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Pre-Tour August 8-13, 2005
Prague, Czech Republic
Editors Note: The purpose of the pre-tour is to get everyone in Europe, practicing volleyball twice a day, adjusting to living in Europe, educating everyone about European volleyball and getting all the players ready for tryouts the following week on the Firesale tour.
Kelli Nerison - Loyola Marymount University
Jacqueline Heler – Santa Clara University
(WCC in the house! Enemies set aside their differences and have a blast!)
Jacqueline: I arrived in Prague and was picked up by Jirka’s brother who was holding an old red and white volleyball as I exited customs. He took me to the hotel that I would call home for the week, and I met my roommate Michelle. The rooms were like dorm suites with a community shower and toilet shared between me and the three other girls in the suite. I hadn’t really slept on my flight and happened to have flown out straight from the 6-man, so I had no problem sleeping through the night that first evening. The next day the four of us got to play some volley. The gym looked like an apartment complex from the outside. The gym floor itself was old and slippery. There was gymnastics equipment everywhere and the floor was surrounded by this opera house looking balcony on the above second story.
Our wonderful gym in Prague
Prep-tour group at the Hotel
We met Cory and he gave us a brief intro on what to expect as we waited for the other girls to arrive. It felt really good to play doubles that evening, and afterwards, we met a few other girls for dinner. The double days that followed were not what I expected. I was so used to stressing out about being prompt and expecting to do a lot of drilling. In fact, we did a lot of playing; scrimmaging, serving and passing, and hitting lines. The other girls were from everywhere and it was very cool getting to be around people who wanted to be playing volleyball and had the same apprehensions about living overseas. Throughout the week different coaches from various European clubs came to watch us practice. One evening, Cory let Marco (the German coach) run our practice. We started out with what was like a modified bump circle of a warm-up, but then continued into more familiar drills.
This first week has been awesome! The volleyball has been fun, the girls on the tour are really great, Cory and Jirka are the best, and besides the fact that I have to ice my shoulder with the beverages I keep in our hotel fridge, everything has been wonderful.
(And now to pass the journal over to Kelli…)
The Pre-tour group at Jirka’s house
Kelli: Unfortunately I sprained my ankle on the first day, but it could not dampen my spirits or keep me from enjoying this bit of the tour! We really had a lot of fun training together. I was really impressed with the level of play, despite the fact that we had never played before (and many of us against each other). We always had long rallies and a lot of good defense. Some coaches from Germany, Finland, and Austria came to watch our practices and then spent the evenings with the team. After the first few days, Jirka was kind enough to extend us an invitation to his home for a barbeque. After climbing several million grueling steps, we found his house, high on a hill, which overlooked the river and the Prague castle. We had some traditional Czech food and also enjoyed a splendid game of croquet, which Jacqueline and I won! (The Red Banger and Black Night triumph!) We stayed until late at night, swapping stories around the fire. Andreja, who is from Slovenia, joined our team this week to get in shape before her season. It was a lot of fun getting to know someone who was from a neighboring country and who could help answer questions and learn about Europe. We all had a great time getting to know each other. We also had the opportunity to visit downtown Prague and the Prague Castle. Jirka came in very handy as a tour guide, regaling us with tidbits of history as we toured the castle. We climbed 300 steps up to the top of the castle, and after nearly passing out, enjoyed breathtaking views of the entire city. An interesting fact that we learned was that the Prague castle is the largest castle complex in the world, as noted in the Guinness Book of World Records. The rest of the day was spent shopping and strolling around the city. Each night we would eat in a pub and swap stories. We were all so glad to find that everyone on the trip was great and that we all got along. Tonight is our last night, and I am very sad that I will have to say goodbye to some of these girls who are going away on try-outs. I am currently sitting in a restaurant and sampling dome delectable Czech dishes. I am confident that we will have a lot of fun, since tonight marks our last time together as a group and in Prague as well. I can’t say for sure if our paths will cross again, but what I can say is this: I will never forget this week with these wonderful ladies and playing volleyball in Prague!
Jirka’s wonderful views of Prague
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