I’ve been an athlete and sports fan my whole life. I can remember the excitement of getting to watch the Olympics and watch people break world records. I remember when the Cardinals moved to Arizona and trained in my home town. I remember the Suns training there too. I remember my family getting excited to watch UofA win the national championship and watching the Suns take on Michael Jordan in the finals. I remember the heartbreak of Steve Nash crashing into the scorer’s table and watching Amare come off the bench to his aid only to get suspended for the next game. I remember Larry Firzgerald running up the middle of the field looking at the Jumbotron to see who was chasing him only to have Santonio Holmes breaking all of our hearts with a simple toe tap. I remember the erie, windy night that Luis Gonzales’s bloop single etched the perfect picture in my head as he raised his hands in triumph and jumped his way down to first base.
I played soccer and basketball and football and baseball and volleyball growing up. I have coached 3 different teams to national championship wins in beach volleyball and finally got to coach on the professional beach tour which was absolutely amazing!
With all those different incredible sports memories, I have never had a sport’s year like this one! 2021 is my YEAR in sport’s! One of my players won the NCAA National Championship with USC! The Phoenix Suns, who I have followed for as long as I can remember, are in the NBA finals! My good friend Sarah will be in the Olympics in Tokyo, and the club I coach for is set to fight for its own national championship this year!
After such an incredibly hard year both in the classroom and on the sand, I’m not sure if there COULD be a better way for ME to start to feel good about life again than this! Sometimes we all need a sign that things are turning around. I’m SO excited to see mine! I rocked my Deandre Ayton jersey on the sand a couple days ago as I gave a lesson to two girls from TCU. Today I am rocking my USA board shorts in support of my good friend Sarah as I work with our teams here in Hermosa Beach. What a fun year to be a sports fan! What a summer it is going to be!