Manhattan Beach AVP is finally here!

The back has healed and my partner, Derek Sorensen, and I had a good showing last weekend in Santa Monica at the Corona Wide Open tournament where we took a 9th place with a 3-2 record. We both pretty much took the week off to rest up for the Manhattan Beach AVP Qualifier tomorrow.

We are the #15 seed in the qualification tournament and will have to win two matches to make it into the main draw. As mentioned in this blog, I’m playing beach volleyball competitively again because I love playing on the big stage and I’d like to be able to say that I played professionally on the AVP on the new short court as well as the old-school big court. My progress can be tracked through this link – http://www.bvbinfo.com/Tournament.asp?ID=2121&Process=QBracket

Wish me luck as I battle younger and just as hungry as me competition. There are no easy days and I expect to be fully tested in order to receive my prize…it’s always more fulfilling that way anyway. Let’s do this!!!!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back…

Setbacks are a natural part of athletics as well as in life. The important thing to remember is that setbacks are only temporary. Through continuous efforts, forward progress will be made!

I’m coming off of a back injury that kept me from competing over the last few weeks. I’ve been strengthening my core and working out regularly (taking it easy when I need to) since the injury to improve my overall fitness and prepare for the next tournament, which is this weekend!

I’ll be playing in a tournament called the Corona Wide Open (www.coronawideopen.com) in Santa Monica. This is a grassroots type of beach volleyball tour that is endorsed by beach legends Karch Kiraly and Brian Lewis. In fact, I understand Karch will be playing in the four-person team competition so it should be a fun day at the beach.

This event has some good prize money in it and would be great to win of course but my sights are still set on earning a main draw spot at the AVP Manhattan Beach Open. The Manhattan Beach Qualifier will be held on Thursday, July 16th just south of the pier. This is the Wimbledon of beach volleyball and Manhattan is one of the beaches I’ve never qualified for in my career so it’d be doubly nice to get in this one! Wish me luck!!!