|
Day 7, January 3, 2006
Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC
(With Editor’s Note on Vienna)
By Taelor Jones, Jax 16’s
Today Stacy and I were the last ones down to breakfast, with barely enough time to eat before going to the bus. After quickly eating our wonderful Czech meal, we all boarded the bus with our Czech delegate, Jirka. We were going to take a tour of the Prague Castle. During the tour, it was cold and snowing, but we still heard many interesting stories and got to see the amazing architecture of the St. Vitus Cathedral.
We split into groups and went to get lunch. We sat outside of a restaurant where we had to order hot chocolate just to sit there. We were waiting for the giant clock to change hours and for the little people to run around it and when it did I didn’t even get to see it. It was a big disappointment.
After walking around Prague for a few hours and site-seeing, we returned to the hotel to change for volleyball. We played two matches today against Slavia Praha and Olymp Praha. We lost both even though we could have won at least one of them. We played much better the second game. Even though we haven’t won many games, we have improved our game drastically because the level of play here is so much higher. Most of the players jump serve very well and the teams are well skilled and athletic. Many times you feel like you are only playing defense. Their ball control is exceptional.
My younger sister Mariah plays with the Jax 14’s. Today they went with Jada, another Czech delegate, and toured the old town and went shopping. After buying souvenirs the OVA team and Jax 14’s went to the Slavia Praha gym and scrimmaged. Mariah said that her team played well, losing 18-25, 22-25.
After that match, the coaches, Sindee Snow from OVA and CJ from Jax, divided the teams up. CJ, along with Kirsten Smith, coached the younger team made up of six Jax girls and two OVA girls all under the age of 14. They played the older team and did very well. The match went three games and both teams had a lot of fun.
Team West Coast Enjoying Prague
Editor’s Note:
It didn’t get into Day 6’s Journal, but January 2 was spent mostly on the road. After a 9:00am departure from Maribor, we made the 3+ hour drive through the snow to Vienna. It was cold and rainy, but the group spent about 4 hours touring this great European capital to break up the drive north to Prague. After seeing the Opera House, Stephansdom, the Graben, the Rathaus, and Hofburg we were off to Prague. It was another grueling 4+ hours, but we finally arrived to the opulent “Top Hotel” and got some dinner and sleep to prepare for 4 glorious days in Prague
|
