Is life all about winning?

Is life all about winning? This surely comes into question often in our lives as we not only are professional athletes but are trying to qualify for the Olympic Games! There is such a constant pull for us to get out of the present moment and dwell on the past or even live into the future...but we have really committed our lives (Marie, William, and I) to being PRESENT and experiencing the freedom that being in the NOW can provide. We played some amazing volleyball and are so pleased with all the work we have put into our team play. Specifically, we have been perfecting what we call "in between point managment system" (which was brought to us by our super Champion Mind Coach Annette Huygens-Tholen from Australia), which is a big word to describe being honest and clear about what just happened, letting go and then moving on in a desired state of mind. It takes practice but once it is a habit, each and every moment is an opportunity to learn, grow, relish and just experience the majesty of that one moment!

For those of you who like to know how the scores went, here is a recap:

We had two exciting wins to qualify for the main draw (top 32) of the tournament; beating England 21-9/21-19 and then in the Japan 21-19/21-17. We then went on to the main tournament and faced our Aussie training partners Cook and Barnett and lost 11-21/12-21! Since it is a double-elimination format, we had a do-or-die match vs Latvia to continue on in the tournament. It was an amazing game that lasted longer than any other match in the event at 1h04mins. It was a heartbraking loss as we lost in the 3rd set. The format of each match is that it is a best of three sets (with the first 2 sets going to 21 points) and if it goes to a 3rd and deciding set, the it is to 15 points with a 2 point margin for victory. We went down 21-18/17-21/19-21. That means that the game flip-flopped for 20 mins before one of the Latvian players put the ball down into our sand and we sat on our chairs knowing that victory could have gone either way!

As you can see, there were moments where escaping the moment seemed like the best plan of action...especially when we had a set, and swing for the match and we muffed it...those are the times when the pull is huge to look back and regret and be disappointed that we did not finish the match there. We go into that for a while, then we realize what we are up to, laugh at ourselves for being so dramatic and then get back into the game. This game has surely taught us that the larger game of life only happens in the moment and that only suffering comes from looking back or being stuck in the future. We have tried all varieties and still do but the status of affairs is that we played great, finished 25th, do not really accumulate Olympic points, are a balanced and connected team who got out and trained 2 days later and ripped it up and knows that the Olympic journey is right on track! That is just what's so!

Thanks for all of you who have been so patient and are now back on track with us on our site. We appreciate all your thoughts, prayers, energy and anything else you throw at us! It's such an awesome ride, I recommend it to anyone who wants to experience the richness of this life! See you in Shanghai...