the heat of summer '22

Where do I even begin? This was possibly the best summer I have had in a very long time. To say that I was busy would be an understatement.

I arrived home from France at the end of May. Of course, my trip home was not easy. I arrived on the day of my flight to realize it was booked for the 30th of June, not May. After that fiasco, I had a different flight booked out of Nantes on the following day. I was unaware that I needed a Negative COVID-19 test to be able to fly home. I was so upset. Two days of travel problems in a row. Luckily, there was another flight that I finally got on, and made it home that day. The airline (Air France) was nothing but helpful through this whole process thank goodness.

Finally, I land on US soil in Chicago. The Customs check-in is always insanely long at ORD, if you have traveled through there you know what I am talking about. Made it through customs, grabbed my bags (yes that is plural), and found my Mom patiently waiting for me! The overall trip delay was only 2 hours that day. I was so enthralled to be home after 2 crazy travel situations. To be honest, every time I have traveled home after a pro season, I always have problems. Not sure when that will change.

My summer job this year was coaching volleyball camps for two companies. My first camp was on June 3. Once I arrived home, I had to then drive 3 hours to do a volleyball camp in Indiana. This was why it was so imperative to be home at the end of May. The first camp of the summer was a success, even though I was jet-lagged and still on the wrong time zone.

Following this camp, the next seven days I spent in Nashville with one of my best friends, Elianna, and her parents to celebrate her birthday and attend CMA Fest. We have done this every year other than when COVID eliminated the event. This summer was the first time since 2019 that CMA fest was back. If you were n, I am an avid COUNTRY MUSIC fan (I also like other genres as well.) Attending this week in Nashville is one of my absolute favorite weeks of summer.

If you do not know what CMA Fest is well here is my best description. It is a festival in downtown Nashville. It is right in the center of Broadway so you can walk from different bars or restaurants to all the events at the Fest easily. This means live music everywhere you turn; one of the main reasons I love Nashville, especially during CMA Fest. Almost all of the CMA Fest events are free to the public. Many country artists sing at different pop-up stages all over the downtown area. These artists range from well-known to new. My favorite stage is the "Chevy Riverfront Stage." I enjoy this stage so much because it is on the river and I know most of the artists performing on it. Some of the artists that played on this stage were Ingrid Andress, Chris Lane, Danielle Bradbury, Mitchell Tenpenny, etc. These stages finished around 6 pm which then gave us enough time to grab something for dinner before going to Nissan Stadium for the Arena Shows.

The arena shows were an added experience this year. We bought tickets the day of the first arena show, talk about last minute. The Arena shows included all of these artists: Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Dierks Bentley, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Russell Dickerson, Alan Jackson, Lady A, Parker McCollum, Carly Pearce, Thomas Rhett, Darius Rucker, Cole Swindell, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Lainey Wilson, Zac Brown Band and more. Country music has my heart. If you can't tell my excitement! Had the best week with the best hosts. We stayed in a motor home all week, but very luxurious if you ask me. This week was epic.

After that great week the following weekend, I flew to New Hampshire to spend 10 days with my friend Jaidyn. We had a lot to do this week. We played in a beach volleyball tournament in Connecticut and ended up winning it. The beach felt like we were playing in a wind tunnel. Wind volleyball is always a tricky part of the game to master and never that much fun. But we won some money which was nice due to the travel expenses.

During the week we did some individual volleyball lessons for some younger volleyball players. We taught all different skills – from passing to hitting and serving. We had both coached a lot of volleyball camps in the summer and we used the money to fund our volleyball tournaments. During that week we also went to Hampton Beach in New Hampshire to one of our friends' condos on the beach, Jeff and Tina. The beach was so nice. Acai bowls were consumed but also the best clam chowder ever.

The following weekend we flew from Boston to Pennsylvania to play in the Pottstown Rumble. This was the highest finish to date that we had, we tied for 5th place! That was so exciting because the previous year we were literally in the hardest pool and made playoffs but were in a play-in match and ended up losing. That was not the case this year. We made it to the second round of playoffs. This was our third grass tournament playing together so what an accomplishment honestly. After this tournament concluded, I flew home to have about 2 weeks off.

Had some time to relax, which might have been some of the best time I spent at home. I was able to attend the Morgan County Fair for the week which was nice to see some familiar faces. Went to some truck pulls, saw the Queen pageant to root for Lauren's sister, had some corndogs, lemonade shake-ups, and watched The Sqanks rock the stage for 90's night.

I drove up to Oshkosh Wisconsin on Friday because I was playing in a Grass triples tournament called Waupaca. I played with Jaidyn and one of our friends we played with last year, Jamie. We learned what we did wrong last year because we ended up making it to the finals this time and playing under the lights in front of 3,000 people. It was one of my favorite atmospheres to play in!! We ended up getting a second-place finish but we played 3 sets. I will always remember this match – there are a few special matches I remember in my career and this is right up there. After this match, I drove home, 4.5 hours to be able to play in our MCF volleyball tournament with some of my favorite people in Jacksonville the next morning.

The following week I worked in Monmouth & Belvidere IL coaching high school volleyball players the ins and outs of what to do on the volleyball court. I have come to realize over these camps I have done that being a coach is not easy. Some ideas will help a player change tomorrow but others can take months or years to accomplish. It is the little improvements that make coaching worth it. Seven days of coaching in a row was more difficult than I would have imagined. I drove home after those camps and had to quickly unpack to repack my suitcase to head to my next camp.

Sunday, I took a flight from Springfield IL to Spearfish SD to coach another volleyball camp. This trip was more than just coaching volleyball. With the other coaches, we saw Mount Rushmore, hiked up beautiful hills/waterfalls in SD, drove through the Black Hills, and hiked around Devil's Tower in Wyoming. I also saw one of my good friends Lauren who is from Rapid City. It was great to see her since we had many great memories from France this past year. This coaching trip was one for the books because we not only helped Spearfish High School with Volleyball, they showed us all the amazing land in Spearfish and the surrounding areas. I flew back home Thursday – 1st class. Yes, you heard that correctly. The only time I have ever flown first class. Some of the other coaches were not so lucky because their flights were delayed. My flight was also delayed but only by an hour so I still made my connection from Dallas to Springfield.

During my few days off before starting my next camp, I was able to be the best Doggie Aunt. Checking in on my Lauren's Corgis. Chief and Cooper. I cannot wait to get a dog of my own one day! Dogs are not just a man's best friend but also a woman's best friend.

To finish off July I worked one more volleyball camp and then flew out to Connecticut to play my last tournament of the summer with Jaidyn. The tournament is called the DIG and it is one of the biggest grass tournaments in the New England region. We ended up playing well and ended the summer with our best finish as a pair. We got 2nd. Ugh, being so close to winning has its mental challenges. At least we walked away with some money and had a great day on top of that. It isn't always so easy playing under the lights – especially when they are shining directly in your eyes at 9 pm. The following day we played doubles Co-ed (RCO) and I ended up playing with Jaidyn's boyfriend. We had a good time playing. Ended up making playoffs but lost in the second round so we ended a bit earlier that day. Ryan, Jaidyn, and I drove back to New Hampshire that night because I had an early flight home Monday morning.

Next up is the Mississippi Valley Fair. One of my favorite weeks of the summer. This week consists of staying with Elianna the whole week. Another full week we get to spend together. We got to enjoy all things fair which meant con dogs, lemonade shake-ups, tacos, donuts, and a lot of other unhealthy foods. The best thing about this fair is that I get to see my second moms every day and have a great time with them. We get to hang out and get ready for the rest of the day in motor homes for the concerts every night. We get to see concerts from Tuesday to Sunday night all with one "Fun Card" for $80. This is a crazy price for the quality of concerts we got to attend. We even got to go backstage most nights and throw out fans/koozies for some of my favorite people, Jim and Julie. Making the experience ten times better. After nights of the concerts, we went back and hung out at the "compound" to wrap up some amazing nights. Some nights we would go to the farmer's tent to listen to other smaller/local bands but not before visiting all the different food trucks. We get to meet some pretty cool people every year at the fair. This is normally the last week I get to spend in the US. Not the case this year.

Following the fair, I did my last volleyball camp of the summer in Wisconsin. This was a great week of trying the local cuisines and getting to meet some great coaches. I hope all the knowledge passed on this summer will help these young players adapt and increase the team's overall skill level.

I drove home from camp on Thursday night, I unpacked one bag to then pack a suitcase because the following day I traveled with my Mom to Washington D.C. to visit my Oma. I had not seen her for around 5 years, since a college match. This trip was great to spend time with my Mom while also getting to see some monuments in D.C. again. We also got to visit my grandma in her rehab facility for about 5 hours each day which was great. On the first day, we brought a cake to her so we could celebrate all of our birthdays. The following day I gave her one of my Volleyball-Nantes shirts – which she loved, which made me so happy. On the final day, we were able to bring her some things from her house. She was only going to have to stay in the rehab facility for about 10 days. It was so great to see her and speak about living in Europe and all things life. We flew back to St. Louis the following morning. This was my last flight of the summer before flying to France.

My birthday was the following week, I drove to see one of my friends in Iowa City, Brandon. We celebrated my birthday by doing all things birthday if I say so. Had to go to Texas Roadhouse to sit on the saddle while getting happy birthday sung to me. Then we had sushi for dinner. The following day we had some pretty sick breakfast bagels (by sick I mean delicious). Went to Nothing Bundt Cakes to get me a birthday cupcake and ended the day by eating at one of my favorite places Chipotle. I left that night because I had a ceremony I needed to attend in a few days.

That same week there was a "retirement" ceremony for my number at my High School. It was not officially retired yet because the school board did not approve... I found out that week that some of the school board members did not even know I was playing professional volleyball in Europe. That was pretty upsetting to find out. I hope that this "knowledge" gets spread so there is a chance that one day my accomplishments will be recognized.

The following weekend I went to see my nephew Jaxon and my brother Sean in Indiana. This was a much-needed weekend because I had not been able to see them this summer due to my busy "off" time. We went to Jaxon's taekwondo practice which was so cool to watch him do his thing. Then got some lunch and headed back to the house before going out to dinner that night. We watched a Halloween movie that night because Jax is super into Halloween which I love. The following afternoon we went to the Spirit Halloween store because Jax wanted to show me some of these animatronics that he wants to get to put on the front porch. They were pretty scary; it would make you jump if you didn't expect it. Then we finished the day with a long walk and Jax rode his bicycle.

Sunday afternoon I drove to Bloomington to eat dinner at Rob Dob's for my last dinner with Dalton, Ashley, and Elianna. I did not know at the time that this would be the last time I would get to see them before heading back to France. It was a great dinner; we enjoyed the food but the company made the night extraordinary.

I had about 5 days at home before I flew to France to start my second professional season in Nantes. The summer is always great to spend at home. Trying to see everyone, play volleyball, and travel makes the summer seem so short. I am truly blessed to have so many amazing people in my life who support me and welcome me back home after 9 months. This right here is how I am still able to say goodbye to the life I know and love for so many months out of the year. Of course, I miss my "old" life but this new life I am pursuing makes me so happy. I'm not sure what career choice I would have right now if it wasn't volleyball.

Summer 2022 was one for the books, the real challenge will be trying to top it next summer.

Here are some pics from these memories.

until next time,

jae