Parker Salomon
Staff Writer
Junior Alexia Inman headed to Brazil to train with new players and coaches in hopes of improving her beach volleyball game.
Inman went to Rio, Brazil for two weeks during February to practice with her club teammate and friend, junior Jacqueline Ribeiro. One of the majors reason Inman went to Brazil was to get extra practice in beach volleyball Costa.
“In Brazil, Alexia was able to benefit by playing with girls who motivation to excel in Volleyball comes from their love of the game,” Inman’s father Bill Inman said.
The girls hit the sand and practiced hitting, passing, and serving almost every day in Rio. On her days off, Inman went sight seeing and relaxed on the beach. On top of training with Ribeiro, Inman practiced with a private coach, Marcaos Albuquerque, who she met through her friend while in Brazil. According to Inman, the practices with Albuquerque were much more focussed and intense because of the more challenging drills.
“Having a different coach gave me an entirely different perspective on how to play volleyball with more focus on earning the point,” Inman said. “It was very refreshing to have a new set of eyes teaching me how to play,”
In addition to training with a private coach, Inman practiced with local Brazilian beach volleyball players. Many of the players were on Brazil’s women’s Junior National team, including a previous Olympic player Renata Trevisan Ribero.
“Training with such talented players was really helpful because I could observe their technique and incorporate that into my playing style,” Inman said.
According to Inman, Brazil is known for having a much different style of playing volleyball than other countries. In Brazil, the game has a much faster pace, and players receive fewer breaks to rest and drink water than most players in the United States.
“The playing style is much more intense in Brazil, and it forced me to adapt to become much quicker on the court,” Inman said. “Playing in Brazil also made me a more athletic player because the training and conditioning were more difficult.”
According to Inman, beach volleyball experience is essential because it makes playing indoor volleyball easier. But on the hard, indoor court, players have more traction and is able to jump higher, as opposed to the soft sand in beach volleyball.
“Playing beach volleyball makes indoor volleyball easier because during beach you only have two people on the court to having six people on the court,” Inman said. “Playing beach also gives you excellent court awareness because you have to cover half the court and be extra aware of where the ball is.”
After training in Brazil Inman now plays with the mindset to win and focuses on getting the point, as opposed to worrying about how she got the point. According to Inman, going to Brazil gave her the hopes to perform better at Costa and become a better player.
“I went to Brazil to do way more than just to have fun and hang out with my friends,” Inman said. “We trained really hard every day, and that fact that I had a friend to practice with made the experience more enjoyable.”
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