COVER STORY 3
BALL CONTROL: April Ross has become a complete all-around player.
couple of mistakes.”
As good an example as any of rolling with the rough water came in the Olympics – in the semifi nals against Brazil, which was the biggest match of their careers. They lost the fi rst game, were down by a few points in the second, and Kessy suddenly discovered she wasn’t chewing gum. This was a problem. She always chews gum. It’s part of her routine. So, without even looking at Ross, Kessy called a timeout and walked to the bench. Ross followed and asked her if everything was OK. Kessy told her it was a gum issue. April gave her a somewhat bemused smile – “she had that look, like, ‘Ohhhhkayyy,’ ” Kessy says. But there was “no blaming, no panic. She kept very calm. April deals with my bouts of craziness really well.”
And, as you probably know, they came back and won that match with Brazil, which put them in the gold-medal match against Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor.
he scouting report on Ross is straightfor- ward enough: Good all the way around. As 2008 Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers says, “She’s the prototype beach player. She doesn’t have a weakness. You can’t pick on her passing because it’s really good. You can’t pick on her setting. You can’t pick on her hitting – she can hit anywhere in the court, and she doesn’t have any major tendencies. And she has a great jump serve. When she gets it going, it’s one of the best in the world.” Most volleyball experts would pick jump serving and hitting as Ross’ signature strengths, and Kessy wouldn’t disagree. But she highlights a different skill when asked about April’s game.
T 42 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
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tips from April Ross
1. You have to train harder than your competitors. When you go up against your competitors, you should know that you’ve worked harder and you deserve to win.
2. Take advantage of every opportunity you can to get better. Jen (Kessy) and I have always played in every single tour- nament. Even when I was just starting to play professionally, I played in CBVA (California Beach Volleyball Association) tournaments, and I would always train on the weekend. I’d get people together, and we would just play matches. The more you play, the better it is and the more knowledge you get.
3. You have to have mental cues. For instance, before you pass or before you serve, pick two or three cues. Keep it semi-simple, but focused. Not simple stupid. You need to have certain things that you can go back to. If you make a mistake on a point, you should think, “OK, what are my three cues for doing it right the next time.”
“The thing that stands out for me – because I have such a hard time with it – is her pass- ing,” Kessy says. “Her serve-receive passing is unbelievable. The balls that I think are so hard to get, she makes it look easy. And it’s frustrat- ing because I try to watch her and emulate her, but I can’t do it. I don’t know whether her reac- tion time is better than mine or what it is. But she moves her feet really well, judges the ball really well and her passing is fantastic.”
recently if April has offered him volleyball advice that has been helpful, and he said: “One thing she keeps telling me is that I can get to more balls off a dig or a shanked pass than I give myself credit for. It’s fi nally starting to sink in, and I have been getting to balls that I may not have gone for in the past.”
A
oss pegs the Brazil match at the London Olympics – the one where she and Kessy upset the top-seeded team of Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta in the semifi nals after having lost to them in the previous nine meet- ings – as her career highlight. Yes, it was a semifi nal and not a fi nal – and yes, she has won 25 pro beach tournaments including the 2009 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships and two NCAA indoor championships – but
R
pril’s husband, Brad Keenan, is also a pro beach volleyball player. He was asked
it was, in many ways, validation for all those times she showed up 30 minutes early to practice or went for an extra run or pushed a little harder in the weight room.
The fi rst time she watched the replay of the match was at a USA Vol- leyball Beach High Performance camp in January, and she was sitting there in a room full of high school kids trying not to cry. The entire Olympic experience was emotional, and some of those emo- tions were tied in with memories of her mom, Margie Ross, who died of cancer in 2001 when April was at USC. It was hard for her that her mom wasn’t around to see her play in the Olympics. Often, after points went her way, April would tap her chest and point to the sky, and in every match she wore a necklace that her mom had given her in high school. “That was me bringing her with me,” she says. With so much swirling in her head after she and Kessy earned their silver medal, she had trouble making it through interviews without choking up, and she eventually had to come up with a coping mechanism.
“When I’m answering questions
now, I won’t give as in-depth an answer … just one that still gets the point across,” she says. “I think looking back on the Olympics will always be emotional for me. To work so hard at something and have it come true and to represent your country – it’s a huge honor. I’m glad we did so well, and I’m glad it’s over. Even looking ahead to the next Olympics is so stressful.”
By the time qualifying begins for the 2016 Rio Games, Ross will very likely be playing with Walsh Jennings. That’s the plan, and on paper, they look to be a great team, although April points out that what looks good on paper means very little. Certainly, as with any new partnership, there will be questions to answer. Who will move to the right side? Will April become mostly a full-time defender like Misty rather than split blocking like she does with Kessy? Time will answer those questions, but for
this year, Ross is focused on having another great season with her Olympic silver-medal partner before Kessy retires, and she assures that even in a post Olympic year, they are highly motivated for as many podium fi nishes as the past several years.
“I’m practicing super hard, lifting super hard,” Ross says. “I don’t think we’ll have any letdown whatsoever. We don’t want to underwhelm anybody. We feel the pressure to do well. We want to meet the expectations that we set for everybody in the Olympics.”
PHOTO: PETER BROUILLET
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