Phil and I won in Huntington Beach but for me that was the secondary story. You see, back sometime in late 2009 I received an email through my website from this random guy. He said he had a brother in Utah that was a beach volleyball player that was battling cancer. Now I get a lot of random emails through my website so I try to sort through the junk and the real stuff as best I can. I looked this guy up on bvbinfo.com and sure enough he was a young and aspiring beach volleyball player. His brother said that he really admired Phil and I and asked if we could send him a letter to lift his spirits as he was down in the doldrums. So I sent Phil the email and both of us sent him an email letter encouraging him to continue the fight. I also told him that hopefully in the near future I would see him across the net from me on the AVP Tour. Well, in the first round of this past weekend in Huntington, Phil and I played Mike Nelson, the guy who was battling cancer that we sent letters to. Pretty damn cool. His parents were there to support him and we were able to meet with them and take some photos.
Beach Volleyball is a very tight knit community and it was so cool to see Mike on the other side of the net knowing what he had gone through. Congratulations Mike. Hopefully we'll be seeing plenty more of you over the course of the year.
As for the tournament, we cruised on Friday with two 2 game wins. Saturday was much tougher as Wong/Patterson pushed us to 3 games as did Jake and Rosy. On Sunday we played Wong/Patterson again and beat them in two games. They are starting to gel as a team and I have to give kudos to Kevin as he is playing some of the best ball I have seen him play. As Casey gets better at defense this team is just going to get better and better. In the finals we beat John and Sean in 3 games. The third game Phil turned up the heat on his jump serve and that was the difference.
Also in the finals Phil came out with a Ranse Jones t-shirt on. Ranse is a friend of Phil's and a part time AVP Player. He recently had a brain anuerism (sorry if I mispelled) and is in critical condition. Really good guy. We are all pulling for you Ranse. Get better and we hope to see you out on the court again.
With stories like Mike Nelson's and Ranse Jones, it is easy to see that the game really becomes secondary to the lives of guys like this.
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11 comments:
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It's a really good post !
That is a pretty cool story about Mike isn't it? You probably don't remember this, but when you posted on San Francisco last year, I posted a comment about how a guy I know was sitting next to you in some italian restraunt or something, and you responded by saying you remember someone wearing an AVP shirt. That guy was Mike, probably less then a month before he found out he had cancer. Its amazing how things ended up like they did, and how his story is being told. Anyhow, hopefully he won't have to play you guys in the first round next time :)
Congrats on another win. I'm so glad I actually get to watch it on TV!
Todd and Phil
You are both classy guys, both on the court and off. We are Mike's parents and were thrilled to both see you play our son in Huntington Beach following his cancer treatment, and to meet you following the match. Your letters meant a great deal to Mike during his treatment. Unless you are playing our son, we will always be pulling for you.
All the best,
Gary and Louise
Todd,
Great post, I was actually at the AVP Quali event in PC where Ranse got hurt. It was amazing watching how fast the reaction time was when Ranse realized that something was not right, kudos to Joey Middlebrooks who took charge and made the right things hppen very quickly. We all keep praying for Ranse and his family on his recovery.
T.J.
Synchronicity....you obviously are in touch with the 99%. Inspiring, sharing, selfless, uplifting, no wonder you have been rewarded with a great BVB career. Ambassadors Rogers and Dalhausser, keep it up.
The men's medal matches from Moscow can be viewed online on 6-14 starting at 9:30am EDT on Universal Sports: http://www.universalsports.com/beach-volleyball/video/index.html
You can also watch replays from Poland at this site.
So many professional athletes are caught up in themselves these days. It's heartwarming to read the words of one who has such a big heart and a unique perspective of what really matters. I'm a fan, Todd.
Todd and Phil are good guys. I met both of them at the tournament in Quincy Mass a couple years ago and they took the time to do photo ops and sign autographs for the fans. His Royal Highness Karch Kiraly has refused to acknowledge me on 2 occasions and at the tournament in Quincy he watched a match on an outer court with a hat pulled over his mug and huge sunglasses on not wanting to be bothered by the people whose money put the roof over his head. Queen Kerri Walsh also refused a photo opp at Quincy. Makes you appreciate even more guys like Todd and Phil and hopefully if there is a thing like Karma it will be on their side on and off the court. I also want to add that Sinjin and Randy Stoklos are two other guys that I found approachable and very engaging.
Speaking of Stoklos and Smith I found on my DVR today one of the old school matches ESPN is running. It was the 1992 Cuervo Gold Crown in Boulder vs Karch and Kent. They also showed a snippet of the Randy/Sinjin vs Pat Powers. Brian Lewis 92 Clearwater Gold Crown. Karch and Kent french fried Smith and Stoklos 15-1...Sinjin couldnt do anything right and it all spiraled out of control. I am sure that he wants those tapes destroyed. It was an $80,000 pay day for Karch and Kent...I hope they both invested it all in Enron stock. Great volleyball though....Have a good weekend....Scott, Cape Cod, Mass
Hey Todd, Remember when I told you at Huntington that I would be cheering for Kevin/Casey and that I have been pulling for Kevin since his days playing with Stein. You said I might be the only one. So I say thanks for the nice words about Kevin and Casey.
This is the first time I've read your blog and I appreciated the post. I know Mike Nelson personally and he is a top notch guy. It's cool to see his story unfold.
Here is another article on Mike Nelson and his journey, written by Hans Stolfus : http://www.avp.com/News/2010/06/Mike-Nelson.aspx
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