Misty Still Best on the Beach
by Doug Krikorian, Long Beach Press-Telegram
June 25, 2006 On a recent early afternoon, Misty May-Treanor is seated with her father, Butch May, at a local hangout, Tracy's, munching on lunch while gazing up at a replay of a volleyball match that was being shown on one of the TV sets.
"Darned!" she says, as she watches herself and her partner, Kerri Walsh, in a most unusual posture, getting beat in the AVP Toyota Hermosa Beach Open finals by Rachel Wacholder and Elaine Youngs. "We could have done so much better. Our defense wasn't very good."
It is the day after that June 11 upset loss and May-Treanor, one of the most decorated athletes ever to come out of Long Beach State and a beach volleyball gold medal winner along with Walsh in the 2004 Athens Olympics, is in a surprisingly upbeat mood.
"Listen, you can't win 'em all," she says with a smile. "We just got beat. No excuses. Rachel and Elaine just played better than we did. Hopefully, we'll play better the next time we meet them.
"It's tough when you're on top. Everyone is shooting at you. Everyone comes with their 'A' game. Kerri and I just have to keep plugging away and have to keep improving."
"You don't seem that disappointed," I say.
Misty May shakes her head in disagreement.
"Oh, I'm disappointed for sure," she says. "I don't like losing any time I play. But I won't lose any sleep over it. After the Olympic success in Greece, I feel I've accomplished everything I've set out to do, and anything I accomplish from now will be frosting on the cake.
"Of course, I want to win another gold in 2008 in Beijing. But it won't be the end of the world if I don't. One thing no one will ever be able to take away from me is that gold medal we won in Athens."
At the Sacramento Open last weekend, the May-Treanor-Walsh team reverted to form, although it didn't have the opportunity to avenge its loss to Wacholder and Youngs.
Instead, in the championship match, May-Treanor and Walsh swept past Holly McPeak and Nicole Branagh, who had eliminated Wacholder and Youngs the previous day.
And on Sunday evening, Misty May flew from San Francisco to Switzerland where she and Walsh were scheduled to compete this weekend in a tournament in the luxurious Swiss Alps resort of Gstaad.
"Always on the go," says May-Treanor. "From late March through November, we have all the AVP tournaments. And during this time, we also compete in events in foreign countries. Already, we've been to Italy and Greece. And now Switzerland. And, after that, we'll be going to France, Austria, Brazil, Acapulco and Thailand. We're definitely piling up the frequent-flier mileage."
And Misty Treanor-May also is piling up the money, as her earnings just from her AVP accomplishments have exceeded $1 million, and that doesn't even count the monetary goodies she's receiving from such sponsors as Nautica, Mikasa, Oakley, Gatorade and Xbox video games.
"I just don't see a lot of the money," she says impishly.
She also doesn't see a lot of her husband, Florida Marlins reserve catcher Matt Treanor, although she does speak to him at least five times a day on the phone no matter where she is ensconced.
May-Treanor has owned a home in Long Beach for several years, and she and her husband also have a residence in Corral Springs, Fla., where they spend most of the off-season.
At the moment, at 28, she is in her athletic prime, even, she says, in the best shape of her life after an off-season of strenuous training in Florida in which she dropped 15 pounds.
But she concedes it might be difficult for her and Walsh ever to duplicate their record 89-match winning streak that Wacholder and Youngs ended in 2005.
"Everyone is getting better," she says. "I think we are, too. But the competition is tough out there."
After Beijing, May-Treanor will give serious consideration to retiring from her sport and starting a family.
"I know I can't go on forever," she says.
With AVP tournaments now being shown on national television, Misty May-Treanor's fame has become even more widespread in recent times, but her head size has remained exactly the same.
She's the same sweet, appealing, down-to-earth person she was when she was setting all those artful passes for Brian Gimmillaro's team at Long Beach State and triggering the 49ers to the NCAA title in 1998.
"My daughter's never going to change," says Butch May. "She'll never take herself too seriously."
May-Treanor also never complains, although she does concede that her lengthy volleyball schedule is grueling.
"We will be playing every week until November 5 when we close it out in Thailand," she says. "This is what I now do for a living, and I love it. But it's not easy. It takes a lot out of you."
She is able to see her husband on occasion during her season.
"The Marlins had a series in San Francisco recently, and I was able to stay with him up there," she says. "And when I get back from Switzerland, I'm going to stay a few days in Florida."
She and her husband plan to take several family members on a Caribbean cruise on November 11-18.
"It was going to be a surprise birthday gift for my father, but we had to make plans ahead of time so we had to tell him about it," says May-Treanor. "I'm really looking forward to the vacation. It'll be nice just to just relax for seven days with nothing to do but have fun …" |
