Getting ready to leave

Wow, I cannot believe this trip has almost come to an end. I am going back tonight with my parents and we will be walking across the boarder.  I started packing right away because as soon as our match is done tonight I will have to leave. First I put all  my t-shirts in a neat pile and then all my warm up suits. My bag has never looked this neat before. I spread all of my uneaten snacks on top and then zipped it up. Unfortunately as soon as I stand my bag up right, everything will slide down to the bottom because the huge bag isn’t even half way full.

After packing we ate some breakfast, again it was the same as usual. Practice today was very focused and busy. We had a lot to accomplish in the short hour we had court time. Unfortunately, our practice time was scheduled right when our women’s team was playing Brazil for gold in the Olympics. It was very sad when we found out after practice that they had lost because they really deserved to win because they have been working so hard for it.

For the rest of the day we stayed off of our feet by lounging around and had one final scouting report. In this report we watch video of the Dominican Republic team. The video highlighted how crucial it will be to shut down number 15, a 6’5” outside hitter who can hit straight down over the block.

Before the match when we were putting on our jerseys, my roommate realized she didn’t have her competition shorts. Everyone was helping to look in their own bags and we even took apart our entire room. And still no spandex shorts. I thought for a second and realized often when you tell someone to go look in their bags and they says yes, they don’t actual go and do it. So I went next door and opened a closet, I found nothing and then started through the drawers. I know this is kind of an invasion of privacy, but finding this article of clothing was crucial to our match because Carley is a key player on our team. In the back of the bottom drawer I see something red, THE SHORTS! I confirmed they were hers with the number 11 printed on them. She runs into the room and starts screaming, “ Luisa, you are the best roommate ever, you just saved my life’! It was definitetly worth looking through that closet because later that night Carley ended up getting MVP. And yes, this means we won the entire tournament! We won in 4, and dominated in the last 3 sets. The medal ceremony was spectacular! The music and the sequence of events (march in, announce medal winning team, get medal and flowers from officials, the raising of the three flags above the podium, and of course the playing of our National Anthem are all unbelievable memories for me now!!! A million pictured were taken, even some when they blasted confetti on us. I will definitely never forget this moment! We were all so happy and proud to represent our country! GO USA!