July 21, 2021 – By NJP (UPDATED)

The Olympics start at the end of this week in Tokyo and there is a brilliant air of excitement around Volleyball. The International scene provides dynamic match-ups for both men and women indoor, and of course for beach followers as well. NJP will unleash the “Predictor” on the International community and attempt some ground breaking prognostication efforts for the once every four year sports event.

Unfortunately, there have been 61 cases of COVID already in Olympic venues in Tokyo so far and many of the athletes have not even arrived. So we stay tuned for more news that can disrupt the games or disrupt the lives of the many athletes that have trained so hard to get there. It’s one thing to take your years of training and fall short against the best of the best, but not getting the chance to compete will just be heartbreaking. Hopefully, this virus will stay away from the hard court and beach areas and allow these great players to fulfill their dreams in Tokyo in their quest to earn their medals.

The latest victim of COVID is USA beach player Taylor Crabb. This is stunning blow to the USA beach program as Crabb and his teammate Jake Gibb were the fifth ranked men’s team in the Olympics. Crabb will likely be replaced by Tri Bourne who reportedly is already on his way to Tokyo.

We will be presenting an interesting twist for NJP’s coverage of “The Games”. Tune in Friday when we present our picks for pool play in all 4 categories. We will also have some special invited guests who will be throwing their hats in the ring against us as they try to “Beat The NJP Predictor”.

As impossible as that task may be… we have several Volleyball personalities who have agreed to take us on! 🙂

Stay tuned!