Reid Priddy

To say the summer is flying by is a major understatement. Jan-May seemed to drag-on forever but conversely, the time here in the states has been blowing by!

As mentioned before, I was on a 30 month binge of competition. Since early 2007, I have been playing without any significant break for 2 and a half years!! That is no exaggeration, and I have the scripts and inflamation to show for it. So much took place in that time…a stint with the Greek Team Olympiacos, 2 seasons in the Russia Super-League, 2 World Leagues and of course the Olympic Games in Beijing. With no off-season built into the schedule it became apparent that something had to give…either take a break or drive yourself into the ground…so that is what lead to my break from competition.

I was able to break for almost 6 weeks without touching a volleyball. It was very refreshing and my body feels rested. In that time I traveled to Sonoma, Virginia, Minnasota, Atlanta and New York where I am writing this entry from. I have still been quite active surfing, golfing and spending time with family an friends but have found the most enjoyment in doing simple chores around the house in HB. Though we have owned our place for over a year it feels like I can count the nights we have actually slept there on a few hands.

However, the off time is over…It would probably not be a bad thing to continue to rest but the summer will be over in a blink and it’s not a great idea to get too far from the game. I’ll take this opportunity to answer a lot of questions I have been getting through my website re: my return to Team USA. In my talks with Allan Knipe, my return should be early September. This gives my joints impact relief that much longer. In the interim, I am excited to compete on the AVP tour starting off with the Manhattan Open with Billy Strickland. I am excited to start competing again and also for the challenge beach volley presents. It will be fun to play on US soil and if your at the events don’t hesitate to say hi.

To note: Throughout the summer I have been able to be involved in a lot of conversations with heavy hitters in the business world who are involved in a push to take volleyball in America to the next level. From the board room of USAV to the VIP tent at the AVP, even into the offices of ESPN (where we were yesterday)…there are competent and powerful people with a heart for volleyball and an ability to do something about it. Did we miss the opportunity to capitalize on USA volleyball’s success in Beijing…probably but I see tremendous potential for future expansion and growth in the coming years leading up to London and beyond. The NET LIVE and The Volleyball Network is right in the middle of it all an we hope those entities will help serve the volleyball community in important ways to see volleyball go where it hasn’t before gone here in America and where we all think it should be. So tune in, call in and share the fever with the sphere of influence you have and let’s connect with each other and find ways to push forward together.

Tune in this Monday at 5-630pm PST for the next LIVE show and listen ON DEMAND on itunes with the archived shows.

I believe we are on the brink…but right now, I need to start thinking about siding-out again.

Sent from my iPhone

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 2:59 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.