Return to the Sand?

Sand Volleyball. What can I say about it? It SUCKS! lol jk. But really. Its like the Achilles heel of indoor volleyball players. One pro once told me that you can usually tell the immediate difference between an indoor player and a beach player. What is it then? A walk? An attitude? Unmanicured toes? Who knows! Well okay, sand players are usually universally skilled; meaning they can pass, set and hit. Whereas indoor players can specialize in one area and still be considered a great player. Oh yeah, that athletic ability that let you dominate small defenseless players indoors, basically means nothing in the sand. Welp! There goes my name crossed off the list of greatest sand players. :D Well this summer I decided to give sand a try again. I even got a job at a sand volleyball facility. Although I saw success and heartbreak, I would much rather have my feet on solid ground when roofing you.

So this whole sand thing with me started when a friend asked me to play in a tourney for charity last year. I partnered with a pretty good player named Kevin or KK for short. Although I hadn't played at all in my life. He pretty much showed me a lot of the basics out there. Immediately I noticed it was not about how hard you hit it, but about finding open court. If you try to swing with all your might all the time, you will tire yourself out. Forget what you see on TV, those guys that swing for the hills are just insanely good.

I subbed a couple more times that summer where I did pretty well. I even had enough nerve to enter into a real beach tourney over in Columbus. Yeah we didn't make it out of our pool, but we competed very well. All the players said we did alright for our first tourney. I felt pretty satisfied and a little confident. I mean I am no Misty May (I wish, she is my favorite of all time), but I have confidence in my abilities and I'm usually pretty coachable. But it ended there. I don't think I touch another volleyball outdoors, except for in a grass tourney.

Fast forward one year later. I decided to force myself to be around sand volleyball. You know, so there is no excuse this year. I was hired as a bartender/server at Midwest Sports Complex which happened to service the sand courts. This time it was different. I was with "them" all the time now, not just subbing. By "them" I mean sand volleyball players or Sandies as I like to chuckle to myself. It is different. Be ready to have sand in every crevice of your body. The ball is lighter. You don't know what tennis shoes are. And you where basically nothing and coming from a volleyball player that means you are naked.

I also noticed these people walk around with this "volleyball holier than now" attitude. It was like they looked down their noses at me because I wore shoes and kneepads. Then I would always remind myself that I would destroy them on the hardwood. Ok Ok not really. They are actually really cool and most of them I call friends. Back to the topic... Played in a couple of tourneys and never really made it to the finals. Just could not completely outplay the regular Sandies. Also played on some quad rec league teams. And again did not make it to the finals. But played some d*mn good ball and awful ball, depending on the day.

Finally on July 16 of this year. I entered in the Jimmy "Mad Dog" Mathis All-nighter. Basically its coed quads. You begin play at midnight and play in the wee morning hours. Usually I struggle in the ball handling area; passing, freeballs. This night I could not find the court when I was attacking PERIOD! Everything was long. The only thing that was scoring was shots. But you know what they say, keeping shooting... wait! That's basketball. Keep swinging is right. But again in volleyball sometimes you have to focus on other skills. Ive written before about focusing only on blocking or serving when my hitting went AWOL. So I dug deep, literally. Defense became my thing to depend on. Then people could still tell I was a vball player.

To make a long night short, we made it to the final match against the most competitive team there. My friend Curtis, the fastest man ever on sand; Pletch, a big middle, Marita, a very skilled womans player and Brit, a very good setter. Boy was is a good match coming down to the last set. My team, United Nations, had fallen early 7-2. I thought pretty much the match was over, but we kept chipping away. With some defensive plays that shocked the heck outta me, heads up plays from the ever clever Cisco, and great put downs from Matt the lefty (Lefties are great!), we were able to come back and win the match. Probably one of the best sand matches I have played in. That night for me at least, sand volleyball was conquered.

Sand Volleyball. What more can I say? It Sucks! Yeah after all that, I still say it sucks. I hate all the sand that is left on your body. I hate losing to people that normally I would dominate indoors. I hate that you have to have ball control. I hate it. But I appreciate it enough to say I like it. The feeling of getting out there learning to become a better player and actually see and feel myself do it is amazing. I don't ever want to be one dimensional in anything especially something I call my profession. I want to be able to get better always. There is no peak. So if this means I have to sacrifice and get dirty and get darker, then so be it.

With my partner Janel Bunch at a EVP event in Chicago.

When I started I wanted to prove a point to the haters. I wanted to gain respect to all those who constantly say Lauren cant. You know, the ones that say, " Lauren, you cant be good at everything." Psssshhhh! Why not!? Although I have gained some respect, I found out that "they" don't matter. Its about being good for me. Through the pouting and utter hatred of myself after playing bad, I can say I have improved on the sand. Its only gonna make me better indoors anyways. Until next summer, its been real sand volleyball.

Up next.... Curling! Yep thats right!



All these great shots were taken by my friend Kat Livengood. Check her out on twitter @MazenPhoto