CALI + OUR ROAD TRIP BACK
California 2022
Our court for the month - Hermosa Beach, California
After a long 27-hour and 8 minute drive to CA, we finally made it. No, we did not stop and sleep anywhere, but we did make 9 stops along the way. There were times in the car that I would look at the navigation and it would say 12 hours left. You just kind of think to yourself, “are we ever going to make it there?” However, some hours would just fly by. I think we made unbelievable time across the country all thanks to Drew Hamilton, our chauffeur. Our drive back to Louisiana with just Kristen and me looked a little bit different. We took a couple of days to make the cross country trip and you will just have to keep reading to see how that went.
The first day we arrive in California and it was early afternoon. I ran upstairs to unlock the door and get the keys so we could move all of our stuff up to the apartment for the month. As soon as I got to the door, I found it wide open. Watching Blacklist episodes has me thinking the worst… but what do I do? I proceed to walk into the apartment anyway to find the owner waiting to welcome us and show us around the place. He was very kind and helpful and it was time to move in. Kristen decided that we needed 3 Ninja food cookers (which did come in handy, so Kristen you were right. I am glad we had them.). We had all our volleyball equipment. Clothes for a month for three people. Shoes, towels, blankets, pillows and everything else you could imagine.
We carried it up a couple of flights of stairs and finally got to shower and change. It was day 1 so we had to go explore, where do we go? Paradise bowls for a refreshing acai bowl and a walk to stretch our legs. We all enjoyed our acai bowls as we strolled down the Strand and enjoyed the scenery of beach volleyball net after beach volleyball net. We could not get over how empty the beach was and how excited we were that there was a net about 1 minute from our apartment for the entire month. We couldn’t get over how lucky we were!
Day 2 we wake up super early with the time change and I had a quick work zoom. As the zoom is wrapping up the USA trainer asked me where we were. We knew we had a blood and urine test at 9:40 am which we thought was super late but there was nothing earlier on the sign up. If you are not a regular with the testing, you can not eat until after your test. We were going to be starving, turns out it was 9:40 CT and 7:40 PT. We were late for our very first appointment. Kristen, who can never find a way to be able to complete a urine test in a timely matter allowed us some time to do some recovery and check out the USA gym. I finished right away because I absolutely hate getting my blood drawn and had to get it down right away before I freaked out too much. We got it all finished and we were ready for our first practice in Hermosa.
Let me remind you, the day before we were in the car for 27 hours. So, I will just let you imagine how our first practice out there went. Let’s just say I hit the sand like a tree and could not get back up and all three of us just had to laugh at the terribleness. We were scheduled for the USA gym from 2-4 pm and it was nice to have the place to ourselves for the most part and get a solid lift in.
The entire time all of this was happening, I said 9025092 times “oh my gosh, how lucky are we? This is amazing”. All of which is so true. We are very lucky to have this opportunity and are determined to make the most of it.
We found ourselves out on the beach, a 1-minute walk from our place, to watch the waves and enjoy the sunset. Then we got a great surprise of watching 4 dolphins jumping through the waves and playing together. It was incredible, of which I repeated 10 times in the hour.
The first week was an insane amount of learning. We had no idea what to expect. We are used to our practices at Mangos, the smell of bacon, and playing against juniors. In California, we had a practice scheduled a month out, the smell of the ocean (sometimes fish – ew), and playing against some of the best players in the world. We learned quickly that things change, and they change fast! Angie Akers helped us schedule with some people and then gave us contact information to schedule the rest. Within the first week, nearly none of the people that were on our schedule stayed together. There were so many teams that split up!
One day, Kristen and I took a nice walk to a local coffee shop called Gum Tree Café to get some work done. Not only do we play but we have a lot to schedule, discuss, plan our schedule, practices, flights, sponsorships, meetings, and lots of DISCUSSIONS. We definitely have some arguments, but we have to have difficult conversations and trust that we are being honest and although we are both stubborn, we have a great deal of respect for each other and are willing to listen (Kristen can tune out all sounds around her if she is focused) and compromise.
It’s our first-morning practice with another group of people. It’s nice to train in this extremely deep sand! It is so different out here; I had no idea what to expect. Who coaches? Do you give tips to the other team? Who comes up with the drills? Luckily, we discovered that if you invite people to come train with you, then you will run the practice and it will be where you want to train, and they come to you. Our first practice with Reeves and Wheeler went well. There are so many things to work on and its nice to see a different style of play in practice and work on new things with people that are our age.
We went back to the house for the day as we were wiped out! The gym was closed due to MLK day. Sunday was a lot of walking and we were all so tired. It was a very low-key night. Very chill.
One week in: Then we were off to practice, a 3-minute walk, with Travis and Tim Brewster. They are both good, good people that I enjoy spending time with. It was very frustrating because I felt like I couldn’t do anything, but it was still a blast hanging out with them. That morning after talking with Charles, I finally asked Sean Scott (director of USA) about the points system. We found out we basically have to split up for international play in order to make the goal of the Olympics. It felt like a shot to the heart but it’s necessary, one of us or both of us have to play with someone else to compete and try to gain as many points as possible before qualification begins in January 2023!
We practiced with a different group of girls nearly everyday. We would wake up, go to a practice, lift, and have the rest of the day to recover and make food and do it all over again. Although it seems to be monotonous, this trip was a huge tipping point for us as a team. We had more conversations, we worked through more details of our game, studied practice film, and talked through our thoughts.
Finally, after two weeks into the trip we were finally starting to feel like it was normal there. There was so much unknown and after our practice with Betsi and Kelley we finally felt like we were getting in the swing of things. Were we fantastic and ready to go, no. We are still in the stage of getting worse in order to get better in the off/pre-season. It’s tough but it’s what we need!
We finally had an open day for practice with just us. We are usually just with ourselves so we wanted to train with as many different people as possible. However, after all those practices it was very nice to get some time with us to work on some new things and fine tune a couple things. Then we went to the gym for the next arm day and we were off on a walk to do a podcast with Tri and Travis on their Sandcast. We truly enjoy them as people and volleyball players so those are the best conversations and an immediate YES!
That weekend, there were two girls that are close to our age that flew in from around the country to do a lesson. We were absolutely blown away that some people were so interested that they would fly in. These girls were AWESOME! It’s so cool all the different people that find a passion for beach volleyball – they were two engineers from Carnegie Melon that create robots and drugs. They are sooooooo cool.
We had a fun three team practice to end the third week. Nuss’ parents came to town to explore California and stay for the weekend. Then we were off to palace verdes to explore a beautiful resort near there. Then we had dinner and happy hour at Dia de Campo. This was the night that changed our TKN communication, and it was needed. Then we went to Tower 12 for some drinks with LSU people, dancing across the street, and Hennesey for chicken tenders and fries to end the night. It was just one of those bonding nights that are needed especially when we are working so hard all week, for weeks.
Avalon, Catalina Island
The next day we got up early and went to Catalina Island. It was gorgeous and gave the vibes of a small town where everyone would know everyone and they all drove golf carts around. We all loved the beautiful island and golf carted around the whole place! Only 4,500 people live there and there are so many cute shops and great food.
Midway through our last week - Man, we are just beat. We have made it to the fourth and final full week here with so much great training. We walked down to 24th street to train with Stockman and Cannon. Drew left for home after sacrificing his entire month to be here with us. We strolled home and talked to some beach volleyball fans on the way home. Then we had some lunch and a conversation about the release of the AVP Uncovered mini film to come out in April.
The last day, we finished practice and I went down to the pier to watch the quads tournament that was happening. Then Nuss joined. We sat out on the beach to watch the sunset and enjoyed a glass of wine. We reminisced about all the things that happened on our amazing trip to CA. Then we journeyed over to Manhattan to have a final dinner with the Tim Brewster and Kahlee. It was a great trip. So much growth from the good and the bad. It was very needed, and we are so very lucky to have so much more to get better at after competing with all of these great teams. Now we have some time before the tournaments begin and we are so excited to hop back in the sand in Louisiana.
The Journey Back Home
At this point, where is home? Great question. We have no idea. We are everywhere and nowhere for longer than 5 days. It’s a great adventure but it can be exhausting.
As for our journey from California back to New Orleans we decided to take the scenic route.
We left on Saturday morning after breakfast and packing up the car. We made it to Phoenix, AZ where we stopped to see my best friend from Creighton and her fiancé. We were also able to stop and watch the #9 GCU men’s volleyball match against #8 UCSB so it was an intense 5 set match. After a great game we went for dinner with one of the players that we met at the USA college beach volleyball camp out in California this past summer. The next morning, we got up and went to a delicious coffee shop with coffee flights! I am really trying to get Kristen to try the different kinds to figure out what she likes. When she walks up to order her coffee she looks like a deer in headlights. We gave our hugs, and we were on our way! *Very excited that I only have to wait 5 more days to see them again at a wedding*
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Straight from Arizona we went to the White Sands National Park in New Mexico. Kristen bought a sled at the start of the National Park to slide down the dunes of the white cold sand. We stopped and explored a couple times, and added in some sand hill sprints to get some movement after two days in the car. It was perfect timing when we made it to park, and we climbed up a big dune to watch the sunset. We got service just in time for the super bowl half time show, and end of the Super Bowl at a delicious Mexican restaurant that Mary recommended to us. Specifically, because of the birds that talk and whistle as you walk by them in the restaurant. It was a cool environment and after a great meal we hopped in the car and made it to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
From Albuquerque we went over to Santa Ana to see the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole is in the middle of NOWHERE! Then you pull up and it’s this body of water surrounded by rocks. It is 81 feet deep but only 60 feet wide. So wild. Many people go snorkeling in this endless pit of water. The pictures do not do the different shades of the beautiful blue water any justice. Kristen contemplated jumping in until she watched someone do it right in front of us and made it seem to be very chilly! We climbed to the top for a better view, held on for dear life so we didn’t fall in and have to be cold for our 7-hour drive to Arlington, TX.
We spent a great Valentine’s day night in Arlington. We had to have the delicious Texas BBQ on our way through and as Kristen said, “we can’t not have a sweet treat on Valentine’s Day”, so we did! Tiff’s Treats was delicious, and we highly recommend it. That was the second place we stopped after the Pie Emporium was not up to par…. We had to. The next morning, we slept in and got up for the last leg of the trip. We were going straight through Shreveport, LA which has one of my favorite places to eat, First Watch. So, we decided to just hit the road and head to First Watch instead of touring AT&T Stadium, the Dallas Cowboy’s stadium. We made it home by 7 pm, made some dinner, and enjoyed some King Cake courtesy of Nuss’ parents as a welcome home. And that is the short version of our 30+ hour cross country road trip.
By: Taryn Kloth
