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MASON, Ohio -- Dont let the sun and the sand and the beach party atmosphere fool you: An Olympian is an athlete first, even when shes wearing a bikini. Joe Montana Youth Jersey .While covering beach volleyball at two Summer Games, I heard plenty about the sex appeal of the sport, with the skimpy suits worn by the women attracting most of the attention. I knew there was much more to it, but it wasnt until I got on a court with an Olympic gold medalist that I understood just what makes the sport so difficult: Its the sand itself -- slowing every step, cutting short every jump and conspiring with the beating sun to wear down even the fittest bodies.Or even one belonging to a fortysomething sports writer.During a professional tour event outside Cincinnati this spring, I had a chance to hit the ball around with two-time Olympian and 2008 gold medalist Todd Rogers. Aptly nicknamed The Professor, Rogers is the coach at Cal Poly, where he took over a team that had won one match in each of its previous two seasons and led it to an 11-12 record in his first year.This would prove to be an even bigger challenge.I gave Rogers and his teammate, Robbie Page, a ride over to the practice facility that was the warmup area for players in the AVP Cincinnati Open, the last American stop for the FIVB tour before the close of Olympic qualification. Page, at 7-feet tall, could barely avoid kissing his knees in my midsized rental car.Rogers asked if I had ever played volleyball before, and I told him I had hit the ball around enough to know what I was supposed to do, if not how to do it. But my limited experience in a gym class on a hardwood basketball court did not prepare me to play outdoors, on the sand.Rogers started out by just tossing the ball over the net to me, under-handed, and that proved easy enough; I was able to return a few serves back to him, and pass most others to where my partner would be waiting. Then he stepped back and lofted some easy serves in my direction, and I really figured out what makes the sport so challenging.First there was the movement of the ball, which from a skillful server comes in like a knuckleball in baseball, darting around and confounding any attempt to hit it squarely. The wind also plays a part; many times I thought I had the ball lined up, only to see it drift off course.The hardest part, though, proved to be just moving around.While I lacked the spatial judgment and reaction time of the elite athletes on the courts next to me, even when I correctly determined where to go to hit the ball it just took me too long to get there. I seemed to be moving in slow motion in the 16-inch layer of sand, like in those movies where the sound didnt quite sync up with the actors lips.As Rogers began to speed up his serves -- though still closer to batting practice than full-speed -- more often than not the ball would bounce past me for an ace or, if I was lucky, carom wildly off my increasingly reddening forearms onto a nearby court.On one serve, I didnt even bother. Instead, I watched the ball bounce off the sand a few feet away, turned back to Rogers and said: That was my partners. (This is an old stand-by in beach volleyball, so common it has a name: The husband and wife.)My only problem: I didnt have a partner.Still, Rogers was impressed at how quickly I was picking up the excuses, if not the actual skills.Afterward, he told me some of the things I was doing wrong.Although much of it was due to physical shortcomings, I was also awaiting the serves with my hands together, ready to pass. A pro -- actually, pretty much everyone -- knows that its easier to move with his arms free and only lock them when the ball clears the net. (Young players who make this mistake are often told to run laps around the court with their hands locked, to remind them how much more difficult it is.)I thanked Rogers for the lesson and wished him luck in the tournament. Later that day, I bumped into him back at the venue, where a fan was hoping for a picture with him. I offered to take it.Youre really doing it all, he said, running through the tasks he had witnessed that day: Driver, writer, photographer.And beach volleyball player, too, I reminded him.Nah, he said, better leave that off the list.---Jimmy Golen has covered Olympic beach volleyball for The Associated Press since 2008. You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jgolen. Terrell Owens Womens Jersey . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. Tom Rathman Youth Jersey http://www.49ersrookiestore.com/49ers-Nick-Bosa-Jersey/ . However, he did make them miss him a little less. Cundiff, who had the unenviable job of replacing Dawson last season, agreed Thursday to a one-year, $1. TWICKENHAM -- Eddie Jones has backed George Ford to surpass Beauden Barrett as the worlds best fly-half in the wake of his commanding performance in Englands 58-15 win over Fiji on Saturday.While Jones faced the press at Twickenham soon after Englands nine-try victory, Barrett was putting in his own man-of-the-match performance for the All Blacks against Ireland.Barrett was crowned World Rugbys Player of the Year -- Jones made the tongue-in-cheek comment Kiwis run everything mate. When you run everything, youve got a good chance of winning it-- last Sunday but Jones feels Ford has the potential to take the Kiwi playmakers crown in the future.I think he can be better than Beauden Barrett - no doubt about that, Jones said. People rave about Beauden Barrett but I dont.It was Fords alignment in the backs that pleased Jones so much along with his role in phase play. He feels the Bath fly-half, whose club future is up in the air, is embracing a sense of security with England but wants him to improve his attacking game with ball in hand.I just think hes got a great feel for the game, Jones continued. He sees opportunities. He needs to work on his running game a bit, which we will work on. He needs to be more of a threat himself. Hes actually too selfless. He needs to be a bit more selfish with the ball at times and he will start to develop that in his game.?Ford has started all but one match in the Jones era with the anomaly coming against Australia in that first Test in Brisbane but even then he was introduced after just 29 minutes to work in tandem with Owen Farrell.The week leading up to the match against Fiji included fresh speculation over the fly-halfs Bath future with him reportedly assessing his options ahead of the summer but on Saturday he played with a calm, assuredness despite being on the wrong end of some rough justice from the opposition. Terrell Owens Jersey. .Ford agrees with Jones that he needs to attack the line more and says the England coach challenges him on his alignment and when to be flatter and deeper. But aged just 23, Ford still has room to grow into and he dedicates his time away from the field learning from other fly-halves past and present.I try to watch as many games as possible, especially the other fly-halves around the world, Ford said. Its intriguing to watch how the others play, how they manage the game, how they attack, how they defend, their kicking game.You can always pick things up and learn things and be a student of the game and learn by watching as many games as possible and by learning from the best players in the world. Its something I enjoy doing.England now turn attention to Argentina as they look to stretch their unbeaten run to 13 games, 12 of which have come under Jones. They have George Kruis, Jonny May and Mike Brown back in contention to face the Pumas and Jones is focusing on finding the right tactics to tackle Argentinas unpredictability.Argentina are a tricky side, not an easy side to play against and were going to have to prepare really well to beat them, Jones said. Its about finding the right balance between playing structured and unstructured.We need to get an advantage in the set piece which is difficult against them, so weve got to find ways to do that, and then make them play unstructured rugby from situations theyre not great in. ' ' '