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Ok so that was cool! I went to practice today and “Dubya” was there standing on my court. Yeah George W Bush! I was asking Rodgy (who was on our practice court at the time) if that was the court we had reserved and someone called my name. I turned around and was looking straight at Dubya himself. MD, Rosie and I stood there and talked to him for like 5 to 10 min. He asked me my story of where I’m from and we talked basketball a bit. What stuck out to me was that he was super engaging and into the conversation at hand. He didn’t look like he had places to be, which he obviously did, but he stood and talked about how tough the sport of beach volleyball is and how hard it is to move in the sand for him.
Now Opening Ceremonies was incredible! Long but incredible! We got our uniforms on and went with all the USA athletes to a holding area. This was maybe the coolest time of the night for me because we were with all the athletes from all the different sports. The Mens basketball players were the stars of the group for sure. They were all super cool and took endless photos with all the athletes. I talked to my two favorite Jazz players D Williams and Carlos Boozer. Both were super legit.
We then went to another holding arena. This time with all the other countries and waited for our turn to walk towards the Birds Nest. We finally got into the tunnel and you could hear the crowd and I felt like I was walking into the Coliseum. MD, Rosie and I got to walk together and it will be a feeling I will remember for the rest of my life. All the athletes chanted USA as we entered the arena. What an honor!
Well now that is all over and it is time to compete. I can’t wait to get out there tonight and fight for every point.
Jake