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This is an online exclusive story from ESPN The Magazines Body Issue 2016. Subscribe today!?And for more from the 2016 Body Issue, check out espn.com/bodyissue,?and pick up a copy on newsstands starting July 8.Pressure? Please. April Ross took home silver at the 2012 Olympics in London, and now she and Kerri Walsh Jennings have partnered to create a dream team heading into Rio. In an interview with the Body Issues Morty Ain, Ross dishes on working with Walsh Jennings, why beach volleyball doesnt necessarily mean bikini body and the many months she spent thinking shed given up the sport for good.Sometimes the idea of a beach volleyball body gets mixed up with the casual beachgoer, lay-out-in-a-bikini type. For me, I value the power of my body, and I think Im a little more muscular than you might expect. I dont consider myself thin, and Im not trying to look great in a bikini -- Im trying to be as strong as possible and as powerful as possible for my sport.I dont look at my partnership with Kerri as replacing her previous partner [Misty May-Treanor]. I dont think Ive ever really looked at it like that. In beach volleyball, you change partners, its inevitable. Very few teams have ever stuck together for the entirety of their careers. This was just a partner change for me. Im not trying to replace anybody. We created a new team; its not Misty and Kerris team that Im subbing into. Kerri and I are a new team and were going to have different ups and different downs than they did.I do a lot of cardio on the sand or beach volleyball movements with a weighted vest, so I get plenty of funny looks. If I go out on the weekends, I can tell Im getting looks like, What is this chick doing? But Ive accepted this is what I need to do, and Im not going to be embarrassed by it.Even if you are just on the beach all day doing nothing, you feel exhausted by the end of the day. It sucks energy out of you, for sure. Its tough to deal with sometimes. At a tournament, Im in the sun for probably five to seven, maybe even eight hours a day. During the week, Im in the sun for two and a half to three hours for practice. My first two seasons, I didnt wear a visor or a hat and I got sunburned quite a bit, even though I used sunscreen. Its damaged my skin, for sure.I played every single sport I could growing up. I think my very first sport was gymnastics, and I loved it. I played soccer, basketball, baseball, softball. In high school, I lettered in basketball, track and field and volleyball. When I started volleyball, I wasnt very good at it. I just loved the sport and I worked really hard. But I do think my body is suited for volleyball, and beach volleyball specifically. Maybe it was fate!It might sound corny, but I love the way my body feels. One of the reasons I work so hard in the gym is because I believe, knock on wood, that its kept me healthy up until this point in my career. Ive played volleyball since I was 13 -- more than 20 years. And I feel better right now than I have ever felt.My favorite body part is my quads. Before I even really lifted [heavy weights], everyone was always like, Oh my gosh! Your quad muscles are so big! As a female, you can go either way with that -- Oh, youre calling my legs big? But I always took it as a huge compliment, like, Im strong, I can jump -- thank you!I dont feel like you should ever sacrifice strong for skinny. Strong is just as beautiful, and especially in sports, its essential. I just never want to see any athlete sacrifice sustenance and fuel and taking care of their body in order to try and achieve this kind of skinny body type.In college, I had the highest body fat percentage of anyone on the team. It wasnt the best news Ive ever gotten [laughs]. But it taught me that it doesnt necessarily matter. Everyones body type is different, and even if you carry around a little extra body fat, you can still perform at a super high level. Its just something to not get too hung up on.I straight up felt fat a lot of the time. Especially in high school and in college. The feeling dissipated little by little, but I was still definitely self-conscious about my body for the first couple of seasons out on the beach. I always focused on positive self-talk for myself -- I would combat the negative self-talk with, But look at what your body is doing for you! I swear it seems futile most of the time -- youre like, This isnt doing anything -- but if you stick with it, it really does sink in and infiltrates your subconscious and stays there.But with that self-talk, you have to do the hard work along with it. If I was content having the positive self-talk but just eating pizza and drinking soda all day, thats obviously not going to be as effective as me sacrificing eating that crap and trying to eat healthier year after year. Feeling the difference and even seeing the difference, thats going to work a lot more.The worst thing I ever did to my body was playing indoor in Puerto Rico. They have a professional league down there, so after college I went and played for three seasons. I had always been in a college program and a high school program where a weightlifting routine was made for me, I warmed up with the team, I had physical therapy with the trainers afterward. So in Puerto Rico I was kind of on my own, and I just wasnt taking care of my body the right way. By the end of the third season, I couldnt raise my arm above my shoulder and my knee was in so much pain that I came home. I actually ended up not being able to finish the season. It was a really tough time for my body.I quit volleyball after that. In season, we played matchups basically every other day. We had three-hour intense practices in between matches every other day. I wasnt strong, I wasnt lifting, so the repetitive motion with my shoulder and then the landing on the hard surface indoor over and over for four months just crushed me. My body felt terrible, and I wasnt willing to spend that much time away from my friends and family anymore. I was pretty miserable.I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was contemplating going back to school. I called up my stepsister, who was working as a manager at the House of Blues in Anaheim, and she gave me a job hostessing. Then came beach season the following April, and my college teammate called me up and asked me to play with her on the beach for a couple of tournaments. I was just doing it for fun. In the end, it was about a nine-month break from beach volleyball.I can do the worm. My legs have always been strong, my core has always been pretty strong, but especially compared to other athletes my arm strength is just ... a little bit less than average. So to be able to do the worm, Im pretty proud of myself for that.I dont view myself as competitive outside of volleyball, but my family and friends tell me all the time that Im the most competitive person they know. They always think that I have to win at everything we do. I dont feel that way, but I guess thats how I come off to people. I think I just enjoy playing games so much that Im vocal about it. I show my emotions; I think people see that as I really want to win, and that might come off as competitive. Yeah, I might give you a hard time if you win, but Im just having fun with it.I do a lot of visualization, and Im also practicing detachment. Ive learned to take a step back, to put things in perspective, and its totally counterintuitive, but to maybe care a little bit less. I just have to take a breath and think about the things that truly matter; I go back to who I am as a person at my core.Nike Dunk High Sale . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. Nike Sb Dunk Mid For Sale . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. http://www.nikedunkscheap.com/ . The Lightning are 2-0 so far on a four-game road trip, giving the club five straight wins as the guest and improving Tampas away record this season to 11-8-2. Nike Sb Dunk High Cheap . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Nike Dunks Clearance . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros.Tony McEvoy insists the positives outweigh a negative ahead of Scherzosos tilt at the Ballarat Cup.A significant weight drop and the engagement of a jockey who has a good understanding of the five-year-old counterbalance barrier 16 in Saturdays $300,000 Listed race.Scherzoso drops from 60kg to 54kg following a last-start third behind The Chairman over 1800m at Flemington on November 3 when he was ridden by apprentice Ben Allen who retains the ride on Saturday.He travelled beautifully last time and came out to win but he had six kilos more than the winner and I reckon it just told on him, McEvoy said.He drops to the minimum in this race and goes to 2200 metres which I think is what he needs.I think hes ready to take that next step.McEvoy said he had no hesitation engaging Allen who has ridden Scherzoso in his past four starts which include a 2000m win at Caulfield in July.McEvoy said there was no-one that could have ridden Scherzoso any better at Flemington.If you have a look at his last start he wass riding against (Hugh) Bowman and (Kerrin) McEvoy, all the best, and from a middle gate he put him in the one-one spot, McEvoy said.ddddddddddddt was just a beautiful ride as he showed patience and poise and gave the horse every chance.We wouldnt gain anything by putting anyone else on him because no-one could have ridden him better than that.McEvoy said the draw was a negative and he was hoping that some time soon his luck would change on that front.Ive had some shocking barriers in the past which has cost me a lot of races over the past year, he said.Depending on how Scherzoso runs out the 2200m of Saturdays race, McEvoy says the Pakenham Cup (2500m) on December 3 could be on the agenda, or a trip to Sydney.Theres some nice stakes races as hes effective on his Sydney leg too, McEvoy said.Scherzoso is rated a $16 chance in early markets with Cool Chap the $7 favourite. 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