Last tourney of the year in AZ this past weekend and it was the funnest one of the year too. What a great feeling to have all of the other American players cheering us on while the Brazis cheered Harley and Alison on. I was really pumped up to play as not only was it the finals of the tourney for Phil and I but it would determine the outcome of who won the country vs. country contest.

Flew in on Thursday midday and did a clinic with Phil at the Victory Sports Complex in conjuction with the AZBVA. It is the 4th or 5th year I have done the clinic and every year it has grown. Good to promote the sport to the locals and hopefully it helps Jeff and Marina at the AZBVA as they try and grow beach volleyball too. Special thanks out to Brian as well for all the hard work he puts in and Jan too for letting him do it.

On Friday we played our first match vs. Billy and Bruno at 9am. Phil hurt his back in the finals in Vegas and wasn’t sure if he was even going to be able to play at all. He said it was really tight and hurting as he warmed up that morning. Fortunately it was hot in AZ as expected and getting a good sweat going is pretty easy. Billy and Bruno mostly served me throughout the match and we won in 3 games 21-18, 17-21 and 15-10. They have been in and out of the main draw all year and I expect they may take over a main draw spot in the future depending on what the other brazilian teams do as far as partners ect… are concerned. Our second game on Friday was against Harley and Alison at 8pm at night. The early morning and evening games are nice to play in Glendale. It isn’t cool but not blazing hot with the sun beating down on you. Phil was still hurting but they brazis did not realize it at all and I probably sided out the best I have ever sided out against them. The first game was tight but the second game we won going away to go to 2-0 overall with scores of 23-21 and 21-14. At the end of the day the Americans were up 10-6 thanks to a late push in the evening session. Misty/Kerri and Jen/April were 2-0 and EY/Nicole were 1-1 with Jenny/Annette at 0-2. On the men’s side we made a late push after a bad morning as Sean/John, Nick/Brad and Jake/Matt were all 1-1.

On Saturday we again played at 9am vs. Benjamin and Pedro. We controlled the game for the most part. They came out serving Phil short and he did not appreciate that due to his back. It worked a little at first but as Phil warmed up into the game he started being more aggressive and at the end of game 1 he actually hammered a couple like he normally does. This made them switch to me but the end was pretty much the same. We won 21-19 and 16. Our second game this time was at noon vs. Emanuel and Ricardo. It was hot as smokes at noon and the game was hotly contested as well. At 2-0 Emanuel poked a ball off of me but the refs did not see it and it went out of bounds. They argued the call and were looking at me to call the touch. I didn’t call the touch as it is the refs job to do that. They got super pissed and were yelling at Phil and I. I told them it was the refs job not mine to call the touch. After the game Emanuel came up to me and apologized and explained that he felt that ref had screwed them the day before on a call. No harm no foul and they ended up winning the match with scores of 21-19 and 23-21. Phil and I moved on into the finals the next day as we were 3-1 overall and the other teams were all 1-2 as they had all lost their morning matches. I guess the mornings were tough for the american men as we went 2-7 overall for the whole tourney. We did better in the evenings as we went 5-3 in the later matches. Fortunately the women did not have the same troubles as us. They went 5-4 in the mornings overall and 7-1 at night.

On Sunday morning the score was 18-14 in the red, white and blues favor. Jen/April started the day off right by defeating Talita/Maria for the bronze medal and an extra 3 points. We were now ahead 21-14. But Brazil came storming back to win the men’s bronze medal match as Emanuel/Ricardo beat Nick/Brad to put the score at 21-17 USA. If Misty/Kerri could win their Gold medal match then we would win. They lost though as Misty just ran out of energy. I will say the night before Misty played an amazing match. Considering she hasn’t played at this level, coming back from an injury, and playing arguably the best team in the world and they beat them down in 2 games. WOW!!!! Kerri played great but Misty was simply amazing when you throw all of that out there. I was astounded and am amazed at how damn good she is! But the score was now 22-21 in the brazis favor and it would come down to our match. It was the first time since the Olympics that I was actually nervous. I think the adrenaline was running high for Phil and I before the match as Phil told me before the match that he felt pretty good and was going to try and jump serve. He had been jump floating all tourney long as he hurt his back in Vegas on a jump serve. I said go for it and boy did he ever. He played fantastic and the Brazilians were shell shocked. He served 7 or 8 straight points in the beginning of the first game. I think he had 4 aces and 3 stuffs during that run. It was Phil at his finest and simply amazing to watch. That game was pretty much over at that point and we cruised to a 21-14 win. The second game was a little bit closer but both Phil and I were playing well and we steadily pulled away to win 21-15 on a Phil dribbler ace. We were mobbed by the rest of the american players and it was a really cool feeling. All the American players who were there and the next top 4 teams on the AVP split an extra $50,000. Great tourney and I hope they do it again next year either in Brazil or in the USA.

For more on Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers, visit www.toddjrogers.com

About this time of year I began to slack. I would apologize but in truth it wouldn’t be a meaningful apology. It is the end of the year and that is going to be my only explanation.

Vegas is always a player favorite to play in and this year was no exception. It was hot, which is normal, and the courts were very very hard packed but that is normal too. It was at a different location though. We were at Mandalay Bay this year. Almost as big as Ceasar’s! Took a good 10 minutes to walk from my hotel room to the site and that was going through the Casino the entire time. Crazy huge.

The event itself had the top 16 players from each gender split into 4 pools of 4 players. I was in a pool with Anthony Medel, Brad Keenan and Jeff Nygaard. A good pool for me as I would be playing with 3 left siders and 2 of them would be big men. On Thursday morning at 8am I played with Jeff vs. Brad/Anthony. The first game was back and forth with Jeff and I pulling it out 25-23. The second game Jeff and I put it together and we won 21-12 which gave Jeff and I a huge upper hand to get out of pool. In the second game I played with Anthony against Jeff and Brad. Normally big/big beats little/little but Anthony sided out great and we scored just enough points to win 22-20 and 21-19. That meant all I had to do was score a total of 32 points with Brad and I would get out for sure. Early Friday morning, Brad and I ended up winning the match in three games. They won the first but Brad and I played well in the second and third and won the match. That meant that Jeff and I would get out of the first round of pool play.

In the second round of pool play I was with Jeff Nygaard again as well as Jake Gibb and Matt Olson. I have played with Jake a couple of tmes before and we have been pretty solid together with Jake playing the left side. Friday night my first match was with Jake and he started off on the left side. He was struggling to sideout and Matt Olson, who normally plays the left side was siding out like a god from the right side. Down 10-16 Jake had had enough and told me to go to the right side. They continued to serve Jake on the right side and we basically played them even and lost 21-14. In the second game they started serving Jake but he sided out at will and they went over to me on the left side. When I passed well I sided out well. We were up several points when I passed two balls poorly and they got it back to within about 2 points. I righted the ship and we ended up winning 21-16. In the third it seemed like we never got a clean side out but somehow kept managing to sideout. We won that game and I have to say I had a blast playing with Jake and having Mike Dodd in the box.

Saturday morning I partnered up with Matt Olson. I have never played with Matt so was looking forward to seeing how we did against the two big men. The odds were against us and we couldn’t pull off the upset as they won 21-15 and 21-16. I had fun playing with Matt though. I think we were both a bit tired and sore from jumping on the hard pack sand and we just couldn’t get up high enough to score points against the big boys. That loss meant that Matt and I were out of it and to go to the finals would be between Jake and Jeff. Saturday midday Jeff and I played Matt and Jake and we went at Matt. He was still sore and tired and wasn’t as crisp as he normally is. Jeff played great the entire match. At 15-8 with us up in the second game, he re-injured his bum knee. We pulled the game out 21-19 to send him to the finals.

In the finals Phil picked John Hyden and Jeff picked me. Frankly the finals was ugly. Jeff struggled valiantly through it and we had some fun points but we got smoked. I think the scores were 21-15 and 21-10 or 12. Like I said, it was ugly. I was stoked for Phil though as that is the one title that has eluded him in his career. I would have liked to keep him from it but it was not to be. Congrats to Phil!

For more on Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers, visit www.toddjrogers.com

Well just got back from the Red Bull Spiked event in Dallas. Phil and I went out there Thursday and did a bunch of media on Friday and Saturday. Also on Saturday we played 3 games to 15 points against three 4-man teams in the rain. It was pretty fun. Red Bull put on this challenge essentially and 16 teams qualified over the last several weeks to play in a qualifier with the top 3 challenging us. I thought it would be pretty tough for us but we ended up winning 15-4, 15-8, and 15-8. All good times though.

In the ‘Nati we ended up taking 2nd losing to Sean and John. In our first match we played Zimet and Morrison and won pretty easily 14 and 12. In our second game on Friday we played Loomis and Patterson. The first game we beat them fairly easily like 21-16. Then the second game was a battle with us coming out ahead 22-20. We had a bunch of fans from the Special Olympics out there cheering us on. It was very cool. Phil and I “sponsored” them and they got a cool t-shirt and we got some great fans.

On Saturday we only had the night game so we caught a movie. Do not go see Extract. Might simply be the worst movie I have ever seen. You have been warned. We played Nick and Brad at 9pm and won in two. I can’t remember the scores though. On Sunday morning we played Aaron Watchfogel and Billy Strickland and beat them in two. They were close games though as they had a great tourney and finished 3rd. I kind of thought we escaped with the win. Then in the finals we lost in 2 games to Sean and John. The first wasn’t that close like 16. The second we should have won as I had a sideout for game. John scooped me twice though and put it away and then Sean stuffed me and John scooped me. They again played well.

Nice to be home on the first weekend of NFL Sunday.

For more on Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers, visit www.toddjrogers.com

Quick 30 hour tourney in the windy city. I expected heat and humidity but got mostly cold temps. Probably a good thing. If it had been hot and humid, guys would have been fallin’ like leaves in such a quick tourney.

In our first match we played Jake Elliot and Jonathon Guida. Jake has been playing for awhile now as I remember playing he and Riley Salmons back in Belmar ages ago. Good guy and a really good player. We played well and served Jonathon most of the balls. He hit mostly and Phil had a lot of blocks. The scores were not close. Something like 8 and 13. In our second match we played Jeff Carlucci and Larry Witt who we had played the weekend before in Muskegon. In Muskegon it was a battle in the wind. This game the wind wasn’t too bad and we played well. Won 21-13 and 11. In our third game on Friday we played Matty Furbs and Billy Allen who had taken a 25th in the wind of Muskegon. They were much better this tourney and had already won 2 matches vs. good teams. We again played well and beat them 13 and 13. With more time together this could be a solid team. Not sure what will happen with Casey and Matt in the future but certainly Billy is throwing his name in the hat to move up for next year. In our fourth and last game on Friday we played Nick and Brad in the semis of the winners. We again played well and won 13 and 13. At one point Brad said to me that it seemed like Phil was touching 14 feet. Never played 4 games in the winners bracket in one day before. Even at my elderly years new things are happening.

On Saturday we played Jake and Rosy in the semis of the winners. Rosy has been nursing a busted up wrist this past month and I think has to get surgery to fix it after the season. One thing I know for sure, it doesn’t affect his hitting. He crushed some balls hard. Hopefully he can play out the end of the season and then take care of his injury. The first game was a battle that they won in the end, 25-23. The second game we pulled ahead and never let go winning 21-15. In the third they were just out of sorts and we won 15-5. They had lost in the second round and then grovelled through the losers bracket. They played 5 matches on Friday and 3 matches on Saturday, 2 of those matches in the early morning before we played them. In the finals we lost to John and Sean. John played some of the best volleyball I have seen. Sided out really well and scooped driven balls and shots. The first game they crushed us from the get go beating us 21-17. The score looks a lot closer as we scored some points at the end. In the second we were on and they were not and we won 21-15. The third was back and forth until 12-12. I believe John scooped me and put it away, then I hit a ball out by 2 inches down the line and then John scooped me and put it away for game. The first point might have been a stuff on me by Sean. Can’t remember for sure. At any rate, they played well and we didn’t raise our game to their level. Now on to Cincinnati and what I am hoping may be the biggest crowd the AVP tour has ever seen.

For more on Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers, visit www.toddjrogers.com

I have fond memories of Muskegon from years past. Great weather and even won an event there in 2000 I think with Dax. After this weekend, there are more to add to the fond memory store. Although I will say that the weather wasn’t as I remembered it. Friday was howling windy as in 30 MPH sustained winds or so with gusts even greater. Saturday was less wind, 15-20 MPH, but showers dropped every 20 minutes it seemed like. Sunday started out a bit overcast but ended up being a beautiful day with a touch of wind in the finals.

In the windstorm on Friday we played local hometown heroes Pete Goers and Stevo Vanderwerp. Stevo’s dad, Scott has been a big fan of beach volleyball over the years and helped put the tourney on this year. They played very well and gave Phil and I all we could handle. In the first game we were down most of the game by a point or two. We pulled it out at the end to win 21-19. In the second it was again neck and neck until about 15-13. Then we pulled away with several points and won 21-16. In our second game we played Larry Witt and Jeff Carlucci. We won in 3 games. We smoked them in the first. Then they were smoking us in the second but we came back and made it close to fall 21-19. In the third we ended up smoking them after a tough call went against them and for us to make it 3-2 us. Final score was like 15-8.

On Saturday we played Pedro Brazao and Matt Prosser. They came out bombing serves and took the first game. We were down 7-1 to start the game mostly on Matt crushing jump serves and making things difficult for us. In the second we played better and won. In the third we were down 9-5 I think but came back with some clutch plays to win 15-13 in the third. In our second match we played Nick and Brad. They played well in the first and won the first game. We changed our strategy a bit and took the second and third games fairly easily.

On Sunday we played Jeff Nygaard and John Mayer in the semis. Phil pretty much put on a serving clinic. He was crushing the ball from both sides. I really didn’t do anything as he went on huge serving runs. In the first game I didn’t even serve from one side for the entire game. I think the scores were 14 and 12. In the finals we played Nick and Brad who beat John and Sean in the semis. I struggled to sideout in the first game. Wasn’t getting many clean sideouts to the sand. We scored a couple of points on a block by Phil and dig by me to get back to even. We were down game point at 20-19 but I sided out. Nick argued that Phil had chucked the ball but I didn’t think it was even close. The next ball Phil blocked Brad to go up the game point. The next play I dug Brad but Nick dug me back. The ball was tight so Brad tried to go over on 2 but I blocked him for game to get my lone block for the tourney. In the second they came out really flat making errors and what not. We ended up winning that game 21-10 to win the title.

We have been on a good run of late winning the last 5 tourneys we have played in. It’s been fun and hopefully we can continue to have fun in Chicago. It is going to be a quick 30 hour tourney for the men so hopefully it won’t be Chicago hot and humid. If it is, guys might be dropping like flies.

For more on Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers, visit www.toddjrogers.com

Finally won in San Francisco. For whatever reason, Atlanta and SF have been stumbling blocks for Phil and I. We flew in early and did some promotional work for the Barefoot Wine AVPNext Championship Cup on Thursday. I thought it went very well and hopefully Barefoot and the AVP were happy.

On Friday we played only one match as it was a 24 team draw and we received the bye in the first round. We played Paul Baxter and Jonathon Acosta. The first game we won 21-16 as Phil served and blocked really well. In the second game we were up 20-15 and they came back all the way to 19. Fortunately we put that ball away and escaped with the victory. That evening we went to the A’s vs. White Sox game in Oakland. Took the BART which took about 20 minutes or so. Watched a couple of innings and then met up with Bob Alejo, one of our trainers and now the trainer for the A’s. Went down into the clubhouse and hung with him for a couple of innings and then got out of there in the 9th before the crowds got to thick. They ended up losing 8-7 in the 10th.

On Saturday we played Braidy and Billy and played very well. We won 15 and 15. I think I sided out everytime I got served. In our second match we played Wong and Olson for the third tourney in a row. It was a good game and we won 19 and 18. They are playing at a very high level right now.

On Sunday we played Rosy and Gibb in the crossover semis. They had lost in the first round and had battled all the way back. They came out on fire and beat us in the first game. They were serving really tough and Rosy was playing great defense. They only had one ace but were forcing bad passes by both Phil and I and creating points that way. I think they won 21-14. In the second game we played better and they didn’t serve as well. We won 21-15. In the third we steadily pulled ahead and then they creaped back in. I sided out for game to win 15-13 in the third. In the finals we again played Sean and John. We played very well on all fronts. I had a bit of sideout snafu when we were up 17-12 and gave up 3 points in a row on two out hits and a stuff by Sean. I cleaned it up though and we won 21-15. The second game we again played well and won 21-16. Good tourney for us as we played solid ball the entire time. Now on to Muskegon, Michigan.

For more on Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers, visit www.toddjrogers.com

We were able to keep the magic rolling from Europe to here in the states. Hermosa was fantastic as always. Great weather, crowd and I love the sand there. It is deep and allows you to play great defense. Guys can’t hit extreme angles and it is all about ball control. I took my son, Nate, down to the event. We got up at 5am on Friday and drove down to Hermosa for the 9am match. Usually I take Hannah, my daughter, to this event but she was in a horse roping competition on friday. Plus, Nate has never come with me to a full event so Hermosa Beach was a good one to start. It is close, I know lots of people there and you have the ocean to play in too.

In the first round Phil and I played the qualifier team of Mike Szymanski and John Wankner. We had never played them before but I know Mike has been playing for quite some time. We won 13 and 12. It was difficult at first to play on the sand of Hermosa as our last tourney in Austria the sand was very packed and guys were flying off the sand. Then all of a sudden you are jumping in the Hermosa sand and you aren’t going anywhere. After that game Phil, Coach Nate and I went to speak to the sponsors at the AVP Sponsor Summit. I think it went pretty well as Geeter MC’d it and the sponsors seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say about the new AVP management as well as a host of other things. Then it was time to get back on the sand for our noon match against John Moran and Mike Placek. Phil and I played great in that match and we won, 7 and 12. In the first they just could not get the ball past Phil and if they did I was scooping it. After the game, Nate and I went and checked into the hotel but came back to the beach to do a Red Bull clinic for some high school kids from 5 to 6:30. Clinic went well and I think the kids enjoyed it.

On Saturday we played the quarters of the winners at 9am against Ty Loomis and Casey Patterson who are having an outstanding season. They served really tough and had a bunch of aces but we prevailed 17 and 14. Then we had to hang out all day long as our next match wasn’t until after the women’s finals at 1pm. So we played the winners semis around 3pm against Kevin Wong and Matt Olson. They had beaten us in Manhattan Beach as Matt had played the best I have ever seen him play in regards to siding out. So this time we went more at Kevin and it seemed to work. I sided out better in Hermosa than I did in Manhattan Beach and we won, 19 and 14. Immediately following that match I did a Red Bull signing outside of Hennessey’s Bar on the Hermosa Promenade. I was there for about an hour and saw some people I have not seen in a long time. Then Nate and I were able to get off the beach and back to the hotel for some rest.

On Sunday Coach Nate and I checked out of the hotel and headed down to the beach for our semifinal match at 10:30 vs. Brad Keenan and Nick Lucena. The first game we played very well and they did not. The second game was a battle. They were siding out very well, mixing up shots and hits. Nick really picked up his defense and started making some crazy scoops. There were ahead by a point when a long rally ensued. We ended up winning that rally and from there were able to pull out the game. The scores were 10 and 19. In the finals we played John Hyden and Sean Scott for the 4th time. We had lost to them in the last 2 finals we had met. In the first game they sided out really well. We sided out well but they were pretty much perfect and didn’t give up many if any points. We had a couple of chances but couldn’t convert. In the second game I picked up my defense and gave us more opportunities to score points and we did. In the third game it was back and forth until 7 all. We then scored 3 straight and were able to push through all the way to the victory. The scores were, 18-21, 21-15, and 15-9. Good to get back on the top of the podium on the AVP. After the finals we hung around for about 3 hours as I was playing with Shaq vs. Misty/Kerri. I won’t say much as people are going to have to watch the Shaq vs. reality show to see how we did. I will say that Shaq is a very funny funny guy and fun to play with too. This meant we didn’t get home until around 10:00 that night. Very long weekend but Coach Nate did a great job just like Coach Hannah has done for the past 3 Hermosa Beach Open’s.

For more on Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers, visit www.toddjrogers.com

I love this place! Not only is it the most amazing tournament on the planet, it also happens to be beautiful. To top it off, the weather was fantastic. Warm and sunny all week long. The lake was warm but cool enough to refresh you when you jumped in, which I did after every single game. The fans were crazy as always and the stadium was full the entire weekend. It is so different playing here than playing in the states. The fans sing and dance all day long. They know every song the DJ plays and have a dance or chant or whatever to every song. It is really a fun environment to play in.

Competition wise we again played well. In pool play we matched up against the team from Denmark first. The first game was back and forth. I felt really good siding out and playing defense. They scored some points off a wicked deep floater off of Phil to get back within a point or two but they could never get completely over the hump. In the second game we cleaned it up and ended up winning 18 and 12. Our next match was vs. Japan. Shiratori is one of the best defenders in the game but he had an off day against us. We usually don’t serve him but his partner, Asahi was siding out okay. We tried Tori and it worked well. He just wasn’t himself. We won 13 and 12. Those games were on Thursday. Friday morning we played our last pool play game vs. Switzerland to determine who got out first in pool and received a bye in the first round of single elimination. The Swiss served very well but so did Phil. It felt like we were in control pretty much the whole match. Can’t remember scores but they were something like 18 and 15.

So we received the bye and played the winner of Klemperer/Koreng and Franco/Nalbert. K/K won as Nalbert hurt himself. We seem to play quite well against Eric and David and this time was no exception. Both Phil and I got pegged pretty hard in the face though. Eric got me pretty good. He got a tight set and hit a fastball through Phil’s arms that cut my face up due to my glasses. Eric is top 5 as far as how hard he hits and my head can attest to that. Then David nailed Phil pretty good on the block. I think the scores were 15 and 12. Our next match on Saturday was a rematch of the Olympic final. We played really well in that match. Phil blocked well and I sided out well and that was pretty much the match. I think scores were 16 and 15.

On Sunday we played Igor/Bars from Russia. They played very well this weekend and took 4th. We match up well against this team too. Phil served well and blocked well and I scooped a fair amount of balls and sided out very well too. Scores were about 17 and 15. In the finals we played Harley/Allison from Brasil. They beat the Netherlands after being down 9-4 in the third. We started off serving Allison but he was crushing balls off the top of Phil so we went to Harley. We were down in game 1 by about 3 points when we went to Harley and we were able to score a couple and steal the game 21-19. Then in the third they beat us down 21-12. I couldn’t side out to save my life basically. In the third it was a sideout battle to 10. I think they scored 1 point and we scored 0 points up to that point in the game. Phil’s serve had been really good all weekend but was terrible in the finals. I told him he either needed to just rip it or float serve. He opted for the latter of the two and we scored 3 straight points. Phil stuffed Harley, then Harley forced a pass to Allison to hit on two and Phil was all over it for the stuff, and lastly Harley shanked a knuckleball float serve for an ace. Then Phil hit one in the middle of the net but Harley followed that up with a jump serve about 8 feet wide. That made it 14-11. Harley sided out but I did too on the ensuing play for a 15-12 victory. We didn’t play as well as we had been playing but a W is all that matters in the end.

Now I get to hop on a plane in a couple of hours and fly back home. Not looking forward to the plane ride but looking forward to seeing my family and sleeping in my own bed.

For more on Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers, visit www.toddjrogers.com

Marseille was simply one of the best tourneys that Phil and I have ever played. Probably top 5 as far as our performance on the court was concerned. It was a bit windy as Wend. and Thurs. were both shut down. The wind was blowing over 50 MPH with some crazy gusts. Phil and I went down and played one on one and it was comical. You would have never thought that either of us was a pro beach volleyball player.

We had a bye in the first round and then played Latvia yet again. 3rd time in 3 straight tourneys. The first game we smoked them. The second game they played better and I was struggling to sideout. They were ahead the majority of the game but we came back strong at around 17 to 13 or something like that. They kind of crumbled a bit as well and we pulled it out with a sideout to win 21 -19. That was our closest game of the tourney. Our second match was against Heyer and Heuscher from Swissland. We beat them 15 and 16. Our third match of the day on Friday was against Klemperer-Koreng from Germany. We beat them 12 and 15. Just didn’t seem like their heads were in the game. David was complaining that Phil was foot faulting and he wasn’t even close. Normally they are a much stronger team than that.

On Saturday we played the semis vs. Brink-Reckermann. We won 18 and 15 on the center court. It was windy that day but center court was pretty good to play on as it was blocked by the stands. Both Phil and I served really well. He probably had 5 aces and I had 2 as I was jump serving for some reason. Just felt good. Phil was putting the ball wherever he wanted to. Not really hitting it overly hard but with good pace and great placement. In the finals we played the Spanish team we lost to in Gstaad. Simply put, we played awesome. We didn’t give up a real point until the score was 18-10 in the second game. Phil served unbelievably well and we sided out pretty much every time. The final scores were 8 and 14. Hopefully we can keep that up for the rest of the year or at least play up to our abilities. Now for Klagenfurt.

For more on Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers, visit www.toddjrogers.com

Been awhile but wanted to catch up starting with MB. We looked and felt strong on both Friday and Saturday and then crashed and burned on Sunday. Our first two rounds on Friday we pretty much had it in cruise control winning 2 matches fairly easily. On Saturday the competition heated up a bit. We played Placek and Moran in our first match and won in 2 games with mild scores. Then we played Furbs and Casey in a barn burner. I frittered away the first game. We were up 20-17. They sided out and then I got scooped and hit a shot wide to tie the game up at 20 all. We ended up losing 23-21. The second game was tight but we won 21-19. The third we played well and they did not winning going away. We played Jake and Rosy in the winners semis and played probably our best match of the year against them. We won pretty easily, 15 and 16. Sided out, served well and blocked and defended well too. Felt great after that game and looked forward to Sunday. On Sunday things were just not clicking. We lost in three to Matt and Kevin. They played a good game and I felt Matt played exceptionally well. He always digs well but he sided out really well which he hasn’t done in the past against us. I was struggling to get in a rhythm and it really showed in the third game as they pulled away and I couldn’t right the ship. Was a bummer as I would have liked to win 4 in a row but those are the breaks. In Marseille now and will blog on how we do here soon.

For more on Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers, visit www.toddjrogers.com