Tokyo Olympics 2021

Relying almost entirely on his left hand, Lyndon Arthur upsets Anthony Yarde to retain Commonwealth title

THE jab can be a potent weapon. It proved decisive for Lyndon Arthur in his Commonwealth title fight with Anthony Yarde at Church House in London on Saturday (December 5).

Yarde was the former world title challenger and the flashier operator. But Arthur relied on his left almost solely in the first half of their contest and it worked for him. Arthur, the Commonwealth champion, stepped off him, landing fast, long jabs. Those solid shots were winning him rounds. Yarde was trying to land jabs of his own but he was not the fighting with the urgency he needed to force himself past Lyndon’s left.

Yarde did cannon a right over the top in the fourth round and he landed that power punch to the jaw again in the sixth. Arthur had kept his right coiled but he had scarcely thrown it. Just as it looked like that hand was out of action, Arthur stepped in with a heavy one-two, landing the right with force to start the ninth round.

It was a close contest, but Arthur had the better control of the rounds, until the 12^th. Then Yarde shook him up with the right and kept on the pressure. Arthur was hurt but stayed upright, holding on to take a split decision. Ian John Lewis scored a bizarrely wide card for Yarde 117-111, but Michael Alexander and Marcus McDonnell agreed on 115-114 for Arthur.

The bout might not have caught fire as expected, until the final round at least, but it was tense and gripping throughout and for Arthur the breakout victory he’s been waiting for.

“Bob Sweeney will always be the father of ESU volleyball.”
— Former player Ev Nicholas

Pennsylvanian Bob Sweeney, who was inducted into four halls of fame as a volleyball coach, died November 27 at the age of 80. 

“His legacy is still alive,” longtime Penn State men’s coach Mark Pavlik said. “The fact that men’s volleyball, and specifically East Coast men’s volleyball, are where they are today is because of Bob Sweeney.”

Sweeney, who coached both men and women at his alma mater, East Stroudsburg State, served as the president and treasurer of the EIVA (Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association). He is not only in the EIVA hall of fame, but the annual EIVA Coach of the Year award is named for him.

“This is not easy. Coach Sweeney was a father figure who taught so much more than volleyball to his players,” said Rob Causton, who played for Sweeney, was a men’s assistant at East Stroudsburg, and has been a women’s assistant there since 2015. “He taught us to be athletes with excellent character. 

“He had a great, dry sense of humor. Always level-headed, never too excited or upset. A great role model for athletes and coaches. I remember playing in a very tight match and hearing his inspiring words “there are 900 square feet over there, just find one.’ 

“He was so well respected by everyone he ever met. I am a better person for knowing him.”

Sweeney went into the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1995, the East Stroudsburg University Hall of Fame in 1996, the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2005, and the EIVA hall in 2012.

Sweeney was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was a star basketball player at Scranton Central High School. He played basketball and tennis at East Stroudsburg. After graduating in 1962, he got a master’s degree at Temple University in Philadelphia.

At East Stroudsburg, he compiled a 354-204-10 record from 1977 to 1994 on the men’s side before retiring in 1994. He also had a 365-199 career mark coaching the women from 1976-93.

Sadly, East Stroudsburg no longer has men’s volleyball. The program was discontinued in 2009.

Longtime North Carolina women’s coach Joe Sagula, who starred at New Paltz and played against Sweeney’s teams, noted how many coaches came out of East Stroudsburg because of Sweeney’s influence.

“He was a student of the game,” Sagula said. “He always volunteered to be on any committee for men’s volleyball. He really grew the game.”

Dave Denure, who knew Sweeney for nearly 50 years, coached with him and later became the coach at NJIT.

“He was a great people person,” Denure said. “His best skill was he knew how to get people to work together.”

Current Arkansas State coach Santiago Restrepo, an All-American player for Sweeney in 1986, followed Sweeney as the coach at East Stroudsburg.

Sean Byron, now the women’s coach at Marist, played against Sweeney when he was a standout at Springfield, replaced Restrepo at East Stroudsburg. He noted that Sweeney — like so many in volleyball — was a disciple of the late Mike Hebert.

After he retired, Byron said, Sweeney still came into the gym occasionally to watch practices and he stayed on the school’s faculty until 2007. 

Akron women’s coach Tom Hanna got his first job coaching for Sweeney in 1991.

“The biggest thing for Coach was he an under-the-radar figure in growing men’s volleyball in the East. It was always about the league and never about his program.

“He never coached in a final four but one of his proudest moments was presenting the (NCAA championship) trophy to Penn State (of the EIVA) when they won in 1994.”

Sweeney did more than just coach.

He was a ski instructor, served as the head of an area parks and recreation department, and with his son, Brad, was the co-owner of Chamberlain Canoes, which offers trips on the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.

“It is with pride that I state how fortunate I am to have played under the tutelage of coach Bob Sweeney. He was a good coach and a much better human being,” said Ev Nicholas, who is from St. Lucia and graduated from East Stroudsburg in 1992. “He was quirky, had a great sense of humor, loved volleyball and being around his players. 

“As a foreign-born student, coach Sweeney welcomed me into the Warrior volleyball family as if I were his own son. He was warm and thoughtful, fair and challenging. He expected and demanded the highest level of respect and integrity from his players.

“He gave me, like many more before me, a chance to be a part of the institution that he built.”

Special thanks to Miami (Ohio) Valley Phoenix coach Pete Wung for his help with this story.

First of all, thanks for starting this thread. I think there’s many players with those or similar issues, so this can help many others as well.

You’ve already received some very valuable answers, but often,

so I try to give my answers as well.

Like @phihag pointed out, it might be the correct strategy, trying to win the point early, but that seems to lead to more unforced errors on your side. It might be a focus problem, but I’ll get to that when answering “2.”, so for now another suggestion. Doubles are rarely won by one player alone, even if one of the players is weaker/makes a lot of mistakes.
What can you do to get your partner back in the game? Blaming won’t help, like @Budi (I think) pointed out. But helping to get the focus away from the mistakes, back to the next rally might help. Additionally, it might show your partner that you still trust him, giving him back some confidence. You might talk simple tactics/changes, suggest to focus the attack on the weaker player, remind him (and yourself) to remain patient and that not every shot has to be a winner, or you can say things like, “get the it [the shuttle/service] back” when he receives.

I think @phihag suggested here that practice/training might help. I agree. On top of that, it might (again) be a focus issue, pressuring yourself to play higher quality shots, because you’re opponents are better. That’s generally not true. Just play the same shots and if that’s not enough against those opponents, you’ll have to practice.

More common (in lower levels) than you might think. The problem here is that as soon as the pressure is off, you think that’s a sure winner, the focus is lost.
You need to learn to focus until the really is actually over.
It’s the same when getting a big lead and suddenly you let the opponents catch up.

It might help to just remind you of that constantly, it might also help to practice focusing on the shuttle. I know I suggested some exercises for that before somewhere… but just to mention one:
You play this on a half court.

• You serve high, get to your ready position, close your eyes.
• Your partner is allowed to either smash or drop
• When you hear his shot, you open your eyes, play a short return
• You partner plays short
• You lift, get to your ready position and close your eyes
• …

You could also the partner the options of a smash and a clear, so it’s harder to hear the difference.

It doesn’t always look like that, but doubles is a game of patience. You might need to be patient to get the attack, but even when you have it, you need to stay patient. Play fast drop shots and half smashes (and rarely attaching clears) to move your opponents whole waiting until you’re in a good position to full smash. Chance the pace and the placement to make it harder for your opponents to anticipate. When you are in a good position to full smash, do it to set up your partner at the front to finish the point. Don’t expect to directly score from the back court. Keep that in mind for the placement of your smash!

50% sounds like a gamble. My assumption is that (unless it’s very unevenly matched) you will not win a doubles on defense. Attack and defense are two phases of doubles. The flat game and net play can be seen as the third one. The transition (phase).
The goal of that is too get the attack. You’ll “fight for the lift”. It’s not uncommon that the rally ends in this phase, especially the first 3 to 5 shots (including the service), but it shouldn’t be the goal. The goal is to get the attack, to get your opponents to hit the shuttle upwards. You want your opponents to get to the shuttle late. Often, both teams will be in attack position during this phase, so the net and drive shots are fairly well covered. A chance of pace can do wonders. It messes with the rhythm of your opponents. Just gently pushing the shuttle slightly behind the front court player instead of paying faster drives will often force a lift or at least an upwards trajectory of the next shot. Obviously, you’ll have to get past the front court player with a slower shot, but there’ll be chances during a “drive battle”.

I suggest to try to lose those 10kg again. It’ll do wonders for your speed while being more healthy for your joints (hips, knees, ankles, and due to better positions for shots maybe even shoulder, elbow, wrist…)
I don’t necessarily suggest to lose all of the weight, if you build up some leg, core and back muscles instead, I’m fine with that, too.
No need to do much (any) cardio only training, just make sure to eat healthy and maybe work on your stability in addition to playing badminton. (Interval) footwork drills won’t hurt, on court drills for your attack with a partner will give you the chance to work on your defense when switching it around. Do you work with a coach? That would best, of course, but if you want to train alone, feel free to check out my YouTube channel. Every view, like, comment, suggestion is much appreciated and I’ll upload be videos starting in October again, at least that’s my plan. Including some shoulder and back exercises and also some doubles tactics…

If you want to get to the next level, you will probably want to work on all of that.

I don’t think I have anything to add to what @phihag said.

Once you go feather, you’ll never go back, unless you’re @Alex82

Again, @phihag said it all. The game is different with feathers, but it’ll give you more options, more feedback, … just overall more enjoyment.

I don’t see any harm in changing between both, I just don’t think you’ll want to do that after getting used to feather shuttles.

Athlete life isn’t very easy. Injuries belong to the sport, not just in this time and among all athletes not just the bad ones, also top athletes had to suffer a lot. Christian Raspiller spoke record multi World Champion Ingrid Berghmans who suffered many injuries. In our double portrait with one of the best female athletes ever, Christian Rapsiller overlooks the number of injuries with Berghmans.

The first hard blow of her career, Ingrid will know it in March 1985 at the Euro in Landskrona in Sweden where she nevertheless snatched the gold in – 72 kilos: “I broke my knee in the first fight. We slapped it down, but it bothered me. It was a Dutch healer who forced me to hand in one: ‘If you fall, you never fight again!’… ”The return to Belgium obviously goes through the operating table of Professor Jacques Rogge (the former president of the IOC between 2001 and 2013): “The total: cruciate and external ligaments in pieces, I was yelled at by Rogge who called me crazy. I just replied, “I won! “…”

“Jacques Rogge called me crazy”

The rest of his career will only be a long battle against injuries, operations and rehabilitation: “The knees are 7 or 8 times, I don’t remember, there was the shoulder in 1984 then three or four; both the wrist from 1989 and then the back of the neck after my career … “And today her body still makes her pay a heavy price:” There is a huge wear on the right shoulder that I feel now that winter approach. Knee prostheses? We’ve been talking about it for twelve or fourteen years, but I don’t have time … “

In October 1989, she won her last world title in Belgrade in  U72kg: “I turned my wrist at the very end on a movement on the ground but four days later I was still 5th in All Categories. I would have done better to give up … “

As bad luck ensued, she would never regain the integrity of her physical abilities to finally put her kimono away in 1991, a year before the Barcelona Games.

Running her club in Liegge

“During an internship in Paris, I fell back badly and I couldn’t walk. Professor Delcourt received me in Seraing at midnight. I had meniscus surgery in the morning. I told Marc, it’s over! He told me I’ll give you a month to think it over. I still went to Japan for an internship. I only climbed the tatami once thinking to myself but what am I doing here? They tried to hold me back, Jean-Marie Dedecker, the Belgian judo boss at the time, wrote me a letter but my head didn’t want it anymore and the body couldn’t take it anymore … “

In the meantime, Ingrid had married Marc Vallot, a judoka from Liège: “I wanted a child, we waited three months for me to really stop judo and Maxime arrived in March 1992 and we bought the walls of the Vital in December! “

The “Vital Club”, a (re) fitness club in the district of Fétinne in Liège which she still manages despite the death of Marc in 2001 at only 38 years old.

The Combat Knife is a solid secondary weapon in Black Ops Cold War.

While the Combat Knife is the best starting weapon in Black Ops Cold War Zombies, it can be a devastating melee weapon in multiplayer. It might not be the best option, but it is easily the most fun and satisfying.

Melee kills with the Combat Knife are just an exciting way to finish off an enemy player in Black Ops Cold War. It has been that way for several Call of Duty games in a row now. Players running with the Combat Knife will want to be quick and nimble.

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The best Combat Knife loadout in Black Ops Cold War

The Combat Knife is a secondary weapon in Black Ops Cold War. Since players will be using the knife, the primary weapon really isn’t important. Just pick whatever and move on with it.

The Combat Knife can’t have any attachments like other weapons, so there is no need to kit the thing out. Camos, accessories, and stickers can be added so go ahead and make it look as wacky as possible.

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Equipment

• Lethal: Tomahawk
• Tactical: Stimshot
• Field Upgrade: Field Mic

The Tomahawk is the only choice for lethal equipment here. It wouldn’t be as fun using any of the other lethal equipment choices in Black Ops Cold War. Throwing the Tomahawk is nothing but exhilarating after rushing through the map, racking up knife kills.

The tactical equipment is better off being a Stimshot. Zooming toward other players will typically see damage done. It the knife player makes it out alive, having a Stimshot to quickly regain health is important.

The point of a Combat Knife only loadout in Black Ops Cold War is to hunt down other players and slay them. The Field Mic will help greatly there. It will give away the position of players that pass through it, setting up the knifers next route to slice and dice.

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Wildcard and Perks

• Wildcard: Perk Greed
• Flak Jacket
• Tactical Mask
• Quartermaster
• Tracker
• Ninja
• Ghost

Perk Greed is the most obvious choice for Wildcard. It allows an extra three perks for Black Ops Cold War classes. That makes the Combat Knife loadout work exactly how it is supposed to.

Flak Jacket and Tactical mask are a clear part of the meta right now. This gives resistance against most throwable equipment. Damage from explosives and fire is reduced. Effects of flashes, stuns, gas, and more are also decreased.

Quartermaster recharges the Tomahawk and Stimshot over a short period of time. Tracker allows the Combat Knife player to see some footsteps in order to hunt down the next victim.

Ninja gives Black Ops Cold War players silent movement. That is important when running behind the next enemy to get cut down. Ghost is essential, preventing the player from appearing on Spy Planes while moving.

Published 06 Dec 2020, 00:30 IST