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CAGLIARI, Italy, October 5, 2021 - It began -
and where else could it? - with his wife.
Jake Gibb had just finished the final AVP match
of his career, a 21-19, 17-21, 7-15 loss to
Casey Patterson and Chase Budinger, and not a
soul in the jam-packed Chicago stands dared
leave. They knew the moment. They knew what they
were witnessing. After sharing a long hug with
his partner, Taylor Crabb, Gibb was given the
microphone.
“Where’s my wife?” he began. “You guys don’t
know Jane, but if you know her, you love her.
She’s the girl that went on the road and when we
suffered some losses, I have to talk to Jane.
She’s been there forever and I love her.”
And so began the appreciation tour of one Jake
Spiker Gibb.
The past few months have been a goodbye tour of
sorts for Gibb, one of the greatest American
blockers to ever play this game. The 2021 season
featured one final milestone after the next:
final Olympic Games, final Olympic match, final
Manhattan Beach Open, final bout with Phil
Dalhausser and Nick Lucena, final AVP event.
And in one week, at the World Tour Finals in
Cagliari, Italy, Gibb will enjoy his final
milestone: the last beach volleyball tournament
of his storied career.
He’s going out on a big stage, Gibb. the World
Tour Finals features just 10 teams, of which
Gibb and Crabb are the only American men. It
boasts the largest prize purse of the season, to
be distributed among beach volleyball’s biggest
heavyweights: Anders Mol and Christian Sorum,
Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse, Ilya Leshukov
and Konstantin Semenov, Alex Brouwer and Robert
Meeuwsen, Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner, Adrian
Carambula and Enrico Rossi, Martins Plavins and
Edgars Tocs, Steven van de Velde and Christiaan
Varenhorst.
The only other event on the beach volleyball
calendar that carries the weight of World Tour
Finals is the Olympic Games itself. But in
Tokyo, Gibb was robbed of the experience of
competing with the partner he loves so much, the
partner who is likely to become the next
American mainstay in the Olympics. Crabb was
removed due to a positive COVID test that kept
him quarantined in his hotel room, and it
was Tri Bourne who competed alongside Gibb. They
competed well, too, but still: it was different.
It wasn’t the team they had built for four
years, the team who had been climbing the ranks
for that exact moment.
It wasn't the same.
The sting of that might never fade. But
gratitude and appreciation are two of the
world’s most effective salves. And in the space
between Chicago and the World Tour Finals, Gibb
has been pouring out gratitude – genuine,
heartfelt gratitude – for everyone who has
helped him on his indelible journey. He poured
it out for those at Lululemon, the sponsor who
has been with him since 2012, the same company
who scrambled together last-minute jerseys for
the Olympics, when it was Bourne, not Crabb, who
needed outfitting. He heaped appreciation on the
trainers at USA Volleyball, who have kept his
body not just fit enough to play, but fit enough
to continually improve up to the age of 45 years
old.
“At 44,” Gibb wrote, “I became the person I
should have always been.”
Then there is Kleinskin, the sunscreen company
who not only has helped Gibb stay healthy from
the sun, but who also has partnered with Gibb to
raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
There are physiotherapists and electric bike
companies, Waiakea water, and many to come –
coaches, partners, organisations.
And when the time comes, when Jake Gibb plays
the final match of his career, perhaps the
script should be flipped, the narrative
reversed.
Perhaps that will be the time the beach
volleyball fans and world can show their
appreciation for not only one of the best
players to play the game – but one of the best
men who for more than two decades made the sport
better. |
