Did you know...

...that Dartmouth is #1 in first U.S. News ranking of 'Best Undergraduate Teaching'?

2010 Camp Dates

The dates for our 2010 Nike Volleyball camp are Sunday, July 11 through Thursday, July 15.

Camp sells out every year so be sure to register early!

Coming to camp is a great way to meet our coaching staff and see first hand our beautiful campus. We encourage campers interested in Dartmouth to participate in the Admissions Info Session and Tour while they are on campus and we can make accommodations during camp for this to happen.

Real Life Research

Last week was my first week working in Professor Collier's lab at the Thayer Engineering School. The lab is one of the largest implant retrieval labs in the country, implants being hip and knee implants. I'm still learning about everything so I'm not sure how great I can explain it but right now there are three grad students in there working on their theses due in June. Basically the general idea is that everyone is researching certain properties of UHMWPE which is the polyethylene that is the part of the implant that acts as your cartilage. There are many different projects going on right now but basically researching the properties of this polyethylene will help figure out how to better prepare it to be put in the body and therefore last longer. Sometimes the polyethylene will oxidize and pieces will break off causing inflammation and the patient to have to come back into the doctor and revise the implant.

So far this is my understanding of what is going on and right now I am just weighing samples and taking scans with a high tech microscope for the grad students to then use that data and analyze. I've also learned how to use the EPR machine in the chem lab which is a large magnet that creates a magnetic field that detects free radicals in the polyethylene samples.

The research engineer that is showing me around said her goal is to teach me how to use the machines and then hopefully later this term I can start a mini project of my own.

I'm working about 4 hours 3 times a week and getting paid as well which is a plus but the time in the lab is very beneficial not only to learn about the projects but also to just be in contact with people who have been through the Dartmouth program before and are now applying their knowledge to real life research.

This lab is in close contact with DePuy which is a major manufacturer of implant parts and the research that is done in this lab is used directly by this company and other implant manufacturers.

Even after a week the internship has inspired me a little bit to look at engineering in a different light. It's not just about memorizing the formulas and numbers but with these tools you can then apply them to real life situations and hopefully benefit someone in the long run.

-Amber Bryant (Libertyville, IL) Sophomore, DS/Libero

The Future of Sand Volleyball

The NY Times had an interesting article on Sand Volleyball as an NCAA sport yesterday. Check out the link.

2010 Recruiting tournaments

Here are the club tournaments that one or more members of our staff will be attending:

Fiesta Classic, Phoenix, AZ
Las Vegas Classic, Las Vegas, NV
Wisconsin Dells Showcase, Wisconsin Dells, WI
Colorado Crossroads, Denver, CO
Hoosier Mid-East Qualifier, Indianapolis, IN
Southern California Qualifier, Anaheim, CA
North-East Qualifier, Baltimore, MD
AAU's/JVA Championships, Orlando, FL
The Volleyball Festival, Phoenix, AZ
USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships, Reno, NV

We look forward to finding the future members of Dartmouth Volleyball!

First blog!

Welcome to the Big Green Volleyball Blog!

We are embracing technology here in the Volleyball office. We have a Facebook page for fans of Big Green Volleyball and have recently added this blog as a means of communication. We will be updating our blog about once a week during the winter and spring, perhaps less during the summer and more frequently in the fall.

The picture below was taken when Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim came to volleyball practice in August and proved that he wasn't too rusty since his playing days at Brown!