OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION COMMENCES
The moment we had been talking about, dreaming about, thinking about, planning our entire lives around- Olympic Qualification begins! To say that this is a small task to take on is the understatement of 2023. We know and understand there will be hills and valleys that we must push through, TOGETHER.
📸: Beach Volleyball World
On Sunday, obviously we wanted to be competing in the World Tour Finals championship match; however, we lost and we were then concerned with the hotel. We were waiting to see if they would either kick us out of the hotel, to which I note: they had no open rooms for the night or if we would get another night of accommodation. After losing, we typically lose the privilege of hotel accommodations and food after breakfast the next morning. It’s a brutal dog eat dog world out here.
We enjoyed breakfast and had a chill morning after the loss. We were hurting! Our bodies went through the ringer in the tight battles we had all week! We would always question why we were feeling a bit rough, then we saw the pictures of the way we contorted and threw our bodies around on the sand in competition and it all made sense. After some long discussions with the hotel manager, we had a place to lay our head for the night and we left for the Pearl. We thought moving more would be good active recovery as it was a quick turnaround to the next event although it was at the same location but we only had three days to qualify for the main draw Elite 16 event.
The Pearl in Doha, Qatar was absolutely beautiful! It had all the best things: boats, water, sunshine, and aesthetically pleasing shops everywhere you looked. Our Uber dropped us off in the middle of the harbor and we made our way around the entire loop. We had to stop at a coffee shop called “11:11” because I had been seeing that time so frequently, it was a must. Then we walked and chatted with our travel coach, Jake, until the sun went down. (We quizzed Jake as to what the Pearl was, he guessed that it was ‘a big rock’, needless to say he was very surprised and so much more than a rock) There were million-dollar yachts, children running and scootering everywhere, and so many restaurants. There was something special about watching the sunset everywhere in the world we travel to. As the sun went down the entire Pearl district lit up! Every single lamp on the corners of the blocks looked like a genie could pop out at any second and don’t even get me started on the sparkling reflection of the lights on the water at night. Stunning!!
The Pearl
We Ubered our way back after the day of exploring and somehow lived to talk about it. The driving here is…. questionable. Let’s just say, I don’t know why they even have blinkers or street lines because no one uses them. Some drivers drive in both lanes for fun and everyone was texting and driving (a huge pet peeve of mine). Nuss was brilliant and packed up her suitcases that night and I regretted it the next morning when I had to stuff my suitcase full of my attire from the week.
We had our last breakfast at the hotel and then packed up our living area for the last week to move to yet another hotel. Side Note: All of these hotels would come with breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the room price for a buffet of an assorted array of food. The host hotel for the Elite 16 was different from the World Tour Finals, the entire hotel staff was confused and there were about six employees trying to claw their way through the disaster of hotel reservations. We really do feel like nomads living out of a suitcase, checking in and out of hotels, living in airports, and spending days, maybe even weeks on airplanes.
We checked out of a hotel that looked like a Torch into a Castle for the next event filled with beach volleyball players from around the world. It fit the entire vibe of Doha and its distinctive building designs. We made our way to our favorite restaurant called Grams, by this time all the American teams had seen food chronicles and teams were loving Kristen’s restaurant find! #FoodChronicles
Views from the Corniche
Monday was our adventure day number two, we tried to stay active as we were recovering for the next event. We went to the Corniche, a 4-mile walk path in the city of Doha that showed off the great skill of architecture here. The buildings were all very different and looked almost futuristic. We made our way to two of their museums, wandered through the market at night, and Kristen found the best restaurant. She gets so excited about food and looks up each menu and sends me over 20 options, to which I don’t care which place is chosen because this is her thing. All in all, she has had a great track record in the last couple of years. We decided that she tastes more and maybe differently than I do, specifically because my sense of smell is…pathetic. The staff at these restaurants were so attentive that you put your fork down and the plate is gone in a flash. My personal favorite touch at each restaurant, they had the best-smelling hand sanitizers at each table. Kristen’s least favorite touch, they didn’t have restrooms for the guests. The downtown area was gorgeous. It was so clean, we felt safe, plenty of people were walking around, and the shops were endless. There were lights everywhere and there was no loud music, no loud restaurants it was just calm, peaceful, and well-decorated once again.
Tuesday morning, we strolled to breakfast and then got back to training. There were only two slots open as all the teams wanted to get some last-minute movement before the competition began. Luckily, we snatched one up and worked through some aches on a very, very windy day. We stretched, recovered, and waited for the brackets to be released. We drew a very familiar American team of Toni and Savvy. Of course, we fly across the world to play another American team. After the first match, we were slated to play…. another American team. After two matches we qualified and we were on our way to the main draw of the first Elite 16 of 2023.
Flashback to one year ago: We were working out and watching the first FIVB event of 2022 at home without a chance to compete! We were just watching all the teams and wished that we could be there competing, one year later, we qualified for the first event and were able to make that wish come true!
We had our first match against another familiar opponent, the Canadians that we played last week of Pavan and Sophie. We won 2-0 and moved to Friday. We had Cannon/Sponcil (Americans-shocker) to which we fell. We are constantly playing the same teams over and over at these events, it becomes a game of tweaking small things and finding new holes in the game to exploit.
That night, we had a win and move-on game against the Germans. It was supposed to be at 6:30 but we were about 1 hour behind. The hotel typically would provide transportation to the courts via golf carts but there were none in sight. We were trying to get to the venue to warm up until we realized they switched transport to buses. Kristen was no longer warming up to save some jumps, honestly super impressive. We were fired up, especially after losing that morning, we both had a good perspective on the reality of the situation. We were overall fine, we were alive, these games are not life and death and we get to go battle out there together. It is really easy to get wrapped up in the situation and that is never very helpful in the long run. After the match, we waited. It is dreadful to wait for the pools to be determined to see if you play in the morning or if you win the pool and move on to the quarterfinals. We just wanted to sleep but had to wait for the draw and game times to be set.
We broke the pool and topped our pool to be in the quarterfinals! Kristen went back into reading mode and I had to entertain myself. We scouted our potential matchups and stretched to prepare for our Swiss game at 7 pm. We lost. Trust me, no one is more upset than us, it came down to the literal basics of beach volleyball, and didn’t do it. The next couple of days it was rough, randomly just thinking about the mistakes and points and things you did or didn’t do.
As I walked to the transportation after the match the driver asked me how the game went. With one look at me, obviously, we had lost. However, he quickly responded, “it’s just one event at the beginning of the year and great players learn so it doesn’t happen again”. Thank you for the perspective, Mr. FIVB driver.
Bright side: We are tied for first in the Olympic run in the United States. 5th place isn’t first against all the best teams in the world and we have some work to do and we have very high expectations, but we qualified and were there. We were both going to wake up and move on either way. More motivation! We have the best support in all the land!
Sunday rolls around and it sucked seeing all the teams that are still playing at breakfast. The coveted Sunday game slot. The medal matches. The “good lucks” when you really mean “ughhhh I want to be there playing”. The awkward eye contact with the teams that you beat or they beat you. Just to give you an idea of what it’s like in a hotel filled with competition and everyone fighting for the same goal. It's awkward, best friends become foes, people change personalities on the court, you fight over calls, you fight over points – things get strange then you share a toaster with them the day morning.
We left for a walk after breakfast to chat more about our tournament. This is a huge piece of importance to us. We need to communicate, and it can be weird and painful but our friendship and moving forward together is far more important to us than the past, of which we can’t change just learn from. We picked up our luggage from the concierge and Ubered to the third and final hotel of our trip closer to the airport and much cheaper. As we checked in the front desk worker asked “you look tired, long travel day?”, no we have just been here for nearly 2 weeks. Needless to say, we were beaten, our bodies finally gave up and we immediately passed out on the hotel beds. After a couple of hours, we mustered up enough energy to walk to dinner and once again Kristen found a great place. The service in Doha had been top-notch. We split two meals, as we always did so we could try different things and make the walk back. I sat and watched the rest of the games, although it already stings, I had to watch to focus on what I wanted and didn’t have this tournament, a medal match game.
The most delicious pastries!
Chocolate peanut butter cake & strawberry cheesecake crumble bun
Tuesday morning, our final day in Doha we had an excursion planned! However, we had to start the day in the gym and do some band work and stretching before we walked 45 minutes to a great and very popular breakfast spot. The food was outrageously delicious and we left very happy! We strolled through the beautiful city for the last time and admired all the intricate buildings and packed up our suitcases to head to our excursion. As we were about to check out the front desk woman kindly extended our stay as there was a very annoying beeping sound in the 3rd floor hallway. This was such a blessing, we could now shower before our 24-hour travel day back home.
The tour guide picked us up from our hotel and we were off. I was expecting a nice drive to the desert, a camel ride, some traditional tea, and then driving through the dunes.
The reality of the trip was so much more. We made our way to the Doha Desert Dunes and pulled up right next to a camp of camels. There were so many hot, tired-looking camels that were shuttling tourists for hours. However, we jumped at the opportunity to go for a ride on the camels. It was something that I wanted to do while we were here, they were much bigger in person, and it was a great experience. Note: when they say hold on, they really mean it! It is a bumpy start and end to the camel rides! We were gifted with a cup of hot tea after our camel stroll, well just say we accepted but quickly found a trash can for our beverage.
Then the dune bashing began! It was terrifying. I personally hated every second of it. I was holding on for dear life and praying for safety for the entire 2 hours. We were going straight off cliffs of sand dunes and swerving everywhere and the guide was having a blast. I was screaming. Kristen had fear in her eyes for the first 30 minutes. At the first stop, Kristen sand sledded down the mountain of sand, which she quickly regretted after having to climb all the way back up! I was still hyperventilating and on the verge of tears so I couldn’t participate. Begrudgingly we got back into the car and sped around in a death trap and made it to the Persian Gulf, again, it was beautiful but I am just in survival mode and scared. Kristen asked the guide, “have you ever crashed a car?”, why did she have to ask that? He confidently tells us that he is the owner and best driver in the company of cars that smell like they could blow up at any moment with the way they are driving!
4 hours later, we were dropped off at our hotel and my feet hit the ground and I finally took a breath. Am I being dramatic? Probably, but until you go experience it yourself, I am just going to say it was very exhilarating but definitely dangerous and scary.
We took our showers, called our families about the crazy adventure, and headed to the airport. We were planning on going to the lounge to hang out, vlog, write the blog, chill, eat a free meal, and prepare for a 24-hour travel day. Sadly, we were unable to check our luggage until 3 hours before, we were there 6 hours early. Not thrilled about it, Kristen played cards and listened to music while I was reading and typing away. Lessons learned!
By: Taryn Kloth
