Our Story
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In 2003, I met my husband playing in an adult soccer league. Three years later he actually spoke to me and we started dating. I thought I had found a great catch - after all, we at least had soccer in common. Much to my dismay I quickly learned his true passion was volleyball, a sport I despised. I felt I'd been had... he was 5'6", how was I ever to see that coming??? After watching him play in several all day tournaments (e.g. waking up with the rising sun and traveling several hours to reach our destination, and often times spending hours in either scorching heat or pouring rain), I decided something needed to change. Realizing that the volleyball aspect aside, this was the guy for me, ditching him didn't seem an option. Instead, I told him, for the sake of our relationship he needed to teach me how to play.
Salt Lake City, Utah
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 Adams Ricci Park Enola, PA May 2, 2009 I had played several sports in high school and college, one of the highlights of my athletic career being the three years I spent on the varsity badminton team at Albright College. So while I wasn't opposed to picking up a new sport, I didn't expect to be doing it at the age of 30. We started by going to pick-up sixes at the local middle school. Scott was good at ignoring people who would roll their eyes and mumble under their breath when I showed up, and he even let me return time after time, despite my bringing the quality of play even further down. After a few months of pick-up, the outdoor doubles season was about to begin. Scott was bubbling with excitement with his favorite tournament, the Pottstown Rumble, around the corner. I had no idea why all the excitement for Pottstown, but I was about to find out. About a week before the tournament, and having never played in a doubles tournament (or any volleyball tournament for that matter), I told him we should give it a go. He jumped at the chance and we signed up for one of the lowest divisions . |
We lost our first two matches 11-0, 11-5 (even resorting to the i-formation - I stood at the net so he could return every serve), and I couldn't wait to go home. He assured me the teams were good for the level we were playing, but I thought he was just trying to make me feel better. The next team we faced wasn't as strong, and after we won our first game, I realized it - I was hooked. Hooked on volleyball, who'd have thought?!? Winning was fun... really fun. And I wanted to win more matches...lots of them! Fortunately, I wouldn't have to wait long. We won game after game, and as the sun was setting we were still in it. Every game was more exciting than the last, and knowing we'd already done better than we ever expected there was no pressure; each round we got through we laughed a little harder.
Around 9 pm on a Sunday night we started the finals under the lights. We lost, but were practically jumping for joy (actually I think I literally jumped) as we went off to collect our prizes. I'd won my first volleyball t-shirt, and that's when I knew this was a sport for me: there were t-shirts involved.
We continued to play tournaments, winning some and losing some. Thanks to the patience and commitment from my husband (and him running drills with me, like bump, set, hitting into a trash can in each of the corners of the court) I did get better.
We were married in 2009, and shortly after played in the Mother Lode in Aspen, CO. That's where we realized how much fun it was to combine our two hobbies, volleyball and travel. "How fun would it be to play in every state?" we thought.. and so it began.
The point of our story isn't about how good of players we became. The point of our story isn't about being the best at anything. It's about being the best you can be. It's about setting a goal, a realistic one, and going for it. It's about having "your thing"... the thing you look forward to at the end of a long day or a long week; the thing that makes your day a little brighter, or maybe distracts you from something that would make it a little duller. For us, we feel fortunate that thing turned out to be something we share.
Yes, we have to agree, it's good to have a passion.
Around 9 pm on a Sunday night we started the finals under the lights. We lost, but were practically jumping for joy (actually I think I literally jumped) as we went off to collect our prizes. I'd won my first volleyball t-shirt, and that's when I knew this was a sport for me: there were t-shirts involved.
We continued to play tournaments, winning some and losing some. Thanks to the patience and commitment from my husband (and him running drills with me, like bump, set, hitting into a trash can in each of the corners of the court) I did get better.
We were married in 2009, and shortly after played in the Mother Lode in Aspen, CO. That's where we realized how much fun it was to combine our two hobbies, volleyball and travel. "How fun would it be to play in every state?" we thought.. and so it began.
The point of our story isn't about how good of players we became. The point of our story isn't about being the best at anything. It's about being the best you can be. It's about setting a goal, a realistic one, and going for it. It's about having "your thing"... the thing you look forward to at the end of a long day or a long week; the thing that makes your day a little brighter, or maybe distracts you from something that would make it a little duller. For us, we feel fortunate that thing turned out to be something we share.
Yes, we have to agree, it's good to have a passion.
