IDK My BFF Kerri Walsh Jennings

My internship is pretty cool sometimes. Well, a lot of times. I've already told you the story of how I had a Twitter conversation with Misty May-Treanor, and saw the men's national team play against Bulgaria, and talked to Karch Kiraly on the phone... but this one takes the cake:

I interviewed Kerri Walsh Jennings -- Six Feet of Sunshine, four-time Olympian, winner of three consecutive Olympic gold medals, most winningest women's beach volleyball player ever -- live and in person.

She's in town for a few events with Peak Vista Community Health Centers; first was a volleyball clinic for kids followed by a VIP reception, and the second day was a "Breakfast of Champions" at which she was the keynote speaker. USA Volleyball got a table at the breakfast so Kristina and I claimed seats because, hello, Kerri Walsh Jennings. But then word came down from The Powers That Be that we should give the event some coverage. Twist my rubber arm!

It was decided that we'd do a quick "Humans of Volleyball" photo/blurb of her on Instagram. Kristina and I were all ready to do it at the breakfast, but yesterday the plan changed -- we were going to the clinic that afternoon to catch her there instead! *insert mild panic here*

So we just, uh, casually strolled into the World Arena (seriously) and, y'know, introduced ourselves to Kerri Walsh Jennings (seriously). Luckily, though, we were with our boss; Charlie's interviewed pretty much every big-name athlete on the planet (seriously), so he breezed right in, chatted her up and presented The Interns. And she introduced herself back, as if we haven't known who she is since we were in middle school.

The actual clinic stuff came next, and Kristina snapped away on her fancy camera as Kerri helped some little kids play volleyball.

(My iPhone photos are pretty lame, but click HERE for a gallery of Kristina's pictures!)

I shagged a couple of balls, waiting nervously with my recorder and trying to keep my feet from going numb with cold (the floor was laid over the ice rink). The initial approach is always my least favorite part of interviewing people, and I felt like a really awkward vulture circling her as she signed autographs for a bunch of little kids. But I eventually snagged her! And LOOK, there's proof!

Photo cred to Kristina, awesome my partner in crime! #BallsNetsAndMoney

Clearly, she's about eight feet taller than I am. But it was a really great interview! Important people sidled up to her to try and steal her away, but she never broke eye contact and actually made me feel important. She's also incredibly sweet. :) Every sport should be so lucky to have an icon so passionate about growing the game and giving back to the next generation of players. (And I'm not just saying that because I work for USA Volleyball. Kerri gets it.)

It was a very giddy drive out of there with Kristina, let me tell you!

This morning, it was up and at 'em bright and early to head over to The Broadmoor (fancy shmancy) for the breakfast (they served steak. STEAK). It was definitely a good call talking to Kerri last night, as she was totally surrounded by people today.

Please ignore the giant ear on the right.

Kerri started her speech by stepping up to the podium, kicking off her shoes and saying, "Seriously, I don't know how you do it, ladies. I spend my days in bare feet. This is awful!" So I think it goes without saying that she's overwhelmingly, ridiculously likable, even before she donated a ton of money to Peak Vista and then offered a two-hour volleyball clinic to the silent auction to raise even MORE money. She's also a really good speaker. She flat out said that public speaking is way out of her comfort zone, but instead of being awkward about it, she was actually incredibly personable and engaging. (Again, not just saying this because I work for USA Volleyball.)

And when it was over, I got to go to work and transcribe my interview with Kerri. Then THIS HAPPENED!

We got a HEART from Kerri! :D

But my favorite part?

Who the heck are these random 38 people favoriting this?

And there's also this:

Yay, that's me! I'm one of the newbies! :)

I never know how to end posts like this. I'm all "FLAIL FLAIL FLAIL, so uh, yeah, it was pretty cool." But just know that Kerri is every bit as awesome as she seems on TV and in interviews and that we're totally BFFs now, obviously!

EDIT: Sooooo...

*drops mic*

What's The Weather Like In London?

Because I need to know what to pack.

WHAT?

For those of you that don't know, I've kind of been suffering in silence for the past few months. My plans to go to the Olympics fell apart altogether in early June, and I've been scrambling to put them back together ever since. I couldn't find a place to stay, and I imagined flight prices skyrocketing, and I'd all but given up.

But on Monday, I was offered a place to stay. Mere hours later, I was offered ANOTHER place to stay. On Tuesday, I checked flight prices and found them wonderfully, gloriously still within my budget. And today, I purchased tickets.

I'M GOING TO THE OLYMPICS!

I still don't know if I'll get to go to the event Chandini and I got tickets for, since she's not going and they were purchased in her name. However, the women's marathon, both triathlons, and men's race walk, which are ticketless road events, are occurring while I'm there. So I'll be able to put my waiting-on-the-street skills to use and see some Olympics! Would it be obnoxious to bring a giant American flag? Yeah, probably. AND, if all goes as planned I'll be able to visit the ceremonies rehearsal venue at Dagenham, which is still holding closing ceremony rehearsals! I may not have a visa to be able to work, but my pass and vest still get me into the site... as do my wonderful coworkers. :)

I'm so excited!! I've wanted to try traveling by myself for a while, and it's kind of funny that this will be how it happens. It's the best possible scenario, though; it's in a city that I know really well, and OLYMPICS! It'll be interesting being an emotional mess all by my lonesome, but I'm hoping that similar-minded strangers won't judge me too harshly. And if they do? Sorry not sorry!

DanRad and LOCOG

Look at me, blogging on a regular basis! (Though honestly, it's probably because I'm starting to get sick so I stayed in tonight to rest, eat clementines, and drink hot chocolate. I'm deluding myself into thinking these things are going to help. Well, mostly just the hot chocolate.)

Yesterday I did go to The Woman in Black premiere, where I had a spot on the barrier across from the media, and where Dan Radcliffe was literally right in front of me. How did I fail to get a picture with him yet again?



See that blue thing? Yeah, my face was behind it. The people behind me took it upon themselves to hold the things they wanted signed directly in front of me. Le sigh. I'm really too short for this stuff.

Today, as per my Wednesday usual, I went to class and then promptly went back to sleep for... uh... like four hours. Hey, I had nothing else to do! And I woke up this morning with the beginnings of a cold, so why not? But I was up in plenty of time to make it to my interview with London 2012 Ceremonies on time.

Oh, have I not mentioned that yet? ;) Well, over winter break I submitted an application to be a ceremonies volunteer for the Olympics. My visa's only good until June (which I only realized as I was applying), so at the moment I'm only looking to get involved on a shorter term basis. But anyway, I got contacted by the casting department and told to come interview!

I'm hesitant to say it went well, 'cause the last time that happened was with USA Swimming, and we all know how that turned out... but I WILL say that it was fun, and that's never happened before! I think it's safe to be less nervous about this because it's not skilled volunteer work; I don't really think they're cutting many people, ya know? (Watch me say this and not get it. Just watch.) But I really wasn't nervous at all. The lady interviewing me was really nice, and the whole time I was sitting there repressing the urge to flail about the fact that I was interviewing with L2012C.

Good god. Pinch me, please. Even if I fail, this is freaking awesome.

So, I hope they were looking for enthusiasm, because I couldn't stop talking about how excited I was to have the opportunity to be involved at all and how I love the Olympics and that I'm willing to stand around in the cold not doing much (been there, done that). I think the fact that I'm studying abroad here almost entirely because of the Olympics might help me out. And it turns out that my interviewer was just recently in Miami, so we had a little chat about Coral Gables.

When she asked me if I had any questions, I of course asked her what volunteers would be doing, and then we somehow got onto more specific things about the ceremonies. She was telling me how there are professional performers and volunteer performers, and what the difference is, and about "mass movement choreographers" whose job it is to coordinate the thousands of people performing in the ceremonies, and I was dying inside. I wanted to sit there and pick her brain forever.

Man, just let me at 'em. I will be the most enthusiastic volunteer ever.

It's DEFINITELY Who You Know!

Hmm. I’m not really sure if what just happened to me actually happened. But now I think I can finally write about what I’ve been not wanting to jinx for a month!

A day or so before spring break, I got a call from my mom’s best friend/college roommate, Caron (and she told me she reads this, so hi Caron!). She knows that I’m trying to get to the USOC, and realized that she (sort of) knows somebody who she thought might be able to help. I don’t really remember the specifics of all of this, but she used to live in Atlanta, and still goes down there every year to do a run. I think it was last year that a friend of hers took her to another friend’s house (maybe? I could be totally making this up).

But ANYWAY, the guy’s house she was at is named Svein Romstad. He’s the Secretary General of the International Luge Federation (FIL). Hearing that title might not mean much to most people, but remember the Georgian luger that died on the first day of the Vancouver Olympics? Svein’s the guy that was doing all the press conferences on TV about it!



Under the circumstances, it’s kind of unfortunate that I recognize him. And even more unfortunate that it’s exciting and cause for me to be happy. But it really is, I promise!

Caron got in touch with him, and he said he’d be willing to talk to me and help me out (awesome point #1). So I emailed him, and he said if I had a name of whoever was in charge of the internships I applied for, he could try to talk to them. Or if not, he said he’d write me a recommendation letter (awesome points #2 & 3).

After returning to consciousness, I told him that I couldn’t find any names so, oh darn, I’d have to settle for a letter of recommendation.

BUMMER. (/sarcasm.)

Some time went by after that – I think there was a meeting coming up, or something like that, and he’d talk to someone for me there. A week or two ago, he emailed me that that was cancelled, but he’d be going out of town soon for an IOC meeting. And he said he’d try to talk to the director of communications for the USOC, if he was there (awesome points #4-11).

The other day, I get another email from him. He said he’d spoken to the CEO of the USOC, Scott Blackmun, about me (awesome points #12-87). Svein said he wanted a letter of recommendation sent to him, so were there any points in particular I wanted him to mention (awesome points #88-103).

After returning to consciousness, I emailed him back, saying that I WANT THIS SO BADLY (though maybe a smidgen more eloquently), and attached my resume.

This morning, I got another email from him, saying he forwarded Scott Blackmun my resume and the recommendation he wrote for me (awesome points #104-237). The letter is on the official FIL template and everything!

This afternoon, I get a call from a number that came up as “unknown” – when I had my interview with USA Swimming (which I don’t want to talk about and jinx, but I do think it was a plus that I knew the names of swimmers other than Michael Phelps), that number was “unknown” as well, so I answered.

And it was the USOC.

(Awesome points calculator explodes.)

I don’t even remember the name of the guy who was on the other end of the phone. I was just so floored by the words “United States Olympic Committee” that I might’ve blacked out for a second. But HOLY HELL, CAN YOU BLAME ME?!?!?

He said he wanted to follow up on the “correspondence,” and asked during which semester I was interested in interning. I said the summer, and he told me they’re already closed (damn). But I told him I had an interview with USA Swimming, and he sounded impressed – he looked through the database of interns that were already in the system, and nothing’s been put in for Swimming yet, so he said it still may be me!

He told me I’d get an email either way, and then… that was kind of it. The call was less than three minutes long, and after I hung up I just sat there for a second, rather dazed.

Did it really happen? This whole saga doesn’t sound like something that would happen to me! I feel so regular, and this is… not. So, so, SO NOT.

I hope the mystery man on the other end of the phone talks to the good folks over at USA Swimming and puts in a good word for me! :D

At this point, though… I’m scared to even say it. I think this really improves my chances for the future, even if I don’t get anything this summer. I have another letter of recommendation under my belt – from somebody AWESOME, again! – and can name drop! Oh, this went straight to the CEO of the USOC, no big deal.

…Really? Is this my life? Might I actually be doing things RIGHT?!