Aug 20, 2013
Hello Everyone!
Well, I'm home and enjoying some down time in the beautiful US of A. To catch everyone up on Barcelona, things didn't go as we had hoped. We finished 5th at World Championships. After losing a hard game to Spain in the quarterfinals, we went on to beat the Netherlands and then beat Greece in a shoot-out victory. The beauty and hardship about competition and sport is that you have to bring you're best if you want to win. We were unable to produce enough to beat Spain, and all credit goes to Spain, for going on to win it all.
Spain did a wonderful job of hosting an amazing event and our team was able to enjoy the hospitality and passion of the Spanish fans! What an amazing country! After the tournament was over, we were able to take a day to enjoy Barcelona as tourists. Many of us toured the Gaudi masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia and it was breathtaking! My favorite part about the cathedral is that it was inspired by nature. Gaudi was a stickler on the amount of light that was let into the cathedral, he said too much light or too little light creates darkness. The pillars that hold up the structure were made to replicate trees in the forest. It's beautiful the way the trunk leads up to the branches that break off at the top of the cathedral. In sport we always look to be inspired, and its not always through another athlete or coach that we can pull inspiration from. I was inspired by the passion, beauty and vision that Gaudi had for this cathedral. It's truly breathtaking! Spain wasn't everything we were hoping for, but we hope to take the things we learned to better this team moving forward.
Since I've been home, I've been able to do some domestic traveling for Jamba Juice! Some of my golden teammates, Brenda Villa, Jessica Steffens and Elsie Windes, and I, traveled to Arizona for the day to promote some Jamba Energy Drinks! It's always fun to re-connect with my teammates that have retired from water polo, and to be able to connect with people in Arizona and share our medals was even more fun! August 9, 2013 was our golden birthday. One year ago, we won gold in London and so it was fun to share our golden birthday in Arizona. As I spent the day meeting people at Basha's stores, I was also able to enjoy the frozen sherbet and yogurt popsicles throughout the day. It is so hot in Arizona and I was able to cool down with a delectable popsicle and keep my energy levels up with the all-natural Jamba Energy Drinks! So, make sure you go buy an energy drink at your local Jamba Juice store along with a smoothie. An energy drink is only $1 with a purchase of a smoothie!
Toast to a year of golden health and hopefully to more golden dreams!
Till next time,
Tumua Anae - Jamba Addict
