USA Youth Team Journal
Saturday, December 30, 2006
By Kelsey Brandl

USA vs. Croatia (3-0) in the Finals: 
25-21 25-19 25-12

Well the day of a lifetime begins with breakfast like always. The beautiful daily walk to the gym in Izola for us along the Adriatic Sea with all the ships lined up would be our last for this trip.  The match itself was at 1:00.  Team USA showed up ready to play a tough game.  The scouting report from the coaches the night before prepared us for what was to come next.  After going 6-0 in games the day before, coach Shelton said that Croatia was one of the well known powerhouses on all international volleyball levels

The championship game was to be three out of five and we had an awesome warm-up.  Just being there watching everyone bang balls through floor is a lovely sight.  The first game we started out a little slow and needed a little bump to get going. But by the end we had a good pace and finished the game off at 25-21.  The second game was a good game for us. Although I can’t remember much about it, I know the score was 25-19.  So we finished that one off strong and it propelled us through to the next game.  The third game was the best we have ever played and it was very motivating.  As some say we took it to them, and never gave up. The final score was 25-12.  The USA team had just won a gold medal Yeah! After coming of the court I waited on the bench and stormed the court to our teammates after the winning kill by Tarah. The team did a great job and we all contributed and helped with the new incorporated defense.  We ended the tournament with closing ceremonies and many pictures with teams and individuals that will create memories to last a lifetime.







           
After pictures we ventured to the bus for a two hour drive to Bled, Slovenia along with the Slovenian team. A short nap and quick stop for a sandwich and we were ready.  Before the match we had a quick little tour of Bled.  It was dark so we didn’t get to see everything. But we did see a lake and from land you could see a large church in the distance there also was a huge castle at the top of a hill that has been there for 2000 years.  Along with that we also got to participate in the new years festivities for a couple minutes! It was so beautiful just taking it all in and seeing the different culture. 

Next in the Slovenian gym we got a surprise, there were two representatives from the U.S. Embassy there to meet, greet, and wish us good luck.

Our second match of the day was an official international match with the team we lost to on the first day; Slovenia. We now faced the challenge of getting pumped on the bus and not being stiff.  The gym was very nice, but now it was time to play. For the match we had tried out some new lineups to show that we are a very versatile team. The first game we did well but after a rude awakening that we were not playing our best, but we stuck together and won the game 25-19. The second game was different trying to pull it together just was not helping us enough. We ended the game losing 22-25. The third game was a little better but still a little slow. We stuck together emotionally as a team and won 25-20 to go up 2-1. The fourth game was just the same as the second and again we let go of another game to Slovenia. The scores being 24-26 . That was disappointing to us, we knew we could be so much better as a team. Fifth games are very crucial for teams they show determination, heart, focus, and the need to win. We stayed strong through the fifth game and pulled of a win. For the last score being 15-12 to win 3-2.

After the game we had a fast pizza dinner with the Slovenians and ventured back to the dreaded bus for another two hour bus ride to Maribor for our New Years retreat. After leaving the gym at nearly 10:00 the bus ride was short for most cause of sleeping or passing time with games. Now after dropping the parents off at a separate hotel it was time to relax. On the way there you could see a little bit of the snow in which many got excited over.  The beautiful view off of our balconies of the ski slope is very soothing. But at nearly at two in the morning you can’t really function. This day for sure was long and grueling and will go down as the most exciting for us. After winning the gold medal in the MEVZA tournament then going to Bled beating the Slovenians, next jumping on a bus to a hotel all in one day can barely explain how busy we were.


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