January 17, 2009
Day 10 on the Tour... Our last full day...
Today was a free day! And it was sunny. Most of the girls spent the morning in the center of Pordenone. It was “Market Day” so everyone was out and about, and there were vendors set up all throughout the pedestrian center of town.
At noon we met back at the hotel to walk to the train station and head into Venezia! Again, it was a gorgeous sunny day. Still chilly, but a perfect day to get lost in the winding small streets of this crazy little town. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves shopping and sightseeing, and at 7:00pm everyone met on the steps of the train station as planned to head home as a group. We had a great (but quick) meal at Woody’s back in Pordenone, and then it was time to head back to the hotel to pack.
A bunch of girls ended up at a big disco, and rumor has it that a few of them barely made it back in time for the 4:00am bus to the airport. We had two shifts: 4:00am and 8:30am. No one missed their shuttles, and as far as I know now, everyone made it back to the USA just fine... Another great tour!
Quick Pic from Sweden: Continued congrats to Christina and Liesl!
Signed Player Update, by Katie Weidner
After a few days in Croatia...
So I made it to Croatia. I have already learned how to say, "Do you have a car?" and "Do you want to be my boyfriend?" in Croatian. The first day I arrived, the team secretary and my roommate took me to the police station to get my papers sorted out so that I can stay in Croatia. The police officer we needed to talk to was not there so we went for some coffee and waited. The police officer eventually came and met us for coffee. Every one was speaking in croatian so i just sat there not really knowing what was going on. I kept looking at my roomate/teammate to translate what they were saying and finally she said "They said there is problem with your papers and you cannot stay in Croatia.... " Luckily she was kidding. I'm glad my teammates have such a good sense of humor.
Everyone on my team says how crazy the coach is. Luckily I don’t know enough Croatian to know what he is saying, and luckily he doesn’t know enough English to say anything crazy for me to understand. I am having a lot of fun here learning the language. The practices and work outs are pretty different from American volleyball practices. We have "fitness" in the morning and then volleyball practice in the evening. I think the coach is afraid I will get hurt because he always has me do less running, jumping and lifting than the rest of the team and just tells me to jog around the gym...but not too fast. My first day in fitness, I forgot that the weights were all in kilograms so I set my weights up to pounds and was really confused when I couldn’t seem to lift as much as I used to. I live with two teammates, one I have not met yet because she is at home sick with a rash.... The other girl knows a lot of English and is from Bosnia. Tomorrow is our day off so some of my teammates are coming over to our apartment to make pancakes and then they are going for a massage from the team doctor. I will probably walk around town and check out the shops and find out where the local hot spots are. Monday the team secretary said we are going to the police station for some kind of team award... not sure what this is about but it should be interesting. After that I am going to go to the Vinkovci Museum. Supposedly two Roman emperors were born in the town I am living in so it will be nice to learn some of the history of the town im living in. Other than that its just been eat, sleep, and play volleyball. So far so good...
Quick Update, Kim Fletcher in Klagenfurt...
Hello from beautiful Klagenfurt! Whitney and I arrived here last Tuesday and started training that night with the Sparkasse Wildcats. The team has an American setter and OH, and they are looking for a middle to round out their lineup for the spring. A lot of the girls on the team attend the local university and their English is better than mine, which is a bonus. On Thursday Whitney decided she wanted to finish her degree as soon as possible (she still has an internship left), so she thanked Helli, the coach, for the opportunity to try out and headed back to the tour. That night we had the big meeting. The managers came to the practice, and afterward they were going to give me the final decision on a contract. Helli said that he liked what he had seen so far, but he was not convinced that I had what it took to earn a contract. He said he really wanted a middle who could dominate his team in practice. I thought about it for a minute, and realized that he had not seen the best of what I had to give. I asked him if there was any way I could stay and try to prove to him that I could be that player. He and the managers discussed it for a few minutes, then he said, "You know, I like this attitude. Maybe we could keep you for a few weeks, and see if you can bring what you think you can bring." The next day I asked if the club would be willing to pay for the cost of changing my ticket, and to cover some basic living expenses while I'm here (no shame in asking, right?). They agreed. So here I am, spending another two and a half weeks in Austria, trying to show the club they can "trust my stuff" (kudos to Whitney for that phrase). In the meantime, I'm enjoying the sights and the town by day, and the practices at night. The picture in front of the T-Rex is from the local reptile park, which is right next to Minimundus, a huge park with amazingly accurate 1:25 scale models of some of the world's most recognizable buildings. It turned out the parks are closed for the winter, so here's hoping I'll still be here to see them in the spring!
I just got back from dropping Robin Miramontes at the Maribor Train Station for her trip up to Vienna. She flies to Spain from there tomorrow to play for CV Torrelavega in SuperLiga B. Even though everyone else flew home on the 18th, Robin finally getting signed marks the tour finally being “over” for us...
As such, we have this current list (as of 1/20/09) of action from the tour:
Emily Brown signed in Doprastav Bratislava, Slovakia
Katie Weidner signed in OK Vinkovci, Croatia
Christina Perkins signed in Gislaved VK, Sweden
Liesl Tesch signed in Gislaved VK, Sweden
Ashley Genslak signed in PSvG Salzburg, Austria
Stefanie Alde signed in CV Cide Mallorca, Spain
Rene Ibekwe signed in VC Tirol, Austria
Kelley Wernert signed in Popsivo, Indonesia
Bethany Johansen signed in VT Bellinzona, Switzerland
Robin Miramontes signed in CV Torrelavega, Spain
Brynn Maurer signed in TV Villingen, Germany
Kim Fletcher is currently on a training contract with ATSC Klagenfurt, Austria
Whitney Evers turned down an offer to play in Klagenfurt (to finish school) and will return in the fall
Amy Palash turned down offers to play in Salzburg and Indonesia and will return in the fall
Congrats to everyone that found a team, and enjoy!
Final Comment, from an email received today from one of the girls...
“I really appreciate the effort you put in to making the most out of our trip; the traditional meals, skiing/snowboarding opportunities, use of a mountain-top spa, allowing us to meet and converse with people/players from the cities we stayed in, etc. Also, thanks for your honesty and no-hand-holding philosophy. I like that you foster autonomy; you offer the basic but important information we need and then let us explore and live the journey on our own.”
Post Tour Photo, Rene Ibekwe with her new teammate Sarah Zeltman (August Tour '08) in Innsbruck
