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Athlete: John Mayer My first international event, the World University Championships, was supposed to begin with a flight from Los Angeles to Cyprus on Saturday night, June 10. I was excited for the event but I had also geared some of my focus towards the AVP's Hermosa Beach Open, which began with the qualifier Monday, June 5 and finished Sunday, June 11. I was in a real tough spot. I had to run to the airport, change my flights and hope there was one to get me in before the World University Championships began. Luckily, there was one flight available and it departed at 3:30 p.m., so I paid for the changes and I was set to go on Sunday. In my first Sunday appearance, the good fortune continued. Brad and I won two more matches, which put us in the semifinals against Stein Metzger and Mike Lambert at 1:15 p.m. I knew this was trouble because I would miss my 3:30 flight; I was previously told the later flights were overbooked. Luckily, my travel agent and girlfriend, Paola Rodriguez, made calls for me during our match. But it seemed the airport had no solution. It was an unfortunate situation. I was stressing about what I could do about my flight while also trying to focus on the biggest match in my life. However, I was happy to deal with a problem that involved such success in a beach volleyball tournament. After we lost in the semifinals, I had no time to enjoy the third-place finish. We had played 11 matches in three days and now I was sprinting up the hill to my free parking spot in Hermosa. I made it to the airport and was told that I could go on standby for the overbooked flight at 5:30. Fortunately, I was one of the last named called and placed on the Sunday night flight that allowed me to arrive the day before competition. All this was going on while my World University Championships partner, Matt Prosser, was sitting in Cyprus hoping he'd have a partner to play with. After two days of traveling and layovers, there was no rest for the weary in Cyprus. Matt and I began our first match at 8 a.m. against Switzerland. My body wasn't sure if it was morning, afternoon, or night. My partner fortunately carried me through the victory giving me my first international beach volleyball win. After some nap time, some lunch and some swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, I played a bit better in the afternoon victory against the host country Cyprus. Hopefully, by tomorrow I will be more rested and ready for a long yet fun weekend of volleyball.
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As a player in the qualifier, I was unworried about my Saturday night flight
because only the top eight teams would make it to Sunday. My career best was a
13th and that had only happened once. Somehow, someway, my AVP partner, Brad Keenan,
and I made it to Sunday by pulling off a couple of upsets.
