As much as I love watching sports, I love, love, love to play them. Beach volleyball is a secret passion of mine. There's something about being out in the summer sun, getting a little sandy, and going airborne for a monster spike that feels so satisfying.
Grace Wang (dead center) was living in Cleveland at the time (this was 2015) and got the urge to play organized beach volleyball. She knew I'd be down so once she reached out, she didn't have to ask twice. Now a few of us on the team had actually played on competitive squads before and the rest of us who hadn't, had some sort of raw talent. So even though we didn't know the competition, we felt pretty good.
We were pretty dominant in our run and maybe only lost two sets if I recall correctly. But we did it with a different team nearly every week. We had players who were listed on our squad but were limited as to when they played. Sometimes we were even short a person and called upon someone's most available friend.
We made the upper end of the playoffs, but our first playoff set was incredibly rocky. We only had five people and no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get a sixth. So we played those games a man down. Our first game wasn't a blowout, but we still suffered a crushing defeat and were staring elimination in the face. We weren't going to let the season end like this, so we rallied hard and dominated the second game. I think the other team had underestimated us and now knew that even one short, we were trouble.
The third and final game was very close and both teams fought tooth and nail. But like David verses Goliath, we pulled out the W and were on to the next round. Going into it, we knew we were going to be facing teams who could be considered borderline professional. And the team we faced were pretty darn near close.
We had a full squad going against them, but simply put, we got smoked. We did fight as if our lives depended on it, but we were no match for an ace server, a very unselfish setter, and a team full of high flying spikers.
Was I disappointed? Duh. But that weekly league, with these wonderful people, was one of the big highlights of my summer. And if I ever forgot everything else from the summer of 2015, this photo will serve as a reminder of what a blast it was.
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