Garie Beach

Beijing 08 Beach Volleyball: What is that black thing on Kerri Walsh's (USA) right shoulder covering up?

The Beijing 08 Beach Volleyball (USA V CUBA) is airing here in Australia right now. Kerri Walsh (USA) has some black thing on her shoulder, covering what I assumed was a tattoo. I've found pictures of her to discover that she only has a small 'VISA' logo on her shoulder, not nearly big enough to warrant the massive black thing covering her whole collarbone and a weird shape on her right shoulder blade. The VISA tattoo may not even be permanent. I'm not even sure why I care, but I have to know what that black thing is covering up!

Public Comments

1. i dont think its covering up anything she had surgery on her shoulder and the black stuff is tape
2. The first day i was watching it the announcer said it was a type of bandage she wears ever since her last shoulder surgery. Its kind of like a icy hot patch to keep the pain away and the blood flowing.
3. its not covering up anything- :]The medical tape is supposed to help w/ her shoulder since she had surgery on it in november.)She is just being cautious.She's probably playing at 90 something percent strength from that shoulder atm. (which is still wayyyyy too good.lol) She doesnt really need to exert herself until the matches are more important.(also, she has improved on her finesse shots since she doesnt slam it as much now)
4. they said it was someting to keep the blood flowing in the shoulder because she had surgery not to long ago
5. she had shoulder surgery because it would kill her when she played beach volleyball.
6. It's not covering anything. It's called Kinesio tape. It's used by therapists to help support the rotator cuff, which she has had surgery to repair. So the tape helps to support the muslces of the shoulder to keep the shoulder from becoming impinged.
7. During her first game of the Olympics , one of the Sportscasters commented on the black thing covering the right shoulder of Kerri Walsh. Apparently, the black thing is some sort of a brace, that she wears to aid in the healing process because of surgery to that area of her shoulder, a short time prior to the olympics to fix an old vollyball injury. There has been a lot of speculation about the black thing, you could even say that it has a following of it's own, I just think it's neat.... Go to Google.com and ask the question "Kerri Walsh; What is the black thing?" and then take your pick of the answers that you like best.