This weekend, I travelled down to the south coast of England with my housemates (Rob & Kerry) and two friends (Nat & Sarah) to attend Beach Student Cup. This is an annual event organised by Volleyball England which caters to beach volleyball enthusiasts at all British universities and colleges. Similar to last year, it was held at Buscombe which is close to Rob's home in Poole, making the logistics of the weekend that much easier. In this year's competition, there were not only more pairing (52 in the men's draw alone) but the competition, on paper, was much stiffer. As such, coming into the weekend, Rob and I, who had placed 9th in the previous year's competition, had just hoped to come in the top 10 again this year. Play started on the Saturday morning as all pairs were put into 13 pools of 4. Because of the sheer number of pairs and the small number of courts, matches had to be one-setters to 21. This actually served Rob and I well as one of our main weaknesses was bound to be our stamina! We quickly made our way through pool play with scores of 21-11, 21-11 and 21-7 earning us the fourth seeds heading into the elimination rounds. We were put in the top half of the draw, which, on paper, was much easier than the bottom half. We received a bye into the 2nd round, and in our first elimination match, we won handily 2-0 (21-2, 21-4; matches were best-of-3 in the elim rounds). That ended the first day's play.
On the second day, we faced a pairing from Sheffield Hallam. While they were solid indoor players, their play did not translate well to the outdoor beach game as they fell to us 21-10, 21-14. This not only meant a trip to the quarter-finals, but also free tickets to Beach Break Live, a festival held exclusively for students in the south of wales (retail value: 89 GBP!). In the quarters, we faced a pairing from Queens Uni Belfast who were going to offer the stiffest competition yet. They were very similar in terms of style of play and if we didn't play our best, we would be eliminated. In a tough, gruelling match, we were able to edge it out 21-17, 15-21, 15-9. Suddenly, we were headed to the semis against our good friend, Jonny and his partner from Brighton uni. They were the #1 seeds heading into elimination play and, as such, definitely knew what they were doing. Similar to our quarters match, this team was very similar in style and if we didn't play well, we would not have a date on centre court for the final. Unfortunately, both Rob and I had one of those moments where we both couldn't get it together and we lost our first match of the tourney 14-21, 20-22. Needless to say, we were both disappointed - both at not being able to play on centre court and not being to actually have a shot at winning the tourney. It was also just disappointing that we were not able to take advantage of the opportunity of a gratuitous draw. Aside from these obvious disappointments, it served as a moment of realization.
As a child, I was either a very good athletic competitor or just a very lucky one. Every competition I was in, either individually or as part of a team, we were always able to over-achieve or at least meet expectations. We beat opponents we should have and threw in an upset every once in awhile. To me, that showed a level of confidence in our own ability and a level-headedness required for success. Unfortunately, this year has not been like that at all at any level of volleyball, whether it be student, national league or beach. While I just accept that this is probably a factor of my old age, I did feel bad for my beach partner this weekend. While we did well, especially considering our height (i'm 5'9" and he's about 6'0" even), he has international caps in beach, while I have.. well, nothing. It's not that I'm a bad beach player (i think in terms of height-to-skill ratio, i'm quite good lol), just that with a better partner, he probably has a chance to win it all. You put me with a random player, and we probably finish in the 20s... you pair him with someone like me and suddenly you get 3rd. He's just that good. For a 29-year-old, like myself, it was just a blast from the past to get on the podium again! But this isn't what this entry is all about, just a small revelation from the weekend.
Despite the length of the bit about volleyball, this weekend was more about everything but. This trip brought together a group of people that ordinarily probably wouldn't hang out together. So there's me and Rob - that's fairly standard. Then there's our housemate and Rob's gf, Kerry. Then we have Nat, an international Belgian from Bath Uni, doing her placement year at the Astra Zeneca in Loughborough. Lastly, we have Sarah, another placement student from upstate NY studying at Georgia Tech who works at STI with me (sort of). An unlikely combo to say the least!! Coming into the weekend, I was a bit worried about how everyone would get along, but in retrospect, it was a silly concern! It was just one of those weekends that was able to bring people together from different walks of life and just hang out. And it couldn't have worked out better. We laughed and laughed, and when that failed, we laughed some more. We built rock sculptures, barbequed, smoked cigars, and even sailed. I'd attempt to actually describe all these events but it wouldn't even do it justice. It was just one of those weekends where people from all walks of life could come together and just enjoy living. In the end, it doesn't matter how you describe it... it truly was, in the most simplest terms, a weekend to remember.
