Hey Volleyball fans, earlier this week, volleyball Super-Star April Ross shot us another installment with a really GREAT << picture, for the POM Blog! It's a must read for all April Ross / Volleyball fans.
April shared some pretty cool stuff with us, like her thoughts on...The off season, Beijing Olympics, Fixin' up the house, Her Christmas party -and we all know that April Ross + Delicious 'n Nutritious POM Cocktails = One really great holiday party --guaranteed!!!
[ APRIL ROSS - - - OFF SEASON and THE HOLIDAYS ]
Off season is wonderful. It took me about two weeks to readjust to the Pacific time zone after I finished the season in Thailand...
... about a month ago But other than that I have been soaking up as much rest and relaxation as I can....I tried
to take some real time off of working out and training, I shot for a whole week
of doing nothing so that my body could relax and recover a bit, but that lasted
two days exactly. It came down to one
simple realization... if I'm not working toward my goal of doing even better
next season and gaining a bid to the Olympics, then I'm working against
it. I have consciously decided to
evaluate the time I have every day and think about how best I can use it to inch
me closer to my goals, hence I have chosen to start pre-season early.
This
train of thought I have going was put into even clearer focus a couple weekends
ago when I attended the Beijing Ambassador Program. Athletes most likely headed to the '08 games
were invited to the orientation to participate in exercises, to listen to
speakers and to meet fellow athletes that could be representing the USA in Beijing. I must admit I was beyond hesitant going in,
but as that was the case I easily got much more out of it than I ever expected.
Two
particular speakers in the program really inspired me. One was Rulon Gardner who recounted for us
his journey to and through the Athen Games. He shared with us how much hard work and belief in yourself it takes,
and took him to achieve his goals, specifically to win a gold medal, and
especially if you're an underdog. As
Rulon entered the 2004 Olympics no one expected him to do much, but he used all
the hard work he had put in the past four years as motivation, inspiration and
focus to not only reach the gold medal match, but to take down his, not just
undefeated, but never beaten competitor and win the gold. And the one piece of advice he gave us as the
weekend came to a close was to not wait for tomorrow and it definitely struck a
cord in me.
Peter
Vidmar also told a very motivating tale of his quest for the Olympic gold
medal. His was about the hard work he
put in everyday despite the exhaustion he felt and his lack of excitement for
gymnastics after doing it every day, year after year. There are definitely times when I think what
I'm doing is the most annoying and boring thing in the world, but I know that
even in those times I have to push through and Peter definitely reinforced that
feeling and is a walking example of how much it can pay off if you do. He ended up winning several medals including
two gold and one silver.
There
were other great stories that were told that weekend as well and I have taken a
little of each one with me and definitely applied it to my training. Overall, it was a great experience and I hope
that I can make it worth attending if you know what I mean :).
I've also
taken some time to work on the house my sister and I share, which has needed it
for a long time. And from what I can
gather, this time of year seems to be "fix up the house" time for a
lot of AVP players. My sister and I have
been doing so much around the house, putting up new drapes, painting,
decorating, hanging shelves, cleaning out the garage, that a lot of days I
don't know if I'd consider this off season. We're rookies at it too so it takes at least twice as long to do
anything. Everything is coming along
really well though and I think we're almost done with the inside.
We're
throwing a little Christmas cocktail party for some of our friends tonight so
hopefully all the redecorating will go over well. We'll be serving up plenty of POM Cocktails, it's a perfect color for the Christmas theme! And we can't forget the POMx anti-oxidant pills before and after drinking, they really help keep you afloat, which is
awesome since I have a holiday brunch tomorrow morning! Tis' the season though,
right?
Well, I hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday season and that it continues through the New Year. Thanks for keeping up with me!
Comments