A nerve-racking day for two former Washington athletes
It was 4:30am in Anaheim. Courtney Thompson couldn’t sleep.
“A lot of nerves,” says
Thompson. “Anxious and excited. All in one."
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Courtney Thompson (22)
-courtesy FIVB |
For most of her career, Thompson
has been told that—for all her hard work and talent—she’s simply too short to
compete on the same court with the international volleyball elite.
But she persisted. She worked
even harder. And during the past three weeks, in Brazil, Thailand and China,
she hoped to convince USA head coach Hugh McCutcheon that she belonged.
Today was the day she’d find
out.
“Had some really good coffee
this morning, and I was okay,” she said. “Called my brothers, and talked with
them for a while. And then I was anxious.”
“It was hard. Waiting was hard.”
In the end, seventeen players
were competing for 12 Olympic roster spots. Each had scheduled a ten-minute
appointment with McCutcheon and the coaching staff. Mid-morning, Thompson
walked into the office.
“The first thing he said to me
was, that they’ve selected me for the roster,” said Thompson. “And I stared at
him blankly for about a minute. Just letting it sink in.”
“It was pretty overwhelming.”
As Thompson left the meeting,
she saw Tama Miyashiro, her former University of Washington teammate,
waiting to hear whether she, too, had made the cut.
“It was emotional,” Miyashiro
says, “because we really didn’t have to say any words to describe how proud of
each other we were.”
“We shed a couple tears.”
 |
Tama Miyashiro
-courtesy FIVB |
“It’s Tama, you know,” says
Thompson. “She was calm, collected, and I know she was excited. And prepared
for whatever.”
Moments later, Miyashiro got the
same good news, and had a similar reaction.
“I didn’t really know what to
say,” says Miyashiro. “I was literally, like, I had no words. And I was just
like—in my head I was, like, damn! Like, it’s for real.”
For the past month, both players
have been on the bubble. Thompson had to beat out a much taller player, former
Penn State setter Alicia Glass. And
Miyashiro had to convince her coaches that the team needs her defensive skills
more than it needs an additional hitter.
“Deep down inside,” said Miyashiro,
“I know how much work I put in.”
“There’s only so much you can
control,” says Thompson. “You do everything you can, and you’re confident in
how you’re playing.”
Both players have been
travelling across the globe with the National Team. Thompson had climbed into a
self-imposed bubble, ignoring all phone messages, text messages and social
media. . Miyashiro had not seen family and friends for more than a month.
“I called my dad and called my
mom,” said Miyashiro. “And they were really excited. And said how proud they
were, and stuff. It was just good to hear everyone’s voice.”
“Lots of tears on the other end
of the phone,” says Thompson, whose parents live in the Seattle suburb of
Covington.
Neither player has made plans
for the Fourth of July. But Miyashiro is sure there will be fireworks at her parents’
Hawaiian home.
“You know how the Hawaiians are,
they find any reason to bring people together to eat. So, I’m sure something
will happen.”
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