Mind over Matter

Mind over Matter

The 2012 season has been and gone and it is now November, a month of reflecting on things that we are thankful for.  I am thankful for so many things in my life. I have the most amazing family anyone could ask for, that would be number one, and I am thankful that I am able to live a life of freedom in a place that I love.

I am also very thankful for the many great experiences and memories I was able to be a part of over this past year and many of these happened while traveling across the country playing the sport I love.

For my partner and I, the 2012 season had it’s ups and downs, but were able to finish off the season strong with a win at the NVL Motherlode in Aspen, Colorado.  When I look back and reflect, while it was great to end on a high note, it was just one moment in a sea of many and the things that I hold even deeper and dearer to my heart than any finish are the people I have met along the way and the experiences we’ve shared.  It’s about the experience as a whole, not the end result; and that last trip, like many others, was filled with learning experiences.

Rewinding a couple of months back, my partner and I had just arrived in Aspen.  We had first traveled to Cincinnati to play in the AVP event.  We were unsure whether or not we wanted to spend the money to play in this event because it was not an easy, nor cheap trip to make.  This event was a smaller draw than usual, which put us as the 3 seed in the qualifier, but since we knew it was only one match we had to win to make it into the main draw and win at least enough to cover the trip, we decided the risk/reward made sense.

However, the day we arrived for the tournament we found out another team was allowed to enter the draw late.  We also found out that instead of bumping a team out of the main draw as is usual in this circumstance, they decided to keep that extra team in and eliminate one of the promised qualifying spots, which now meant we had to play 2-3 hard fought matches to get into the main event, instead of one.  This tournament was a smaller draw than normal, so this change meant playing multiple teams that are normally in the “main draw” just for our chance to play in the event and earn money to help cover what we spent to come and play.   Being that both my partner and I were nursing injuries, doing our best to play through them and finish the season, this was a bit of a tough change for us to deal with on the spot.

We did win the match that was supposed to be our one to get in.  But, we were unsuccessful in making it in with the changes made, mostly because, as much as we tried not to, we let the frustration of the situation get to us and effect our play.  This was difficult to take, we wanted so badly to pull it together and overcome the frustrating circumstances that were not within our control, but we did not prevail.

Lucky for us, we had booked refundable flights to be able to make it to the NVL Motherlode in Aspen, CO in case things did not go well in Cincinnati.  It was hard not to dwell on the frustration, but we were determined to turn it into motivation this time around and take our second chance to prove we could overcome.

When my partner talked to her boyfriend about the situation, he gave us a little piece of gold that carried us through the weekend – in trying to cheer her up, he quoted White Men Can’t Jump and told her “Sometimes when you lose, you really win.”

She delivered this quote to me in a voice I will never forget and we both had a good laugh – after that, we were determined to make this our truth.  Managing the injuries was difficult, but we continued to remind each other how much this chance at redemption meant to us and we were able to pull off a victory.

 

Ultimately, the victory was the least of what we “won” – that trip to Aspen was one of the most memorable trips for me personally to date, we were put up in a very nice place, sort of a mansion in Aspen, called the Asylum by a friend of a friend Cheryl Wyly.  We were treated to an exquisite dinner the night before the final day of the tournament – here are a few pictures of the place and dinner.

 

The truth of the matter is, we gained so much throughout the entire experience, all of it.  And it was a great reminder to me of some important truths:

1 – Failure is essential on the road to real success – it teaches us many valuable lessons if we chose to  view it as a learning opportunity and it is the true test of just how much you want something.

And…

2 – It is how we chose to respond to the adversity when it comes that makes all the difference, because it will always come – it’s about how you play your hand, not about the cards you were dealt.

 

With it being the off-season now, I might have a little time to practice this mental training in one of my favorite games outside of volleyball, Texas Hold ‘em.  And when I see that hesitation from my opponent across the table, I will say, 7/2, I’m not afraid of you – I don’t even need your help to win this hand;).

 

The other “I” word

The other “I” word…

Inspiration.

To inspire…

• To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence
• To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion
• To stimulate to action; to motivate
• To affect or touch
• To draw forth; elicit or arouse.
• To be the cause or source of; bring about.
• To stimulate energies, ideals, or reverence
• To breathe life into

 

I’m not going to lie – I never have been so inspired by reading the dictionary.  Above is a list of the many definitions of what it means to inspire.  In my first post, I wrote about imagination – such a powerful tool.  But just as powerful and simultaneously as important is inspiration.  When I posted my first blog for this site, there were so many that were quick to reach out, encourage me and also let me know what it meant to them to read what I had wrote.  I have been writing my whole life – it is one of my greatest passions, but it is never an easy thing to pour your heart out onto a page for all to see.  So the response that I received was just that to me, inspiring.  Thank you to all of you who took the time to let me know your thoughts – means the world to me.

Of course it got my wheels turning about what it means to inspire and be inspired.  Some things that come to mind…

• A song that makes my heart do cartwheels
• Uncompromising Faith
• Nature – all of it, so complex and magnificent
• A teacher who puts their all into each and every student, everyday
• All who work diligently at thankless jobs to provide for a better life for their family
• A child saying an excited “hello” to the homeless man on the street.
• A Peace Corp worker who dedicates years of her life to help a small village in West Africa
• Precious moments with Family
• A heartfelt poem that leaves me wanting more
• A good book that leaves my thoughts racing
• A mother who sacrifices everything for the good of her child.
• The miracle of life itself and its endless intricacies
• An athlete that rises above all challenges to achieve their dreams and does so with unmatched humility and grace.
• The coach that spends countless, unrecognized hours building these great athletes
• Most of all, Love – raw, unconditional, unreasonable, crazy love.

These are just a few of the things that inspire me, I could go on forever, but I think you get the point.  Another thing that inspires not only me, but billions of people world-wide, is happening this summer – the Olympics.  I get excited just seeing the commercials – there is nothing like watching people put it all on the line, everything they have worked for, years and years of time dedicated to training, sweat and tears spent, all brought to climax in one moment – simply invigorating.  The Olympics are a genuine symbol of what it means put your all into something you love, without hesitation; to me there is no greater inspiration.

Speaking specifically about beach volleyball and the Olympics, we had an amazing race take place for the men’s #2 spot between the teams of Matt Fuerbringer /Nick Lucena and Sean Rosenthal /Jake Gibb. The process to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in Beach Volleyball is a long and arduous one.  To try to sum it up as simply as possible, athletes who desire to qualify for the Olympics in beach volleyball this time around must be ranked in the top 16 in the World rankings, in which points are determined by your top 12 FIVB (Federation of International Volleyball) finishes.  However, only the top 2 teams from each country are allowed to go.  Therefore, teams hoping to qualify for the Olympics must travel on and play on the FIVB Tour for multiple years at a time to improve their ranking and work toward the goal of qualifying.

These two teams started off the 2012 qualifying season separated by a mere 60 points, with Fuerbringer and Lucena leading.  Both teams flip-flopped having the lead and at one point throughout the race were even tied.  And it came down to the last qualifying tournament to determine who would go.  We saw such heart exemplified by both teams with Sean and Jake pulling off a Grand Slam victory to secure their spot as the #2 team to represent the US.

Talk about inspiration – a huge congratulations to both teams for showing us all what it means to fight for what you love – lay it all on the line and not give up until the bittersweet end.

We couldn’t have written a more exciting story and some more exciting info about beach volleyball and the Olympics that you may or may not know  – volleyball was recognized after Athens 2004 as one of the most popular Olympic sports on television, with 3.5 billion viewer hours according to official figures reported by the International Olympic Committee.  Even further, 47.2 Million people in the USA watched Todd Rogers/Phil Dalhausser and Kerri Walsh/Misty-May Treanor captured gold medals at 2008 Beijing Games.*  It was kind of a big deal.

 

And, just to give you a quick snapshot of how many volleyball peeps there are out there:

• 1.1 Billion participants worldwide
• 13.5 Million participants in the USA
• 7 Million indoor, 8.5 Million outdoor
• 173,000+ Volleyball Club teams
• 16,000+ High-School Varsity teams*

In 2010, 17 Million Americans participated in outdoor volleyball activities.*  Such a large figure is no surprise, I mean, can you think of a more social and inviting sport?

Many of the responses I received from my first blog post were from people who are as in love with this sport as I am – it was fantastic to hear each one of these passionate responses.

So the question is, for me and so many others, how is it with all of what I listed above that in the US, the sport of beach volleyball is barely keeping its head above water and its athletes struggle on a day by day basis to make ends meet?  We have some of the finest athletes in the sport worldwide – gold medalists on both sides from the last Olympics and all.  To me and to many others, this is quite a tragedy.

Those of us closely involved know that the sport of beach volleyball within the US has been in a bit of a crisis.  The AVP collapsed at the end of the summer of 2010, but the sport had been in turmoil far before this tragic fall.  What can I say, when you build your house on a foundation of sand, well, you know how the story goes.  The AVP was recently acquired this year by Kingston Executive Donald Sun and very recently announced news of their return with 2 events in 2012 and more to come in 2013, so we are hoping for the best.

Like I said, after I received so many heartfelt responses from just a simple blog post, I myself was inspired.  I have been dying to figure out a way that I can make a significant impact in helping revive this great sport and all of you with your responses have inspired me to take action in ways that I know how and try to make a difference.

Even further, there were many of you that responded to me on a deeper lever, just telling me that hearing a small amount of my story was motivating and again, in turn this was motivating to me.  In my life, one of the principles I try to live by is – no matter what it is that I chose to do – that I do it with all of my heart.  I have always wanted to find an impactful way to use any success that I have received in my life to give back, to make a difference in the lives of others and reach out to those less fortunate than myself.

All of you have inspired me to make a difference, both in the sport that I love and in the lives of those that I meet on this journey.  I have already been making some great headway on this objective and have met some fantastvisionaries who have similar desires – to create a positive change in sport and in life.

So, I have decided to take action in ways that I can to raise awareness about how great the sport of beach volleyball really is and how amazing the athletes’ are as well.   The athletes that participate in this sport are more than just athletes – many work fulltime jobs while trying to travel, train and play and there are also many that are engaged in making a difference not only in their sport, but in the world around them.

So, in effort to highlight the sport and these athletes, I am putting together a small tour/campaign that will sponsor several athletes and will include a wrapped RV that will follow these athletes along their journey as they travel to tournaments on the circuit. This tour/campaign will be present at many events come 2013. The athletes will be followed by a film crew in order to feature the athlete’s life in the midst of competition. The video footage will illuminate the road-tripping experience of the featured Professional Beach volleyball players and all that is involved in training, traveling across the country and of course some fun behind the scenes extras.  Footage will be distributed through the sponsoring websites, social media sites and all athlete websites.

The unique element to this campaign is that we will be partnering with two amazing organizations called PlayHard GiveBack and Think Kindness.

Play Hard Give Back is an organization that sponsors and supports GAME CHANGERS – here is their mission statement: PlayHard Giveback has aligned itself with exceptional people, who happen to be outstanding athletes in order to positively influence world.  We base ourselves on a Social Profit model, which is a fancy way of saying dollars earned go back to our communities with the leadership of an athlete role model.  These athlete role models have goals bigger than their own and they are committed to making a difference, utilizing their fitness of mind, body and passion to elevate more than themselves. Yes, you guessed it – Our athletes Play Hard and Give Back.  Our commitment is that every dollar that goes to our athletes has a buddy-dollar that gets put towards their social cause or project.  Check them out at http://www.playhardgiveback.com/.

Think Kindness  is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring measurable acts of Kindness in schools and communities around the world.  Each year the organization inspires over 65,000 students to compete to see who can make the biggest difference in the world in 15 Days! They have been working hard and campaigning all across the country to try to get anyone and everyone to shift their focus – to carry out random acts of kindness for total strangers, make this a part of their every-day life and inspire others to do the same.  The organization also carries out Global Acts of Kindness throughout the world and their Kindness Crew takes to the streets to make their individual communities a better place. . . all through simple kind acts – you can check them out here: http://www.thinkkindness.org/

These two partnering organizations, Think Kindness and PlayHard GiveBack, will provide each participating team memeber or the tour/campaign with $100 and Kindness Cards at the beginning of every week. The touring teams will use the $100 to fund random acts of kindness to strangers in need as they tour across America. Following each act of kindness, teams will leave behind a Kindness Card. These cards allow the recipient to go online, enter the card’s ID, and follow every act of kindness associated with the card  and see where the card has been, sort of an online pay it forward system if you will.

This tour/campaign is bringing on many different partners and sponsors as we speak, but one of our first partners to come on board in full support of the effort is The Ultimate Yogi and we are incredibly excited to have them on board!  The Ultimate Yogi is a comprehensive yoga DVD set that provides 14 Thematic Yoga classes comprised of creative sequences that will challenge the expert and encourage the beginner; The Ultimate Yogi provides the full at home Yoga solution.  Check them out at http://www.theultimateyogi.com/.

So stay tuned as I will continue to provide updates via all of my sites – www.laryssabeachvolleyball.com, www.facebook.com/laryssaprofessionalbeachvolleyball.com (if you can like my page, that would be super) follow me @LaryssaAnnM for you tweeters –  and I will have more info to share about this effort in the spring of 2013!

 

 

*Research in this post conducted by independent 3rd party SMRI

Life Imagined

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined.”  This is one of my favorite quotes from author Henry David Thoreau.  This quote embodies what I consider to be one of the most important driving forces in my life.  I am a dreamer and am proud to call myself this because what is the point of it all if you have no dreams, no thoughts of something greater.  As human beings, I feel that the ability to dream, to imagine, is what sets us apart.

I enjoy being a dreamer, always setting my sights on the horizon, pressing on fearlessly towards the goal.  I believe in following your heart and taking chances whenever possible.  This is another reason I like Henry’s quote.  His statement “go confidently in the direction of your dreams” is often the hardest thing to do.  Choosing to following your dreams more often than not leads you down the most difficult path, or even further, a path you have to  construct for yourself.

In my experience, choosing to follow my heart has many times lead me off the beaten path.  In this pursuit, I have been faced with a point of decision, where I must choose to either take a leap of faith and step out into the unknown or play it safe and stand still in the comfort of status quo.  It is this moment of uncertainty, where your mind takes over and starts to analyze every reason you should not take that first step forward into the unfamiliar, it is this moment that is often the diversion from living the life you have imagined because it is just that, imagined.

It is far easier to push aside an idea that requires risk then to embrace it – to simply say, it’s just my imagination running wild.  But that’s the kicker – I consider imagination is our most powerful tool and to try and tame it is the real shame for it is the bridge that is necessary to turn your wildest dreams into reality.  Every work of art, piece of music, intricate display of architecture starts with a simple thought, an idea and it is imagination that brings this idea to reality.

Human nature convinces us to allow fear dictate our decisions.  After all, this is the foundation our instincts are built upon.  But as the late, great Steve Jobs said, “live each day as if it is your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right”  Keeping this thought in mind, what is there really to fear?  Fear is an illusion created within our minds and I feel life is far too short to let it become a factor.  It is only natural to fear the unknown, so for me, coming to the realization that there is truly nothing to lose in going after what you love has been crucial in helping me to embrace this moment of uncertainty as a sign of something great.  It is this realization that has also opened my eyes to the fact that all that really matters is love.  Find what it is that you love in life and go after it with all your heart.  Nothing else matters.

I currently am blessed to be living the life of my dreams – As of right now, I live 5 minutes from the beach in southern California.  I am a professional beach volleyball player currently pursuing my dream to play at the highest level.  I have created this site and this blog to share my stories and experiences in following my heart and living the life I have imagined and would love to have you along for the ride!