The Crazy Life of a Beach Volleyball Player

( I realize these pictures have nothing to do with my blog post but I don't have any to go with it, so here are pictures from the Padres games I've been to!)

Haha alright, so my life might not be that crazy, but I feel like I find a way to stay really busy with out having what some might call a "real job". I, of course, consider volleyball a "real job", but some people might not see it that way since I don't have to wear "nice clothes", or work in an "office",  and maybe I'm not "the norm" because I don't actually get a "pay check", but I still think volleyball is a real job. (If you didn't get it this joke, and don't worry, most people probably didn't, go to http://www.truveo.com/Saturday-Night-Live-Update-Bennett-Brauer/id/1115877386. Yes, surprise everyone, I was pretending to be/quoting Chris Farley again.)

Ok, so onto my update of this week for me so far! Monday, I went up to 24 Hour Fitness and signed up for a membership there. I feel so grown up joining a gym! Too bad it costs money to feel grown up haha. It didn't make sense to me to actually stay and work out after signing up for a 24 Hour Fitness membership so I left to run more errands and have yet to go back and work out there. But, I'm still really glad I signed up so that next week I can actually use my membership! Haha. Just when I was about to leave to take advantage of my new membership, Scott called and said that he and Tacker (Ryne Tacker, one of his best friends from the Rice baseball team, who is also playing for the Long Beach Armada this summer) were on their way to the apartment and wanted to do a work out with me. So, instead of going up to 24 Hour Fitness (I know you all believe that was actually my plan :) ), I waited for them so that we could all go down and do a beach work out together. We did a pretty good little work out, and then another teammate of their's, Justin Segal, met us to play some beach volleyball. We played 4 or 5 games which was awesome for me because the more I can play the better! I think the guys were a little wiped out after though! I'm glad they can now appreciate how hard my "real job" actually is though. :) And, for the record, I was still going strong when we finished!

Tuesday, I got to practice with Nancy Mason and the usual group of girls I work out with. For about a month now I've been working out every Tuesday morning from 8-10 with a group of 4 or 5 girls. There are about 6 girls that are in our group but usually only 4 show up each Tuesday. Tuesday evening I joined Taylor Bukolt and his team in a league match. They play every Tuesday night and they needed another girl (it's a 4 on 4 co-ed league so there always have to be two guys and two girls on the court). We ended up winning, of course! And then Scott and I joined Taylor and his team at Sharkeez to watch the end of the Lakers game. We also went to Sharkeez because in the league Taylor plays in, the winning team wins a free pitcher (of orange juice of course!). In all seriousness though, it was really fun to play and meet more people out here so I'm really glad Taylor's letting Scott and I hang out with him some!

Wednesday was a really, really cool day for me! I got to practice with Carrie Dodd and Diane DeNecochea!!! Now, for those of you who don't know much about beach volleyball, this is a partnership who is always in the final four of tournaments and made it to the championship match last AVP event!! I mean, they are two of the top players on the beach! How did I get this opportunity you might ask? Well, Carrie Dodd (formerly Busch), was an All-American at the University of Texas. She actually took the team all the way to the NCAA Finals. You can read about her here... http://www.avp.com/The-Players/Females/D/Carrie-Dodd.aspx. So, through UT connections I met her last summer. Well, when I got out here this summer, I wanted to actually be serious and figure out a way to really get my career going. I wrote Carrie an email and asked for advice and whatever else she might have to offer. Well, along with a bunch of other stuff, she gave me an opportunity to come practice against her and her partner! So, I drove over to Carrie's house at 6:40 (yes, a.m.) and we left to practice. It was awesome!!!! For the first part of it I just got to play defense against Carrie and Diane and try to touch or dig as many balls as I could. Then, the guy who became my partner for the day showed up and we did more game like situations. I was actually able to hold my own for the most part which boosted my confidence quite considerably! Carrie and Diane were both super nice about me being there too which made it even more fun! On the drive back Carrie and I had fun telling stories about UT. Some of the same people still work there (Randa Ryan who was the saving grace for both of us!) and we knew some of the same people anyway so we just told stories back and forth which was hilarious. Oh, and the reason I even mentioned the drive back is because we drove down to San Diego for the practice. Carrie's partner lives down there so they trade off going to practice where the other one lives. Pretty crazy, huh?

On Wednesday night Scott and I headed down the street like 4 blocks to the Comedy and Magic Club. The guy I am renting my apartment from left me a free voucher for tickets to the club and it was about to expire so we decided to finally try it out. We got there about an hour and a half early to have dinner and get a good spot. There were about 5 comedians that performed and they were all absolutely hysterical! As all of you know, I'm very easily entertained, so I laughed literally the entire time, but Scott laughed most of the time too so I think it was legitimately funny!

Thursday morning I somehow talked Carrie into being the 4th girl to practice with myself, Erin Aldrich (another UT volleyball and also track alum) and Adrianna Stasiuk, who will be my partner tomorrow. We had planned to just scrimmage from about 7-9 (yes, a.m., y'all should be very impressed!) but since we pretty much got dominated in the first game (Carrie is just so good it's ridiculous) we did some game-like drills for a bit and then played two more games at the end. Adrianna and I almost won the last game so it was good we ended on a high note! After practice I drove to Long Beach to meet up with Scott and Tacker. The 3 of us headed down to San Diego so they could meet with Scott's agent, high school pitching coach, pick some of his stuff up and go to dinner with Mrs. Lonergan. We got some In-N-Out on the way down to San Diego which was amazing! I don't actually have it that much (because it's not all that great for you haha) but I do give in every once in awhile because it just tastes so good! And then after all of the errands we needed to run, Scott and I went to dinner with his mom to their favorite restaurant, Cafe Japengo. It's sushi, and it's probably the best sushi you will ever eat in your life! I definitely recommend you go there if you're ever in SD. 

So far today, I practiced with Adrianna this morning. Scott came and served to us for a bit and then Adrianna's friend Jarren came and also helped us get a good practice in. We just went light today since we have our tournament in Manhattan Beach tomorrow! Scott and I hung out the rest of the day and just relaxed. He left for his game a few hours ago and I'm headed down to Long Beach soon to cheer on the Long Beach Armada in their home opener! Jose Lima will be pitching tonight so it should be quite entertaining!

I'll write again soon!