Turks & Caicos 2021 Pro Recap & Thank You’s

Turks & Caicos 2021 Pro Recap & Thank You’s

Before you get into the most awesome recap and thank you’s from any pros, ever, the VBV Crew (ALB, Tarin, & Andy) would like to take a moment to thank all of you for sharing a week of your lives with us. The past few years have been tumultuous and we are all navigating new waters. Thank you for trusting us. Thank you for being so genuine and present all week. This week restored our energy and gave us a glimpse into the future for Volleyball Vacations. We want to grow together and continue to provide unforgettable events. The volleyball community is such a unique and special family. We can’t wait to see you all again very soon! SOCIALLLLL!!!

Evan Cory

Hey Y’all, it’s Evan! Just wanted to take a sec and thank y’all for such an incredible week once again. Whether you were an early riser and ready to play at 9 every morning or shutting the bar down every night (yes, I’m talking to you Raj), it was so great getting to know each and every one of your stories (fingers crossed that I remember everyone’s😬). One of my favorite things in life is getting to share my passion for volleyball and it was so great to see an entire group just as passionate about the sport even if it is not at the professional level (btw, thoroughly impressed with the amount of volley yall played without dying). Some things I definitely will not forget from this trip are the endless amounts of kings 4s I played (think about it), all the coed challenges that I got to play with Savvy, and the now infamous White Night. To me, volleyball is one big family and I definitely just gained another family member in each one of y’all. Anytime that you want to talk, please do not hesitate to reach out, I am always open for giving volleyball advice, taking life advice (lord knows I could use all of it that I could get), or just having a nice conversation. Hope y’all Have a Merry Christmas and here’s a nice big SOOOCCIALLLLLLL to the start of a great new year in 2022!

Ali Denney

For my first of many volleyball vacations, this one will be the hardest to beat. I had some of the most fun and learned so much all at the same time I was in sensory overload the whole time not even knowing it. I am so grateful for this first year experience. I loved reconnecting with my NVL family and getting to know you all in a different light. The volleyball was so much fun and I really feel like we started the camp as strangers and all needed as friends. We are all still texting a week later! To be honest, I was pretty nervous to go on this trip but Tarin, Al-B, Andy, Ratto, and Snyder made us all feel like we were a part of and meant to be there. This was one of the most amazing and fun weeks of my life! Remember to “think about it!” There are so many fun memories its hard to choose, but some of my favorites were pirate and glow night and the exhibition Pros vs. GOs!!! Girls rule- boys drool. If I had to sum up the entire trip into a few words, this trip was… Rippin’ and Tearin’!!

Laura Ratto

I had an amazing time meeting and hanging out with all of you last week!  Congratulations to all the winners of the tournaments, I had so much fun watching all of you play.  I talked to many of you about sport psychology and if you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I’m excited to connect with you and support the volleyball community however I can. For instance, I recently donated a sports psychology package to Melissa for a fundraiser event she’s doing. As we all know, it’s a small world and we’re stronger together!

I’m also excited to share my podcast this week! It is based on our trip and has some great insight from some of the other pros as well.  Be sure to check it out!  The Sports Mastermind:  Sage Advice for all Athletes.  The Sports Mastermind is a weekly podcast on many topics, so please subscribe and tell your friends!  Be sure to keep in touch and have a great, happy and safe holiday.  SOCIAL!!!

Toni Rodriguez

This trip was hands down the BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE. Coming on the trip, I wasn’t too sure what I was getting myself into but I’m so glad I was given an opportunity. I have never been out of the country and now I’m just feeling spoiled that the first time was in Turks and Caicos. I can’t thank Volleyball Vacations enough for taking a chance on a girl from good ole Louisiana. 

This trip truly encompasses what the beach volleyball community is all about. I love that we all got to come together to play the sport that we all love so much. I find it so cool that as a professional athlete, that I got to play with and coach y’all for 7 days. If you think about other professional sports, none of them give you the opportunity to do what we just did for a week. 

To all of you campers, thank you for being SO AWESOME. I genuinely am so happy to have met every single one of you! I know every day in the beginning of the week I tried to make a point to learn all of your names…. Definitely was a tough challenge. Every night getting to sit and eat dinner with yall was fun and interesting to learn about your day to day. You have truly made an impact on my life more than you know! Thank you for trusting me to coach you! I truly feel I have made some lifelong friends and forever supporters! 

There are so many things that I loved about this trip and If I wrote them all down it would be like 10 pages long – Just a few shout outs: 

  • One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to live it up on the dance floor with everyone! I mean Hilary and Brad, it was a pleasure! 
  • I thought my nickname was Big Toe but Kat had her own in mind “Toni, Toni, Toni”. 
  • My fav night was definitely disco! I grew up listening to the “oldies but goodies” with my mom and that type of music just gets your sole dancing. I’m not going to lie, the blue wig is a must for next year – so make sure you go to spirit Halloween store in October. 
  • To Joe, Nancy, Shelby, and Elvis, I want to say thank you for picking to play with me! It was so fun to watching y’all play and to seeing how much you improved by the end of the week! 
  • I’ll never forget eating the conch pistol or drinking too much rum punch…..or maybe I will forget that haha. 
  • I’d like to shout out to the Baton Rouge crew for being so fun and coming on the trip… Geaux tigers always! 
  • To my fellow coaching staff, I love that we all support each other. In sport, I find it can be hard to want to cheer on and support others that are trying to accomplish what you’re doing but this is truly a FAMILY. 

No words will be enough to show how grateful I am. Please Follow along this coming season and reach out any time. Love you all! 

Hip Hip Lorae 

Savvy Simo

I don’t really know how to put this week into words, but the easiest way to do it is to say that it was truly the best week of my life. My family and friends keep asking me how the week went, and all I can say is that I wish I had a GoPro attached to my forehead the whole time filming everything we did. Pictures and words don’t do a good enough job at explaining what we did this week. I have never experienced anything like Volleyball Vacations before and I can definitely say I will look forward to this trip more than any other trip each year for as long as the crew will allow me to come back (hopefully I don’t mess up and get banned lol). 

I seriously don’t know how we are still alive after all of the volleyball we played and all of the alcohol we consumed, but here we are still playing volleyball and still drinking everyday since the trip!!! We are all nuts, and I fricken love it!!!! The slogan “Play and Party with the Pros” was really accurate this past week!! 

I wanna start by saying thank you to all of you, “the campers”, for being so incredibly kind, hardworking, and fun. There was never a dull moment with anyone the entire week. I have never genuinely connected with more people in such a short period of time than I did on this trip, and I am forever grateful for that. I made friends on this trip that will last a lifetime and I can’t wait to stay connected with each and everyone of you. I better see you all back out there next year!!!! I also want to say thank you for being so supportive of us, the pros, throughout our journey in this crazy sport. The reason we play this sport is because we love the game and we love the people. You all truly make our experiences the best and remind us all why we continue to play. The people we meet along the way and the memories we create with them feel just as good if not better than being successful on the court. And I fully stand by that statement. Winning is fun, playing good is fun, but that only happens so often and the feeling doesn’t last. However, these friendships that we made over this past week will last a lifetime, so cheers to friends for life!!!!!

I also wanna give a quick shoutout to Brad, Frenchie, and Kaye for asking me to play with them on Friday. It was so amazing getting to connect with you on the court and battle against some other pros and campers. You are all truly so amazing and I feel so honored to have been able to share the court with you!!! Shoutout to my ballers who I gave lessons to: Phyllis, Rebecca, Elvis, Marcos, and Demetri. It was incredible getting to work with each and everyone of you, and even more amazing watching you grow as volleyball players in just one hour!! And to the rest of the campers that I got to share the court and the dance floor with throughout the week, you are all fantastic!!!! I am still sore from playing and dancing all week. It was so epic. I also got to connect with some amazing groups, couples, and individuals. You know who you are. If I could shout everyone out in their own way I would, but I don’t think we have space for all of that hahaha. But anyways thank you for listening to my life story at dinner, for sharing your life stories with me, and for making me feel comfortable and at home. This is seriously a family. 

Next I want to say thank you to my amazing coaching staff!!!! What a bunch of fricken gems you all are. Each of you put in so much work this week in your own way and it was so amazing to see how all of our hard work came together to create such a fun and successful week. Garrett absolutely crushed the night life, net set up AND proposal!!!! Brittany and Ali literally kept us all alive with their positive attitudes on and off the court and made everyone smile all day everyday. Logan and Toni LIT UP the dance floor and made every  party epic. I knew these two were epic humans already but this week really made it clear how amazing they are. Evan successfully got everyone hammered lol, made everyone feel so comfortable and confident on and off the court, and made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world the whole trip 🙂 Jen was the master at being a night pro, got everyone in the pool or #chunkydunking in the ocean every night, and really paved the way for all of us young pros. Now we really know how to do it right for years to come! Ratto absolutely crushed every tournament day and made everything go so smoothly, you’re the goat!!! Andy balled out on the court everyday in 4s and helped out more than we even know behind the scenes, so thank you Andy! And Tarin and Al-B, they made it all possible, for all of you and for me. Thank you for taking a chance on me and all of the young pros and thank you for making this all possible. It’s the best week of our lives because of you guys!! Thank you pros!!!! 

And thank you to the two best John’s in the world!!! John David, you are the greatest human ever. You allowed us to have such an amazing time this week and we all feel so lucky to have met you and to be your friend now. And to our other amazing John, thank you for such an epic night at the Conch Shack. Can’t wait to eat another pistol next year! And thank you for hosting us pros at your wonderful home. It was a once in a lifetime experience and we are all so fortunate to have you in our lives. My cheeks hurt from smiling while writing this the whole time. Love you all!!! 

Here’s a little “SOCIALLLLL!!!” to the best week ever and many more best weeks ever to come. 

#socialllll #notjustsomeofit #hiphiplorae #chunkydunking #eanturks #imjimmyimfat #churromode #thelostcamera 

Jenn Snyder

Such a fun week with all y’all! So happy to see so many new faces this year and get to know more incredible people to add to our VBV family. And it’s always awesome and special to see all the VBV family that comes year after year! It truly is my favorite week of the year and I’m grateful for all the new memories with the old and the new crew, and can’t wait for the next one! See ya on the beach!

Love and hugs,

Snydes

Brittany Tiegs

This was my first time experiencing Volleyball Vacations in real life, because I guess stalking all of their other years and pretending I was there doesn’t count. But boy, it did not disappoint!!!

The energy of our coaches/staff was unparalleled, except maybe by the crazy, outrageous campers!! I’ve never seen so many smiles, laughs and friendships made all in just one week. You, campers, seriously made this trip unforgettable. Being able to not just coach you all, but to hang out, get to know more about your lives (sorry to those I didn’t get the pleasure of spending more time with, maybe next year!?) and really see your best costume side and dance moves late at night was amazing! I never thought Garrett and I could get “out drank” and “out volleyballed”, but it just might have happened with some of you fellow late nighters! 😉

I loved sharing multiple shots and drinks with you all #notjustsomeofitallofit! I loved talking about volleyball with you until dinner closed. And I especially loved seeing you ALL progress at volleyball and learn to love the game even more, just like I love this craziest game of keep the balloon off the floor! Thank you all for allowing me to be apart of one crazy awesome week of your life =]

And to end my crazy awesome week with y’all, my best friend/boyfriend decided to pop the question on our last night in Turks! It was SO amazing and I wish y’all could have been there to see it! Well maybe not #imnotcryingyourecrying lol since I never cry 😭 but I just wanted to thank you all again for the well wishes and messages!

Logan Webber

Going to my first Volleyball Vacations, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’ve coached a lot of camps in the past and there is always an awkward feeling out period when no one really knows anyone else and things are a bit quiet. However this week that period of time took about an hour. Our whole group was so open to hanging out and trying new things right from the start. Y’all made it so much fun for us pros. For me, typically being a pretty quiet fellow, y’all made it so much fun for me to talk and get to know all of you.

I can definitely say that I spoke more words during the week of camp than I ever have and I’m so thankful for that.

We all were talking after the week on Saturday morning about how it always feels like the end of the school year with everyone saying goodbye to each other as we all part ways. I think that feeling is the amazing thing about this sport. It can bring hundreds of people together in such a way that they can go from complete strangers to tearing up when parting ways in only a week. For that I want to truly thank you all. AND I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR!

Garrett Wessberg

When I was asked to come on the Volleyball Vacations Turks and Caicos trip, I simply thought this was the perfect chance to ask Brittany Tiegs to marry me.

My mission was to make this trip one that she would never forget. In the back of my mind I knew we would be coaching, playing volleyball and meeting lots of new people, which would add to the experience. I didn’t know when or where on the trip I was going to ask her, but I just knew it would all work out because Brittany is the love of my life.

The week kicked off with intros from the Pros and Campers, which was the most relaxed and fun intros I think possible. I was instantly having a great time. I felt in a safe place where everyone already seemed like they were friends and we were all doing what we loved, playing beach volleyball. As the week went on I made deeper connections with not only the Campers but also the Pros. Every night I felt myself connecting with different people from different groups. Whether we connected over volleyball, coaching, work, food, or drinks, at the end of each day I felt my circle of friends growing bigger and bigger.

My decision of when and where to ask Brittany seemed easy, as my new friends assured me they had great ideas and that it would be amazing. Afterwards people even asked how I was so confident or how was I so sure that I would go through with it. Well the simple answer is, the Volley Vacations Family made it easy. Each and everyone of you gave me more and more confidence as the week went on.

I truly appreciate each and every one of you for the impact you had on Brittany and myself. I would love to stay connected with all of you so please do not hesitate to reach out.

Hopefully see you soon at some type of reunion!!

Love you all!
Garrett