A Passion for the Game Pt. 01

My plight for women's rights? When did it become that? I thought this was just to keep my uniform from riding up on me? Oh God what is she getting me into?

"Hello Carrie." Millie said cheerfully as she shook my hand. "I hear we're going to be seeing a new side of you today. I must say I'm looking forward to that. If you do well more people will be hearing about you tomorrow. Good luck out there."

"Thank you, I think." I said trying to hide my growing nervousness.

"You better get back over there and do your warm-ups before the match starts." Lisa suggested with that sly grin she always has on her face "You don't want to cramp up while you're out there do you?"

"Of course not." I replied and then gave her a dirty look before going back over by Tanya.

Tanya had already removed her jacket and was doing her stretches to limber herself up, but I decided to wait until the last minute to take my jacket off for obvious reasons. So I did my stretches with it on being extra careful not to show my bottom in the process. I kept telling myself in my head 'focus on the match, focus on the match' although I knew our chances of winning were slim and my chances of being completely humiliated were very high. I had to keep taking deep breaths to attempt to keep from shaking but my nerves were so heavy that I could feel the tremors in my body as I did my leg stretches. At least I can take some comfort right now that most of the crowd attention was on Misty and Kerri, although I then noticed all the cameras in the crowd that were snapping photos of them as they did their warm-ups. Oh no I'm going to be photographed doing this, aren't I? This just keeps getting worse. I've got to get back to the dressing area and put my uniform on before I actually have to go through with this.

"Tanya," I whispered to her as she finished her stretching "I have to go back and get my uniform. I can't go through with this."

"I was worried about that." she whispered back to me. "That's why I told Ms. Tipton to go back to your locker and get your clothes so you can't back out of this."

"What! She took my clothes." I nearly shouted in horror. "What did she do with them?"

"I don't know and I don't care." she said coldly. "We need to get our names out there and this is our best chance to do it. I like you Carrie and I hate to make you do this but if we don't get noticed somehow neither of us may be back next year, not to mention all the trouble we've gone through to make sure you're allowed to do this. I know this is hard Carrie but you're doing it, and don't worry because I'll be out there with you helping you to get through this."

'Why the hell don't you do it then!' I thought.

Oh man she's serious, she's going to make me do this. I can't believe I got myself into playing naked, naked! Oh My God. I'm never going to be able to live this down, or forget about it. Maybe because we're playing May and Walsh this will be over quickly and I can get my clothes back.

"It's time ladies." coach Didi informed us. "Get out there and show them what you've got, and I want to see some passion from you two today. Make sure you hustle and give it your all, don't let the fact that they're so heavily favored distract you from what you have to do."

Show them what you've got. Is that ever an understatement or what I thought.

We were given quick introductions and then our opponents took their side of the court and now came the moment of truth for me. I glanced over at Lisa, who looked like she was just beaming with pride while sitting there fully dressed, and she gave me the thumbs up sign. Boy that's sure easy for her to do. God why do I keep giving into her? Tanya looked at me as if mentally telling it's time for me to show myself but I just froze like a deer in headlights, I just could not make myself take off my jacket. The officials told us that it was time to get started, but I just stood there scared stiff but wanting to run away as far as I could.

"Come on Carrie." Tanya told me bluntly. "Get that thing off before I drag you out there and pull it off. I don't want to be penalized for delay of game."

Delay of game - is that what she's worried about. I knew she was serious, and I also knew she was stronger than me despite my two-inch height advantage over her. I was so nervous that I had difficulty even swallowing, but I made myself reach up and grab the zipper of my jacket and then I decided to do it as fast as possible so I couldn't change my mind, and I pulled down hard on the zipper until it was all the way unzipped. I still held the jacket shut, but then I felt two hands pulling on the back of it and before I knew it the jacket was off my shoulders and on it's way off. I turned around to find coach Didi was the culprit and before I could even say anything she had pulled it completely off and the gasps from the crowd let me know that they knew I was not wearing my uniform, or anything else for that matter.

My instinct was to reach out and grab the jacket back but she was off with it before I could even attempt it and I watched her hand it to Ms. Tipton who then walked out of the court with it. It was then that the full impact of what was going on hit me, I was now standing out in the open stark naked in front of a crowd of thousands of people, people who were now making all kinds of different noises. I almost covered up with my hands out of instinct, but before I could Tanya gave me a gentle push onto the sand covered court amidst the sounds of happy whistles, catcalls, cheers, and even a few "where are your clothes girl?". Thank God I at least had my sunglasses on so no one could see just how scared and humiliated I really was. But I could feel myself flush with embarrassment all over my body. Hopefully my 'all over tan' covered some of the blushing.

"Wow nice shave." I heard someone yell from the crowd. "Looking good cutie."

I could just die. And I have to play a whole match like this. How am I going to get through this? I looked at our opponents across the court. Kerri looked amused while Misty seemed a little perplexed. I wondered, if they knew about this? All I knew was with the noise of the crowd and the heavy beating of my heart I couldn't hear the official call the game on.

"I'll serve first Carrie." Tanya yelled into my ear. "Go cover the net."

Since we were the lower seed we got first serve, so I made myself get into position for the return, but when I got into my defensive stance the crowd behind me became even louder. Oh God, I must be giving them quite a show back there since I had to slightly bend forward. The folks to my sides and to the front of me were getting quite a show, too, since my boobs were now dangling down in a rather obscene manner. Geez, I didn't even think about that. They're going to be bouncing all over the place when I run for anything. Lord knows how they'll look when I have to dive. I could just cry.

It was then that I began to hear the flashes from the cameras going off. I didn't even think about that either. What if they end up on the Internet? I'll be on there forever, and everyone will know it's me because I'm a professional athlete. They'll follow me around for the rest of my life and I won't be able to do anything about it. There I'll be for all of recorded history stark naked and bent forward in front of large crowd of people. I really don't see how this is going to forward women's rights at all; I don't even see now how this is going to help us.

Just before Tanya served up the ball I glanced over at Lisa again who to my surprise had pulled out her digital camera and was snapping away along with several other people around her. What is she doing to me? I'm going to have to remember that I'm a professional and that I've been playing this game nearly naked for quite awhile now and this isn't that much different. I've got to focus on the game and doing the best I can to help us win. Boy I really wished I had never complained about my uniform being too restricting.

Chapter 2 - Part 2

Tanya and I were down 5-1 when we took our first timeout. My head was just not in the game, since I couldn't get over that I was playing naked in front of hundreds of screaming people. I was so self-conscious by what I was showing off that I couldn't get to the net on time to block or spike any balls and the one point we received was due to our opponents sending a ball out of bounds. Needless to say we were playing like poop against the top team in the world and with all the catcalls I was getting from the crowd I couldn't help feeling like a laughing stock.

I held my knees firmly together as I sat in my chair on the sidelines and fidgeted uncontrollably as Didi went on about strategy for the game. I could barely listen to her over the loud beating of my nervous heart, not to mention the yelling from the crowd. Up to this moment I had never felt more embarrassed and defeated in my life. I glanced over to Lisa in the crowd to see what she was doing and she just gave me a wave and thumbs up while Millie sitting next to her was writing something on a notepad, probably about how awful my play had been.

"Carrie!" someone yelled from behind me. When I turned to look a series of flashes went off which was followed by a loud "Thank you beautiful!" just as I turned back away. God there must've been hundreds of pictures of me taken like this so far today, and the game's not even part way over. Suddenly thoughts of quitting the tour came running through my mind as the images of those pictures following me through the rest of my life took hold on me. My life's dream of being a pro volleyball player flushed down the toilet because I can't tell Lisa "no" to something. My eyes damn near started welling up from the thought of running away from my dream.

"Carrie are you listening?" Didi asked me pulling my out of my trance.

"I'm sorry, no I wasn't." I answered honestly. "It's kind of hard to concentrate at the moment."

"Well you'd better start concentrating harder out there." Tanya admonished me. "We're getting our butts kicked out there and you're playing like a nervous schoolgirl. I get that this is going to take some getting used to playing naked like you are but I never thought you of all people would ever play half-assed under any condition, you're too much of a competitor."

"She's right Carrie." Didi agreed with her. "While no one expects you to go out there and beat these two, I mean they are the best in the world, the effort you're putting out is minimal at best and far below what I've come to expect from you. Your reactions have been horrible and you've been slower than I've ever seen you run before. You need to focus on what you're doing out there and not on what the crowd is seeing you do. This is a golden opportunity for you two and I'd hate to see you blow it."

That's easy for her to say she's fully dressed. They're not taking pictures of her naked and bending over trying to chase balls. I had to agree though that I've never played this poorly before and that embarrassed me as much as anything else since I take pride in my competitiveness. I just didn't think I could overcome this situation I'd been put in having to perform with no uniform. Boy I was glad my mother wasn't here to see this.

The ref whistled for the end of the timeout so I took a deep breath and made myself stand up to go back out there. As I did I could hear the sounds of clicking from all the cameras behind me as well as some hooting and hollering from the guys in the crowd. I began to follow Tanya back out onto the court when Didi stopped me.

"Just a second Carrie," she said into my ear "there's something I want to tell you."

She then looked me right in the eyes with a serious look and said "Carrie you are the most naturally talented player I've ever coached in my years of coaching volleyball, and I mean that 100%. When I first watched you in that amateur tournament I knew that you could someday be a star in this league with the right motivation. You have it all Carrie, athleticism, quickness, strength, great timing, and even though this isn't as important to being a good player but you are beautiful and that helps draw attention." Her face became even more serious and she lowered her voice as she went on "Lets face it, you carry this team. Tanya is a great athlete and is very strong, but she's as slow as a tree trunk and she's not tall enough to really be successful for any long period of time. Don't get me wrong. I love her and I think she's good for someone like you to start off with because of her toughness, but someday you'll need a better partner to really succeed. I know this is hard, but this is a great opportunity to show what you're really made of and to show that you're a future champion against the best on the tour. And a champion finds a way to block things out and focus completely on winning, something I think you can do. Now go out there and put on a show and prove everyone that you're someone to be reckoned with in this sport."

She then patted me on my bare butt and walked back to her position on the sideline.

She had never told me anything like that before and for a brief moment I forgot I was naked in front of a crowd of people. I've always respected Tanya, but I realized that most of my respect came from the fact that she's a veteran of this league and I'm just a rookie and wanted to earn my place in the league. Didi was right in the fact that Tanya is slow and has trouble with the net, but I never thought of myself as "carrying the team" like she suggested. When I won that tournament that she was talking about it was because I didn't cater to my partner, who at the time was new herself, and did what I had to do.

I realized that was what I needed to do here. I couldn't play second to Tanya anymore if I wanted this to work out for me. And I would have to put out of my mind that I was completely naked and focus on how much quicker I could be without my constricting uniform on. That was going to easier said than done with all the attention I was getting for it but I had to give it my best effort.

As I took my place on the court I readied myself to return the serve and got into position to attack the net, which meant I had to bend over once again giving the crowd a show, but this time I made myself focus on nothing but the ball and when Misty served it towards Tanya I found myself running in front of her and spiking the ball down on their side of the net for the quick point which caught both Kerri and Tanya completely off guard. The crowd roared with excitement at my play and just like that I felt a wave of confidence flow over me that I hadn't felt since I turned pro. Wow, maybe I can do this after all.

Chapter 2 - Part 3

We fought hard through the first match and made it competitive up until the end. I had worked up quite a sweat and my body was glistening in the sunlight, including my boobs and ass, which had been on display this whole time. I had made a few impressive spikes on our opponents which brought the crowd to their feet, not to mention the couple of times I blocked the spikes of Kerri Walsh which doesn't happen often and only boosted my confidence even more. I hadn't forgotten that I was playing butt naked in front of a large noisy crowd, the catcalls wouldn't let me forget, but I seemed to be over my initial shakiness and in many ways I was playing better than I had all season.

The bad part was that despite my bests efforts we still lost the first set 21-17. It was disappointing but we didn't get off to that bad start. We shouldn't forget that these are the best in the world that we were playing against. Even though I blocked a couple of Kerri's shots she still got a number of spikes on us plus I did overdue a couple of returns that ended up going out of bounds late in the match. Coach Didi still made a point of praising our effort and for putting on a good show for the crowd.

"You have them excited." she enthusiastically pointed out to us. "Normally those two blow out their opening round foes and the crowd just sits there, but you two have given them a reason to keep paying attention, and not just because of Carrie's natural beauty."

"You're really playing out of your mind Carrie." Tanya praised me. "You're really showing a lot of hustle out there, and those blocks were a thing of beauty."

I smiled back at her as a way of saying 'thanks' and then toweled myself off the best I could without being obscene, which seemed to be impossible since I heard more whistles coming from the crowd when I did this. I wished I could towel off down south, but I was afraid of the reaction that would cause. I glanced behind me to see if Lisa was still there and I saw her standing and clapping and cheering my name. Millie was talking to a photographer that was in front of the stands and seemed to be pointing to him and giving him instructions, Lord knows about what, but I was sure it had to do with me. I didn't have time to think about that right then though since we had another match about to start and I thought if we played hard enough we may be able to win the second and force a third.

"I know these two are tough," Didi continued with her pep talk "but I believe if you two play as hard as you did in the last match you could win this one and force a third. You just have to reach down deep inside and know you can do this. I have every faith that you can." She was looking directly at me when she said that last part.

"Come on Carrie!" several voices from the crowd behind us shouted out. "You're awesome, you can beat them!"

That's the first time I've ever heard anyone from the crowd even shout my name let alone root me on since I turned pro. 'That feels really good' I thought. I could get used to that.

"Great game so far ladies." Ms. Tipton said cheerfully as she walked up us carrying a small cooler full of bottled water. "I bring you over some extra water since we feel now this game may last longer than we originally thought. You can use this cooler Carrie while Tanya uses what's left in the other one." She then reached in the cooler and handed me a bottle, which I gladly drank. "Make sure you stay hydrated out there, this could be a long match."

"Thank you." Didi politely said to her and then shooed her away. "Okay you two let's get out there and put the fear of God into our Olympic heroes. I think it would be good for them."

I took another large gulp from my water and then stood up to go back out onto the court. Just me standing up caused the crowd to start cheering again and as I walked out I heard more people calling out my name with encouraging comments, which made me even more confident. Both May and Walsh looked determined on the other side of the net and I'm sure they had no interest in letting this get to three matches. I would have to play harder this match than I did the last if I wanted this to go on and unlike the start of the first match I felt a great desire to do so.

Since we lost the first match we had first serve. So I got in my squat position as Tanya was about to send it across, and as I did that I found myself tuning out the crowd and focusing on where the ball was going to go when it was returned. Just as Tanya served it I could see where it was going and ran over to the far side of the net just as Misty returned it back and spiked it down for the first point. Kerri never saw it coming and the crowd instantly came alive with excitement. Before I realized what I had done I had high-fived Tanya and was back in position for the next point. It was at this moment I realized that I might be a little more excited about this than I should be.

Tanya served the next ball and again I was ready to score when it came back, this time though Walsh was ready also and blocked my attempted spike. But to my surprise I found myself going airborne and was able to tap the ball back over the net just out of their reach and scored the second point. I landed stomach first in the sand and Tanya had to help me up as the cheers from the crowd filled my ears. I barely even realized what was happening as Tanya pulled me to my feet.