SOB VACATIONS - Puerta Vallarta & SANTA IN THE SAND
About 3 weeks ago we received a phone call from a guy named Tom Davenport. He is from Denver and runs a facility and many tournaments up there. He has been doing these South of the Border weeklong beach volleyball “camps” for people of all ages from different states and even different countries for many years. Anyway, when he gave us a call, after we were prepped by Troy Field who had been on the trip, loved it, and had nothing but great things to say about it, we agreed to a week in Puerto Vallarta on the spot.
This week started right after Thanksgiving, so I was home for the holiday and flew in from South Dakota. I had been to Mexico a couple times and knew what to expect when going through customs and getting a taxi to the resort. Kristen on the other hand was coming from New Orleans and already hates flying. But now, she had to fly into Mexico on her own for the first time flying into Mexico and she was all alone. Her flight landed before my and she was very unsure of how to handle the situation. She was calling and texting me to figure out what to do and there was nothing I could do to get off the plane faster to come help. After about 30 minutes of her stressfully waiting with a look of sheer panic I found her against the wall with pit stains on her pink shirt. Needless to say – the week was off to a great start. The rest of customs and getting through the airport part was easy and painless, and we got through it quickly. On both of our flights, there were multiple people that were in their South of the Border or SOB gear, so it was easy to pick out who was also part of the trip.
I found Kate and she had two other friends and all five of us decided to catch a ride to the hotel together. The airport was a crazy mess, so we walked across the street where it was much calmer and waited for a car. After 20 minutes of waiting for a ride that would cancel and then reroute, we found a man that offered to take all five of us in a car that would comfortably fit 3 people and their bags. He said the small one had to go in the back and the big one in the front and he would make it work – Ill let you guess who got the short end of the stick for the drive to the hotel. After 30 minutes of a cramped car ride later we arrived at the beautiful Hard Rock Hotel and found our way onto the beach. There were so many people that were HUGE beach volleyball fans and had watched us all season long and were so supportive. I think I met 50 people in the first hour and all of which I tried to remember their names and get to know them but we all know that is impossible. But by the end of the week, it was like I had known there for forever. I absolutely love getting to meet new people and hang out with everyone. However, after a long travel day and a couple of hours out on the beach we had a meeting with Tom and the rest of the pros that we were working with that week. The pros for the week were Ty Tramble, Emily Stockman, Chaim Schalk, and Brent Doble. We were the only rookies of the group and had nothing but great advice and stories from all the pros that were there. After our meeting, we ordered some room service and got to bed early to prepare for the rest of the week.
Day 1- We started out the first day with a nice big breakfast at our all-inclusive before a couple of hours out on the beach. We were just assigned courts and I felt a strong pinch on my arm only to find a bee fall out of my hand, luckily Chaim pulled out the stinger, a doctor on the trip checked it out, and we were off to the court for quads plus the pros setting. It was a great way to start to be able to meet so many volleyball lovers and it’s always the best part to be an all-time setter! Slowly but surely, we made our way through the days with so much volleyball, sun, and new people.
We met people from all over! Some people from Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Michigan, Canadians, Germans, and even a fellow Creighton Bluejay! Everyone was so kind a welcoming.
A couple of things that stuck out to me:
We were introduced to so many different people, but Elena was very special to me. She was so determined to become better at this sport, and she was so supportive of everyone else that was on her court as well. She cared for her partners and would give 100% effort even with very little sleep and a little fatigued after a long week.
The fellow pros on the trip – it was so nice to once again get to spend some time with the other pros on the tour outside of the competition. During the competition at an AVP a lot of us are completely focused and zoned in on the task at hand. This trip was a perfect time to sit and talk with Chaim Schalk and Emily Stockman to hear more about their lives, thoughts, and ideas on beach volleyball.
The Pro Demo! This popped up on our schedule and I had no idea what to expect. We showed up on the beach and people were surrounding our court with drinks and cowbells in hand and ready to heckle. During the pro demo we played was 3 on 3 and we were all having a great time, playing good volleyball, and the guests were cheering or heckling (if your name was Chaim). It truly is incredible how people from all over the country can play the same game together!
Each night ended with a game called Hook. It’s a 4 on 4 game in which the pros on the trip had to play with one arm (usually a drink in hand) and the rest of the guests would be playing like normal. Everyone was so competitive and fun all at the same time. These are the moments when you can just let loose and get to know people, play with a lot of different guests and enjoy the heckling on the side! It is a great game, and I can see why all the guests absolutely love to end the day with Hook.
The last night we were signing balls, finishing up a pro demo, and playing hook to end a great week. We were just talking with the guests that we had met during the week, we even got invited to a couple’s wedding that was on the trip together! That was definitely one of my highlights. A wedding is a special day in anyone’s life, to get an invite to their special day was incredible!
The resort was filled with many pools and after a long week in the hot sand and sun, a dip in the pool is the perfect way to cool down. We hopped in and immediately we had to make a competition out of it. Kristen and I had a swimming contest to see who was the fastest. Guests were walking down to the beach and saw us in competition mode and stopped to watch or started filming.
My favorite night of the week was the last night with the awards ceremony and post-dinner celebration. By the end of the week and spending hours and hours with these people, you become closer and really get to know everyone! It really is like a summer camp for adults who share the same love for beach volleyball. Straight from the beach to the hot tub to relax a bit and socialize more everyone was talking about their week and how much fun they had. We went up to the room to shower and we showed up to dinner in dresses and people could hardly recognize us without our sunglasses, hats, and sand-covered bodies. We were able to sit with more incredible people and cheer for the winners of the week. Out comes the microphone at the banquet! Chaim was telling me all week that I had to give a speech at the end of the week because I am the newest member of the SOB trips. Apparently, it was supposed to be a joke, but Kristen and I took it as an opportunity to try and express how grateful we were to meet and be welcomed into the SOB family. After dinner we went up to the Sun Bar – I learned some very fun German drinking games and then went dancing with the Germans and the rest of the guests. It was a great night with great people and memories I will never forget. We shut down the Sun Bar DJ and went outside as we were not ready to say goodbye to everyone quite yet.
The best way to describe this SOB trip and all the people that are on the trip would be a “family reunion that you actually want to go to”. There are so many interesting people with diverse backgrounds from a dog walker to a nuclear engineer to a Google software developer. Each person was so special and had something else to share about their experiences in life. That was my favorite part of the trip, asking questions and listening to people’s lives. There are so many cool stories to listen to! These people will most certainly be at the 2022 AVP events and I cant wait to reconnect with everyone.
🎅🏻 in the Sand
Our first Santa in the Sand tournament took place on Sunday, December 5, the day after we returned from our SOB trip. It was the first charity tournament that Taryn and I have ever hosted, and I believe it was a big success.
So how did it begin?
Charles Illanne has been helping us out all year with potential sponsorships, social media and some other random things. When we had first met, which was a little after our season at LSU wrapped up, Charles mentioned doing a charity tournament. We loved the idea and about 3 months later the preparation started to happen. We had to pick a date, figure out where to do it, find a charity, find sponsors, and the list could go on and on. A lot of work when into making this day happen. I think it was a lot more work than we expected it to be.
Picking the date was kind of easy… we looked at the calendar and the only weekend that worked for us in December was the week of December 4&5. All the other weekends we would be traveling or busy. Coconut was hosting a tournament on Saturday so we looked at Sunday. The Saints played on Thursday night that week so it was perfect. We called Rob and Christie at Coconut to see if it would work on their end, it did, and then it came time to really start preparing.
Finding sponsors, figuring out what prizes to give, figuring out what to give everyone that participated, finding local families to help, getting wish lists from those families, and lastly making a registry for the gifts. There were many other tasks, but those were the top ones.
I may be a little biased, but I think we did a really good job of making the event special and run as smooth as possible. It was a very successful day in our eyes. Around 250 people came out to Coconut, about 120 people participated in the tournament, and about 40 people walked away with prizes. Most importantly, we were able to raise almost $6000 and over 100+ toys and clothes to give to the 3 families that were selected. As the gifts keep getting shipped to my house, the more appreciative I get to everyone who helped make it all happen.
Taryn and I could not be more excited to deliver all the gifts to the families, and none of it could have happened without all the love and support from the community. So to all of you, thank you so so much for making this event so special. Till next year!
By: Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss
