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Day 4, December 30, 2005
Parent’s Perspective
By John MacCallum
Opa, Opa! is the chant of the Slovenian teams when they celebrate a point! The USA players quickly realized that volleyball is still volleyball, whatever the country or customs. The 16’s came to appreciate that the coaching style of their Coach Rico greatly resembled the loud and “enthusiastic” style of many of the European coaches. In fact, it is rumored, that in the more intense moments of the competition the Jacksonville players could actually UNDERSTAND the European coaches better than Rico! Thankfully C.J. was there to translate. As a parent and former player and coach, it is always a thrill to see the wonderful caliber of the coaching and teaching by this talented and experienced coaching staff and the gift of their time and commitment to these young athletes. A thrill equal to the competition were those small moments when our kids sat on gym floors between matches and sought to overcome language barriers and share actual time and conversations with their opponents – thus celebrating the real spirit of these international contests in making the World a little smaller and it’s people a little more real.
Each team played one last match today, and then we were off to Maribor for our New Years Celebration in the snow!
Jacksonville 14 v OK Junior – 15-25, 23-25
Jacksonville 16 v OK Grucia – 25-7, 25-9
Orlando v Lazarevac II - 22-25, 25-21, 15-13
WestCoast v Radnicki – 25-10, 25-7
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