Late Summer Co-ed Beach Volleyball at Golden Gardens Tuesdays

It was a hot, summer day and Golden Gardens was bumpin'. With little room to walk across the sizzling sand between all the beach chairs, coolers, and blankets, Seattlites of all ages gather in groups large and small to relax, play, and suck down a few frosty beverages. Amongst the hullabaloo of the beach party was some excellent service. Your lead server tonight was Katie Merrill. Sweating under the blistering sun, Katie served it up cafeteria-style. She just kept handing it out, one right after the other. 12 IN A ROW to be exact. Katie Merrill had 12 straight serves. And that was just one of her amazing runs that stood out on court 2 tonight. She had an awesome all-around game that helped her team, Sandcastles in the Sand, to a 3-0 blowout. Great job, Katie!

This week's Player of the Week is awarded to Tessa Smick of Morning Missiles for her extreme confidence. Tess showed confidence in every aspect of her game. You saw it in her serves, heard it in her self-talk, felt it in her spikes. Every drop of Tessa's sweat glistended with extreme confidence.
Tessa played with such confidence that, not only her teammates believed in her but, the other team was confident they would get beat, too. So confident that they were beating themselves. Literally. And physically. Tessa's opposing team actually beat themselves - drawing blood.
Marcus Garvey once said, "With confidence, you have won before you have started," and Tessa sure proved that this Tuesday night at Golden Gardens. Her extreme confidence lead Morning Missiles to victory 2 sets to 1. Congratulations, Tessa!!

If you're having Golden Gardens problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 Problems But a Beach Ain't One.

99 Problems just have that swagger. Like Jay-Z times 20. They just step onto the beach and it's on. The players of 99 Problems But a Beach Ain't One ooze confidence and skill. It can be intimidating. The team they were supposed to play tonight didn't even show up, most likely because they were scared. They knew their inevitable fate, so why bother? 99 Problems was just going to kill, and catch it all on their new 180-degree-view video camera.

One down, now who else could 99 Problems create problems for? Well, a nearby team was missing a few players so 99 Problems decided to help them out against a new opponent. Not everybody may have seen this because the sun was in their eyes, but I swear jaws dropped as 99 Problems strutted across the sand, in their light blue t-shirts, and Henry the mascot labradoodle in tow. It was time to get their game on.

The players of 99 Problems But a Beach Ain't One are so good, they can play with anybody. It looked like they had been playing with this other team for years. Shout out to the ladies of 99 Problems, Stephanie and Emily, for they kicked the game up a notch and showed some real skill.

As for the whole team of 99 Problems But a Beach Ain't One, you all showed an immense amount of the most important skill - Sportsmanship. Congratulations! You are Team of the Week!