Just received our latest installment for the Blog, from AVP superstar April Ross. She talks about, the AVP HOT Winter Nights tour, her win, indoor beach volleyball (yea!) and her travel stories with the AVP.
[ APRIL ROSS - - - HOT WINTER NIGHTS ]
Hey
everyone! I just returned home from my
travels to the cold and colder...
...parts of America for the AVP's Hot Winter Nights
Tour. Before the trip I had a hard time
imagining what indoor beach volleyball might look like, what kind of a crowd we
would get in these subzero, nowhere near a beach, places, etc., but luckily it
far exceeded my expectations. There was
one center court set up in the middle of the arena and sponsor booths all
around it for the fans. A lot of people
came out to watch us in shelter from the cold and to my pleasant surprise they
were relatively knowledgable fans and really excited about getting a taste of
beach volleyball in the middle of their winter. I guess that's really not too surprising, I don't know anyone who
doesn't love live beach volleyball.
Anyway, I
had a ton of fun experiencing a couple of places I have never been before-
Minneapolis, Minnesota and Columbus, Ohio. We were actually supposed to drive from one to the other on a bus(15
hours!), but luckily Brad (my boyfriend on the tour) and I got to fly due to
media obligations. We still had to leave
at four a.m. for the airport, but I just popped my daily POM pill to make sure
I didn't get sick from being run down and I was good to go. It must have worked
because I nabbed 1st place at the Columbus stop.
There are
only four women's player and four men's players at each tournament during the
winter tour, but they are all very high level players and we play round robin
format so it's a lot harder than it sounds. I went 3-0 in pool play and then chose Rachel Wacholder as my partner
for the final and we ended up winning a very close game 17-15.
Both the
men's winner and the women's winner get to go accept their big checks and spray
champagne in celebration after the competition (which I was pretty pumped to
do), but the men's winner, Kevin Wong, decided he wasn't going to let me get to
the champagne and instead emptied both bottles all over me. I can't describe how muddy and sticky I felt
after that, but the crowd ate it up and I have to admit it was kinda funny.
Although
the win doesn't count toward my points on the AVP circuit or toward the
Olympics, I found it a very valuable experience. Jen Boss (my partner) and I have been
training since the beginning of January so it served as a good measure against
some of our toughest competition at this stage in the game, and the results
were pretty good. I can't wait to get
out on the sand everyday and work as hard as possible to give myself the best
shot at making the Olympics and this win in Columbus is just that much more
motivating. I will be at the tour stops
in Oregon and Washington also, so make sure you stay tuned!
Just received our latest installment for the Blog, from AVP superstar April Ross. She talks about, the AVP HOT Winter Nights tour, her win, indoor beach volleyball (yea!) and her travel stories with the AVP.
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