Everybody knows that I love volleyball just from reading my blog. However, it may be less commonly known that I love the Olympics. For some reason, the peaceful idea that we can come together as a world and compete just inspires me. I love to watch all the different sports during those two weeks every other year. So when Jeff told me there was an Olympic qualifying volleyball match right in my backyard (Long Beach to be exact), I couldn't resist. I had to go and see the tournament. Unfortunately, it happened to be during a very, very busy week for me, and I was unable to get down there to see any of the elimination games that were near the end of the week. But I did make arrangements to go see some of the pool play games on Tuesday. I brought the boys with me, and we made it a day.
This tournament was the North American Continent Qualifying Tournament. Any North American team that had not already qualified for the Olympic games was invited. The winner of the tournament would secure an Olympic berth. The winners of the 2011 World Cup already have berths, as does the host country. Every continent has a tournament (with the exception of Australia), then there are three World Tournaments where teams that didn't win their continent tournaments can compete for a berth.
We watched Trinidad Tobago play Mexico, Canada play Puerto Rico, then the USA play Costa Rica. It was so much fun. We really enjoyed the different levels of play. By seeing the different levels, you really gain an appreciation for the high level of play that separates a gold medalists from others. The first game was similar to a college game. In the second game, Canada showed much more prominence as they easily beat Puerto Rico. But once the USA took the floor, it was clear why they are the defending gold medalists. It was amazing. They dominated their competition. The serves were just amazing, and they blocks were formidable. It was a lot of fun to watch them play. Although we did not see the final match, the USA defeated Canada on Saturday night thus securing their Olympic appearance. It is exciting to think that I have personally seen these guys inaaction.
Everybody knows that I love volleyball just from reading my blog. However, it may be less commonly known that I love the Olympics. For some reason, the peaceful idea that we can come together as a world and compete just inspires me. I love to watch all the different sports during those two weeks every other year. So when Jeff told me there was an Olympic qualifying volleyball match right in my backyard (Long Beach to be exact), I couldn't resist. I had to go and see the tournament. Unfortunately, it happened to be during a very, very busy week for me, and I was unable to get down there to see any of the elimination games that were near the end of the week. But I did make arrangements to go see some of the pool play games on Tuesday. I brought the boys with me, and we made it a day.
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