Danielle Scott Weblog

Hello my friends and family,

I am sorry that I have been away for so long. It in not alone because of the loss, I assure you, though it was devastating. But since the lost to Brazil, I have been on a totally different schedule. Well, not one at all really, yet unable to get the Internet. As you know when we are in competition our days are pretty much planned out for us. Without that schedule, these past several days, I found myself way out of routine. This allowed me however to spend priceless time with my family and friends who are here to support me. I am still in Athens by the way (we head out at 3:45am, just two hours from now). I’ve gotten to do some incredible things with them from seeing the spectacular view of the Acropolis while shopping in the center by day and dinner later, to staying up late chit-chatting and catching up.

As you may imagine, I was crushed after our loss to Brazil. I was so deeply believing for the team it hurt that much more when we fell short. I really can’t put into words the emotions I felt. How drained and totally disheveled I was that my believing, receiving for the team just wasn’t enough even though my faith was more than that of a mustard seed. Still we win as a team and we loss as a team.

Though a bit shattered I know that things happen for a reason and I thank all of you for the reminders, the encouraging words and scripture verses. With these I am able to be positive in the mist of disappointment. And also be grateful for and appreciative of the things we have accoplished as a team. So, I rallied and went to the men’s game to cheer their win against Greece, which was phenomenal.

During this down time if you will, I was able to explore a little of Greece just trying to get to all of the hospitality centers. Bank of America’s Hometown Hopefull Center was one of the more popular at least for the volleyball families. But I also met some of the other athlete’s parents like Mia Hamm. What a wonderful lady, very pleasant. She also reminded me of Sally Field. She commented that she get’s that a lot. There I also saw Elaine Youngs after she had won the bronze. I had the honor of holding it and found myself fighting back tears. Anyway, we also went to the Visa Reunion Center and Nike Hospitality Center both providing a relaxing environment to hang out,eat and watch the televised Games.

Excuse me if I wandered around a bit. In the next entry I will talk a bit about the closing ceremony.

Blessings,
Danielle

Praise God in whom we trust! I’ve not felt this team play as such in a while. That is we played more like a team tonight than even our efforts against Russia. Which, by the way, was a tough loss yet still a gain for us in that we started playing as a team. What beauty is displayed when a team plays selflessly, believing, trusting and playing for one another, committed! But let’s rewind it for a bit. It’s challenging enough knowing the situation we are in terms of a must win case… Try throwing in getting stuck in the elevator for ten to fifteen minutes which seemed much longer, just before our team video meeting. This was the first time I had taken the elevator as well as Keba. However Robyn had taken it two times earlier in the day. Anyway, we three get in the elevator for the quicker, less painful route to the third floor, that is avoiding a climb of THIRTY-FIVE whopping steps, but stopped suddenly between the ground floor and second. YIKES! The inner doors are stuck open and all we see is about four feet of door from the ground floor, the slab of cement separating floors and about the same amount of door to the second level. Robyn immediately starts crying out, “Hey, we are stuck in here” as we heard the foot steps of our teammates taking the stairs. Nancy responds and gets help. They send Stacy, the team comedian, to talk to us and tell jokes. Now of course all I can think of are the movie scenes where the elevator drops. I’m not sure how logical it is but I think we should sit in case it does. Robyn suggest that we try to open the door and climb through. Which brought another scene to mind, Robyn and Keba climb out safely and I’m the one whose body is cut in half as the elevator starts to move again. Pretty horrific huh! But we have a happy ending here. We receive instructions, the elevator starts functioning again and we are greeted with lots of smiles. I of course gave everyone hugs of gratitude. So that was a kind of funny experience. Well, just before our match, as we were doing hitting lines to warm up, Logan was hit in the face by a ball. Booo! We didn’t know right away the severity, but as it turns out as we all know Logan is a fighter and she played one of her best matches. So, now we will square off with Brazil in the quarter finals. Tonight we responded well to the first of our play-off matches. Tomorrow we will train and Tuesday we fight! Thanks for you continued prayers and support.

keeping it exciting,

Danielle

On the brighter side, after our loss…this afternoon seemed to be the day for day passes in the village. And what a treat it was. Especially wanting, thinking and believing that we would go to the gym and train after having loss (it wouldn’t have been the first time). My parents and friends arrived at just after 2:00pm along with Elizabeth, Logan’s, Heather, Nancy and Tyyiba’s family. It was so refreshing to se there smiles, hear there voices, receive their hugs and kisses of unconditional support. This village is quite large, so with our limited time we didn’t cover it all. We spent most of our time in the international zone going to the village store, checking out the music store, peeking in the window of the salon and looking around at the Olympic Museum. We even got a free group picture of us while there. I hope to get a jersey signed by my teammate to donate it to the Museum. As we walked to the bus stop we traded pins. It’s a big pastime of mine and a neat way to meet people. I’ve already collected over forty pins! I took my family and friend too my apartment to have a look around. We’ve finally got our air working again so it was nice and cool. Downstairs in the basement area is the Athlete Service center. There one can get all the info one need for transportation, tickets to other events and there is free Internet access! I had to break for our late afternoon video session, so my family stayed there in virtual land until I return. I saw them off before grabbing my dinner two cheese burgers and an apple pie from Mcdonald’s. Now I can rest and prepare for practice tomorrow.

I must give Dominican Republic credit for their playing well and fighting ’til the end. It’s hard to put into words the way I am feeling right now after having loss. This was a big loss for us. I know that we can play a lot better than the performance that we’ve displayed individually and especially collectively. Fortunately there is still hope. We have to find a way to win, be persistent, consistent, even more determined and rise to the occasion as the competition only gets tougher. Please continue to pray for us to have unity and spirit as we have been blessed abundantly with talent.

Danielle

Yesterday we were able to beat Germany. It wasn’t always pretty and it was a battle until the end. But what else should we expect at the OLYMPIC GAMES! USA has a weapon. It is called “Total Volleyball.” That is, all twelve players are important for the success of our team. And as we continue to train and compete we look forward to better play and continued fighting spirit!

Keep the spirit,

Danielle

Well, I am sure you all are aware of our lost to China. Don’t be discourages as we will do our best to bounce back from that defeat. Taking the advice of Paul in Philippines 3:13, we press on “…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead…” Yesterday we had good training and preparation for Germany. Tonight we have to better execute our game plan. But equally important, show our USA fighting spirit! It is most intimidating to see a team that is fighting for every play, staying positive and encouraging each other through the difficult times. When we do this amazing things can happen. Stay tuned!

Blessings,

Danielle

Wow, is how I have to start! Even with this being my third Opening Ceremony experience I would not miss it for anything, unless of course we had an early match. But it was once again awing, inspiring, and emotional event. Though the walk through the tunnel was a bit more quite than in the past, that didn’t stifle a full stadium of people welcoming each country as their name was called. This year I was closer to the beginning of our delegation and sensed to full initial roar of the supporters. This was one of the more exciting moments. Before getting to this point, all of the participating USA athletes, staff and coaches who are fortunate enough to participate meet outside our housing area. Getting to the actual stadium and marching is a long process. But time passes fairly quickly as we mingle amongst one another in the streets of the village before loading the buses. It is when we take our first round of pictures. After loading the buses we are seated in a “waiting stadium” during the start of the Open Ceremony and watch from a big screen. This screen also gives us a count down to when the marching will begin. We of course use this time to chat, exchange pins and take our second round of pictures. Once we are finally called to march through the tunnel and into the Opening Ceremony Stadium it’s like that dream a young athlete might have of having an entire arena cheering her on and celebrating the event itself. The lighting of the torch is always special too. I was close enough to the last runner that it felt as thought I might have felt a hint of heat from the flame, but that may very well have been just the heat of the night in Athens. The fireworks were spectacular. That combined with the actual lighting of the torch sent a chill through my body speaking, “Let the games begin.” So far things have been very organized. Spending a days work of eight hours meeting, loading the buses, anticipating, and marching in completing this grand event was well worth it. Taking the 1st Step for energy multi-vitamin gave me engery even while out of practice or competition. I wish to say thank you to all who help made these Games possible. What a blessing! By the way, unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to pamper myself by way of a manicure and pedicure, but I will definitely get a long nap in today. That is almost a necessity but also a treat.

Danielle

Hello All,

It is late but I wanted to drop a quick note to you this night of August 11. Since leaving Syros, we have been continuing to practice in preparation for our up and quickly approaching pool play matches. But today I managed to see a little more of the village. After our morning practice, I had lunch and then walked over to the International zone. It is located near the cafeteria which made it convenient to take a brief look around. I discovered many things in that zone such as an ATM (very important since I only had 5 euros to my name), a hair salon, Kodak center, the village store which is like a mini 7/11. I bought a blue tank top with the Athens reef on the front in white, boxers that have the mascot printed all over it, and a few snacks. But before heading to the village store I stopped by the hair salon to make an appointment for a manicure and pedicure. Unfortunately they were very busy and I didn’t know our training schedule right off. But I do plan to get a little pampered. Hopefully tomorrow. It will be a good way to relax a bit. There is also entertainment, an open air cinema, games halls and recreation room. Pretty much everything one would need in a village, minus one important thing: my family. However, I hope to get a day pass for my parents, Vera Scott and Charles and my good friend Aretha and her cousin Labriel. But in the meantime my teammates and staff are my family and all of the world class athletes are my friends; except of course during competition.

Only two more days until the Opening Ceremony!

Peace to all,

Danielle

PS Well now there is only one day until the Opening Ceremony since I was not able to add this log on yesterday do to tecqnical difficulties.

Hey Yall,

Today is August 8. And what a beautiful day it is. But boy is it hot!

I started the day out with breakfast with the team. We then headed over to the lifting facilities; must maintain muscle strength and endurance. Usually we have a morning practice following lifting but today Toshi wants us to have good recovery time before our full practice this afternoon. So, I will probably walk to the beach and spend an hour there before taking my daily nap. Daily nap! One might think, “What a life!” But for me, it is almost an essential part of my work day in order to have a good afternoon or evening session. And the days of going to the beach will soon be over as we are returning to the village Tuesday, entering the final phase of preparations. However, while we are here in Syros, last evening after dinner Keba and I made use of our time by taking a taxi back to the port to get a little shopping in.

Well, until next time,
Blessings,

Danielle

Hey all of you wonderful people and thanks for taking your time to spend a moment with me.

Today is August 4 at about 6:30pm. I have just come in from a great sunny day at the beach, the first of our two day vacation here on the Greek Island of Syros. We arrived in Athens, Greece on August 1 after a long four weeks of competition in the Grand Prix. Speaking of World Grand Prix…I’d better give you a little insight to that trip. The World Grand Prix is an annual tournament held each summer. Twelve of the world’s top teams come together and compete for three weeks of preliminary pool play. At the end of those three weeks the top five ranked plus the final’s hosting country advance to the finals to battle it out for the tittle. USA has won twice and I was fortunate enough to be apart of both teams, 1995 and 2001. We started out in Bangkok, Thailand. We then went to Hong Kong, China and Rostock, Germany where we finish fourth in overall pool play earning advancement to Reggio Calabria, Italy for the final. Joining us was Brazil, Cuba, China, Italy and Germany. These six teams were divided into too pools: USA, China, Italy and Brazil, Cuba, Germany. The top two teams from each pool advance to the semi’s. Our first match we beat China in three guaranteeing us a spot in the semis since Italy lost to China in four. So unfortunately we lost to Italy in four the following night. This set us up to play Brazil in the semi’s. I believe that is was one of the best matches of the finals even though we lost this heartbreaker in five 17-19 sending us to the bronze metal match. Despite our disappointment, your USA national team, summed up all of its fighting spirit to defeat Cuba and capture the bronze metal! (If you’d like more details you and log onto www.fivb.com and click on World Grand Prix.)

Now, back to Athens…

Well, two days have passed since the above written update. My apologies. Do you know that I was asked what day it is today and I did not have and answer! I am not sure that I should share that with you. It is quite embarrassing but that is just an example of how the days move so quickly and I get so caught up that I didn’t remember the day, much less the date. Well, that is a bit exaggerated being that I have a count down to the Olympics.

Anyway, It is Friday night and I am sitting on my bed typing while my roommate is reading. Our first day of practicing after our two day vacation was pretty encouraging in that we went back to the fundamentals and worked on USA volleyball and systems. We started out lifting weights, followed by our first practice session. It is so peaceful here that after our first session I wanted to go out to the beach. I decided against it so that I could nap and prepare for my second practice. I think I will go tomorrow.

I would love to write to you everyday but as you can see, sometimes days passes me by:-) I will write as often as I can but first things first, eat, practice, eat, rest, practice/comepete, eat, rest and then…