Sand-dance

I know, I know, I'm not very good at keeping up with my blog.  Here's the latest rundown.  Since I'm doing online high school I was able to spend over a month between Thanksgiving and New Years with my Dad in Breckenridge, CO. I loved it and it was nice to have a little "off season" of skiing and working out in the resort gym most days. I returned from Colorado and have finally gotten my feet in the sand. While Park City is buried in over 3ft of snow, I practice beach volleyball on Mondays and Tuesdays at an indoor beach volleyball facility and coach an indoor U12s team on Wednesdays and Fridays and occasionally coach tournaments on Saturdays. 

After only 4 days of touching sand since Thanksgiving, I got the opportunity to play in California this past weekend. Now lucky for me, Sundance Film Festival began last week. That means tourists, celebrities, high prices, and lots of traffic. All the Parkites know to stay hunkered down during this time of the year. But I did one better and went to the California beaches. 

My mom and I woke up at 4am on Friday morning, drove 10 hours to S. California.  We arrived at our hotel and in our room there was a beach volleyball picture.  I was meant to be.  





We then went to Hermosa Beach where my first stop was Paradise Bowls! I then met up with the girl who I partnered up with for the weekend, Leah Black (CSULB Long Beach commit). She’s such a great partner and an even better person. We planned on playing the USAV tournament and Relentless Showcase that weekend. Together we practice with one of her coaches in Hermosa for an hour and a half on Friday afternoon. After practice my mom and I ate dinner at Waterman’s on the Hermosa Pier for the first time, and let me say we were not disappointed. That night we were in bed by 7pm.

The next day Leah and I played in the USAV tournament in Manhattan Beach. This tournament was our first time playing together in a competition setting and (for both of us) the first time competing in Manhattan Beach. Eight points into our first match against Ava Gallien and Olivia Bakos (both USC commits who ended up taking 2nd in 18s), Leah landed on her foot the wrong way coming down from a block. She twisted her ankle (or popped a tendon) and was in terrible pain. So many thoughts were running through our minds. We had just traveled all the way from Park City to play with her and now she couldn’t even stand up to get off the court. We ended up forfeiting that first match. Luckily the schedule had us sitting then reffing the next two matches. That was when we were able to get Leah to the medic tent. She got her ankle wrapped up while we were trying to figure out what to do. Let me tell you, everyone was so overwhelmed and concerned for the other partner. My mom and I felt so bad for Leah because she was hurt. There is no way that we could have her play while hurt. Yet at the same time Leah was sorry because we had gone through so much to get to California to play in the tournaments. The Relentless tournament was the very next day so we had to find another girl to play with me just in case Leah couldn’t play.

Leah was very strong through the whole thing and persevered to play with me. I don’t want to make any excuses but because of all that happened and competing in CA rather than Utah I didn’t play my best game and we did not end up doing well. We were both pretty confident that had the ankle issue not happened that we would have taken second in pool and broken into the Bracket play. (We went in ranked 3rd in pool going into the tournament.) 

My mom and I drove down to Carlsbad, CA that afternoon where the Relentless College Showcase was to be held the next day. And with the mentality that “today is a new day” Leah and I played amazingly together on Sunday. We finally had that click, that yin-yang moment, the moment when you and your partner’s skills highlight each other. We took first in our pool and then waited for two hours until playoffs. That was when we began to fall apart. Our winning streak was almost over. We won the first match 28-22.  During the second match we were up 10-4, but then ended up losing with a score of 23-28 (we think, we forgot to write it down). During those last couple matches I began to get very anxious during timeouts or breaks. I was able to calm down by watching the waves hit the shore and visualize myself making a play.

Over all we finished with a 5th place in Gold Bracket U18s.  

I'm so happy (but of course want a podium finish).  I think I am the first Utah high school beach volleyball athlete to place in Gold Bracket in a showcase tournament ever! (At least from the standings/results my mom and I can find online.)

Here's the film from our first 2 matches at the Relentless showcase:

Overall it was a good weekend in California. But when you’re in California what time isn’t a good time? It sure is better than being frozen in Sundance. I will take the sunny beaches of Cali over the crowded, cold mountains of Park City any day. Sand-dance anyone?