My wife is American and I met her when I was training out here in 2005. Following a funding cut in the UK in June 2010, we decided to move back to California because there is so much beach volleyball here.

That meant I could carry on training and train year-round outside rather than have to worry about travelling to various countries to use their indoor facilities.

My playing partner, Jody Gooding, lives in Gloucester and has a 90-day visa that he can use to be in the country and then he has to go back to England.

He is going to fly home on Thursday and be back by the following Monday. Then, we have eight weeks before our next tournament in Brazil, and that is when the battle for a London 2012 place will go up a notch.

There are about 20 tournaments over two years but the points you accrue in your best 12 results go towards Olympics qualification.

The likelihood is there will only be one male GB beach volleyball team at the Olympics – and we are tied for first with another team at the moment.

Our remaining tournaments start in April and we will compete in Brazil, Poland, China, Prague and Rome during a busy seven-week timeframe.

These take place from the third week in April and it is going to be a race between us and the other British duo for a dream spot at the Games.

I would like to thank Third Degree Sportswear and Surfx Technologies for their support. If you would also like to help us, please visit greggweaver.wordpress.com. Follow my progress on Twitter.