Holly Stein Photo

History

In 1997, Dax was the AVP Rookie of the Year after finishing second in the U.S. Championships. He then captured an event title in six straight seasons from 1998-2003, sharing the lead for all American men in domestic victories this century with 11.

However in 2003, he had exploratory arthroscopic surgery on his knee to repair a full thickness tear in his femoral articular cartilage. The orthopedic surgeon explained that his volleyball career was over. Armed with that disappointing news, Dax discovered P3 in his home town and he started training shortly after the surgery.

Training

Dax’s movements had to be completely retrained; he tended to overload his knees by pushing them to far forward, putting most of his bodyweight and force over his toes. By emphasizing better mechanics through jumping exercises and proper squat technique, Dax began to change the way he interacted with ground, both during landing and take-offs, by applying force through the ball and arch of his feet.

Results

After several months of consistent training, he qualified for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece with Stein Metzger, taking fifth place. In 2005, he finished ranked second on the Tour in digs (909), and ninth in both kills (1,108) and aces (48). At 34 years of age and entering his 10th professional season, he is one of the top players in professional beach volleyball. An MRI in the summer of 2006 even showed the cartilage defect from 2003 had filled in without any surgical intervention. It had been repaired through reprogramming of movement patterns and muscular activation training.