USA Youth Team Journal
Day 9, January 4, 2007
Belgrade, Serbia
By, Dana Hutchinson

Our day began with an early start at the Hotel Rex in central Belgrade. Our entire team woke up at 7:30 and hurried down the three flights of stairs to the breakfast room near the lobby. The Serbian breads and tasty cereals filled our empty stomachs and we were ready to depart for our 3rd match of the tournament. We loaded onto our bus that was waiting patiently outside our hotel and left for the short journey to the gymnasium. We arrived in the cold weather and bundled up in our jackets and entered our locker room to change. Our bright green and blue locker room gave off a happy vibe and helped us forget about how early in the morning it truly was. We followed through with our traditional warm up and were almost prepared to play Postar Beograd, a Serbian club team.

As the whistle blew to start off the match, our team fought hard from the beginning and took the lead immediately. Kill after kill, the USA team continued to bond and grow as a team and as friends. The first game ended with the USA winning 25 to 18 and we entered the second game with enthusiasm and inspiration from Erikka’s helpful notes and reminders. 

The second game began and our team’s goal was to continue winning no matter what line-up entered the court. The new line-up contributed to the team and continued to make the team a stronger and more powerful unit. As everyone battled on defense and struggled to get a swing on the broken plays, the USA team pulled out the 3rd consecutive win of the tournament. The score was 25 –17 and our hard work showed as we waved to our cheering Serbian fans after the match.

We then left the gym to go to the U.S. Embassy meeting in Belgrade. Most of the players first took a short nap in their nicely kept hotel rooms. As we woke, a nice 5 minute walk around the corner lead us to the American flag waving proudly above the U.S. Embassy. Immediately as we got there, Shelton’s wife and a few others got in trouble for attempting to take a picture of the building. The security was tough and the men only took 2 at a time through their large screening sections. Our passports were collected and anything metal as well, we finally made our way up many stairs to a large meeting room with pictures of every state and small business chairs surrounding a table.

As the two USA teams gathered around the long table, we received many varieties of speeches from very important people who worked in the Embassy. I think that everyone learned a little about what the Embassy actually did and how it worked with other countries besides the United States. We soon learned that we were sitting in “the crumple room” which was basically the place were terrorist would bomb if they were going to. We all were a little scared but realized that the most important rooms were located in the rear away from the streets of Belgrade.

Many Serbians were still angry because of the previous bombing that the U.S. became involved in, so our long waiting time in front of the building didn’t make us feel any safer. Anyways, our meeting in the embassy definitely enlightened us about our government and their involvement and interest with almost all of the other countries in the world.  We departed and awaited our next semi-final match against Mladost volleyball club from Zagreb, Croatia.

We then played our last match of the day and warmed up and began to play. We came out with energy and fire and won the first game 25-20. The second game began and a new line-up challenged the court again. The team easily won 25-19 and moved onto the final game.  Our team had gone through so much and knew that we could take the championship home to America.

With the new bonding of foreign teams, our entire team was excited for our players’ party with all the teams in the tournament. We departed for the hotel and although our bodies were tired we managed to get ready and look great for the players’ party at a local club in Belgrade.  When we entered it was pumping techno music and everyone started to groove to the music. We sat down but then began to talk to the other teams and learn Serbian dances with the main owners of the club. We saw many exotic dancers and took multitudes of pictures with ourselves and players from Croatia and Belgrade. The band played all night long and I won the best dancer award of the night!

We enjoyed our free drinks that our coupon permitted us; and our knowledge of other countries cultures definitely increased. Although sad, we finally had to leave the raging club and make our way back to the hotel to sleep for our championship match. The night had been probably one of the most bonding experiences of the trip and all of the girls laughed and danced until 11:30.  The night finally came to an end and our mini van took both USA teams back to the Hotel Rex.  The players went right to their rooms and watched TV for about 20 minutes and passed out due to a day of adventure and hard work. We then looked forward to winning the championship match at 1:15 the next day and getting to sleep in until 11:15.

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