The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will take place July 23rd to August 8th, 2021!
My first reaction is- thank goodness for some certainty amongst all this uncertainty! It’s comforting to have a solidified date to plan around. My team and I have been communicating consistently throughout this quarantine period and doing our best to put together some semblance of a plan going forward, but it was near impossible without anything to plan around. I was doing my best to keep an open mind about the rescheduling, I didn’t want to hope for one scenario over another, but in my opinion, one year later makes it easier on everyone. Now that we have this date we can essentially push everything back 365 days.
I’m also relieved that it extends the time in which we as a world can work on getting this corona virus pandemic under control. Worst case scenario would be canceling the Games, but second to that would be scheduling it too soon and having to potentially postpone it again, which I know would essentially be canceling it anyway. So I really hope that we as a community can come together to beat this thing, number one for the health and safety of the patients and healthcare workers on the front lines. Secondly, for those going to work everyday in the essential jobs that keep us functioning on a basic level while we all quarantine. And last, but definitely not least, so that we can get EVERYONE back to work, I know that quarantining is crushing for a lot of families around our country. For the Olympics to be able to commence as planned on their new date is really important to me and all the other athletes who’ve worked so hard their whole lives to go and whose dream it is to compete on that stage for their country, but it is more important that we all practice social responsibility for the good of ALL first.
What’s next for Alix and I? We are both self-quarantining hard, doing workouts at home and taking this time to rest our bodies, it’s kind of like off-season for us. We are constantly brainstorming with our coaches and our resources at USA Volleyball about how to continue to grow while not being able to train. We’re also trying to get creative through social media and with our sponsors to provide some entertainment for the sports world and hopefully beyond while we can’t be spiking on TV. When we are able to start training again we want to know we put this down time to the best use possible.
A lot of the World Tour events for this year have been canceled or postponed with dates TBD, so we haven’t been able to plan on anything around the FIVB yet. The AVP, however, is working extremely hard to hold the events they’ve rescheduled according to the virus outbreak. I really appreciate the how much they’re grinding to make a season happen and how flexible they’ve been. I’m holding on to hope and faith that we can accomplish the AVPs schedule even if the dates for one or two need to be finagled along the way.
I’m excited that Alix and I have another year to train and compete together before going to the Games. I really believe we have a lot of potential still to realize and with another year we can continue to develop as individual players and as a team. Alix has come so far in just a few short years on the beach, I can’t wait to see what she can do in an entire extra year. I was working on some really exciting stuff this preseason in my own game and I’m grateful to have more time to devote to those developments.
Throughout my career I’ve learned that as much as I want to control things or work so hard that sometimes I believe I deserve to have complete control over everything in my life, a certain amount of detachment and go-with-the-flow attitude is absolutely necessary. The more you can adapt to situations and embrace adversity for it’s silver linings or what it has to teach you the better off you’re going to be. Being proactive in an attempt to put yourself in the best jumping off point possible is important, but so is accepting where you are and what is happening in the present moment. It’s ok if it’s hard, it’s okay if you don’t feel okay all the time, but keep that vision and faith, and continue to put one foot in front of the other in an attempt to do what you can now, for your future self, as always.
Here, There, & Everywhere 