Farewell!

Yes, I'm on a camel... thanks Mom :)

Sooo I have some sad news, but it's not really so sad!

Now that my new website is up, I am able to post blogs directly to my website!!!! The sad news is, I will no longer use this blog, but the great news is, I will still be keeping everyone updated through blogs on my new site!!! www.michellemoriarty.com - It's super easy!

Thanks everybody who has been reading my blog! I hope you keep reading it (and commenting on it because I love reading comments) on my new site!!!

WOW, Sorry!!!

Sorry for the incredibly long delay in posts! These last few weeks of my life have just FLOWN by and I am still just now trying to catch my breath!

Long Beach, NY was obviously a great trip! Taking a first place there helped my ranking out a ton and it's always fun to get a WIN!!!

Turkey (which we flew to straight from NY) was absolutely AMAZING!!! Everything about that trip made for an incredible experience. The volleyball was fun and challenging, hanging out with my USA teammates and coaches was a blast, and getting to experience a new culture was so fun! Overall, it was just an awesome trip. Emily and I finished 7th. In our pool, we had the teams that ended up finishing 2nd and 3rd in the tournament. We beat the Germans who finished 3rd, and lost to the Czech Republic team that finished 2nd. 7th was not a bad finish by any means but we were definitely good enough to medal! Oh well, now I just have to keep working hard for next year!

After Turkey I went to Milwaukee and spent some QT with my Dad's side of the family that lives in Wisconsin. It was so fun to see the Wisconsin Moriarty clan (Uncle Bruce and fam, and Grammy)! I always have so much fun when I'm with them. And, I just can't believe how grown up my little cousins are!! Tommy and AJ are college boys now and Pierce is starting high school! Craziness... The other reason I was out in Wisconsin was for another AVP U26 event. I played in this event with Dana Kabashima and we finished 3rd. It was tons of fun to play with her again!

Then, my sister Courtney and her husband Anthony came out to visit! It was SOOO wonderful to see them! Courtney is about 8 months pregnant so I'm lucky they were even able to make it out! I had so so so much fun and really appreciate them coming! We spent July 4th BBQing and watching the Astros play the Padres, then fireworks! Then, we got to hang out and enjoy the rest of the cloudy week together :)

This past weekend I played in a CBVA in Mission Beach (San Diego) with Diane Copenhagen. I grew up doing indoor USA Volleyball stuff with her so it was fun to be reunited! We played well together (especially since we never practice together) and finished 3rd! It was also a fun tournament because Scott was able to be there and his parents were in town so they got to see me play! It was so nice of them to come by!

Next up on the list is Hermosa Beach this weekend! I have the Hermosa Beach Qualifier on Friday, then the Hermosa U26 event on Sunday. Should be a fun weekend of volleyball, not to mention my sister Jennifer and her family are coming in, my Mom and Dad, and Avery (a girl I coached when I was in Austin) and her mom are coming in!

More exciting times to come!!! :) In the mean time, here are just a few pics... Also, my new website is up www.michellemoriarty.com and I will probably just start posting blogs on that site sometime soon!!!

AVP U26 Long Beach!!!!

Kim DiCello and I won the AVP U26 in Long Beach this weekend!!!!! It was sooo exciting!!!

There were 4 USA teams (the teams going over to Turkey) entered in the tournament and we had a great showing! The two mens teams played each other in the finals with Stafford Slick and Mark Van Zwieten (the U26 team) beating Madison McKibbin and Tony Ciarelli (the U23 team) for first place! It was a really exciting match... three games, 15-13 in the third!

Kim and I played four matches yesterday and ended up 4-0! Our first match was against the other USA team (Jazmin Machado and Caitlin LeDoux) and we went 3. They played great and it was a really good match. Our second match was against Cayley Thurlby and Briana Hinga and we won that in two but the second game was super close! 24-22 was the final score of the second game and it was so fun to be in a situation like that! Our third match was against the first seeded team (Kim and I were 3rd) and we won in two games, 21-14ish in both games. We ended up playing Cayley and Briana again in the finals! It was super fun and both games were back and forth up until the 21 time out. When the total of my score and my opponents score equals 21 we take a technical time out. For example, the score could be 11-10. And then Kim and I were able to pull away at the end!

It was a really fun day and we ended up having a great time going out to dinner after and celebrating the two USA victories! It ended up that the USA Women finished 1st and 5th, and the men 1st and 2nd! Go USA!

And PS Thanks to my new apparel sponsor Rox Volleyball!!! They provided me with some awesome gear to play in!!!

Jaeger Bands

Shoulder savers!! One of my good friends and sponsors is Alan Jaeger of Jaeger Sports. He is the guru of shoulders and arms, and is very well known in the baseball community. Recently he has decided that volleyball players need as much as help baseball players do when it comes to educating themselves about shoulder care. SO, we discussed the advantages and benefits to using Jaeger Bands, and he took me through the work out.

My shoulder feels way better than it ever has, and I noticed that my shoulder doesn't get nearly as sore anymore after tough practices and tournaments!

Here is a video of me doing my Jaeger Band routine! (minus the arm circles at the beginning)

Thanks Alan!

Santa Monica CBVA!!!

Champions!!!!!!

Dana Kabashima and I played in the CBVA (AAA) in Santa Monica yesterday and won it all! We played about 6 games yesterday and had two really really tough ones against one of the Canadian National Teams! We played them our very first game and very last game of the day. The format was pool play, 1 game to 21 against each team, and then play offs, 1 game to 28.

We won the championship game 28-22!!! (I think)

Here are the videos from the tournament! Both matches are against Canada.

TURKEY, here I come!!!!

TURKEY!!!!!!!!!!! Here I come!!!!
Here are links to the information I have on Turkey!

http://www.wubc2010.org/ - Tourney site - apparently it doesn't have a ton of info but it has cool pics!
http://www.fisu.net/en/Beach-Volleyball-2010-1700.html - FISU website, which is the World University Games organization.
I can't believe it's only a week away!

I am already in San Diego right now getting all ready to head to the Chula Vista OTC!!! We will be training Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then heading back to LA to fly out to New York. We (meaning me and the other USA players- 2 girls teams and 2 boys teams) will play in the AVP U26 event in Long Beach, NY. After that we will fly to Turkey to train for a few days, then start playing!!!

I am so excited for the journey I'm going to be on the next few weeks! I can't believe how lucky I am to have these opportunities. I definitely thank God every day for what He has given me!

Huntington Qualifier Broadcast!!!

My first match tomorrow will be broadcast live!!! The link is http://www.network1sports.com/stations/avp.asp

My partner is Tori Grafeman and one of her friends is a broadcaster. He wants to get into some AVP stuff so he got permission from the AVP to broadcast our game. How cool is that???

Anyway, if you have time tomorrow around 11am (west coast) listen in to hear my match! Tomorrow is the qualifier and Tori and I need to win 3 matches to get into the main draw. It's totally do-able so we need to get in there, take it one match a time and "get 'er done"! :)

Hope you get to enjoy the match! Hook'em!