{"id":1840,"date":"2021-12-28T09:19:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-28T17:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billyketchallen.com\/?p=1840"},"modified":"2024-08-27T03:38:48","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T03:38:48","slug":"2021-volleyball-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billyketchallen.com\/?p=1840","title":{"rendered":"2021 Volleyball Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I didn\u2019t post much this year, so I\u2019m cramming to fill you in before it\u2019s over! Writing<\/a> is next, but first up my\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021 Year in Review (Volleyball Edition)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It was another year of uncertainty in beach volleyball\u2014something I\u2019ve learned to expect throughout my career. After getting a three-tournament season in 2020, we hoped for more in 2021, but no one knew what to expect. What did we get?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year was a different one for me\u2014the first one I lived outside of California. We moved to Idaho at the end of 2020 with no idea how permanent it was going to be. And surprise, surprise: an Idaho winter is not ideal training ground for beach volleyball. But between kettlebell swings in the bedroom and pulling my son Ketch in the snow, I made it work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another major change was I lost my partner Stafford Slick in a freak water skiing accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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RIP Stafford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just kidding. He retired and got a real job. I was left without a partner and feared my options would be limited living so far from Hermosa Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thought through the list of potential partners and would have been happy battling with a number of them. But one person on the list was Andy Benesh. Andy was a younger blocker who\u2019d qualified in a handful of AVPs but had yet to make a big mark. I\u2019d played him a couple of times and knew he had a lot of potential. But I also knew if we teamed up, we\u2019d be hurting for points, likely in the qualifier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I was still excited about playing with Andy. What might have sealed the decision was talking to my friend and former partner Jon Mesko who was very fired up on the idea. He said Andy was a great guy, and he thought we\u2019d do well together. So I took a chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I traveled to California for a couple of days to practice with Andy and then we did a weeklong training camp in Florida. We had our ups and downs as we ironed out some things and quickly got a feel for each other. Andy is a hard worker and a supportive partner, and it felt easy to share the court with him. We played in a few smaller tournaments leading up to the AVP season and had some hard losses. There was definitely some upside to our team, but we were inconsistent and never finished as well as I thought we should. Rolling into the AVP season, I was nervous. Had I made the right call? Was I in good enough playing shape to risk battling through the qualifier?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Too many freezes!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We stuck it out and traveled to Atlanta for the first AVP. Thanks to some teams not playing, we snuck in as the last team in the main draw. We knew this was a good opportunity and seized it. We fought through the Atlanta heat, beating three higher-ranked teams before losing a heart-breaker to Bourne\/Crabb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much as the loss stung, we’d played well and earned enough points to avoid the qualifier for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Andy lost 20lbs over the weekend<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My wife, Janelle, would play the last two events, so we moved the family to California for the rest of the season (hopping homes so none of our friends got too sick of us). With time to train between tournaments, Andy and I made the most of our time together. Led by our coach, John Mayer, we crammed for the last two events, working on the things that had cost us in Atlanta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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