the hope of American samba

We have been in the Olympic rally since the one in London ended. By saying we I mean all of us reading this post. Not only journalist, who do everything to make the best reportage about the preparation and may look for the inspiration here, not only the fans, like me, who want to sell their kidneys to be in Rio, but especially the teams, athletes, coaches and medical staff who have been doing their best for almost four years to get the place they want to end up this summer. 

Personally, I have only three teams I want to see on the podium, two national anthems to hear and two flags to see waving somewhere up near Copacabana. Well, let me start with the girls cause the rule says ladies first. 

If you are a fan of beach volleyball you will know these surnames, if you are not... you'd better remember them. April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings. Those two ladies are, and I am not ashamed to admit it, my idols, heroines and role models. When years ago everybody wanted to be like Michael Jordan, I wanted to be like Kerri. She is three-time gold Olympic medalist, three-time World Champion with many, many more on the list waiting to be written here and what is more beautiful - she is an absolute SuperWoman and wonderful human being. The journey #TamWalshRoss has been having since the girls started to play together, does not belong to the easiest ones. Kerri's shoulder injury messed up a bit the process of Olympic qualification but what does not kill you makes you stronger, right? After the surgery and five or six months of rehabilitation Kerri is back on the right track with her partner in crime - April. Thanks to modern technologies, apps and other social media wierdos I was able to jump a bit into April's off season. Well... it seemed like she had no off season to be honest with you. Observing her while preparing to the season was a huge inspiration for me. It only showed that even when people do not will to give you many chances of succeeding (sorry people of Twitter but you sucked from time to time, especially while reading tweets about lades not going to the Olympics) you just have to prove them wrong. I am so happy to see the ladies back on the sand again and what makes my hear smiling even more is... seeing them on the podium! Four tournaments, four medals including two golds. It just says for itself! The qualification process will last till June 13th and ... and I just do believe that Kerri's fourth and April's first Olympic gold medals are to win. 

Staying still around beach volleyball I have to move to my favorite and forever number one team - #TeamGibberson. You have read about it, you have heard me talking about its awesomeness all the time so you are going to experience it once again. I could not think about better duo to cheer for, which leads to never ending support of those two. Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson decided to form a team over three years ago. They dominated the 2013 AVP Tour, they were awarded The Team of The Year but we have 2016 now and much more appreciated and valuable name they can be given this summer. Case and Jake have been fighting in the Olympic qualification process just like Walsh and Ross, unfortunately the start of the season was not that great and they have not won a medal yet. I am saying this as a fan not an expert, but I am glad they play like they play right now. Slow warm-ups may pay-off later this summer. Personally, I do hope to see them also on a podium at Olsztyn Grand Slam, Poland and Poreć Major, Croatia but we all know that the Olympic Games are the most wanted events this year. Case and Jake place themselves on the 5th position on provisional Olympic ranking from April 18th. Worth mentioning is also boys' 2nd place in New Orleans (April 15-17, AVP Tour). Domination on home sands first, then bouncing the Copacabana? Much yes! Rio would be Jake's

third Olympic appearance, Casey's the very first debut. I do believe that with a help of amazing sand Ninja Casey and our support we, #TeamGibberson, are able to make big things happen and I even can make a promise... YOU WILL HEAR ABOUT US!

It had to be a long post about the third team? But it will be introduced soon, cause one paragraph about the group of the biggest bad-asses I know is not enough...

Xx
AJ!

*all the pics are from FIVB*

2x the dirty thirty

The day I started to write this post was the day my two dearest friend became, so called, dirty thirty.

I delayed two old notes just to make this blog a bit more personal for one day, for the day that is special not only for them but for me also. I hope you like domino or the puzzles cause this post is going to look like that :)

There are millions types of people, among them are the athletes and close to the athletes you can always find those tiny-tiny fans / supporters who watch their moves all the time. You meet them while walking down the street, drinking in the bar or just shopping around. They are just like you but with one difference - their hearts are much bigger and stronger. They seem to be ordinary bu those people have madness inside them and seem to not obey the boundaries. Spending a minute with them means two things : you can hate or love them. I do not want to talk about hate here so when it comes to love...

I have mentioned two ladies somewhere above and what I want to say is that I love them so much. I could write a long list about how much I appreciate them or how true supporters and beautiful human beings they are, I could even mention those ten years of friendship but this is the sport blog and I need to keep it clear :)

Have you ever thought about the real value of a fan? Well, in my opinion a real fan always say we the team not they, a real fan just puts the ones he supports always on the first place. They do not really think about themselves, they think about the team just because they feel like being a part of it. They make plans, re-schedule everything just to be able to see the game (oops it even sounds just like I am talking about myself, but the note about this is coming slowly here). The heroines of this note are just the examples of real supporters. Wishing them a happy birthday is just too cliche and instead of simple may your dreams come true you have to really, deeply think about what you want to say, because for the fan, there is nothing more beautiful than cheering for the beloved team and then seeing that team becoming successful. You can call it craziness but I would just say that is normal behavior when you're so into something...

Dear Ladies, we have seen thousands of games together, we have sacrificed our health not even once or twice just to support the teams we love, we have met hundreds of amazing people, we were able spent our last $$$ for beers or food which kept us alive during the tournaments, we have become 

THE TEAM! That 1/3 of the team just want to wish you to have amazing and full of love 

Olympic Games. I do hope we will dance the samba, drink caipirinha and just see our boys  - #TeamGibberson and Polish  Men's Handball National Team - with their gold medals on the necks. I am a believer and I have the confidence that good things are about to happen this summer. Please, keep giving that example and sharing happiness and smile everywhere. You are the rock stars today! Love you and cannot wait for 10 more years of rocking the events all around the world!

Your AJ

Xx

PS: I know that this note is a bit messy and may be unclear but sometimes choosing right words is too hard when you have fever so... my apologize here.