Early Days..

If you were to ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up as a little kid, I garauntee my answer would not have been "professional volleyball player". It would have been more along the lines of "Back up Dancer", "Figure Skater", or "Dolphin Trainer". I was born on July 3rd in the early evening at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, California and raised in the popular coastal town of Manhattan Beach. The farthest I ever moved was from Ardmore to Laurel Ave in the tree section of MB. Not trying to sound to nostalgic or like some of our grandpa's, but back in the day before this town turned into a more upscale place to live, Manhattan Beach was a slow paced, quiet beach town. It was and still is one of the best places to be brought up in. To put it simply, Manhattan Beach is my paradise.

Visiting the night scene around town these days, I often am received by shocked tourists or new comers who can't believe that myself or some of my friends are actual locals. Some say "oh, never left the bubble huh?" or "Wow, not a bad place to grow up". The thing is, I did leave the bubble. I left for college. Many of my friends did the same or went far enough away from home so their parents would not have the freedom to "accidentally" drop by unannounced. Being the baby of the family, a momma's girl, and having a sister who went to school at UC Berkeley, every part of my future pointed towards staying in California for the next 4 years of my college experience. I was in my final year at Mira Costa High School, coming off a slightly disappointing yet personally satisfying volleyball season. I knew that I wanted to go to college and play. This was my top goal. But where? There were so many options and so many different schools, some I had never even heard of before. So, after 2 recruiting visits, one failed and one potential Div. 2 school really close to my sister, I took one last visit to a school in Boston, Mass. Of course it was after heavy persuasion from family members. They told me to give it a chance, "what is the worst that could happen", they said, "you hate it and then come home, no big deal". The exact opposite happened, I loved it. Maybe it was the romance of the city that got me or the two half naked Abercrombie and Fitch male models standing at the front entrance to one of their department stores in Fannuel Hall that did it. I was timid at first, but liked the school, the team, and the location, I was set. Once I signed the contract for a full 4 year athletic scholarship, my family and friends realized I wasn't messing around, this was actually going to happen, the baby was moving out and far away. Most were shocked others were excited and all were supportive of my decision, except maybe my Grandpa who insisted on calling me a Yankee from then on.

I can't tell you how great a decision it was to live in Boston. However, when I watched my parents drive away after settling me into what we liked to call "the prison cell" that was my dorm room, I was overwhelmed with sadness and longing for my friends, family, and the beach. Yes, Boston is on the coast but for most of the year its to cold to visit its beaches. In addition, trying to swim in the harbor or Charles river would most likely result in hypothermia and a mysterious looking rash somewhere on your body (not going from experience but since hearing that people are terrified to go in, this is what I assumed). My first time living in the snow was hilarious and a lesson learned, never hold coffee in your hand while walking on ice, something bad is bound to happen. My time in Boston was spent to the absolute fullest, I truly enjoyed my time there. Met a whole new style of people, played some great volleyball, partied, and made life long friends. I also met my first love as well who was a first for many things in my life. Living there made me appreciate Manhattan Beach all the more. I mean, imagine coming home during Christmas when it is 2 degrees there with wind chill, to a clear blue sky and a comfortable 70-75 degrees on the beach, heaven. My parents told me something that I will never forget, they said "go out and see things, live in different places, meet new people because you know this place and all that comes with it will still be here waiting for you when you come home." They were right, so that is exactly what I did. The girl who everyone thought was going to stay in the bubble and close to mom and dad's side broke out and began to grow.

I had heard about some volleyball players I knew taking their careers abroad and becoming professional volleyball players in different countries. I decided to talk to a few of them to understand what going abroad was all about, I was in my Junior year at Northeastern. Most told me that it was definitely something to consider if I wanted to continue to play at a competitive level after graduating, plus it was Europe, the experience alone would be gratifying enough. I planned to go on an "exposure tour" this popular agency funds in the beginning of August, taking place in Slovenia. For those who are globally challenged like I was, Slovenia is sandwiched between Austria and Croatia, and its 3 small towns on the coastline are across from Italy. The country resembles a chicken for some and a blob for others. As nervous as I was to embark on this new journey, I forced myself to be confident and strong. This was the first time I was to be traveling on my own in another country, one that was more foreign to me then any other place I had ever been. Luckily I crossed paths with another volleyballer who was on the tour as well in Frankfurt and from there we traveled together to the hotel in Maribor, Slovenia. Once I arrived, I had to quickly dust off the jet lag and prepare myself for the first practice. To my understanding there were to be a few coaches from different clubs attending the first couple practices. Yes, it was intimidating and nerve wrecking to say the least. As much as I anticipated this moment to really shine, I ended the practice in a full blown sweat and tears, I was horrible, I choked. I thought, "well, good job Whitney, did you really travel all this way to play like this?! Idiot!" The next day I was determined to play better and I did, things started to look up. I got offered a contract to play on a team located on the small coastline in a town called Koper and that is where my adventurous journey and new chapter in my life as a professional volleyball player began.

New Years 2013 Sweden!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 

 I understand I am little late on this post but I have been procrastinating big time. Anyway, this New Years I spent it with the team and a few other girls from Lindesberg Volley in Orebro. The captains of my team put together a three course dinner to be had in the basement of one of their apartment buildings. They decorated the basement and the long table we were to eat on amazingly. One of my friends from back home signed with Lindesberg Volley for the second half of the season so I was stoked to be celebrating with her as well. We sat at the dinner table and ate great food and drank an awesome welcome drink (Swedes are the best at welcome drinks). During the meal we would stop in order to toast and take a shot, a tradition among swedes during the holidays. We also would stop and take a shot for a time zone in another country. Basically we would take a shot for anything significant going on at the moment.

After the perfect dinner and dessert, a few more girls showed up and that is when the drinking games began. We played, thumper, numbers game and a new one called "Rabbit" or "Secret"...I am not sure but it turned out to be a long and thoughtful game. I would like to play that game again at the beginning of a night out instead of when we are about to leave. Around 11:45pm we all headed outside for the countdown and fireworks. The deal in Sweden is fireworks are completely legal! So once the clock strikes midnight, its like Sweden is at war. The noise is incredible and the sights are even better. There was a group of people down the street from us with a couple fireworks and let it rip once it turned 12.


After the excitement of the firework shows calmed, we headed out to a local club for some dancing. Once we were inside, we came to realize that the scene was a little different from what we had experienced there before. One thing was for sure, there were a lot of short people there. Also the ratio of attractive guys to girls was not exceeding our expectations. Regardless of the ratio of hot or not guys, we stayed and danced our pants off anyway. The night ended with me and the two girls I knew from home and college, walking back to my apartment tired and exhausted from dancing. My ankles weren't holding up in my heels so I decided to just take my shoes off and walk barefoot in the rain. Worked out but was not so good for the tights I was wearing. Oh well.



On another note, I looked over my resolutions from last year and I will admit that I didn't follow through with as many as I thought I was going to. This year, I have decided to make the list a bit shorter so I can focus better on what needs to be done instead of making a grandiose list that won't be completed. Better to start small and act big then the other way around.

2013 Resolutions:

-Practice/gym a 100% every week
-Get on a better/healthier sleeping pattern
-Practice yoga at least once a week
-Cut down on candy and junk food during the week
-Take care of skin/body/injuries, overall health
-Keep in touch with old and new friends better
-Stop searching for someone to make you happy, start searching for your own happiness.
-Prepare for the future better
-Save money every month
-Travel
-Face your fears head on and conquer them
-Be motivated and motivate others
-Have better/more clear judgement of certain people and situations
-Let go of the past and live one day at a time

I plan to fullfil all of the resolutions above and take some to the next year and the next and so on. I hope that all of you have thought about some sort of resolution(s)/goals you want to achieve this year and plan to go through with them as well. Take care of yourself and the people around you in your life. Make this year your best year yet!

Gothenberg

After an eventful Christmas in Salen, Maddis and I headed to Gothenberg via Norway. We made our way with 6 fun filled hours of music, random laughs or screams of restlessness, past Oslo, back into Sweden paying a small fee, to a large shopping mall, to another shopping mall to get alcohol for the trip and finally landing us at Gothenbergs central train station to pick up the one and only Kyle Gramit. Quick side note, Kyle Gramit is also a pro volleyballer from the USA (Chi town to be exact) with a powerful hitting arm and a go big or go home type of attitude on and off the court. He has played in Sweden for two years but this season, he has taken his game elsewhere. He now plays in Ennz Austria and as for next season, who knows, he says. After the pick up, we headed to Maddis's sisters house for the remainder of our stay. Her sister is married with two young children that are absolutely adorable. They live in a narrow three story house, the second floor is for the kids leaving the top floor for the grown ups of the house. The decor was of course very well put together (no surprise since they are Swedish) and everything just fit perfectly. Unfortunately, her daughter Embla, had a terrible ear infection and was crying a lot the first night. I remember when I had ear infections as a kid, I was super uncomfortable and crying as well. Her littlest one, Vilgot, was also crying, however, I think it was because his sister was, but he stopped after a little, warming up to us nicely. He took a liking to Kyle really quick. Maddis' sister, Helena, made us a wonderful dinner that night and so we ate and drank a little bit of wine while we waited for Kristofer, Helena's husband, to come home. After meeting and chatting with the family for some time, we all decided to get some sleep as we were to go sight seeing the next day.

Woke up the next morning to a mix of laughing and crying babies. We went up to the second level of the house and came to find Embla was doing worlds better and Vilgot was on the floor crying. What a turn of events. He did not cry for long though, he was a little distracted by me taking pictures and then showing them from my new camera. After a quick breakfast, Maddis, Kyle and I got into the car and headed west, to the coast. I was so excited to see the ocean, it had been about 4 months since I had seen one. We parked the car in what seemed to be an icy pond but was in fact a parking lot covered in ice. We made our way by foot on a path through a forested area until we reached the oceans edge. I can say with out hesitation that I was glad to be back near the ocean. When you grow up on the coast and you are away from it for a long time, seeing it again is like seeing an old friend, feels like you never left one another. We walked along the waters edge, over rock faces and some sandy beach, but not much. Most of the shore was rock, icy, slippery rock which wasn't a good match for me or the shoes I was wearing. Kyle ended up helping me out a lot. We made our way out onto the dock and snapped a few pictures of the fading sun in the distance. It was hard to believe that we were in fact at an ocean since the surrounding area was closed in by land and a few solitary islands. However, off in the distance you could see where the vast open ocean began, it was all so beautiful. There was a path that led us over a small hill top to another view of the coast, so we decided to take a little hike. That day was so bright and sunny that for a moment you could actually feel the heat of the sun underneath all the layers of clothes we were wearing. Or maybe it was my imagination wanting me to feel that.

Once we were back in the car we headed to town for some shopping. The city was big incomparison to most cities in Sweden, so we did quite a lot of walking. We went to the usual stores, H&M, Vila, Vera Moda, etc and I must admit that at some point I felt bad for Kyle since he was outnumbered and pretty much forced to come shopping with us. He seemed to be ok with it since he and I were playing around like kids most of the time anyway, trust falling on one another and taking funny pictures in the dressing mirrors in the stores. Maddis had no time for games, she was on a mission. She was on the look out for a certain type of hat, so we were able to help her out with that. Luckily we were successful in finding it and she was no longer annoyed with us acting like kids.

Back at Maddis's sisters place we ate a really nice family dinner. Her brother in law made pizza which was absolutely delicious. One was a normal type of pizza, cheese, veggie toppings and some meat. The other was my favorite, made up of mozerella, arugula, brie cheese, honey and pecans. It was amazing! I regret not getting the recipe from him while I was there, but hopefully I can retrieve it on a later date. After dinner, the kids were put to bed while the grown ups had some drinks down stairs and talked. I proceeded to play a drinking game with Maddis's sister and brother in law that I made up on the spot. I had my swedish to english dictionary and was testing their translation skills as they were mine. It turned out that they were better then I thought, therefore leaving me to drink a bit more every round. After a while they decided to head up to bed leaving us to get ready for the night out on the town. In Gothenburg there seems to be one popular strip where most bars and night clubs line the street, that was exactly where we wanted to be. We headed to the bus, a little late I might add but luckily he stopped for us.

Our first stop was O'Leary's for a couple of beers before the club. We chatted up a couple people while there and I am pretty sure Kyle was getting hit on by a burly looking man. Kyle kept trying to get our attention but Maddis and I were to busy enjoying the scene. We then made fast, but somewhat wobbly head way to a club around the corner were we danced the night away. I didn't know that Kyle could dance the way he did that night, I was pleasantly surprised! He was in more words or less "cutting a rug". Towards the end of the night, I danced with a guy who must have been about 5'2 to Grease Lighting. Kyle later exclaimed that he must have been Bilbo Baggins and that he had showed him the ring, just to clarify. We got back home around 3 in the morning and were asleep by 4, what a night!

 The next morning, we rose reluctantly with achy heads and puffy eyes to a bright day. It was about noon when we woke so we decided to order pizza to the house, stay in and watch TV. It was the perfect way to spend a day after a long night out. Maddis and I had about a 4 hour drive back to Orebro, so we said our goodbyes and thank yous to Maddis's sister, the kids and her brother in law and took Kyle to the train station. Needless to say we were utterly exhausted on the drive home. It was a great time in Gothenburg with those two and was also a sad ending to my amazing holiday. I won't ever forget this past Christmas, it was definitely one to remember. Its back to work once home and then New Years is on the way!