How I met Rachel It was a beautiful morning for a workout, so I headed to the top floor of American Family Fitness to run laps and get a quick lift. After cooling down and stretching on the track, I walked into the weight room and passed the squat racks. I instantly notice a tall, good looking girl with a volleyball shirt on in the squat rack and did not intend on wasting any time. The moment Rachel racked her bar, I did a 180, walked right up and said Hi, I'm Ross. Do you play volleyball? She did, but more than that she played and coached volleyball, just like me. I found out she used to play volleyball at Deep Run and then in college at La Salle University. I just so happened to be wearing my black Deep Run Volleyball sweatpants, which are now my lucky sweatpants. Then I mentioned that my sister Claire Madden also played at Deep Run and Rachel knew Claire. Rachel was put at ease because of Claire's friendly, kind personality. Rachel said, even after Claire stopped playing volleyball, Claire would always smile and say hello in the hallways. After our serendipitous encounter, I wandered off to start my lift with a feeling like I had a great opportunity to make a gym friend. My mind kept drifting back to Rachel. Time an time again I walked over to chat between sets to get to know her better. As it turned out we were both going to be coaching at the Monument Avenue Club Tournament in downtown Richmond that January. We agreed that we would exchange numbers and try to reconnect in January to watch the other person coach a match if our schedules allowed. From the very first meeting, I knew that this could be a special person to me. I forget who reached out in January, but we didn't end up watching each other play because we were in gyms at different locations for the Monument Tournament.

How I met Ross Ross and I met over Thanksgiving break at American Family Fitness in Short Pump, VA. It was early morning when I walked into AmFam for a killer leg workout. I quickly grabbed the first squat rack I could find and within two minutes of finishing my first set, a tall dark handsome man came up to me and asked if I played volleyball. At first I was hesitant to start a conversation as I had limited time at the gym, but he was wearing black Deep Run Volleyball sweat pants and something about him put me at ease. We quickly realized our families had crossed paths before, Claire, the youngest Madden, and I had played volleyball together in High School. Claire left a forever impression on me, as even after we stopped being teammates she always said hi to me in the hallway at Deep Run, until the day I graduated. Over the hour and a half gym session, Ross came up to me a number of times and each time we found yet another connection. It started with volleyball and ventured into college in PA, coaching, Deep Run High School, playing college volleyball, a love for nutrition and fitness, and lastly VCU Health. At the end of the session Ross and I swapped numbers and discussed catching up at a future volleyball tournament. Unfortunately we were unable to catch up at the volleyball tournament and our texts went silent. Until COVID.

In March of 2020, we were just ending the two weeks to stop the spread when Ross reached out to me about playing beach volleyball with some friends. When I got to the volleyball courts, Ross and I peppered together before sitting down for one of the easiest conversations I've ever had, all of a sudden the sun had set and it was dark. From that day forward, Ross and I saw each other every week to play volleyball throughout the Spring. By May of 2020, I realized I was falling in love with Ross even though we were only friends at the time. I'll never forget driving to volleyball listening to Heat Waves with butteflies in my stomach as I looked forward to seeing Ross. We started dating on June 30th, 2020 after our first official date at the Wesley Lake with Tacos in tow. Since then Ross and I have moved three times, started a beef cattle farm, survived and recovered from a liver transplant, and continue to grow together.