatoes.

u Olivia Everett ~ Central Crossing; favorite quote is “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” Playsviolin and guitar; favorite team to cheer for is the USA Men’s Volleyball team.

u Alayna Johnson ~ Thomas Worthington; role model is Martin Luther King, Jr.; favorite song is “White Christmas”; shecan touch her elbows behind her back.

u Abby Leonard ~ Dublin Scioto; favorite song is “Die In Your Arms” by Justin Bieber; role model is her 8th gradevolleyball coach – Deb; favorite food is chocolate.

u Allie Maziarz ~ Bishop Watterson; role model is her sister, Cecilia; “Champions are not born. The are made.” She has atwin brother; her favorite team is Michigan.

u Emma Murphy ~ Bishop Watterson; favorite quote is "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way tosucceed is always just to try one more time.” Role model is her mom; she likes school and avocados.

u Sophie Sparks ~ Olentangy High; dad is her role model; favorite quote is “Hard work beats talent when talent does notwork hard.” her favorite holiday is Christmas.

u Emi Waller ~ Canal Winchester; has a Great Dane; loves to cheer for Stanford Volleyball; her role model is DustinWatten, USA Men’s Volleyball player.

Featured Teams & Coaches13 Shamrock - Girls

u Coached by Kate Henry

u Kate keeps busy coaching volleyball year round – at A2 and at Olentangy Berkshire. She doesn’t have one specific role model, but looks up to any women who empower other women. When asked what she wished a coach had said to her years ago, she said, “Believing in yourself isn’t optional.” In her free time, Kate enjoys reading and playing with her dog.

u Team Roster

u Emmy Bush ~ Olentangy Berkshire; favorite quote is “Winners aren’t people who never fail, but people who never quit.” Shelikes to hunt and fish, and she cheers for the Ohio University Bobcats; her role model is Kristi Brooks.

u Maren Jenkins ~ Immaculate Conception; loves country music, the Cavs, and her role model is her brother, Seth.

u Katie McGreevey ~ Olentangy Berkshire; she climbed a large waterfall in Jamaica; her favorite song is “Let You Down” by NF;favorite sports team is the NY Yankees.

u Jackie Myers ~ Big Walnut; she is a huge Buckeye fan; she can make dolphin sounds; her role model is Roxanne, her formerart teacher.

u Eliza Thomas ~ Immaculate Conception; finished in 2nd place in her age group in a 4 mile run; likes Imagine Dragons andEd Sheeran; Kerry Walsh Jennings is her role model.

u Emily Uhl ~ Olentangy Orange Middle; likes to play video games; favorite song is ”Mr. Blue Sky” by ELO; her favorite food iswatermelon.

u Faith Yoho ~ Worthingway; her role model is her mom; she plays baseball – pitcher and 3rd base; favorite song is “Thunder”by Imagine Dragons.

u Rozalyn Zielinski ~ Olentangy Shanahan; she is a competitive dancer; her favorite quote is “If you can dream it, you can doit.” Her role model is Lea Anderson.

u Hannah Zipfel ~ Olentangy Hyatts; she is a huge football fan who cheers for Northwestern; her role model is Jordan Larson,USA volleyball player.

Across the Net

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