Crystal Clear

Allow me to clarify a few things. First of all, and probably the cause of the most panic in my friends and family, my last blog was written on April 1st, better known as April Fool's Day. I did not actually hurt my wrist, I was just having a little bit of fun. I didn't realize so many people were reading already. I'm flattered, and thank you all for your sympathy, but fortunately I am not currently in need of it. Knock on wood.

A second clarification, I was asked by my coach, Lennard Krapp, to clear up something I said in a previous post. Jessi and I were not calling audibles on our practice schedule BECAUSE Lennard was in Ottawa, we would have made the same changes had he been here. Even when Lennard isn't around there are still qualified coaches at the scheduled practices, namely, National team assistant head coach, Angie Shen, and Volleyball Canada technical director, Rob Dyba. I meant no disrespect to them, but at this point in our training schedule, we aren't looking for skill based practices, we need more game related practices, which have been scheduled on our own time. Hopefully that takes care of that.

The third and final clarification: Toronto's weather. Though it doesn't need me to clear it up, it seems to have done so on it's own. The last few days, the temperature has jumped to over 20. We even managed to get a training session outside at Ashbridges Bay, one of Lake Ontario's beaches. Now not only are Maverick and I no longer the only ones who've played outside, we're also no longer the only ones to get sunburns. There were a few very red-faced volleyball players by the end of the session, Mav and I not being among them. We're just the cool guys with wicked tans.
By the end of the summer, with all the travel and outdoor exposure, and as long as we don't get skin cancer (again, knock on wood), we should all be bronzed Gods. Or, as Lennard likes to call us, tourists.

I've decided that since there seems to be a few more people reading now, and since I'm sure there is more that people want to know about me and my journey (There seems to be a never-ending amount of questions from my family at least), that my blog will from this point forward have an all request Saturday. At any point during the week, please feel free to comment on posts, email questions to me at bsaxto@gmail.com, even send me facebook comments and messages, and every Saturday I will respond to everything to the best of my ability. This weekend, I cleared things up in response to people's reactions. Next week I hope to respond to direct questions and comments, because this blog isn't just for me, it's for anyone and everyone who wants to be a part of the journey.

Cheers,

Ben Jammin

Back to the Blast

After a week in paradise, I've made my way back to the slightly less beautiful city of Toronto. Thursday was spent tying up loose ends, but it always seems as soon as I get something done, something else pops up. Put a rush on a visa for Brazil, and now I need to figure out my visa for China. It's either going to have to get done with a one day rush once I get my passport back Wednesday, or it'll get done if and when I get back from Brazil for 4 days. Though we might try to get a flight straight from Brasilia to Shanghai.

For those of you who knew my plans this coming summer, they've been completely changed around. After getting back to T-dot, I managed to talk Jessi into going to play in China, because it's likely to be one of the weaker tournaments of the summer. We decided we'd have a good shot at getting a solid result, and by doing so, we should be able to get into the Grand Slams later in the summer. The more we play, the better we'll get, and hopefully by the end of the summer, we'll have a few more main draws under our belt. I've listed our summer plans in a list on the right of this page as well as the fivb website, so everyone at home can follow along.

On to the subject line of today's blog, I am back to training at Beach Blast. After my week on Grand Cayman, I can't say that excited me too much, and with National team head coach, Lennard Krapp, gone to Ottawa for the week, we have to coach ourselves for a bit. Also its a bit of a struggle to breathe in the confined space of the Blast, I don't know whether I should get used to it or not. We're all just waiting for the weekend, where it's supposed to reach 20+ degrees so we can finally play outside. But since I need to be indoors for a the next week, I intend to make the most of it. All touches are good touches as long as the focus is there. Jessi and I train a few times this week with Canada's highest ranked team, Rich Van Huizen and Christian Redmann, and their coach, 3 time Olympian, and one time Bronze medalist, John Child. Indoor training or not, we will be ready to play come Guatemala, April 9-11.

Friday night at Beach Blast saw a little extra action. Hernan Humana hosted an adult clinic followed by a party on the sand. Lately I've been running a lot of the Friday clinics, along with my roomates Chaim Schalk and Maverick Hatch, and fellow National team athletes, Jamie Broder and Ray Sewell, which put us all first on the list to guest coach this weekend. This Friday was a little different, with a third of all the proceeds going to victims of the earthquakes that are ravaging Hernan's hometown in Chile.

The part of the fundraiser that stands out the most in my mind, though I risk sounding like a little kid for saying so, was when the event asked participants to play against the pros. Teams of 4 were asked to challenge myself and Mark Heese. Heese being Canada's other bronze medalist, as well as a 10 time National Champion, making him Canada's most succesful beach volleyball player of all time. It was my chance to play with a childhood hero, so I had to impress. Though I might have tried too hard, because I just ended up making myself tired. Fortunately Mark didn't seem to mind too much. I only hope I did a good job of hiding how excited I was. I can only imagine that some day, the roles will be reversed, and I won't be the punk kid anymore, so I hope I can make as good an impression as Mark did last weekend.

Cheers

Ben Jammin