Due to a lack of connection to the internet, I have been behind in my writings. I have been thoroughly been made aware of this by friends and family, so I’ll try to update and make up for it, now! Thank you all so much for following our progress on this amazing journey!!!
To quickly summarize, we arrived in Athens, Greece, to train with the amazing Greek national team (Arvaniti-Tsartsiani) and their phenomenal coach (Mr. Deickmann), and have gained so much and loved the opportunity to be here and focus on volleyball and train with them! We then played in the Continental Cup Beach Volleyball tournament on the island of Rhodes, Greece, and took the GOLD medal with our combined efforts in this newly-formatted Olympic-qualifying process set up by the FIVB (the international beach volleyball federation through which Olympic qualifying takes place). We then returned to Athens to train and then flew to Chennai, India, for an FIVB Challenger tournament. We stayed there for a week, went undefeated through the qualifier tournament, as was necessary to qualify for the main draw of the tournament that started the next day. We defeated teams from India and Sri Lanka for our spot in the main draw.
That week in Chennai, one of the most conservative parts of India, was certainly an amazing experience! Our record for the main draw was 2-2. We defeated Norway and Spain, and lost to Germany (who ended up 2nd place) and Canada, both in barn burner matches! We learned and gained so much from the tournament and had some great and very productive talks after each loss we endured, becoming a stronger, better communicating team with each opportunity to play. That is priceless! So, even though 13th place is not our ideal finish and we are aware that we are capable of and GOING to be achieving much, much better finishes, this tournament drilled in some lessons that may not have otherwise been learned as strongly, and we are better off because of it! Plus, it’s only our second FIVB tournament together (not counting our very first time playing 3 years ago), so it is a starting point leading to bigger, better, stronger, faster, and constantly improving results!
Now, where should I begin in describing our experience in India….. WOW! Well, we were pumped with warnings, advice, precautions, and the do’s and don’ts of India for tourists before arriving. We tried to be as prepared as possible with vitamins, Immodium, electrolytes, lots of hand sanitizer, and warm-weather gear. We took Qatar Airlines from Athens-Doha-Chennai. And upon boarding the flight from Doha to Chennai, we were slammed with the intense smell of sweat and curry from the airplane full of Indian travelers. WOW!!!!! I have never smelled anything quite like it! The Qatar Airlines airline attendants were prepared and let us know over the loudspeaker right before they walked up and down the isles spraying a continuous stream of air sanitizer. That was definitely a first - and a much appreciated one!
The Indian Volleyball Federation had set it up so that our hotel and meals were pretty much covered for the teams attending the tournament. The hotels provided the meals, and the adventurous side of me really kicked in as I dove in to the array of curry dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I love spices and I love sampling different cuisines from all over the world. My body, though, is used to a very healthy lifestyle, and the shock to the system is felt still today, though I’m at the tail end of that J .
The tournament site itself was on Marina Beach, where we later learned that bikinis are actually forbidden!!! Thank goodness we had the support of the mayor of the town! Other mayors (of other towns) had threatened to open fire if they brought bikinis to their beaches! YIKES! But we had security at our site and there was never a problem. It’s always interesting to learn these kinds of things midway through the tournament. The female Indian teams wore uniforms of sleeveless t-shirts and long shorts, unlike the rest of us teams from all over the world who, unaware of the controversy, wore our regular bikini uniforms. The crowds that attended the matches were composed of 99.9% men. The only women there were either players or female workers or security. To our wonderful surprise, the women were among the sweetest, kindest, most beautiful sites there! Instead of disdain for our differing cultural standards regarding body display, they were curious, interested, and very friendly. For example, in the meeting for the main draw teams, the two Indian teams (four gals) sat next to me and you’d think we were friends for years…. By the time the meeting was over, I had a red and a black dot on my forehead and the beautiful, traditional, fragrant flowers pinned in my hair! It was so funny!
The other amazing thing was that just a smile in the direction of the local women sparked their faces to brighten up and shine like a star with a huge smile in return. It was a shocking and wonderful surprise! Christina mentioned to me that she thinks that I am quite a phenomenon for them, being tall and long legged. And upon walking off the court from a match, the females would shower me with compliments. It was quite interesting! When we played the Indian team in the qualifier tournament, we were surprised at how honored they were to play against us. They were a newer team to beach volleyball, and after our win, the other team, the referees, and the crowd and team families wanted to take photographs with us and talk with us and share with us about themselves. I picked up one of the Indian gals and held her up in the air in front of me to the surprise and delight of the crowd. I love to do acts of strength for pictures, as can be seen in many photos where I’m flexing my arm or doing something else crazy…. The Jojo way!!!
Another amazing part of these international tournaments is meeting the players from countries all over the world. This tournament featured teams from USA, Canada, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Greece, Germany, Thailand, Brazil, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Kazakstan, Mauritius, Belgium, Italy, Czech Republic, Malaysia, and more! The women’s finals was between two German teams, and I noticed how effective discipline and organization are in beach volleyball, as demonstrated by the German beach volleyball “way”. The players from all the countries were so nice and wonderful to be around! The little sight-seeing and shopping we got to do, we did with groups of players and had such great laughs, connections, and experiences!!! Plus, it was wonderful to share in the shock and amusement of all we saw and dealt with from seeing the culturally-valued cows eating garbage in the streets to the uniquely-worded street signs, to the constant-near-death-experiences riding in the cars zooming and zigzagging millimeters from other cars, cows, and families-of-four on mopeds with our driver not even flinching! During these easily-lethal-roller-coaster-rides, I was flinching, jumping, screaming in fear, punching the poor volleyball player who ended up next to me, and breathing deeply after to recover in preparation for the upcoming scare….
Speaking of breathing deeply, the coordinators of the event set up a group yoga session for the players a couple days into the tournament. We worked mainly stretching and breathing techniques, since they knew we did not need to work out any more than our wonderfully grueling matches in the strong heat and humidity. They had set up a Bollywood dancing class for us to do, but realized that we were too relaxed after the yoga and it also didn’t fit into our playing schedule. But we did get to witness the local dance school perform on the sand and during our welcome dinner. They were full of energy and passion for dancing and it was certainly an interesting thing to see!!! A well-known Indian singer also wrote a song in honor of the tournament and performed it at the stadium the first night of the main draw. Most all the teams were there watching, sitting in the huge stadium impressively made of STICKS, but built very, very sturdy! That was something to see! I did not personally spend much time in the stands, but the seats were filled most nights and the great heights of stands held up through all of it! Glad no one dropped a lit cigarette!!!!
There is so much more to share, but I will end this post here….. With a poem… This is a very famous poem by Konstantinos Kavafis called “Ithaki”. When a friend shared this with me, it really hit home, as it expresses exactly what I am going through right now and the ideal way to experience it. During intense moments of competition in India, I thought of this poem, and felt my blood boil with Greek pride (in a positive way) and I felt so honored and happy and amazing playing for and representing Greece, and it was as if my ancestors were there serving each ace with me…. What an amazing feeling!
(original poem in Greek:
http://www.kavafis.gr/poems/content.asp?id=81&cat=1)
"As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
"Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.
"Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
"Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
"And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean."
