From: alee@atlas.nafb.trw.com
Newsgroups: rec.sport.volleyball
Subject: Re: Stoklos the Cry Baby
Date: 14 Aug 92 14:34:04 PST

kaena@haleiwa.austin.ibm.com (D. Kaena Freitas) writes:
stuff deleted
> Anyway, I believe K&K were up 10-9, when Sinjin served Karch, Kent made a
> tight set to the net, Karch as usual tried crushing the ball, but Randy was
> there to "eat his lunch" - "monster roof!" Randy then pointed to Karch,
> (* as you all know, one of the reasons why Karch joined the Pro Beach VB Tour
> was because he wanted to prove that HE was the best VB player in the world,
> and Randy took MAJOR offense to this and they have had the biggest rivalry
> there ever was on the beach *), Randy then turned around, raised his hands
> and started clapping to get the crowd into it. A couple of sideouts later,
> Karch jump served Randy, Sinjin set the ball close and Kent returned the favor
> by roofing the hell out of Randy's spike, that ball landed only about a foot
> from the net, in other words, straight down! Kent then pointed at Randy and
> sort of got in his face, talking trash across the net, not that Randy had
> never done that to others, but Randy walked up to the official and asked that
> he tell the "other team" to stop the trash.
> 
> Can you believe that shit? Randy Stolos is loosing his "King of the Beach"
> dominance to another player/team, and all the years of trash he gave 
> everyone else, even during this match to Karch, and he "cries" to the
> referee to tell them to "stop it".  Needless, to say I was pissed off and
> started hoping that K&K would hit one off his head. The next point Kent roofed
> Randy again, but Randy was able to save it, Sinjin had to make a diving
> attempt which put the ball below the top of the net and all Randy could do
> was two-hand set the ball over, Well, Kent jumped at the same time and
> roofed the ball again. It was great! It was nice to see the "new Kings of
> the Beach" win their 16th match. I hope they show their 17th win, K&K are
> SOLID!
> 
> (* Kent took the ball home as a momento, all he wants now is the record! *)
> -- 
> D. Kaena Freitas
> /* My personal opinions mean nothing to anyone else but myself. */
> /* At least thats what my wife keeps telling me................ */
> /* I believe she is right...................................... */

Kaena,
      First off it's Randy Stoklos (note the 'k') and secondly you were 
wathching beach/sand volleyball at the highest level where a good deal of 
money is at stake. This tends to make psyching-out opponents easier considering
the concentration needed & the prizes up for grabs. Smith & Stoklos are 
probably the best at getting their opponents out of a point streak or side-
out rhythm. Remember this isn't 'picnic volleyball', these guys earn their
livelihood from playing beach volleyball, and when a team wins 12 in a row
you really should expect all kinds of mind games to go on, especially when
it comes to influencing the refs. Smith-Stoklos have been quite successful 
at getting the ref to see the next call their way after they bitch about some
debatable previous call.
All credit to Kiraly-Steffes for staying into the game and winning the rest of
the points so convincingly.
You should see some of the crap that goes on in S. California at the amateur
beach tourneys. E.g. Girl-friends taking their bikini tops off to distract 
her boy-friends opponents, people shouting 'OUT' from the crowd, & someone
actually stole my water bottle during a match ( possibly unrealted to
gamesmanship).
The point is that at the highest levels of volleyball any edge that you can get 
whether physical or mental may make the difference in a game. However,
sometimes it back-fires, since Randy pissed off Kiraly-Steffes to the point
that he woke the sleeping giant and they crushed him.
As a final point, Stoklos doesn't really taunt the other team so much to psych
them out as to psych himself up. Volleyball is a very mental game where
sometimes you suck not because your mechanics are bad but just because you've
lost some confidence or aren't really into the game (i.e. distracted).
Just my 200 cents,
                      alex lee