Our month-long, worldly excursion ended with Silver in Seoul, Korea last weekend. I am thrilled that we were able to bounce back from a few disappointing results in the previous events to finish on the podium in Korea. What a great feeling for things to "come together!"
We played and beat some really great teams including Talita/Antonelli from Brasil who had our number last year. We lost to that team 4 or 5 consecutive times last season. It was a great feeling to win the close matches and come from behind to win. I feel like every event teaches us more and more about ourselves and our team. We continue to grow and learn from every single experience.
Included in that learning process is how to deal with severe fatigue and jet-lag. Our latest road trip was perhaps the most brutal travel schedule we have had to deal with to date.
Our road trip started with a 12-hour flight from LA to Shanghai. (Shanghai is 15 hours ahead of LA.) We competed for a week in China and then hopped on another 12-hour flight from Shanghai to Rome. (Rome is 9 hours ahead of LA, 6 hours behind Shanghai.) We spent two weeks in Rome before hopping on yet another 12-hour flight from Rome to Seoul for the final event in our first major roadtrip. (Seoul is 16 hours ahead of LA and 7 hours ahead of Rome.) As soon as we finished the medal ceremony at the completion of the tournament, we high-tailed it directly to the airport, sans bathing, and hopped on our last 12-hour flight back home to LA.
It has been great to have some down time at home, but that is short-lived. Tomorrow starts the Huntington Beach AVP event. I am more than excited to start competing here at home. My last AVP event was more than disappointing, so I will be looking to take out some frustrations this weekend!
Sunday night will be the start of our second major roadtrip of the year: Moscow! First thing is first, we focus on a good result in Huntington Beach and THEN we worry about packing and travel to Russia.
It's already such an exciting year and we are just beginning!
Be sure to follow results online or come on out and cheer us on in person!
I hope to see you at the beach!
Angie