Breaking Up w/ Volleyball & Things I Love

Hi!

So I feel like I've been just so consumed with college applications and all my classes and Senior Year and just everything--I honestly just want to write. I'll most likely just be posting a bunch of random thoughts and life updates/events that I can look back on. I can't really coherently organize all my thoughts right now, so here's just some stuff:

First: lack of volleyball.
I've been playing this sport since I was 9 years old. I loved it. I would fill up diary entries discussing practice details, game strategies, my teammates...and I never got sick of talking about it. I looked forward to every single practice. But now that I'm not really playing anymore, I just feel like this huge chunk of me is missing. I try to justify it by telling myself that I need time to study and focus on school...which is true. But I still miss parts of it. But when looking at the larger picture, I also realize that it was such an important part of my life--but my interests have changed. And thats okay, I think. With volleyball not as present in my life, I get to focus on things I really, really love to do. And now that I'm pretty much done with college apps, (more on that later!) I can also find new things that I love to do. But there's also this weird thing with me that I have to feel productive. Lack of productivity tends to be detrimental to my happiness levels. But I want to do the things I love.

Leading me to my second "chunk", for lack of a better word: things I love to do.

• Volunteering. Lend a Hand Club, Together We Tutor, Girl Scouts, foodforphans...I can focus on these activities. And start planning a bake sale for the beginning of December!! Tentative date: December 3rd? 
• Filming/Photography. I can keep up my video journals (more on this later too!!). I need to get my camera fixed...or get a new one. Seriously, get on that. 
• Designing. Help design club t-shirts, and Mama's business cards for her salon. 
• Baking. Be adventurous and try new recipes!! Bake cookies to than teachers/counselors. 
• Working out. Abs, running, or swimming.
• Blogging. :)

I think I need to do more of what I love.

More later,

Audrey

BAKE SALE for Vietnam Orphans!

Hi friends! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but AP's were extremely hectic/stressful/overwhelming/insane so I needed to take a little break to recover.

Buuut a few weekends ago my NHS Committee had our second bake sale to raise funds for orphans in Vietnam, and we ended up raising almost $600! I went to the MB Pier with Aidan around 8AM and stayed there until 6PM, with the help with many many friends (thank you guys!). I also got a really fun sunburn that has evolved into a gorgeous tanline (hah). Anyway, for the bake sale, I made my usual White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies. My previous recipe from more than a year ago was really out of scale and a little weird, so here is my updated recipe. The cookies are actually amazing and very simple to make so I would 100% recommend you try it out!

Ingredients:
1 cup buter
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
9 ounces white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Directions: 
1. Preheat to 350 F
2. In one bowl, beat butter and both sugars with a mixer until well combined
3. Add vanilla and eggs to the bowl and beat until the mixture is creamy and light, and the mixer makes this whipping sound (2-3 minutes)
4. In a second bowl, stir in flour, salt, and soda. Add this mixture slowly into the first bowl, but don't over mix. Stop when a few streaks of flour remain.
5. Add into the bowl the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts; mix until combined thoroughly.
6. Roll tablespoon size balls of dough on silpat or parchment, 1.5 inches apart.
7. Bake for 11 minutes and check. If not done, check in 2 minute intervals. DO NOT OVERBAKE, it's better if you take them out slightly underbaked so that the cookies will be chewy. Remember, they will continue to bake outside the oven!

Beach Volleyball Pics

It's been a while since I've been at the beach and I haven't been playing, so I decided to take a few pictures at my brother's tournament! Here are a few of the photos I took of friends:

P.S. PLEASE click on them to see each photo--it's really blurry on the blog, but if you click on a picture it'll show up clearer! :)

-Audge

Like Oxygen (Blog Post #1)

For the past three days, my team and I have been in Chicago for a Junior National Qualifier tournament. This tournament determines whether we will travel to Louisiana for Junior Olympics later this summer. As a team we have had to deal with intense emotions throughout this whole season.  Whether it be from decisions made by our coaches, or injuries from playing, we have had to persevere through it all in order to get to where we are today.  Leading up to this three-day tournament we have had some rough patches with adjusting to new coaching styles and new teammates which we didn't have last year.  In order to do that we have had to work harder than ever and keep our energy up to compete in the highest level of volleyball that we can.  My team and I have been through countless injuries this year so far, from sprained ankles to concussions. I think these setbacks have pushed us to work even harder to succeed.

For this tournament, we've won all our games in the first two days, but our last day tomorrow will determine if we get a bid to JO's. I think we're all excited but also slightly nervous with the new lineups...I think we all just have to persevere and go all out. We got the bid last year when we won in Kansas City, and that weekend, we just went crazy with our energy at a constant high. Tomorrow, we need to make sure that we have a solid, good warm up because the other team will have already played (we're getting a buy, which means we get to skip a game). Once we start playing, we have to keep pushing ourselves. We can not give up if they get a couple of points. We have to want to win as bad as we need oxygen. We can't get comfortable. We got to play to win.

Volleyball Website!

So I've been working on my recruiting website for indoor/beach volleyball. It's not complete yet, but I'm pretty proud of it so far! :)

http://audreyphanvolleyball.weebly.com/

1st Indoor Qualifier

I had my first tournament of the season last Sunday which was exciting. I think our team did pretty well considering we haven't practiced a lot on offense, but we still need a lot to work on.

Here's some stuff I think we need to work on:

Communication
Serve Receive (feet)
Quick Sets
Covering

Here's what I need to work on specifically:

Setting the C a little bit more outside
Faster hands
Consistently scoring through serves
Connecting with the Middles
Getting other players to talk more
Digging higher for liberos

3rd Club Practice

Today was my 3rd practice for this club season with Mizuno Long Beach. I love all my teammates this year, and hopefully I'll get to bond with the new people over the next few weeks of practice. Today, after doing "ten's" for warm-up, we worked on our defensive series, as well as defense against the outside attacks. Darren taught us a slightly different method from previous years. For the right side on an outside hitter attack, the left foot should always be forward unless the hitter is facing directly line. In that case, it is necessary for me to have my right foot in front. However, I should always be squared to the hitter regardless of where they are facing. If the right side is hitting, I have to stay in base, but face and square up towards the hitter. If the right side is facing line, I go a little deeper than usual since the middle back will be assisting the left side with the line attack.

We also talked about the different types of hits, and we talked about naming all of them based on location and tempo. This was really informative; as a setter, I need to know all the different types of attacks that I can use during a game. We also talked about the order of things we need to be able to protect defensively:

1. Overpass
2. Dump
3. Quick Attack (Middles)
4. 1st Tempo ("Go", "C")
5. 2nd Tempo ("2", "D", "4")

After practice ended, we did conditioning for another 15 minutes. We worked a lot on arm and core with the different planks, as well as endurance/speed with numerous sprints. 

This practice was very informative and helpful defensively, which is KEY in winning a game. I'm glad that although practice may have been slow, all of the small details will help us as a team for the upcoming tournaments!

First Setter's Training

I had my first Setter's Training for the club season today! It was a little bit mundane but it was really good to go back to the basics. I already knew most of the information from the previous years, but it really helped to refresh my memory. I do need remember to always release quickly so it will travel further. Additionally, I tend to point my toes out when shuttling, so I need to remember to focus on that. Overall, it was a really good review session and I had a lot of fun practicing with my friends! ❤, Audrey

USA Beach Tournament with Maya

Yesterday I played in a USA beach tournament with my friend Maya! This was our first time playing together and I think we did pretty well considering she didn't play all summer. We had a stacked pool with 3 of the top teams in the country, but we still won a game. We were also close with two of the teams, 21-17 in each. Throughout the day, I think we did a great job of trying to stay positive, and our ball control was pretty good. We definitely improved as the day went by. In one of the playoff games, Maya was acing every other ball, and I was getting a lot of cuts in. However, we do need to improve for sure. Personally, I need to focus on approaching from an angle instead of going straight in. I need to wait a little longer before I start my approach, and I also need to follow through with all my swings instead of pulling my arm away immediately after contact. I'm now pretty comfortable with the cut shot, so now I need to work on my line hit and the middle hit. Overall, though, I had such a fun day at the beach. Even with our incredibly uncomfortable uniforms. :) ❤, Audrey