Thailand and Off Season

This was just the view from where we were playing in Thailand, no big deal. The tournament did not go as well as we'd hoped; we didn't manage to qualify for the main draw, but Jamie and I got some quality training in together as a team. And, of course we were in Phuket with pristine beaches, so that helped a little too. Since this was the last tournament of the 2011 season, we decided to start our time off with style. 

Before heading up to Bangkok, we visited the Khai Islands for some snorkeling and relaxing.

Once we got that important stuff out of the way, we flew up to Bangkok to visit my good friend Heather, who let us stay in her apartment for a week. Exploring this neat city was very exciting, definitely a change of pace from the island life we were living in Phuket. 

    

After a week of crazy traffic, awesome shopping deals, delicious food, monitor lizards, motorcy's, giant buddhas, light festivals and unnaturally tight shorts it was sadly time to head back home to Toronto.

I can't thank Heather and Greg enough for being such amazing hosts. You guys really showed us why you love Bangkok so much and I can't wait to crash on your couch again next year!

Not gonna lie, coming home to cold, rainy weather and dealing with the 12 hour time change kind of sucked. I really miss the consistent 30C sunny days of Thailand. But, now that I'm home, I'm taking this time off from training to rehab my shoulder. I had a procedure done that had me in a sling for a week, and I figured I may as well have my wisdom teeth out at that time since I can't be training anyway. What a week. Having one working arm and swollen chipmunk cheeks all at once was definitely an experience I don't want to repeat. Ever. 

Things are looking up though! I am slowly regaining the use of my arm again and my face has shrunk to it's normal size. Now it's rehab rehab rehab to get back into training mode for January. I miss the sand, can't wait to get back at it!!

Update

I think I'm overdue for an update! Quite a lot has happened since we got back from China. Caleigh and I had a week to get over jet-lag and train for the National Championships. We ended up with a 4th place finish. A respectable finish, no doubt, but we had our sights a little higher, so it was a bit disappointing.

I've also recently made a decision to start playing with a new partner. This was a really tough decision to make. I loved playing with Caleigh; she is a great person to train, compete and travel with. (Not to mention an awesome defender!) We are just in different points in our lives at the moment so I made the switch.

My new partner is Jamie Broder. For the past month we have been training hard in the gym and getting some good sessions in on the sand. We'll be debuting as a partnership at the last tournament of the 2011 season in Phuket, Thailand. I'm really excited to compete! 6 days until departure!!

FISU wrap-up

I just got home after two memorable weeks in Shenzhen, China. The FISU Games were such an amazing experience, definitely one I will never forget. We arrived several days before our first day of competition to adjust to the 12 hour time change, and the smokin hot weather! Every day we were there was hot and sunny... and I don't think I can emphasize the heat enough. I've never competed in a hotter climate. Even just walking around the athlete's village, everyone got used to constantly sweating. Luckily water was always readily available and free for the athletes.

This whole event was so well organized. Each sport had it's own bus route with a daily schedule to take athletes to their respective venues. On the day of opening ceremonies, 300 coach busses took all 14,000 athletes to the stadium. The streets and highways were shut down for us, and locals lined the streets to wave at us as we drove by. We constantly felt like celebrities.

The opening ceremonies were so elaborate and massive that it took your breath away. Walking into the stadium with all the athletes from your country was so cool, I felt so proud to be Canadian!

Getting back to volleyball... After a few solid days of training we had our first day of pool play.

Day 1: Pool Play

We faced a Czech Republic team first and beat them in 2 (21-19. 21-17). Then we played Ukraine and also won in 2 (21-13, 21-11).

Day 2:

We faced China 2 in our last game of pool play. This time the game was tighter as China put up a good fight. We ended up taking the the win in the 3rd set (19-21, 21-16, 15-9).

Day 3: Double Elimination

The following day was the start of double elimination. We were matched up against USA. We had a bit of slow start, losing the first set 17-21, but then Caleigh and I found our rhythm and dominated the next two sets with scores of 21-10 and 15-7. Here's a little interview we did with the CIS after the game.

Our second game that day was against Italy. I'd seen them play a little in their pool and knew that they were a strong team. The first set was so exciting, we had a come-from-behind win in overtime with a score of 24-22. The second set was also extremely close, and we probably could have squeaked out the win if Caleigh and I hadn't collided during a play. I twisted my knee pretty badly and had to call a medical timeout. After getting my knee taped up, we resumed play and lost by only 2 points (19-21). Despite the pain in my knee, I was feeling really good and felt like we were going to take the match. I was so determined to win, and we were playing so well, I knew it was possible. We were up in the third set the whole game, but at the very end (close to our match point) the momentum shifted and Italy started to play well and make smart tactical decisions. They ended up stealing the game away from us with a score of 14-16. I can't even describe how heartbreaking this loss was. To put all your heart and energy into a game and lose by 2 points in the third set was so upsetting. This was a game we felt we deserved to win between playing as well as we did and my knee injury, but apparently it just wasn't meant to be.

Day 4:

We still hadn't gotten over yesterday's loss against Italy, but Caleigh and I knew we had to snap out of it for our next game, because we were up against a really good team from Mexico. One of the girls is my friend Martha, who I have played a couple of times on the NORCECA tour. I had a bad serving game, missing most of my serves... but somehow we made up for it in our side out and defence and pulled off a 2 set victory (21-19, 21-19).

Our next game was against Thailand. This team had a lot of energy and strength and managed to outplay us. Caleigh and I played well, but Thailand just played better that day and won 17-21, 17-21.

This was a disappointing loss, because it meant we were out of the tournament, with a place of 13th out of 32 teams. This is not the result Caleigh and I were hoping for, but this experience has still been extremely valuable for us as a team. We got some great practice playing against international teams that will no doubt make us stronger and help us prepare for the upcoming Nationals at the end of the week. Bring it on!

Gearing up for FISU

We leave for China in less than a week! I am so excited to get there and experience a multi-sport event at such a high level. I was invited to be a guest on the FAN590 radio show last weekend to talk about participating in the games. I'd like to thank David Grossman and Cecilia Carter-Smith for making the experience most enjoyable! Click here to listen to the podcast.

Opening ceremonies for FISU take place on August 12th, and our first day of competition is on the 14th. The beach volleyball tournament is organized in a pool play format. There will be 8 pools, each with 4 teams. As Canada 1, we are pooled with the Czech Republic, Ukraine and China 2.

Caleigh and I will train hard this week in preparation for the games, and for Provincials, which are happening on the weekend. We'll play the two day tournament (Saturday & Sunday) before leaving for China the following Monday morning! This is going to be one busy week.

FISU Games

It's official! The list of athletes that will be representing Canada at the World University Games has been released. Caleigh and I are CAN1 on the women's side for beach volleyball.

The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that happens every two years. The only event that has more participating athletes and countries is the Olympics. Each athlete must be a full-time university student, or have graduated the year before the event (like me!).

The games will take place in Shenzhen, China during August 12-23.

It's such an honour to be chosen, we are so excited to go and compete!

Visit the Varsity Blues and CIS websites for more info.

Hermosa Beach

After the tournaments in China, we were planning to go to Morelia, Mexico for a NORCECA tournament. Unfortunately, that tournament got cancelled, so we had to change our plans. Since our flight was flying into LAX anyway, we decided to take advantage of the location and stay for a week. We got in touch with some coaches and organized a training schedule for the week.

We're staying at a little motel, right on Hermosa Beach! The location couldn't be better. We're steps away from the Pacific Ocean, cute shops and restaurants. And of course, training is within walking distance too.

It's nice to have some experience with other coaches and train outdoors in another environment before heading home and training there, where we'll spend most of the summer. For now, we're having a blast in LA!

Sanya and Shanghai, CHINA

After getting back to Toronto from Guatemala, I only had 1 week to train with Caleigh for our 2 big upcoming tournaments in China. The preparation wasn't ideal, but we worked hard and did what we could. Luckily, Caleigh and I seem to click and playing together seems to come pretty naturally.

We left for our first stop, Sanya, on April 21. We got there a few days before the tournament started in order to train and get used to the 12 hour time change. We also met up with our friends, the owners of the Fat Daddy's restaurant we found last year. As always, they hooked us up with some delicious (american) food and came to cheer us on during the games.

Caleigh and I played France in the first round. I wasn't sure what to expect, because this was our first time competing together, and it was also Caleigh's first FIVB qualifier match! The game ended up going very well for us, once we got over some nerves at the beginning. We played a solid match, winning 21-17, 21-15.

After that we moved on to play in the second round. We faced a team from Italy ranked 3rd (we're ranked 35th). The game took place on Centre Court in the middle of the day with the sun blaring down at us and no wind to cool us down. We battled through the match, but ended up falling to the Italians in a tight third set (17-21, 24-22, 14-16). This was a tough loss because it was so close! But Caleigh and I played really well, and keeping pace with a good team like this was encouraging for us.

Next we went on to play in Shanghai. The weather was much cooler there, which I actually preferred (even though we had to play some games in tights to stay warm!). Same as in Sanya, we had to win three Qualification matches in a row to be able to make the Main Draw. When we looked up who we were supposed to play in the first round, we were bummed to find out we were up against our friends (and my former partner) Kacie and Julie. It's unfortunate that the draw worked out this way, and one Canadian team was guaranteed to be knocked out first round. Regardless, Caleigh and I treated it as any other 1st round match. We came up with a good game plan and fought hard throughout the game. We ended up winning the match 16-21, 21-15, 15-12.

In the 2nd round we faced another Italian team (this one was ranked 5th). We pulled off an upset, winning the match 21-16, 21-18. (We were ranked 37th this time).

Our final match was against a team from the Netherlands. By this point in the day, we were pretty tired and I think that affected our play a little bit. This was a solid team that made very few errors so it was important that we stayed focused the entire time. We were up almost the entire first set, but we lost some steam and they took the set 21-19. The wind picked up in the second set and we had a lot of difficulty with that, losing 14-21. It was exiting to make it this far in the tournament, but disappointing because we got so close to the Main Draw. At least Caleigh and I are moving up with each tournament we play. I'm really looking forward to training with Caleigh this summer and becoming an even stronger team.

For now, we're off to Hermosa Beach in California for a week of training outdoors before heading back home! Life is pretty good!!

Guatemala

Jamie and I just got home after spending a week in Guatemala. Our friend MaJo, who plays for Guatemala, came to pick us up from the airport. It was so nice to see her again! We arrived there a few days early to get used to the sun, wind and altitude. Our first few training sessions weren’t exactly pretty, but it was so good to get outside. We got train with players from Guatemala, Mexico and Costa Rica.

The training court.

This tournament was set up in a pool-play format. We were pooled Mexico1 and Trinidad and Tobago. Out of nowhere, I started feeling really sick the day/night before we were supposed to play our first game. I’m pretty sure I had a fever and I barely got any sleep. The next morning we played Mexico and I tried to get my energy up for the game. I think they saw that I was not feeling very well so they went after me with their serves… throwing in a lot of short serves too, making me spend more energy running up to pass them. It was not a pretty sight.... I was dying! It was a really tough match for me, I was so bummed that I happened to randomly get sick. I know I would have been a much more threatening opponent if I was feeling better. We lost that match 17-21, 18-21. Disappointing, but it could have been worse, considering my health and the fact that it was our first real game outdoors. Later that day we played Trinidad. That game went a little bit more smoothly, we won,21-8, 21-13.

Sam and Mav playing on the main court.

The next day was playoffs. Because we came second in our pool, we had a really tough match up. We played Cuba in the first round. Luckily I was feeling much better than the day before. This time the match was much more exciting. Cuba is a really strong team and the sets were tight (18-21, 23-21), but we couldn’t manage to pull off a win. That meant we were out of the tournament. Hugely disappointing, to say the least!

However, Heather and Liz had a great tournament, going undefeated! great job girls!

So although the results we got weren’t what we’d hoped for, this tournament was still a good chance for Jamie and I to get some playing time outside this early in the season. Now Jamie is off to play a tournament in Monaco. And now that Caleigh is finished with her exams, we’ll be heading off to China in a couple of days. (Unfortunately, we just found out that the tournament in Morelia, Mexico got cancelled. Too bad!) I’d like to thank everyone who helped us out and showed us around, especially MaJo who went out of her way to make us feel at home. We really appreciate it! Guatemala was a cool place to visit, even though the city was a little bit dangerous. We were advised to not go out alone, so we ate most of our meals in the hotel. Seeing guys walking down the street with a shotgun slung over their shoulder was no surprise.

Our shuttle to the tournament site was also followed by a police escort! We heard stories about people having their cell phones taken at gunpoint while sitting a red light. Despite all that though, we all had a great time. I hope I get to go back next year.

Here we go again! 2011 getting started

After spending the winter months training in Toronto, the 2011 season is finally starting to get underway. There have been a few changes for me since last season. First of all, our training location has changed. The national teams now train out of the Downsview Hangar in north Toronto. It’s an old airplane hangar that has been converted into a sports centre. It’s pretty neat because our beach courts are surrounded by indoor soccer fields and a ball hockey rink. In other news, I have a new partner! I will be playing with Caleigh Whitaker for the 2011 summer season. Although she’s younger than me, I’m pretty sure she’s been playing beach volleyball for a lot longer. She had some amazing results last year like coming in 2nd at the Kelowna tournament and 4th at Nationals. She also went to junior worlds in Turkey. She’s an awesome defender and I’m really looking forward to start competing with her. Our first tournament together this year will be in Sanya, China followed by Shanghai, then Morelia, Mexico… all in one trip! We’ll be on the road for about 4 weeks during April and May. There’s a tournament in Guatemala coming up in 3 weeks, but Caleigh can’t make it because all of her exams are happening during that time! So, while Caleigh is studying and writing her exams, I will be going to Guatemala with Jamie Broder. Jamie and I played our first tournament together last year in the Cayman Islands, so it’s funny that it worked out that we could play again this year. I’m so excited to get outside and play!