	True Winning, Barefoot style!
True Winning, Barefoot style! Last weekend I decided to head to my beloved Colorado instead of Ocean City, Maryland for the AVP. It's amazing the lessons that I learned because I chose to go to CO. Wanting a break from the partner issues and craving some real time with great friends I decided to fly into Colorado and run a camp for some kids. What I didn't expect was entering the Vail, "King of the Mountain" tournament the day I flew in. (which was 2 days before the tournament) My first ever partner, Krista Wilper (formerly Swartzendruber... yes! she is happy for the name change! Ha ha) and I talked a couple of weeks prior about playing but she was scheduled to work all weekend. However, 48 hours prior to game time, she was released from work to play, Abby with Barefoot decided to sponsor us and we found a co-worker of Krista's to stay with. It was truly amazing the way things came together for us to play. I even was able to have dinner with a great college friend, John Fay and his incredible family in Eagle. I kind of fell in love with their son Micah too and I wish I could have kidnapped him! J It was great to see such a loving, close family and I was so happy to be back with real friends again! Never a Dull moment with Krista and me Check in was at 8:00am and we thought that the earliest we would play would be 8:30am and that would only happen if we were seeded #1 team. We didn't think that was too likely since Krista just had a baby boy 8 months ago and maybe played about 4-5 times since giving birth, and I was gasping for air in the thin air of the mountains. We also hadn't played together for over 4 years now. Well.... We didn't do a good job of guessing for as we were trying to find a parking spot, Krista got a call saying our game was starting in 5 minutes, and we would forfeit if we didn't get there ASAP. One problem.... There wasn't ANY parking. So we kind of illegally parked and ran across the field to play our first game, ironically against former college CSU teammates who were good, AND we had NO warm-up. Unless you call sprinting across the field a warm-up! Ha ha!. We started the game and it was pretty close and each point we were laughing that we were a little more warmed-up. Unfortunately we lost the first game 21-19, and couldn't believe that we might actually get knocked out the first round. I was still trying to breathe, but Krista and I pulled together a better start in game 2 and were up 11-7 when the director of the tournament announced over the loud speaker, that a silver Passat parked illegally was about to be towed if it wasn't moved immediately. Krista and I looked at each other and knew it was our car! A second announcement was made, "You have 5 seconds to move your car, and the tow truck is on its way!" Just as he made that announcement, our opponent luckily called a timeout, Krista threw her keys to a friend who moved her car for her! After all that, I can't believe we were able to still continue to play and we actually won that game 21-15 and then finished the match winning game three, 15-9. I don't know what was more crazy, no warm-up? Car being towed? Losing the first game? Or the fact that Krista and I haven't played with each over for over 4 years, yet it felt so GREAT to play with her! Still in a bit of shock of the events in the morning, we found our car 10 miles away and rested for the next match a couple hours later. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't too cooperative, and we were bombarded with massive rain/hail and lightening. We all took cover under our wonderful Barefoot tent, and was trying to dance around to stay warm. Our next match was much better in that we actually had a warm-up, but playing in the rain is definitely not my favorite thing. Good thing I grew up in Oregon!! Ha ha! We won that next match 21-14, 21-12 and quickly ran for shelter and a warm shower! True Winning As crazy of a day it was, the honest highlight for me happened after we warmed up in a hot shower and headed to dinner. Abby, our barefoot wine sponsor, took Krista and me to an amazing dinner. We must have sat at dinner talking for over 4 hours. We talked life, relationships, goals, struggles, and dreams together. It was an incredible time for me! Sitting with two girls whom I respect and adore so much and the ability to share life together was the real winning for me. After we left, I told them that even if Krista and I didn't win the tournament, this time at dinner was the BEST win I could ask for! More and more I realize how much I value real friendship and meaningful times together! I couldn't imagine missing that time if I had decided to go to Maryland instead of playing in Colorado. Unexplainable! The next morning we had the 10 am match and YES we had a warm-up and the sun was out!! Our opponent was a really good upcoming team in Colorado. One played at CU and both were over 6'2. The first game was very, very close and we lost 22-24, won the second 21-15, and the third was a battle, and we lost 14-16. Since it was a double elimination tourney, we were still alive, but had to play one game to 25 points to make it back into the semi-finals. Already pretty tired from that battle, we had to turn around and play the team that just knocked off the #2 team. I was still searching for air, and I have no idea how Krista was still going! We did not get off to a good start, in fact a really bad one actually. We started off down 1-9 (yes one), then 5-16, and then 14-22 TO A GAME TO 25..... The entire time Krista and I looked at each other trying to get some energy and at 22 we said 1 point at a time...and slowly we started to come back.... We actually came back to 22-24, 23-24, and we tied it at 24-24!!! Then we ended up winning 28-26. I have been a part of some crazy comebacks, and most of them were with Krista, but this truly was unexplainable!!! I have NO idea how we did that and the crowd and friends were shocked!! However, not nearly as much as we were. 14-22??? Yikes!! Abby was incredible as she never stopped cheering for us each point, shouting out motivation quotes that made us smile!!! Chemistry is a KEY ingredient Krista and I didn't have too long to actually realize what we had just achieved, but I looked at her after that win and said... "we are winning this thing now!!" Our next match was tough but we managed to win 21-17, 21-16 to make it to the finals against the team that beat us previously that morning. We had about 30 minutes to rest before the start of the finals around 6pm. I was dying myself and realized that once you have a baby you must be able to do ANYTHING!! Krista was a warrior and stepped up in the finals and we won the whole thing, beating that team 21-16, 21-15 to be crowned Champions of the King of the Mountain! As great as it was winning the tournament, the greater gratification for me was playing again with someone I adore, respect and have chemistry with. We laughed, we fought hard, we competed and it was like we didn't miss a beat in 4 years! I just feel so lucky to have had this opportunity to play again and ENJOY playing and with a wonderful friend. Chemistry is something I will always stand by... it really can make a difference and it's the only way to play.. for me! After winning, Krista and I gave each other the biggest hug and couldn't believe what we just did together. We also talked about how lucky we were to have Abby support us the entire time. She wasn't even supposed to stay on that Sunday (father's day) but she stayed to support us and it meant so much to us! It truly was a special weekend for me, one that I will remember for years to come. What's next... AVP After the great weekend in Vail and running some camps in Fort Collins for kids, I am heading to New York Tuesday to play this upcoming weekend in Coney Island. And... YES,. I have a new partner!! No, I couldn't convince Krista to leave her baby boy, and husband to come and play with me! However, I feel really lucky to play with my new partner, Chrissie Zartman. She is a defensive GENUIS! Not only is she so much fun to watch play, she is that much fun to play with. I wanted to really have fun playing again and in talking with her I'm excited to play with her. I adore her and please pray for us as we will be playing this Friday in New York. After that tourney, I will be heading to Oregon for a couple of days prior to running the CSU college sand camp back in Fort Collins for the weekend. Its nuts traveling so much, so please pray for my ability to remember my name too! ha ha! Thanks for all your support and encouragement through all of this!!! Ang

True Winning, Barefoot style!

Last weekend I decided to head to my beloved Colorado instead of Ocean City, Maryland for the AVP. It's amazing the lessons that I learned because I chose to go to CO.

Wanting a break from the partner issues and craving some real time with great friends I decided to fly into Colorado and run a camp for some kids. What I didn't expect was entering the Vail, "King of the Mountain" tournament the day I flew in. (which was 2 days before the tournament) My first ever partner, Krista Wilper (formerly Swartzendruber... yes! she is happy for the name change! Ha ha) and I talked a couple of weeks prior about playing but she was scheduled to work all weekend. However, 48 hours prior to game time, she was released from work to play, Abby with Barefoot decided to sponsor us and we found a co-worker of Krista's to stay with. It was truly amazing the way things came together for us to play.

I even was able to have dinner with a great college friend, John Fay and his incredible family in Eagle. I kind of fell in love with their son Micah too and I wish I could have kidnapped him! J It was great to see such a loving, close family and I was so happy to be back with real friends again!

Never a Dull moment with Krista and me

Check in was at 8:00am and we thought that the earliest we would play would be 8:30am and that would only happen if we were seeded #1 team. We didn't think that was too likely since Krista just had a baby boy 8 months ago and maybe played about 4-5 times since giving birth, and I was gasping for air in the thin air of the mountains. We also hadn't played together for over 4 years now.

Well.... We didn't do a good job of guessing for as we were trying to find a parking spot, Krista got a call saying our game was starting in 5 minutes, and we would forfeit if we didn't get there ASAP. One problem.... There wasn't ANY parking. So we kind of illegally parked and ran across the field to play our first game, ironically against former college CSU teammates who were good, AND we had NO warm-up. Unless you call sprinting across the field a warm-up! Ha ha!. We started the game and it was pretty close and each point we were laughing that we were a little more warmed-up. Unfortunately we lost the first game 21-19, and couldn't believe that we might actually get knocked out the first round. I was still trying to breathe, but Krista and I pulled together a better start in game 2 and were up 11-7 when the director of the tournament announced over the loud speaker, that a silver Passat parked illegally was about to be towed if it wasn't moved immediately. Krista and I looked at each other and knew it was our car! A second announcement was made, "You have 5 seconds to move your car, and the tow truck is on its way!" Just as he made that announcement, our opponent luckily called a timeout, Krista threw her keys to a friend who moved her car for her!

After all that, I can't believe we were able to still continue to play and we actually won that game 21-15 and then finished the match winning game three, 15-9. I don't know what was more crazy, no warm-up? Car being towed? Losing the first game? Or the fact that Krista and I haven't played with each over for over 4 years, yet it felt so GREAT to play with her!

Still in a bit of shock of the events in the morning, we found our car 10 miles away and rested for the next match a couple hours later. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't too cooperative, and we were bombarded with massive rain/hail and lightening. We all took cover under our wonderful Barefoot tent, and was trying to dance around to stay warm.

Our next match was much better in that we actually had a warm-up, but playing in the rain is definitely not my favorite thing. Good thing I grew up in Oregon!! Ha ha! We won that next match 21-14, 21-12 and quickly ran for shelter and a warm shower!

True Winning

As crazy of a day it was, the honest highlight for me happened after we warmed up in a hot shower and headed to dinner. Abby, our barefoot wine sponsor, took Krista and me to an amazing dinner. We must have sat at dinner talking for over 4 hours. We talked life, relationships, goals, struggles, and dreams together. It was an incredible time for me! Sitting with two girls whom I respect and adore so much and the ability to share life together was the real winning for me. After we left, I told them that even if Krista and I didn't win the tournament, this time at dinner was the BEST win I could ask for! More and more I realize how much I value real friendship and meaningful times together! I couldn't imagine missing that time if I had decided to go to Maryland instead of playing in Colorado.

Unexplainable!

The next morning we had the 10 am match and YES we had a warm-up and the sun was out!! Our opponent was a really good upcoming team in Colorado. One played at CU and both were over 6'2. The first game was very, very close and we lost 22-24, won the second 21-15, and the third was a battle, and we lost 14-16. Since it was a double elimination tourney, we were still alive, but had to play one game to 25 points to make it back into the semi-finals.

Already pretty tired from that battle, we had to turn around and play the team that just knocked off the #2 team. I was still searching for air, and I have no idea how Krista was still going! We did not get off to a good start, in fact a really bad one actually. We started off down 1-9 (yes one), then 5-16, and then 14-22 TO A GAME TO 25..... The entire time Krista and I looked at each other trying to get some energy and at 22 we said 1 point at a time...and slowly we started to come back.... We actually came back to 22-24, 23-24, and we tied it at 24-24!!! Then we ended up winning 28-26. I have been a part of some crazy comebacks, and most of them were with Krista, but this truly was unexplainable!!! I have NO idea how we did that and the crowd and friends were shocked!! However, not nearly as much as we were. 14-22??? Yikes!! Abby was incredible as she never stopped cheering for us each point, shouting out motivation quotes that made us smile!!!

Chemistry is a KEY ingredient

Krista and I didn't have too long to actually realize what we had just achieved, but I looked at her after that win and said... "we are winning this thing now!!" Our next match was tough but we managed to win 21-17, 21-16 to make it to the finals against the team that beat us previously that morning. We had about 30 minutes to rest before the start of the finals around 6pm. I was dying myself and realized that once you have a baby you must be able to do ANYTHING!! Krista was a warrior and stepped up in the finals and we won the whole thing, beating that team 21-16, 21-15 to be crowned Champions of the King of the Mountain!

As great as it was winning the tournament, the greater gratification for me was playing again with someone I adore, respect and have chemistry with. We laughed, we fought hard, we competed and it was like we didn't miss a beat in 4 years! I just feel so lucky to have had this opportunity to play again and ENJOY playing and with a wonderful friend. Chemistry is something I will always stand by... it really can make a difference and it's the only way to play.. for me!

After winning, Krista and I gave each other the biggest hug and couldn't believe what we just did together. We also talked about how lucky we were to have Abby support us the entire time. She wasn't even supposed to stay on that Sunday (father's day) but she stayed to support us and it meant so much to us! It truly was a special weekend for me, one that I will remember for years to come.

What's next... AVP

After the great weekend in Vail and running some camps in Fort Collins for kids, I am heading to New York Tuesday to play this upcoming weekend in Coney Island. And... YES,. I have a new partner!! No, I couldn't convince Krista to leave her baby boy, and husband to come and play with me! However, I feel really lucky to play with my new partner, Chrissie Zartman. She is a defensive GENUIS! Not only is she so much fun to watch play, she is that much fun to play with. I wanted to really have fun playing again and in talking with her I'm excited to play with her. I adore her and please pray for us as we will be playing this Friday in New York.

After that tourney, I will be heading to Oregon for a couple of days prior to running the CSU college sand camp back in Fort Collins for the weekend. Its nuts traveling so much, so please pray for my ability to remember my name too! ha ha!

Thanks for all your support and encouragement through all of this!!!

Ang