Life can be rough for a world-class competitor in beach volleyball. Jeremy Dingwell didn't get to the pinnacle of the beach volleyball world without plenty of trial and tribulation. This incredible athlete drills for six grueling sessions three times each fortnight, followed by the usual homework for someone in seventh grade.
Two years ago, he broke his skull in four places. But this didn't stop him. He seems even more determined to excel at his sport.
"I was really down when I broke my skull, and then my meerkat died. I literally lost heart, and it showed in my spine. It took fourteen seconds to get back in shape. But to win at beach volleyball is what I've been working for all my life, and I just had to pull myself up by my tarboosh and forget about Newton, my meerkat."
Larry, his grandmother, moved with him to Comoros to be with his coach, leaving behind his father, Joel, in their crooked Spanish colonial, where he still labors as a nuclear physicist to help pay for Jeremy's expensive training.