I am competing in the 12th annual VTV9 Binh Dien Cup hosted in Tam Ky, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam with a team put together by my agency, Bring It Promotions. We are the first team to represent the United States in volleyball in Vietnam!
The last day, time for the championship match! Thankfully we got to sleep in a little bit. Personally, my body was feeling it from two five set matches in three days and sweating out gallons during the matches. I can’t even imagine how the hitters were feeling! Vanessa, our trainer, took great care of us throughout and helped us with all our aches and pains. Daydreaming about some good old American food (pizza and burgers), we shared our last meals together and waited for our rematch vs. Jiangsu.
Another packed stadium greeted us for the championship match. Warmups were a bit strange since they had some speeches and things planned for television pre-match. I had been continuing my tradition of jogging before the matches. Normally I like to do this outside, but the heat had been keeping me indoors. So, I just did laps around the entire court as my warm up. Before this match, there was no net and smoke machines being tested. I found myself completely alone on the court, random smoke machines going, and a full crowd of about 3,000 people staring at me and occasionally cheering as I jogged in circles. My trusty iPod classic helped me block out the distractions and get focused on the coming match. Definitely it was the most memorable pre-match jog that I’ve ever had.
We had to wait to be introduced and the net didn’t get set up until just before official warmups started. But I have to hand it to them, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a net go up quicker. We started the match completely in the zone and ready to take revenge on Jiangsu. We immediately went up the first two sets and were playing really well together. Somehow, we lost the third set after being up 21-18 ☹. The final two sets went to Jiangsu as well, so we ended in second place after losing the championship 2-3. Both our team and Jiangsu played well, the match was a real battle. I am so proud of my team and how we fought. It has been such a privilege to step foot on the court with them for the last ten days.
After the match we were presented flowers, another stuffed water buffalo, and silver medals. Individual awards were also presented. Allison won best Outside Hitter and Holly won MVP of the entire tournament! Well-deserved awards. Sareea sadly had to leave right after the match, her flight out of Da Nang was at 1am so didn’t get to participate in the awards. One last dinner and party together was waiting for us back at the hotel. We celebrated our silver medal and new friendships.
A massive thanks to Bring It Promotions for putting together this team, Joe, Val, and Bou for coaching, Erin for all the organization, Vanessa for taking care of us, and Radio for being the best guide we could have possibly asked for! It was an unforgettable adventure in volleyball and travel that I’ll never forget. And, again, the privilege of my life to compete with my team and represent my country.
