Here we are already in the middle of February 2009, Valentine's Day, to be exact. I swear each year comes and goes by faster and faster. There are still six weeks until our first AVP Tour Event in Panama City, Florida. That gives Tyra and me a lot of time still to train hard and work out the kinks. We are both very motivated and excited to get things going.
We both had the opportunity to play in the Hot Winter Nights Tour, which started in January and is still going on now. However, she and I were only invited to one swing each. Her trip sounded like just as much fun as mine. Here is how it works:
Four women and four men are invited to play in a two or three city swing per weekend. Those players fly in on a Wednesday, play Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, and then fly home on Sunday. In most places we bus from city to city. Don't think Greyhound here, these buses are straight rock star buses! The competition format is very fun for us players. We are not selected with our regular season partner. We each compete as individuals and come out with a single winner. We play a game with every other player, then decide who is the "Best of the Beach." However, on night two of my Midwest swing, we decided to change the format for the Finals to a co-ed four versus four game. It was a huge hit. My Hot Winter Nights group consisted of Elaine Youngs (EY), Dianne DeNecochea (Di), Brittany Hochevar (Britt), and on the men's side, Todd Rogers, Phil Dalhausser, Nick Lucena, and Casey Jennings.
Our first stop was in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the Van Andel Arena where the temperature was a whopping 15 degrees. We flew from LAX to Grand Rapids on a Wednesday. We were delayed for about 3 hours in Detroit so it ended up being a late night for us by the time we got dinner and settled into our hotel.
The next morning I woke early to visit some local radio stations to promote the AVP and the HWN event at Van Andel Arena. I went on the air with 3 different stations and had a great time chatting with the hosts. We spent some time talking about the format for the event and how much fun it really is to see beach volleyball in the dead of winter. We then gave away tickets to the event.
After the radio interviews, I met up with all the other players for a meet-and-greet lunch event with some local club volleyball players and their parents. We signed some autographs and chatted a bit, then had about 2 hours to ourselves before the Main Event. I hit the gym and did some yoga and lifting.
Once we arrived at the Van Andel Arena, we gave two mini clinics to some local kids. We did not have much time with them, but they seemed to enjoy it while it lasted.
As soon as the clinics were over, the arena opened to the ticket holders and people started to flow in. You could see the look of excitement on their faces when they walked in from the freezing cold and saw bright lights, sand, and guys and girls in board shorts and bikinis! The ladies played first, so we started our warm-up. At 7pm, it was "go time!" Geeter was there on the mic and introduced us all.
The first match up was me and Di versus Britt and EY. With this format, you most likely will have to play a different position that your usual one. Plus, it will most likely change with every different person you play with. So with Di, I played on the right side and stayed back to play defense. The last two seasons I have played on the left side and have run up to the net to block. So this was a completely new role for me. It is really fun to change it up and play with different people. We do not practice this format together, so what you see there at the event is truly a pickup game! Di and I got off to a good start and won 15-12.
The next match was me and Britt against EY and Di. This game was a barn-burner! I played on the left side and we split blocked while the other served, but I ran to the net to block during transition plays. We battled back and forth until Britt and I won 19-17.
The last match up was me and EY versus Britt and Di. I played on the right side for this game. EY and I split blocked and she ran to the net for transition. By this time, it was definitely confusing figuring out who runs up and who stays back. I am sure there were several miscommunications, but we figured it out and won 15-11.
The win gave me three wins in pool which put me in 1st place. EY finished 2nd by one point over Di. So that meant EY and I would play against each other for the final and I would get first choice of partner between Di and Britt. I picked Di, but we would not play the final until after the men played their pool games.
From the time we stopped playing until we were to go on again for the final, we did not stop signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans. It was really incredible! We all were shocked at how many people wanted to have their picture taken with us. I was asked to sign bald heads, foreheads, forearms, and cell phones in addition to the usual ball, t-shirt, ticket, or piece of paper. It was great to see everyone having such a good time.
Once the men finished, we were back on the sand and ready to play our Final. Di and I started really strong and jumped out to a 12-4 lead. We nearly blew it! We gave up 7 points in a row before our next side out! We pulled it together and went on to win 15-12 which gave me my first ever Hot Winter Nights win! It was a super fun night which we got to share with an amazing crowd. They were loud and crazy which really fired us up.
As soon as the men finished, we had to shower up and get on the bus for a 10 hour long bus ride to Kansas City. It was a cold and windy night. The bus was blowing all over the road which made it hard to sleep. Thankfully, our bus driver stayed awake all night and got us there safe and sound.
That night, in Kansas City, we were scheduled for a meet and greet and another clinic before the doors opened. We had a question and answer session with about 60 kids, then got most of them out on the sand for a little volleyball.
The KC Sprint Center was just as great as Grand Rapids! When the doors opened, we had another great crowd come rushing in to escape the cold and wind.
I played with Britt first against EY and Di. We won 15-13. Then it was me and EY against Britt and Di. We lost 12-15. Then Di and I beat EY and Britt 15-12. That made Di our pool play winner by 1 point over me and Britt. However, we decided that we would play the co-ed fours exhibition instead of the regular final which would be a match up that the fans had already seen that night.
The co-ed four on four was an absolute blast! My team was Nick Lucena, Phil Dalhausser, EY, and me. We played against Di, Britt, Casey Jennings, and Todd Rogers. The rules for that night were that we would play on the women's net, but the men could not attack. With the women only attacking, the rallies were very long and exciting. We had Phil setting and Nick back playing defense. EY and I were on the left and right sides attacking. We lost this game, but it was fun for us and the crowd really got into it. We were experimenting with the format and it was a huge success.
When the coed fours was over, we showered up and hopped back on the bus and went straight to Indianapolis. We arrived early in the morning and had most of the day to catch up on the sleep we missed from hanging out on the bus.
We made our way to the Conseco Fieldhouse and gave another clinic just before playing. This was the last stop of the three night Midwest swing. It was the largest crowd we had of all three nights. There were over 5000 people in the stands. It was a sort of homecoming for me. Indy is only two hours from Fort Wayne where I grew up, so I had lots of family and friends in the crowd. It felt absolutely amazing having such a huge crowd behind me, cheering me on!
I played with EY first and won 15-13 over Di and Britt. Next, I played with Di and won 15-13 over EY and Britt. Lastly, I played with Britt and we lost 11-15. As soon as we finished the pool play, we started signing autographs again. The lines were insanely long! We stood there and signed every last ball, t-shirt, ticket, arm, and cell phone that was asked of us. Then it was time for the Final.
This night, we played on the men's net and the women set and played defense. On the men's net with the men attacking, it was much more like the men's game with shorter rallies: bump, set, kill. I was on a team with Phil, Casey, and Britt. I tried to hide behind Phil's block, but still managed to get hit in the stomach while protecting my face! It did not hurt, but it probably looked like it did! We had a lot of fun playing the co-ed fours. It was a great way to bring all the athletes on the court at once for a Final. We won the fours and left the Hot Winter Nights Tour with a victory!
The whole experience from the Hot Winter Nights was incredible. We were in freezing cold cities in the middle of our country playing beach volleyball! The crowds loved it. It provided an escape from the harsh winter for a few hours.
After the event was over in Indy, I had to catch an early morning flight down to Ixtapa, Mexico for my 4th annual trip to the
South of the Border Volleyball Vacation. I went from 15 degrees in Indianapolis to 90 degrees in Mexico in one day. It was quite the turn-around. I will fill you in on the details of that trip in my next blog so stay posted!
Stay warm, happy, and healthy!
Angie
(The site was right next to these beautiful fountains. People were swimming in them all day.)
After dinner, we walked to Red Square and stood in amazement at the beauty of the buildings and St. Basil's Cathedral. Then we pulled out our cameras and started snapping away. It was late at night, so we could not go inside of the Cathedral. I can only imagine how impressive it is on the inside. 
We enjoyed a champagne before the show and then took our seats and watched the incredible dancers do their art. I loved every second of it. 
The costumes were beautiful, the theatre was spectacular, and everything about the experience was incredible.
(The volleyball courts are to the left of the cruise ship. They wouldn't fit in the picture!)
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