Misty, Kerri ... and me

Olympic fever is here.

Beach volleyball. Lots of folks are caught up in the sport, especially after  the exciting gold medal match last night between  two American women's teams.

I went to bed feeling a little sad about the retirement of Misty. I  understand she wants to have kids and move on, but I thought there must be a way to keep her involved - something that wouldn't require as much training....and as I fell asleep I got the answer!

I can play adaptive beach volleyball with Kerri. I played lots of doubles in wheelchair tennis.  The ball is even bigger in beach volleyball. Can't hurt.  And I'm willing to dive into the sand for my country. Only problem is that when Kerri hits the ball up for me to take the next shot, there's no way I can get back up into my wheelchair in time.

This is where Misty comes in. All she has to do is lift me and aim me in the right direction. Brilliant, eh?

I've also come up with a few strategic plays that would work  from a wheelchair. I saw Kerri hit a shot over the net, then go under the net. They called it a limbo.  How about I charge the net, get the ball over and just keep going in my power chair under the net toward the other team?  That'll distract them. I might even be able to crunch a few pairs of Ray-Bans.  Heck yeah.

I can't wait to start training. Already looking forward to meeting Misty and Kerri and learning all those secret signals and such they use. I may not have the dexterity to do some of them, but I can use my elbows to signal Kerri for sure. Not to mention scrunching my nose.

I'm sure there will be skeptics. But if anyone can pull off an adaptive beach volleyball team, it's Misty, Kerri and me. 

Gold medal number four.