4/14

April 14th is a... shall we say, interesting day in the history of Darci.

I was on a reality TV show called Endurance when I was 15. If you didn't already know that, I'll give you a moment to let that sink in and process your shock. Yes, this awkward, bespectacled girl with a decidedly behind-the-camera personality was a contestant on what was essentially a kid version of Survivor. I have an IMDb page and everything. (And before you ask... yes, it's on YouTube.)

Can you spot me? :)

This show was a massive obsession of mine for a few years. And calling it a "massive obsession" is probably putting it lightly, actually. So when I started seeing commercials on TV calling for audition tapes for season four, I roped my brother into being my cameraman and sent in a tape.

On April 14th, 2005, I was watching TV in the basement of my house when I heard the phone ring. It was an unknown number calling, so nobody picked up, as per usual, and I thought nothing of it. But a few minutes later, my mom came downstairs, holding the cordless phone and looking very strange.

"Dar, you need to listen to this. Right now."

My first thoughts were, holy crap, who died? Am I in trouble? What did I do?

My mom hit the playback button so I could listen to the message this caller just left, and what do I hear?

"Hi Darci, this is Mark from 3Ball Productions..."

3Ball Productions was the production company behind Endurance. Turns out they liked my audition tape and wanted me to send in another one. So I went from utter terror to a wide-eyed, squealing, flailing mess in 15 seconds flat.

I ended up not getting on that season, but I still had one year of age eligibility left, so when auditions for season five rolled around I went for it again. No regrets, right?

On April 14th, 2006, a call went to voicemail and the answering machine picked up as I was walking out of my room. So I heard it this time.

"Hi Darci, this is Mark from 3Ball Productions. I hope you remember me, 'cause we sure remember you from last year!"

Yes, hello, mental breakdown in the hallway.

I did make it onto season five, and believe me when I tell you that that call on April 14th was just the beginning of a long, weird, incredibly difficult but equally as amazing journey. One that I'm sure I'll get around to writing about eventually. And for a long time, I didn't really think about the significance of that first step, getting that call that got the ball rolling.

My parents thought I was a little bit nuts to want to be on a reality show. But they let me chase that bizarro dream I had because, lol, what the heck are the odds of it actually happening? (We found out later that the odds were 20 out of 10,000.) So, uh, the joke ended up being on them, I guess! That's what you get for underestimating me: put up in a hotel in Clovis, California with the parents/guardians of 19 other teenagers and left to watch your children do battle in the forest.

I mean, don't you wish you had promotional photos of your 15-year-old self and got to live in a treehouse on your summer vacation? (I'm trying so hard not to cringe at the photo. But the treehouse is still the coolest thing ever.)

But anyway, that freedom to pursue my goal is something that's stuck with me ever since. I wasn't the best athlete on the show, nor was I the most outgoing or the prettiest or the smartest or the most popular or the coolest, and I could absolutely keep adding to that list. But hey, I did it. I was there. I somehow made it happen. And y'know, I really think accomplishing that set me up for everything I've done since. I'm not afraid to get single-minded and passionate and recklessly pursue my goals. 'Cause yo, look what happened the first time I did! I'm still not the most talented or the prettiest or the smartest etc. etc. etc., but if the odds are 20 in 10,000 or better, I think I like my chances.

Bottom line: you want to do something? Okay, cool. Go do it.

So cheers, April 14th. You're alright.

California Dreamin'

Hello from Hermosa Beach!

This is my fourth volleyball post in a row. Aren't you excited?!

Well, whether you are or not, I'm out here in California to cover the 2013 USA Volleyball Beach High Performance Championships (or Beach HPC -- not as good an abbreviation as the BJNC had, but I'll take it). For some reason, I thought this trip would be much more relaxed and easier to handle than my trip to Reno. But two days ago I passed out on the couch in my hotel room at around 9 pm and, upon waking up, stumbled into bed at 11. And I still had trouble waking up at 8 am yesterday. In other words, it's the exact same situation.

Well, ALMOST the exact same situation.

I'm also finishing work so late that, by the time I'm finished, I'm so lazy and tired and hungry that I'm going to McDonald's for dinner because it's a) still open, and b) right down the road. Just in case anyone thinks my internship is glamorous (I'm looking at you, Mylan!).

But, just like in Reno, I'm having an awesome time. My official title for this event is "Media Coordinator" -- this is the first time I'm anything other than "intern" and, let me tell ya, it feels good! A coach also called me an SID yesterday, which was pretty awesome.

I'm also really glad I'm getting to meet everyone at the beach office. USA Volleyball technically handles both beach and indoor, but beach has its own office out here and is sort of its own entity. So now I have a USA Beach Volleyball t-shirt and wristband, have met some of the beach players that I've been writing press releases about and have expanded my writing repertoire a little bit.

I also much prefer this:

over a convention center, even if I spend most of my time under the shade of the USAV tent.

What's been neat for me is that, because this is high performance, a good chunk of the kids competing are on either the national team or in the high performance camps. This means that people in the beach office know most of them and can point me in the direction of good stories. BJNC was so hit or miss, but here I'm more or less guaranteed something interesting, like the team that met on Instagram and the girls that won gold literally days after competing in Russia. I will, however, credit myself with finding out about the match that had a set go to 41-39. Is that not insane?! I also got to interview another delightful Canadian team. :)

Between the tall boys and my too-big USAV clothes, I look like I shrunk in the wash.

I should probably go to bed now, since there's still another day of competition that I need to power through. See you on the other side!

FIVB World League: I Can Dig It

(Because it's about time I used my favorite volleyball pun. #sorrynotsorry)

Hello from Reno!

USA Volleyball's 2013 Boys' Junior National Championships (it's a mouthful, ain't it?) is well underway, and it's dragging me along with it. But that's a whole slew of stories for another post!

For two nights during my stay, I went downtown to a different events center, where FIVB World League matches were being hosted. The Men's National Team played two matches against Bulgaria, which meant my boss BJ was in town, and she thought it'd be cool for me to see. So she got me a media credential and I watched (er, "worked") both matches from courtside. (In case you couldn't tell, BJ is a really awesome boss.) Basically, I tossed back stray balls and ran stats in between sets and looked around in awe the whole time.

It's honestly a miracle that I didn't take a single volleyball to the face. This was also my first time seeing a national team in any sport, so that was awesome. And a bunch of guys on the team are Olympians, so two thumbs up!

The audience was actually pretty full and incredibly loud (and full of Bulgarians).

I mean, are we in Bulgaria, or...?

And it was such a cool experience to see these guys play. I got to toss a ball to Max Holt and sit in on Matt Anderson's press conference, and I'm entirely in awe of David Lee. His attacks are the awe equivalent of a LeBron James dunk. Literally eye-popping. There's a reason he's a gold medalist and two-time Olympian.

Matt Anderson getting ready to serve!

...And serving.

The U.S. won the first night and lost the second night, which was kind of unfortunate, but every set was really close and well fought out. The Bulgarians are really intimidating. For anyone who understands Miracle references, instead of "Johnson against Mikhailov, Broten against Petrov, Pav against... whoever-ov," we had Anderson against Sokolov, Smith against Salparov, Caldwell against Yosifov... Literally every member of their team had a last name ending in -ov or -ev. So much to the point I actually kept a list.

But the question is, do any of them look like Stan Laurel?

But I think what made me happiest was that a ton of people crowded around the court after the matches ended, and that the U.S. players stayed incredibly late to sign autographs and take pictures with people. They were probably out there for a good 45 minutes after the match, and then I left so it might've been even longer. It's stuff like this and makes me love the under-appreciated sports. The athletes aren't in it for money, they don't have crazy fame and egos, and they truly appreciate the people that came to see them play.

I would say that everyone should go see a match if you get the chance, but they seem to only play in places like Wichita or Tulsa or overseas, so uh... maybe not. But if the opportunity arises, it really is a good time -- probably even if you have to watch from the stands. ;)