{"id":2026,"date":"2023-05-08T20:59:24","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T04:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billyketchallen.com\/?p=2026"},"modified":"2024-08-25T02:42:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-25T02:42:04","slug":"avp-nola-bouncing-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billyketchallen.com\/?p=2026","title":{"rendered":"AVP NOLA: Bouncing Back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My last post <\/a>was about perseverance after a tough loss. I\u2019ve had a long career and experienced plenty of failures. One trait that makes you a professional is how you respond to losses. After finishing last place in the season opener, it was back to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I picked up a new partner in Troy Field. Troy and I had done a few South of the Border Volleyball Vacations<\/a> this off-season and while consuming too many churros at the all-inclusive resort, I proposed a My Best Friend\u2019s Wedding<\/em> pact. If neither of us lands Phil Dalhausser next year, we’ll play together. Unfortunately for me, Troy and Phil played the first event. But with Phil auctioning himself for New Orleans, Troy became available. So we fulfilled our Mexico pact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s been a rough winter in Idaho. We’d made it to April, and it was still snowing! I was getting uptight about not being able to train with a tournament fast approaching. If I got another poor finish like the one in Miami, my season (and career) could be over sooner than planned. I was doing bear crawls across the carpet in the living room and pouting about not being able to practice when Janelle said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go to California? I\u2019ll cover club practice. Go train for a few days!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I bought a last-minute flight and headed to LA to train with Troy. We got in a few days of practice to iron out our set locations and defensive systems. For the past year, Troy had been playing right-side defender. With me, he would be a left-side blocker. Or, as he puts it, he’d be “going home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were a lot of expectations put on Troy in the previous tournament. Along with the opportunity to play with one of the greatest players of all time was the feeling: \u201cIf you play well you\u2019ll win your first tournament! If you don\u2019t win, it\u2019s obviously your fault!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went into New Orleans without the same pressure. For some reason, there were fewer \u201cYou\u2019re playing with Billy Allen? You\u2019ll win for sure!\u201d vibes. We were just focused on playing hard and being good teammates. If we did that, good things could happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like in Miami, my first match was against Satterfield\/Uruttia. Andy Benesh and I had lost to them, derailing our reunion tournament from the start. I usually find the first round of the tournament the toughest mentally. As a higher seed, you’re playing a team you should<\/em> beat. (Expectations strike again!) But everyone is dangerous, and we came out expecting a battle and beat them in two sets. After that first win, things started rolling. We got better with every match, learning how to play together as we went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We worked our way through the winner\u2019s bracket (the smarter way through a tournament if you have the choice.) This allowed us to sit in our hotel room playing cards during Saturday\u2019s long weather delay instead of being swept away to Oz along with the AVP Ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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