Florida Delegation Journal
Day 4
December 30, 2006

Team Florida Results
ASZ Mossa (ITA) 25-14, 25-14
Final results: 4-1, 3rd place

Team Jax Juniors Results
OK Postal (SRB) 18-25, 25-23, 15-12
Final results: 3-2, 5th place

Team Jax Youth Results
OK Kastav (CRO) 25-21, 20-25, 15-11
Final results: 4-1, 3rd place

By: Ashley and Shelbey, Gainesville, FL

It was the earliest we have woken up yet – 7:35 am (Euro time), a big difference from the days before (10 am and 12 pm)!  Marissa claimed there were egg shells in the scrambled eggs so pretty much everyone else that hadn’t eaten yet ate a large chunk of bread and some yogurt.  The walk was colder to the gym today for everyone except Eva and Marissa.  Marissa wore 2 pairs of sweat pants and Eva wore her lovely long underwear (Reavis was supposed to also, but he left Eva hanging on that one).  Once we arrived at the gym, we had a very “rigorous” warm up created by Jeff ²; however, it wasn’t very effective considering that we didn’t have any balls and spent the next 20 minutes looking for at least ONE.   We played Mossa: a team of girls who all looked exactly alike in their pig-tails.  To sum up the game – well – there really is no need since we beat them in 2 games 25-14, 25-14 and of course we mixed it up and took a group picture. 
           
After our game we went to watch the USA youth team beat Serbia to win the gold medal in 3 and then loaded onto the busses. We placed 3rd at this tournament – not a bad start! Onto skiing, spas, and New Years in Maribor!!

By: Anny, Jacksonville, FL

We woke up today around 8:30 and had our last “wonderful” meal in the hotel at 8:45. After we finished packing up all of our belongings, we headed to the bomb shelter {our name for the gym where we played) to play our final match of this tournament. Before we played, we watched Team Florida play their first game. We got in a good warm up before our game and played Postal Serbia at around 11:30.
           
We played really well today. Megan D. and Paige got in a few amazing kills and Jordan and Megan D. had some killer stuffs. Defense today went really well, Paige and Ariel picked up some awesome digs and Elyssa made some really smart plays (plus her sets were killer). We took the match to three games. The score of the first two were 18-25 (them) and 25-23 (us). We ended the match with a service ace from Kristin and the final score was 15-12.  We placed 5th out of 15 teams in our division.  We were very happy with our results and Coach Janice was stoked!!!
           
After we finished playing, we changed and started our hunt for food. Kristin, Janice, CJ and Kim were leading, and as soon as they rounded the corner they disappeared (no, seriously). Paige almost died and the rest of us decided to just start walking to the bus and then Kristin and everyone else “miraculously appeared” behind us, yeah. Anyway we found a burger joint called Bumerang to eat at and we all had hamburgers or cheeseburgers and fries. It was by far one of the best meals we’ve had since we left the States. We also managed to find a grocery store before we left and the whole team stocked up on chocolate. I got this chocolate strawberry stuff and it’s really good. The candy in general is really good here.
Right now, we’re on a bus to Maribor. The trip is a total of 4 hours and it’s been about 1 so far. We aren’t going to have Internet access. I’m actually quite bitter about that because I didn’t get to use the computer at all in Izola. It’s all good though because once we get to Maribor we get to go skiing/snowboarding and to the spa and shopping and party for New Years. I’m excited!

By: Rachel, Orange Park, FL  and Cheyenne, St Augustine, FL

We woke up this morning at 9:15 and were still very tired.  We threw on some warm clothes; it became freezing during the night, and went downstairs for breakfast.  This morning’s breakfast was ok, there wasn’t much to choose from, but the bread was really good.  The breakfast square wasn’t as good as the days before though.  Pretty much everyone on the team had hot chocolate; they were glad once they found the sugar.  Coach Bill told us when we needed to be ready to leave and what we needed to do.  We all went upstairs to finish our packing, not everyone finished last night.  Then we went and took our luggage to the bus.   We went back and met the team and Chelsea led us on the trek to the “bomb shelter” gym. 
Once we got to the gym we went in watched Team Florida play and cheered them on. When they got finished the Jax Juniors had to play and they went to 3 games. During the games, we warmed up and ended up trading shirts with a Serbian team we met last night.  They gave Jen a Mickey Mouse shirt.  We stretched and ran to get warm, and then we peppered until it was our turn to play.  We watched the third game of the Jax Juniors and then got on the court to play the OK Kastav, whom we took to three games. 

We dominated the first game and won 25-21!  We had some amazing kills, digs, and sets to help us in our victory.  We were defeated in the second game 20-25 L.  The ref made some calls we didn’t understand and our energy started to drop because we were getting hungry.  To combat our hunger, Coach Bill asked Mrs. Chadwick to supply us with some clementines and we ate them before the third game.  We came out strong during the third game and won 15-11! We had a large lead, but they came back; finally, we won in the end. 

After then end of our game versus OK Kastov, we took a photo with them.  Then we all went to take showers.  Jen, Rachel, and Chelsea were separated from the team, and went into a different bathroom.  We all got clean and then another team walked into our bathroom.  The team started to undress in front of us, so we hurried up to get out of their way.  We left the gym to meet the bus.  Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Vann, and Mrs. Chadwick had ordered us burgers, fries, and cokes from the restaurant the other teams ate at.  It was nice to be able to eat AMERICAN FOOD for the first time in days!!  We stopped in a little shop to use the bathroom and then jumped on the bus. 

We went on a two and a half hour bus ride (we were told it was going to be 4 hours!!)  Mostly everyone took naps and listened to their Ipods.  Nearly everyone had to use the bathroom when we reached the hotel.  We dropped off the adults and then got our keys and went to our rooms.  One room is a suite NOT FAIR!!!  We hung out and some people ordered their skiis and some stayed and watched American Idol.  Then we ate dinner: chicken, potatoes, pasta, payaya, etc.  Now we are going to go play out in the snow and go to bed.

By: Janice, Jeff and Bill

Team Florida – The ride from Isola to Maribor was a short 2 hour ride and was filled with entertainment.  Well actually it was sleeping and silence for the first time on the trip.  Arriving at the mountain turned out to be the craziest hour on the trip so far.  Checking into the hotel first, then losing the key and then getting a master key.  We went into the wrong room before getting straightened out. Moving along, we found the right room, then walked right into the slanted low ceiling and got concussed for life.  We did learn that 50,000 tolar does NOT EQUAL 50 US dollars.  Thank you Jeff Lamm.  Actually we did play some volleyball and we did play very well today.  We played Mossa from Italy in and beat them in two games straight to win 3rd place out of 15 teams. The girls played with a little bit of attitude after dropping a match the day before.  All in all it was a good time in Isola and the kids are enjoying the trip so far. 

Team Jax Juniors – Team Jax U16 is made up of three Alabama girls, one Colorado girl and 5 Florida girls.  YOU would never know that they have never met or played together before this tour.  They are blending well and they do not have to work hard at being a “team”.  Today we measured our success by beating a solid team from Italy.  We were playing well but lost our first set.  The next set we worked at serving tougher and finishing our rally’s.  We won 25-23 it was amazing.  We came out in the third set on fire.  We served it up and jumped on them to get ahead 5-2.  With Paige, Megan and Jordan crushing the ball our opponent did not know who our talented setter, Elyssa was setting.  Ariel, Kim and MaKayla provided great defense and passing.  Anny and Kristin blocked well and directed the ball to our defense.  TOGETHER we managed to stay ahead and an ace by Kristen put the match away 15-11.  We played so well.  This team works together so well.  They are bringing out the best in each other and getting better with each match.  We know that in Prague the matches will be tougher but we are ready for the challenge.  My hope is that now we can relax, rest and play around in Maribor.  Snow is on the ground and the Florida kids are so pumped, our Colorado girl is teaching others to ski and walk in the snow and our Alabama kids are laughing it up at the comments by all.  Thanks to all the parents for allowing this great group to come on tour!  Ciao for now!  Coach J

Team Jax Youth – We’ve got a fairly well-balanced team. Some (Kamryn, Nikki, and Chelsea) have played on a tour before. For some of the others, it’s their first time playing outside of the US or on a put together team. We struggled a little with the first team in our pool and wound up losing. We then went on to win the next 4 matches and come in 3rd overall in the tournament. There were many adjustments: getting used to a different ball, teams that play a 4-2 or middle-front (which ever player was there) setter. Some of the special times came outside of competition. When we took team pictures, all of the US girls had to introduce themselves to the girl on their left, find out her home town, age and other information. With Govolley from Italy, we taught them the hand game (all in a circle, slapping hands on the floor-concentration type game). We caught a ride back from Koper with a team from Serbia, trading information and the next day, trading t-shirts after cheering them on in their final match. Then they watched us start our final match and cheered for us.

One of the ice-breakers we used is to draw a picture of Florida and show where Orlando and Jacksonville are. We then ask the other team to draw their country and home town. So far we have Italy, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia on the drawing. We will add Czech next week when we play them. The girls are having a great time and we are enjoying both the competition and the girls we are playing against. Once the initial barriers break down, they are all just giggly young ladies who enjoy music, fun and volleyball. What a wonderful world we live in!


Hand Game


Jeffs Yacht


Team Florida and the Secret Weapon


Team Florida with Mossa


Team Jax Junior in Moribor


Team Jax Junior with OK Postal

Team Jax Youth with Govolley

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