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Updated journal and player placement information.

August 19-28, 2015 Maribor, Slovenia to Venice, Italy

This year’s Men’s Firesale will use Maribor’s DRAS Center in Slovenia as a starting point. This place is amazing, with great rooms, a wonderful restaurant and bar, and a volleyball gym in the building; all right on a ski mountain with gorgeous views. The goal of this trip is simply to find jobs for players directly from the tour, and the timing is arranged to coincide with the when the bulk of the season’s signings take place. Players attending this tour should be ready for the rigors of a 7-9 month European season starting immediately from the tour and running to sometime in the Spring of 2015. All players need to understand that current market conditions make it harder than ever to place liberos, so any current libero (or DS) should come prepared to play outside hitter or setter if at all possible. Jobs in general are harder to find in the current economy, and salaries are also lower than in past years. As always, players on the Firesale should want to live in Europe for the year as much (or more) as they want to play volleyball. Remember, this is about finding a life experience more than becoming a “professional athlete” for most players on this tour. 2015 Caveat: Its harder and harder every summer to produce jobs for guys. In ’14 we had a handful of good players leave empty handed, so if you’re coming, make sure you know its an uphill battle and that much of the value in this is derived from the tour itself.

Tentative Schedule

  • August 19, Players arrive to the DRAS Center on their own. Training 6-8:30pm. It is strongly suggested that you arrive to Ljubljana (LJU), Graz (GRZ), Zagreb (ZAG), or Vienna (VIE) (in that order) It is very difficult to get from Italy to Maribor, Slovenia. That said, check out Go Opti (Shuttle Service) online as they’re running cheap shuttles from Venice Airport to Maribor these days.
  • August 19-25: Training Camp with double days and matches; numerous visiting coaches and teams
    We’ll play various visiting National Teams like Cameroon, Qatar, Croatia, Slovenia, etc. and also visiting club teams from neighboring countries
  • August 25-26: Tentative Travels into Bled, Slovenia for 2 nights
  • August 27: Tentative Train to Nova Gorica for a Match and closing dinner
  • August 28: Tour ends after breakfast. Depart from Venice (VCE), Italy (Transportation provided to VCE or Venice Train Station)

 

Cost of the tour is $1200 + airfare ($1350 + airfare if deposit is paid after June 19) and includes breakfast and dinner daily (starting with dinner on August 19 and ending with breakfast on August 28) all hotels, ground transportation, and volleyball activities. Players only need spending money for their ground transportation to Maribor on arrival day, daily lunch, phone calls, souvenirs, and “going out” if they so choose. A $350 non-refundable deposit is due to reserve a spot for this tour. There is no deadline for this deposit, but the tour will fill up and we’ll take the first players to submit their deposit.

Interested players should contact Tim Kelly at: bringitusa@aol.com

Payments in USD$ (we can’t accept CAN$) can be made by check or money order to “Bring It Promotions” and mailed by REGULAR MAIL (please, no FedEx, UPS, or DHL) to:

Bring It Promotions
7055 Scripps Crescent St
Goleta, CA 93117

Please be SURE that your name and “August MEN 2015” appear on the check.

Interested players need to read the journals of past years tours:
2012: https://bringitusa.com/events/firesale_men_2012/
2011: https://bringitusa.com/events/firesale_men_2011/index.php
2010: https://bringitusa.com/events/firesale_men_2010/index.php

Flight Info for August Men’s Tour ’15

You are buying your own tickets to Europe, and as long as you’re at the DRAS Center in Maribor, Slovenia on August 19th, and ready for practice that night at 6:00pm, it doesn’t matter what time you arrive or depart. As stated above, you want to arrive to LJU (Ljubljana, Slovenia; a ~2 hour train ride from Maribor), GRZ (Graz, Austria; a < 1 hour train ride but with less connections), CRO (Zagreb, Croatia; ~2 hours by bus or train), or VIE (Vienna, Austria; a 3+ hour train ride). Venice (and Italy in general) is a nightmare to connect on public transportation, so while you may want to visit Italy pre or post-tour, be very careful if you choose to do this. There just aren’t that many connecting trains to get into Slovenia from Italy. Again, check out Go Opti online for new shuttle options from VCE and Venice Train Station to Maribor. Usually a round trip ticket to Europe is the same price (or cheaper) than a one-way, and due to visa restrictions and immigration issues in Europe, it often causes problems to try and come with a one-way ticket (or a ticket that has a return for more than 90 after arrival). Suggestion: Either come on a mileage ticket (if you have a parent or friend with tons of airline miles) because its free to change and usable for a full year, or come on the cheapest possible round trip with your return August 28 (or later) as planned, knowing that you might “eat” the return if you’re coming to “stay and play” and find a team. Of course in this case the team will have to fly you home on a new ticket at the end of the season, but having a “mileage ticket” (if possible) makes everything easiest. Important Note: You CAN NOT come to Maribor early as the Women’s Exposure Tour is there before you and we CAN NOT have the girls being distracted.