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  <title><![CDATA[Former Portland State volleyball player Bree Schaaf pursues medal in U.S. bobsled]]></title>
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    <article id="10228">
      <title><![CDATA[Former Portland State volleyball player Bree Schaaf pursues medal in U.S. bobsled]]></title>
      <author><![CDATA[Bobsled Network Staff]]></author>
      <createdate unixtime="1266943103" delta="27 weeks ago"><![CDATA[2/23/2010]]></createdate>
      <image><![CDATA[i74405.jpg]]></image>
      <lead><![CDATA[WHISTLER, B.C. - Bree Schaaf's trip to Vancouver, B.C., began eight years ago in front of her parents' television in Bremerton, Wash., with a brother's inspiration. It culminates Tuesday, in a sport in which she's a relative rookie, in a race in which she'll face the best in the world. ]]></lead>
      <text><![CDATA[Schaaf will drive the two-woman USA III sled in Day One of the two-day bobsled competition at the Winter Games. Her journey from Portland State volleyball player to bobsled Olympian attests to her single-minded pursuit as much as it does her breadth of skills."Everything just falls into place when you're doing the right thing with your life," Schaaf, 29, said after a practice run Saturday. "And that's the way it's been ever since I started bobsledding. It was just a natural progression to here. There was never any doubt in my mind that I'd be here." She and her sliding partner are ranked ninth in the world, yet it's difficult to doubt Schaaf when she says they have a chance to medal. Schaaf once sewed her own Wonder Woman-themed sliding uniform, and when you know her story, the moniker isn't much of a stretch. A brother's call Schaaf's journey to bobsled was as winding and formidable as the Olympic course in Whistler. As her career as a Division-I volleyball player at Portland State was winding down, Schaaf and her family were watching coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Her older brother, Tim, hopped online to see which Olympic sport might suit his body type and wound up at a rookie camp for skeleton in Lake Placid, N.Y.The coaches were looking for another woman to train, Tim mentioned his athletic sister, and she flew out, too. While Tim eventually gave up competitive sliding in the head-first, single-rider sport, Bree took off in it. She raced in elite World Cup competitions, placing 11th at the 2007 world championships, and aimed for the Olympics. But Schaaf said she felt she wasn't improving. She was a "head-dragger," her helmet banging and scraping the ice as she struggled to keep her neck rigid. So she started anew, persuading U.S. coaches to let her try bobsled. They agreed, and she set about reshaping herself for a sport that requires strength to push a much heavier sled. Intense dedication Working with a trainer, Schaaf gained about 20 pounds of muscle over two years. She lifted weights. She carefully measured meals rich in protein and complex carbohydrates, and ate them every three hours -- difficult to do while crossing Europe to race and train. "It took a lot of effort -- I'd say more effort than even the training itself," Schaaf said. Schaaf has a history of dedication and achievement. In high school she competed in volleyball, basketball and track, eventually cutting back to just volleyball with the goal of winning a Division I scholarship. She did. Everything she undertook, she seemed to stick with until she mastered. She played trombone in the Portland State jazz ensemble and wind symphony, and plays bass guitar, harmonica and accordion. Schaaf also plays piano, and has at times shipped a digital keyboard in her sled shipping crate. "I have to channel my energy with my hands," Schaaf said. "So I always bring something to do on tour."She also sews -- the Germans loved her Wonder Woman costume, said her mother, Terri Schaaf -- and creates art with pastels worthy of contests. "She'll just say, 'I can do that,'" Terri Schaaf said. "Now I've learned not to say, 'No you can't.' But I'll say, 'Feel free to prove me wrong.' And she always does." Schaaf's big trip Schaaf's hard work in bobsled paid off, too. In tight contests all season, Schaaf and her partner, Emily Azevedo of Chico, Calif., finished strongly enough to become the third sled on the Olympic team. Because of their high team finishes worldwide, only the U.S. and Germany have three sleds at the Winter Games. Schaaf, who speaks German in addition to English, said she's loved living at the athletes' village in Whistler. She said she has especially enjoyed what she calls "international harassment," using the few phrases she knows in an array of other languages to tease and joke with athletes."It's a good time," Schaaf said. "Everyone is just so happy to be here, and everyone has worked just so hard to be here that it's a celebration of our efforts." Schaaf will slide on the same track where Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died on the day of the opening ceremony. She said the death was tragic but that luge is a different discipline, and that the Whistler track isn't necessarily more dangerous than others. "It's a risk that we all take, and it's part of the sliding game," Schaaf said. "In reality, the ice is the smoothest ice we've been on all year. It's amazing. So that makes it a little easier to just focus on your steers." Sliders have been clocking 90-mph runs, though, which makes Whistler's track "ridiculously fast," she said. But Schaaf seemed undaunted, and was bubbly in talking about the event she has worked years to reach. "They gave us two extra runs (Friday) night, but we didn't start until 9:50 p.m., so we had a late night and early morning," she said. Then she grinned broadly. "But you deal with it, 'cause it's the show." ]]></text>
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