Bring It Promotions' annual Women's Spring European Tour gets underway April 7. VolleyCentral will be providing exclusive reports on this year's spring tour. Coverage will include results, photos and, best of all, journals written by the players.
Bring It Promotions (BIP) founder Tim Kelly began organizing these tours as a way for the participating players to get exposure in Europe to top professional club teams. For most players, the desired result is a contract to play professionally in Europe. For others, it is simply an opportunity to play top-level competition in Europe while doing a bit of touring.
For 10 days players will travel through Europe playing against top European teams, meet European coaches and players, and receive a "crash course" in European professional volleyball. The majority of these players will be offered contracts to play in Europe.
April 6, Sunday, Players leave USA for Europe
April 7, Monday, Players arrive Amsterdam, Holland
Training & Match vs. AMVJ Amstelveen, NL (Dutch Top Division)
April 8, Tuesday, Match vs. Calaminia, Belgium (Division of Honor)
April 9, Wednesday, Match vs. Hainut-Valenciennes, France (Nacional 2)
April 10, Thursday, Match vs. Reims University, France (Mixed Pro A-B)
April 11, Friday, Match vs. Wevelgem, Belgium (Division of Honor)
April 12, Saturday, Day Off in Paris, France
Interested players will watch a playoff game: Villebon (#3) vs. Mulhouse (#4)
April 13, Sunday, Day Off in Paris, France
Interested players will train with La Rochette (#8 in France Pro A)
April 14, Monday, Match vs. Mekelbecke (Brakel), Belgium (Winner of Nacional 1)
April 15, Tuesday, Match vs. Leverkusen, Germany (1st Bundesliga)
April 16, Wednesday, Match vs. Longa, NL (Dutch TOP Division)
April 17, Thursday, Players leave for USA and arrive home on the same day
-AMVJ Amstelveen: Susie Meshberger and Rachel Hammons (Ball State) and Michelle Collier (South Florida). All placed from the January Exposure Tour 2003.
-Hainut-Valenciennes: Kristy Kierulff (Long Beach State). Spring Cup 2001. Kristy played that year in Switzerland.
-Longa: Michelle Quon (UCLA) was on tour with BIP on the UCLA University Tour 2001 and Dana Cooke (Michigan State) is in her 4th year in Europe.
-Gudela Staub, coach of Leverkusen, was a star at the University of Florida some years back.
-We hope to play our matches vs. AMVJ and Longa under the guidance of guest coach Pierre Mathieu. Pierre was the Dutch Women's National Team coach a few years back and is one of the top coaches in the history of Holland (and Europe). He has won numerous titles for both men and women in Holland, Belgium and Germany in his career and has been a staunch supporter of BIP tours and our clients over the years.
For more information on Bring It Promotions, visit the company's web site:
www.bringitusa.com |
