I Miss Sand in My Bed

Sand used to be a big part of my life.  It was in my car, my gym bag, my Ugg boots, my shower, my bed.  If you are a surfer or a beach volleyball player, you know what I’m talking about.  I was a beach volleyball player.  I had to pause there and let the finality of the word “was” sink in.  
I miss it. 

Tracy, it's on my fridge here in SA!

You are probably thinking what a whiner, find another form of exercise.  But it wasn’t just a form of exercise.  It was more than that.  

 It was community, family, social outlet, escape from stress.  It was a perfect day on the beach.  You have sunshine, friends, laughter, and you were doing something good for your body at the same time.  I’d step foot on the sand, and there’d always be someone to yell “Lisa Pooooll” happy to see me there.  Now I am in a town where nobody knows my name.  

I have 25 years worth of sandy memories.  In between games sitting in the sand in between the court poles, watching the surfers on the waves or the children playing on the shore or dogs chasing balls.  Discussing our “boy issues”, our work highs and lows, the stage our child is going through, where we should go for lunch.  Of course volleyball is a big part of the discussion too.  My friends can tell you what happened to get point 13 during game 3 of that tournament 2 years ago.  It’s serious stuff.  And when you are in a tough spot at work or in a relationship, there is nothing better than pounding balls to feel better.  There was a time I could soar over a net and hit a ball straight down.  But that’s not what I miss.  I miss the family it gave me. 

On tournament days you might be there from 8 am to 8 pm and then go out dancing with that same crowd or to someone’s house to BBQ.  Some days you play in socks because the sand is so hot it will scorch your feet.  Other days you are wearing Ugg boots and wrapped in a blanket between games.  It didn’t matter – you were still happy to be there.  You could challenge on anywhere and you knew you’d get as many games in as you wanted because you could stay all day.  

 In later years, as the women got husbands who wanted to spend time with them (and who wouldn’t, they are amazingly fun women!) and then started having babies, it became more common to arrange foursomes.  A guaranteed 3 straight games and you were off the beach in 2 hours.  But it would happen, life never gets in the way of beach volleyball.  It is part of your life, like sand.  I have friends who are still winning tournaments at age 55, and I don’t mean senior tournaments.  They are kicking @$$ against 21 year olds.  There’s a reason why people stay with a sport for 40 years. 

These women were my friends on and off the court.  We celebrated birthdays, formed dinner clubs, brought each other meals when there was illness or injury, and traveled the world together. 

Sand!

For the last three years I lived in Pretoria which is in the middle of the country, no beach to be had.  I now live near Durban on the East coast of South Africa on the Indian Ocean.  The beach here is flat and long and has volleyball poles permanently up.  Nobody uses them.  That’s what I’m told each time I go to the beach desperately in search of players.

always empty...

Today was the Durban pro beach volleyball tournament, advertised in the paper.  I drove the 30 minutes to the beach full of hope for the new beach volleyball family who would adopt me today.  There were only two courts of women, and none of them were from Durban.  I spoke with the tournament director and he said he knew of one woman who played locally and he would hook us up.  So now’s there’s two of us, only need two more to get a game!

Hey Santa Cruz women, start saving your money for a good cause.  Fly out here and run some beach volleyball clinics – I need more players!

I’ve still got 20 good years of games in me…notice I didn’t say 20 years of good games.  Time to make Durban even cooler…