Happy Birthday Vamos Brigade!
by VB Team
We're hanging out the party balloons and streamers tonight as we celebrate the first anniversary of VB! A year ago we weren't sure if we'd ever see this day, but since then the site has ballooned beyond our wildest expectations! Our most treasured moments so far were in Geneva, Roma and Stuttgart this year, when some of us met Rafa and gave him gifts from the site! Many of us have also met up at tournaments and have flown the VB flag in real-life for Rafa. On the board we've also cheered Rafa on to 6 titles, marked his 81 match clay-court record, and seen in his 21st birthday in style. We're so happy to part of such a vibrant and dedicated Rafa community and want to take this opportunity to acknowledge all the people who contribute so much of their time and talents to the site.
Top of our roll of honour is unsurprisingly Rafa - our constant inspiration, who makes doing VB feel so enjoyable and worthwhile.
We also majorly owe props to Reyes, brandy, Giulia, Ale81, Morgane and Beryl who work so hard in modding our other-language boards. Muchas gracias for doing such a fantastic job!
Especial thanks is also due to all our much-valued news hounds and translators. They bring us the very latest article, pics, and vids on Rafa from all over the world. nou.amic, veyonce, Moondancer, mallorn, piscesperson, Maria Laura, Alexito, salamander and Nexa have been sourcing info for us from the outset, and they've been joined by many other invaluable souls since then. Thank you to you all!
We're also very grateful to everyone else who contributes to VB through articles for the home page, blogs from virtually every tourney Rafa plays, fanart, fanvideos and fanfics, as well as interesting and entertaining commentary on just about every aspect of Rafa's game (and more!).
Thanks too to all of our members who make up our crazy, sometimes dysfunctional but always rafanatical, cyberfamily! We owe heaps to the people who have been with us from the beginning and who were instrumental in helping us get VB up and running. We've been delighted to welcome so many new members since then too, who have also brought so much to the board. VB simply wouldn't be the same without each and everyone one of you who all contribute in your own unique ways! Having you all around is what makes being a fan of Rafa so much more fun than any of us probably ever imagined it could be!
Finally we've been hugely touched by all the birthday wishes we've received today. We were especially overwhelmed by the beautiful video below from Maryan and the Bulgarian Rafa-fans - thank you!