Prague, The Red Team
Written by Ashley Dean, Narrated by Erikka Gulbranson (while drinking hot Slovenian wine)

Monday morning the majority of us had arrived in Prague.  The teams had been made and we were ready to embark on a day of site seeing and competition. We spent the morning touring downtown Prague. We visited historical landmarks, an astronomical clock, the Charles Bridge, the Danube River, a Prague Castle and many old churches, each of which are well known throughout the world. We also walked through a local outdoor market, filled with many of the city’s local crafts. We soon noticed the vast majority of vendors selling hand-made puppets, as well as paintings and other sorts of memorabilia.  

Midday we stopped in a small café to warm up on mulled wine (hot wine), grog (a nasty pee colored alcohol), as well as hot chocolate and coffee. One poor victim, Areal Bienemy, decided to order a hamburger, or at least what she thought was one. She soon realized that her order was really a ‘ham’ burger: a strange concoction of special meat and other secret ingredients. We ended up relying on these types of stops as often as possible to re-energize and refuel, as well as experience the local cuisine.

Our hotel was situated a bit outside the center of the city, so the train ride alone was an adventure for some of the players. Others were accustomed to traveling abroad and were fully capable of maneuvering around a big city. The great thing about this trip is that players and coaches have the freedom to do as they choose throughout the day as long as they return to the hotel in time for departure to the gym. This allows the tour to cater to everyone’s interests. Some choose to spend the day in the hotel, sobering up from the night before, while others made the most of their time in the city spending as many Crowns (CzK = Czech currency) as possible (i.e.- Kristen Shockley).  For some reason, buying Puma and Nike gear seemed more enticing in Prague then it ever was in the US.

Finally, our first match! The first night we played Team Slavia Praha and showed them how to play some American volleyball. In game one, after a jetlag start, we made a valiant comeback and ended up winning 25-23. Go USA! In games two, three, and four, Lindsay Pillips, Summer Jennings, and Stephani Eddins thundered and thumped some balls down their throats, giving up only 11, 14, and 16 points respectively in the three games. Come game five, despite a premature celebration, we were able to pull out the victory 26-24.

All in all, it was a great night of volleyball. What we were all incredibly surprised with was the variety of ages of the players. The setter who was in her mid-thirties, relied most on her seventeen year old outside hitter. What we were also very unaware of the lack of uniform technical training. In the U.S., most college players are trained to pass the same way, making us all look very similar. In Europe, it seems that the coaches go with whatever the player can do. This made it extremely hard for the U.S. players to adapt to because they are not uniform in anything they do, but they are amazing! They dig balls that are shocking and then get up and rocket the ball using unrecognizable footwork that ends up working every time!

Match #2 followed the next day versus Olymp Praha Juniors, one of the younger teams in a well-recognized club in the Czech Republic. Our biggest threat was their fifteen-year old outside hitter who hammered at us throughout the match. This kid reminded us a lot of a young Logan Tom. She had a smooth approach, jumped out of the gym, looked over the net to see where we were playing defense and then hammered the ball to empty court. She was a phenom, but we managed to pull it out due to the stellar defensive abilities of Jessica Weeks and Darcy Thompson.  We ended up winning the match, 25-23, 25-23, 26-28, and 25-21.

That night we found out that we would two players short for the remainder of the tour, as Leslie Kuhn would be leaving us the next to sign and play in Valencia, Spain while Lindsay Phillips would be traveling to Puerto Rico to compete in a warmer climate with the Guaynabo Mets.

Prague, The Blue Team
By Ray Gooden, NIU

First off, Europe is the bomb!  I am super lucky to be a part of this group. Tim & Cory have a great program and if you want to see this part of the world and experience culture, this trip could be for you.

Coach Ray with Coach Riley and BIP’s own Cory Solomon and Jirka Honzik

Minus the adventure of getting just under 40 players to Prague, things went along pretty smoothly.  As a player on this tour, you have to learn to be independent. You are told what time the bus leaves, what group you are playing with, and that’s about it.

As this point in the tour I’m coaching the Blue Team with Ashley Dean from Northeastern University. She is good people. We had a training session the night we flew in as you know from Day 1’s journal.

After Day 1, our Blue Team competed against the two best club teams in the Czech League: Slavia Praha and Olymp Praha.  It’s a unique task organizing 12 players that have never played together in more than just a camp or tryout setting and expecting to win matches.

The first night we got “experienced” to European volleyball.  Then played the 2nd best team in the (Olymp) and lost all the sets.  Their best player is an 18 old rockstar and the setter is 39.

The next night we played against the best team in the league (Slavia, undefeated in league) and we won one set out of four. The best player that night was a 17-year old 6’2 outside hitter.  It’s great to watch the different styles of play. We are working on playing together, but also showing our ability to make plays so that they can be successful over here. In order to be paid like the best - you must play the best.

Much love to Evanston, NIU, the Midwest and Volleyball USA.  Take care.

Coach Ray with coaches Ashley and Kristen

Prague, The Black Team
By Chris Riley, Towson University

Greetings from beautiful Maribor, Slovenia! I am sitting at the base of an unbelievable ski resort watching some people night ski and I started reflecting on what a tremendous experience this trip has been already. As a scenic trip, this has been amazing. We have been through the castles of Prague, the breathtaking architecture of Vienna and the ski resort in Maribor. The trip has been great. The girls on the Black Team are wonderful and it is an honor to coach them. They are all so talented and we, as a team, have gotten significantly better every day. Our current record is 11-7 in sets or games since we don’t really play 3 out of 5 matches like in the US. Sometimes we play 5 games no matter what. The Black Team has been competitive with every team we faced and won a set off of the best team in the Czech Republic, Slavia Praha. The girls are really playing well right now as they are learning to play together. They are an energetic group and very fun to watch play.

The level of competition has varied from place to place but all the teams that we have played have had a few remarkable players.  The European players are so good at everything. They all pass and defend and you never get an easy play. They attack everything hard. Watching this level of player is helping all of the US kids to see what it’s like to play at this high level. It also gives them things to work on in order to improve.

Editor’s Note: Many thanks to MC (pictured on right), Kaleena, “Goiner”, “Brazilian”, and Stacy O’Connor for coming to meet us in Prague and help our girls have an idea of what they might be getting into if they choose to play in Europe.

A few more pics that we just couldn’t leave out: