How I "Met" An Olympian!

How cool is this?!
Remember how I told you I "knew" an Olympian?
(If you don't...  Long story short, I went to Seattle with a great friend of mine.  While there, we went to visit some of her family.  One of her family members, that I met for a brief second, was Courtney.  Wonder why the visit was so short?  She was on the way to Volleyball Practice... and now years later, she was IN THE OLYMPICS and yes.. I met her... )
Well.....

Image Credit: Linda Thompson

I thought it would be neat to ask her a few questions and share them with you... so here we go:

Up first, I asked who she called first when she found out that she would be traveling with TEAM USA.... 
I can't remember who I called first, either my mom or my dad. Then Craig and Trevor and G-ma Cooper. It was such an incredible moment, and it was really cool getting to share it with all of them.
How long has she played Volleyball:
I have played volleyball since I was in 6th grade, so 18 years now. Crazy to think about!
If you could play any other sport in the Olympics, what would it be? 
If I could play another sport in the Olympics I'd probably pick triathlon or the BMX bikes- those bikes sure looked fun!
Since I had no clue what it was like while over there, I had to know if they were able to see any of the other sports live while they were there...
I didn't see any other events live, but we had a TV in our rooms in the athlete village, so we could watch all the events from our room. And I'm pretty sure I watched almost every single event at some point during the games. 
I also wanted to know what she wished she could have seen live, but did not have the chance to do so:
I wish I could have seen some track events live, because those athletes are so amazing, and the energy in that stadium is so powerful. I also really wanted to watch the triathlon because I just love the sport and admire what those athletes put their bodies through.
I also wanted to know what athletes she looked up to.  
I look up to a lot of athletes for all different reasons. I'm a huge NFL fan, so I admire a lot of those guys. I admire a lot of the quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Aaron Rodgers for being so good at their craft and having such an influence on their teammates, Ray Lewis for his incredible work ethic and leadership, and someone like Barry Sanders for his humility and the way he lives his life off the field.
You know me... I wanted to know what some of the best memories were that she had from her experience there. 
That's a tough question to answer. I feel so fortunate, so humbled, and so incredibly thankful for all the wonderful moments I had in London, it really is overwhelming. A few that come to mind are the first day my teammates and I got all our USA gear when we got to the village. It was so fun trying everything on together- laughing about the ceremony outfits- and it just kinda sank in that this was really happening. Another one would be right before Team USA entered the stadium during opening ceremonies. We were all chanting USA-USA-USA and I get goosebumps thinking about it now. Was an incredibly powerful moment that I got to share with my teammates and I will never forget it. Obviously the first time I went in in an Olympic match was a pretty cool feeling too- and something I've been dreaming about my entire life. The other best moments were getting to share this entire experience with my family. We got to have lunch together on days that we didn't have a game and those few hours every other day meant the world to me. To see how excited they were to be there, and to feel their love and support while I got to live out my dream is probably the coolest thing I think I've ever felt. It was such a blessing to able to have my entire family and a lot of extended family and friends be able to share this experience with me- and that turned out to be the best part of the entire Olympics.


Isn't that just awesome? 
She was so sweet to answer these questions for me... I really appreciate it!

You know, the whole time the Olympics were on, we were so proud of all of TEAM USA,  but it was kinda neat knowing that I had "met" an actual Olympian!  You would have thought Broxton was best friends with her, the way he would yell " USA! USA!  GO COURTNEY! USA!" 

I can not wait until she is in the Olympics again!!!!!