AVP League Central Park: Epic.

My view from AVP NYC in 2017

The AVP back in New York… this hasn’t happened since 2019. I am not considering the Hamptons event as New York. They are not the same. Playing an AVP in New York City has a special place in my heart as my first beach volleyball partner and I participated in the qualifier event for the AVP NYC event in 2017. We did not qualify as I believe we lost the last game before the main draw. I spent that main draw sitting in the stands watching and mainly remember Taylor Crabb bouncing a ball into the water as the venue was on the pier. I wanted to be on that court competing. Dreaming. Flash forward 8 years… we are playing in freaking Central Park as a top team in the AVP (league). Although it was only a league event, it still brought me back to that younger self sitting in the top row of the pier stadium wishing I was playing on championship Sunday.

Now let’s back the tape up to the beginning of this trip. We were making a pit stop in Virginia Beach for an appearance with Zenni Eyewear at the USA Beach Volleyball National Championship. We were flying out Thursday morning from New Orleans crossing our fingers the entire two days prior that the storm coming across Florida wouldn’t strengthen in the gulf and turn into a hurricane. We lucked out with weather and found ourselves arriving early in Virgina Beach. This was a rare occasion where Taryn and I were given separate rooms, so she got off at the 4^th floor and I headed up to the 10^th. Our hotel was right on the beach with a lovely ocean front view, so I obviously immediately went to check out said view. As I got close to my balcony, I noticed a couple gnats on the curtains and then as I got even closer, I noticed a large amount of gnats on the glass of the balcony door. I called Taryn to see if she was having the same experience but thankfully, she was not. I started taking some toilet paper to some of them on the curtain. When I realized this was going to be a lot of work, I called the front desk about another room but was told there was none other available, and they were going to send someone up to check it out. I started getting ready for our meet and greet at the neighboring pizza place. Once I finished, I continued with my toilet paper extermination tactic but elevated to a hand towel so I could throw it at the ceiling where the gnats were out of my reach. A slight brag here… I was like a sharpshooter with that hand towel.

Killing 2 out 35

After about 30 minutes there was a knock on my door. The worker came in and examined what was happening. He said he could not spray anything for hazardous reasons, so he was going to get a towel… (so exactly what I was already doing). His second time through my door he realized he needed a ladder to reach the ones on the ceiling. 3^rd time through the door and he was banging the towel on the curtains, the door and the ceiling. It was truly a sight to see, and I wish I could have videoed this. While he was taking swings with the towel, we were chit chatting and learned that he was originally from New Orleans… what are the chances. After about 15 minutes, I think he started to realize that I wanted him to get out as I think I could have done a better job than him. He left but said he was going to send a cleaner to clean the floors since there was a handful of dead bugs now. The entire time I was thinking, thank goodness this was my room and not Taryn’s. Taryn and bugs don’t go together.

We walked over to our event and got to chat, sign autographs and take pictures with a bunch of families, juniors and adult players. We also got to check out the Virgina Beach version of Mango’s Volleyball leagues. It was cool to see the amount of people playing and all the various ages playing.

I returned to my hotel room to find more gnats on the walls, so I was back to exterminating. Before jumping in the shower, I pulled the sheets off the bed to see if any bugs were there. When I discovered two very tiny but alive bugs I kind of drew the line there. I texted Billy our agent to see if he could have any luck getting me a new room while I was in the shower. I loved getting out to a text that said, “new keys will be waiting for you in the lobby. Get out of the mini Jurassic park”. Packed my stuff up so fast and got the heck out of there!

Friday morning was an early one which had us giving a welcome speech, taking pictures and signing more autographs at the juniors event. So great to see how many juniors were competing and at a high level. It was also a great opportunity for us to expose people to Zenni sunglasses, the ones we wear all the time!! If you have not check out their sports line (aka the ones we have competed in the past 2 years). We also did some content and recorded a podcast with USA volleyball which will be coming out in a couple days. Before we knew it, we were pulling up to the airport again to head to NYC… again our flight was on time and early… wild!

Friday evening consisted of Taryn and I getting dinner and then walking to check out the court in Central Park’s Wollman’s Rink. On our way back to our hotel we saw the most massive rat run across the sidewalk and then we were treated to a man causing a scene but loudly screaming at someone, something or multiple people. And not only was he screaming but he was also dropping the F word about every other word. We had to take alternative route because of this. It was a solid welcome to New York experience. The rest of the evening was us tracking our men’s flights as both Trey and Eric were flying in!

These outfits were not planned!

Saturday morning we both had time with our people… me with my fiancé that I do not get a ton of time with and Taryn with Eric and a former teammate. We were both happily exploring the city and me mainly hitting multiple coffee places. Trey and I nailed down our honeymoon spot so yay to that!

Our match was the first of the night at 6pm so gates opened at 5 and there was already a line formed when we arrived at 4. Immediately I knew this league event was going to be different. The energy was there! Corinne and Megan (the “home” team) certainly came out with energy as they were nailing serves and capitalizing on our errors. Set 1 dropped. No…we were not losing this game. It was time to wake up and dial it in. Things started to smooth out, but it was still a battle as the game went extra time and ultimately was played to a normal set going 21-19 good guys. After that set win I knew, we were going to cruise in the third and that is what we did. 15-5. Still unblemished in the losing column.

After watching our men, we quickly went and rinsed off as we had an 8:30 reservation at Bourbon Steak that we were going to be late to. Y’all, if you are ever in NYC go to Bourbon Steak… you won’t regret it even though it is a little pricey. Learned what a rib cap is… yum! It was some high-quality food with some high quality company. When I looked at my watch and it said 10:40 I quickly gave Taryn the look of we gotta go. Trey had a 5am wake up call for a 7am flight so we both needed to get some rest before that.

5am came fast and as he was telling me goodbye I could hardly open my eyes. That is our lives for the time being… traveling to spend time with each other. Not ideal but we will make it work!

For breakfast Sunday morning, I placed a pickup order from Broad Nosh Bagels because I could not leave NYC without eating a bagel. This place had a line down the street the day prior, so I had to check it out. Conclusion: it was good! Just a casual Sunday… walking around New York City eating a bagel before we went to compete in Central Park… casual.

As the day before, we were the first game and upon arrival there was already a line forming. Again, energy was high and yet again our energy was not. Starting down 5-2 in a game to 15 is never good but we were able to make it interesting when we tied it at 12-12. Unfortunately, couldn’t pull that one out but we were alive, warm and ready to go for set 2.  We were giving the crowd more volleyball to watch and fully taking advantage of our time on CBS. And that is in fact what we did! Another 3 setter on the weekend where we came out on the winning side! Whew! I had multiple people come up after the match and ask if we scripted that game since it was exactly what people wanted to watch but that is what our matches against them look like all the time.

Flying home Sunday evening and writing this on the plane has me in my feels… WE ARE SO BLESSED. I got a message on Saturday morning talking about all the iconic places we have had the opportunity to play at in the past 12 months… Central Park, Gstaad, and The Eiffel Tower to name a few. Our lives are wild in all the best ways! Thank you all for following along! We appreciate you.