Worlds Baby.

Damn yo. Worlds. The World championship of Volleyball. Man I've come a long way. I can distinctly remember playing basketball in my parents driveway when i was little thinking:

"someday, I'm gonna be number 7 on the national volleyball team."

then I'm sure i proceeded to get clowned by my brother in 1 on 1. Might be part of the reason i switched sports, who knows. But to think about what has happened since that moment, to this one, is astounding. It takes a while to recall all the important ones. all the "TSN turning points" that have happened. I won't list them cuz I'm sure you'd get bored because they're not all championship winning points. Most are things that happened on an everyday in passing. (but yes i did get to be number 7 on the national team for a summer while Paul was taking time off.)what was i saying... Oh yes, from me being a kid in the drive way, to me sitting on my bed in Winnipeg writing about volleyball on my lappy. Dang yo.

The greatest volleyball players in the world will all be in Japan in a few weeks. Every team that has qualified over the last year will be sending the best team they can put together. Its like this, think of an international volleyball superstar.... Ya he'll be there. They'll all be there trying to do the same thing. Win the world championship in front of tens of thousands screaming fans in Tokyo.

Our teams roster is on the Volleyball Canada website if you wanna check it out. Its basically what you'd think minus Chris Wolfenden and Terry Martin. Both players would be traveling had it not been for some untimely injuries. In lieu of these players, Louis-Pierre Manville and myself will be traveling. We've both been instructed that although we are both young players in terms of international volleyball and the TC program, we're not going to learn anymore. We're going to perform. We've been training hard since may for this. Its time to just do the damn thing.

We leave Monday at 5 am from the Winnipeg airport. We arrive at the airport in Australia at 1:45 pm on Wednesday... You do the math. I plan on starting and finishing season two of The Simpsons on the way there.

Once we get to Australia, we get a few days to adjust. Because 16 hours jet lag is not easy to deal with I'm sure you can imagine. While down under we'll be playing Argentina once, and Australia twice. Them BOOM, back on the plane for a quick ten hour flight back to Nippon. And then... It starts. Four years of training, for 5 matches... no pressure or nothing. I was 18 years old, four years ago. Fresh out of high school. Barely off my parents driveway kickin it old school with my brother. But truth be told, where did all the international superstars come from? Same place we all did. A variation of a driveway, a ball, and a dream. So really, when it comes down to it, if we all came from the same place, its anyone's game.