Going to Margitsziget (Margerit Island) in Budapest this weekend (July 2-3, 2011) to watch some International Water Polo (Vodafone Kupa).
The Vodafone Kupa this year has Hungary, Greece, Germany and Russia mens playing in round robin play.
There appears to be live streaming of the matches. Close to the bottom of this page will be a picture like below, click on the camera on the right side.
As an added bonus, the Hungarian women play Germany in a European Championship qualifying match on Saturday at 1600.
If you are a coach or player and want to talk training, you can reply to this post. I will be at the pool for most of the day on Saturday and Sunday.
Enjoy and Be Well,
Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC
My New Quick Morning Work Out
This is something I have started doing last year and I can't believe it has taken me this long to actually do it. Well, I do know why it has taken me a while to figure it out because what I do is so simple yet so hard .... the Farmers Walk.
Note: not a picture of me; gloves are not needed
While I am certainly not the first person to praise the farmers walk, I am sure I will not be the last.
It's just so simple and sinister.
What is the "Farmers Walk"?
Traditionally, the Farmer's Walk is an event you would see in a strongman contest.Take a heavy weight in each hand and go for a walk. For me, I do this at home with the two heaviest weights I have which are a 32kg and 24kg Kettlebell. I take one in each hand and walk BUT I have a secret method. I live on the top floor in my building, it's 80 steps down. I take the Kettlebells, walk down the stairs, out the door and do one lap around the block which is ~300m, then back up the stairs. Once I start there is no wimping out, no elevator to take and no short cuts. The whole thing takes me around 9-10 minutes to complete. Every time I need to put the weights down I switch around the Kettlebells.
Read the rest of the article here
Enjoy and Be Well,
Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC
Great chance for the Canadian Men to Qualify for the worlds in July 2011.
Apparently the top 2 teams from this tournament qualify and there are now only 3 teams in the competition with Cuba dropping out.
The USA Mens team have already qualified which is why they are not participating.
Aaron Feltham and Kevin Graham who are playing pro in Hungary will be there but not Justin Boyd who is playing his first year pro in Montenegro (https://www.waterpolo.ca/News1698.aspx). I am sure Justin will be missed. From what I saw of him last summer in Hungary, he is a very crafty scorer from the 1 position on the 6 on 5, he is also right handed. Althougth tradionally this is a spot reserved for the left handed player (which by the way drives me nuts) the right handed player has some unique options available to the them which can make them a real threat to score.
Best of Luck to all the teams.
Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC
| by: Dr Marion Alexander, PhD, Dave Hill, Yumeng Li, BKin, Julie Hayward, B Kin |
IntroductionThe bicycle slide is a rapid sideways movement of a water polo player, in which she moves to the side of her current position while leading with her feet. The bicycle slide is primarily a key defensive skill in water polo when playing a zone in a gap between two players. It is used when the player has to move rapidly sideways to cover a shooter or a pass to a shooter, while still retaining visual contact with the ball. This technique allows the defender to move feet first toward the space, in order to provide defensive coverage. The defender executing the slide is horizontal on her side in the water with her head toward her primary defensive focus. In the attached photo (Figure 1), the defender is wearing a white cap and has her arm pointing upward. The center forward is in front of the net with the American (behind with white cap) holding on to her. The American defender with her arm up would use the bicycle slide to cover the area between the center forward and the player with the ball, before rising over her feet to present the blocking arm. The defender in this situation would slide toward the person she is defending with her feet leading the movement, which is a unique method of covering this distance. |
Read the whole article here: The Bicycle Slide in Water Polo: A Description
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My Comments:
This is fresh off the press, the most recent research in Water Polo. It focuses on the biomechanics of a specific movement in the water which really has no universally accepted name. The researchers called it the bicycle slide after viewing the video footage (see the article for the video and you will see why).
This research is coming out of Winnipeg, Canada. The athlete in the video is a member of the Canadian National Team program.
It definitely re-inforces the importance of good flexibiliy in the hips to be able to produce an efficient technique that is powerful and useful.
As a coach, understanding a skill at a deep level will give you more options when teaching said skill. So, although this article may be quite technical if you are not a biomechinist, read it, study it, read it some more and give the information time sink in. There are also some good references in the article that will further your knowledge.
Enjoy and Be Well,
Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC
DOWNLOAD: Preliminary Conference Schedule
For the championship, tickets for game sessions are around $10 USD for prelim; $30 USD for finals.Enjoy and Be Well,
Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC
Below is my latest article published on WaterPoloPlanet.com.
Enjoy and Be Well,
Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC
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Most Water Polo players will experience some kind of shoulder injury or dysfunction at some point in their career. In conjunction with that comes some knowledge of the “rotator cuff” (RC) to the point where these two words have become part of the lingo of most if not all Water Polo coaches and athletes. But of all the rotator cuff (RC) exercises out there, which ones are the best suited for Water Polo and which are less then desirable.
With the increased knowledge of the human body comes the realization that what was done in the past wasn't always the best option. You will see in this article some exercises that you are very familiar with that have become part of the trash heap while others are receiving very high approval from researchers and rehab clinicians.
In this article I will discuss the following key points:
Rotator Cuff Function
There are four muscles that make up the rotator cuff (Subscapularis, Infraspinatus, Supraspinatus & Teres Minor). When you look at these muscles it is quite obvious that they are rather small when compared to some of the bigger prime movers of the shoulder.
The function of them is usually categorized as either Humeral (shoulder) internal or external rotators but probably more important is the function of keeping the head of the Humerus centrally located in the Glenoid Fossa (or cavity).
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But it's not that simple ... or is it?
You also need to consider that the body works as a whole not as isolated parts, the RC muscles are no different. Since they all originate on the Scapulae (shoulder blade), the position of the shoulder blade will greatly impact how well the RC muscles are able to perform their job. As seen in my last 2 articles, “Stretching the Shoulders for a BIGGER Shot – Part I & Part II”; the position of the Thoracic Spine will affect the range of motion of the shoulder. It just so happens that the position of the Scapulae also is greatly influenced by the Thoracic Spine. ...
READ WHOLE ARTICLE HERE
