Roxin’ It Out D.C. Style

Never a dull moment on Rox Volleyball’s visit to D.C.

Having never been to Washington D.C. before I was thoroughly excited for the plane to land, and not just because of my completely irrational fear of flying.  More surprising then the whole Rox crew making the flight on time, there being no delays to our itinerary, and absolutely NO turbulence, was the fact that our entire luggage made it to D.C-no problems!  Coming from Florida none of us were fully prepared for icy blast that hit our faces as soon as we left the airport.  Before we even looked for a cab ride our luggage was opened and scrambled through in an attempt to find what Floridians call cold weather clothes!

Rox’s first day in D.C consisted of building our booth and making sure the exhibition of our new Roxamation ad would scream “You rock” to every player who walked by.  The courts were quiet while we set up, but the energy was there.  Somehow, we could still hear the whistles blowing and shoes scraping the court when no players were on the courts.

Rox President, Danielle Olson was present every moment during the set up, making sure the bathing suits, spandex and shirts looked just as good hung up on one side of the booth as they did on the other side.

We had no guides to take us around D.C., just the memories of Danielle and Troy to show us the sites, and show us they did!  We found a restaurant through the backstreets of Chinatown, the only stops we made on the way were caused by a glowing hand on the crosswalk and my voice yelling, “Everybody freeze, turn around, SMILE!”  Yay for more photo ops!

Who knew the bathing suits would fly off the racks as fast as Do-si-dos on the BOGO rack at your local grocery store?

In Florida, sunshine tends to mean warmth, in D.C.; the same does not ring true.  The temperature woke up our senses and fired up our brains, especially while waiting for the Metro.  It’s a good thing signs are more concrete then memories and that we brought Chrissy, our accountant (who is expecting a baby girl!) with us.  If not, we would have been waiting another hour for the Metro to actually start running.  At Danielle’s request, “Grab those cabs!” we immediately fit into two cabs and made it to the D.C. Convention Center with fifteen minutes to spare!

Meeting the players and parents and seeing their dedication to Rox was so encouraging!  We were so proud to feel the love and support from everyone involved!

The surprise of the weekend came when Mel’s boyfriend John-a Chief Commander in the Navy, and Shana-our warehouse supervisor started selling.  Who knew the bathing suits would fly off the racks as fast as Do-si-dos on the BOGO rack at your local grocery store?

I watched the kids break it down with Mel- Rox’s personal dance choreographer- and watched as Mel took her own personal lessons from two security guards who saw bright lights and followed the music to investigate.

Later that evening, as Mel, Jaime, Courtney and myself were making a break for the appointed restaurant, we were stopped by a couple teenagers asking us if we were in town for the local dance competition.  Simultaneously, the four of us performed our own versions of Chris Brown’s robot with a little hip-foot-kick-grab-two-step-break it down finale. I am not sure whether it was our sweet dance moves or us yelling “Go Rox” as we ran away that gave them the answer to their question, but something definitely said, “No, we are not here for the local dance competition.”

Have no fear though!  Since our return from D.C., the four of us have spent quite a few nights at the office perfecting our robotic back flips, and who knows, maybe there will be a video, or a premiere at the next Rox affiliated tournament?