Greece Journal
June 7-9, 2007
Loutraki and Competition

Day 2

Do you speak Greek?  Marcio Poolsa WHO??

By: Marissa and Mariah, Jacksonville, FL (JJVA)
Marcio Paloosa Juniors: 18-25, 26-28 L
Marcio Paloosa Youth: 25-11, 24-26, 15-6 W

We started off the day with breakfast at 8:00 A.M., as usual. It was a very tasty meal of cheese, eggs, lemon squares, and cereal. After scarfing down breakfast, the groups headed down to the Sea of Corinth and to our surprise, we found rocks covering the beach instead of the anticipated sand. Time was taken to snap a couple of photos of the gorgeous view and then into the water we went. The water, however, proved to be freezing and many were hesitant to jump in but with a little help, Meghan and Taelor, reluctantly hopped in.  We swam around in the clear but very salty water for a good thirty five minutes before scurrying out and lying in the hot rocks. As we shared laughs and photos, others were covered in hot rocks, occasionally finding the perfect one to take back home.  After a good while, we all decided to make stop at the Gelato shop for a mid-morning snack. This is when we realized why Americans and Europeans are different. As waited in line, anticipating the giant marble slab scoop of ice cream are hopes crashed as we found that one scoop was about the size of a spoon. After the tasty morsel, we loaded the bus and headed back to sports camp. We went straight to lunch where we were served a load of mouthwatering food. We had a brief team meeting and then headed off to our cabins for a mid day siesta, though Rachel was the only one who slept due to her stomach ache. Miraculously though, she was better by the time we headed off to watch the junior team play their first match. Unfortunately, they lost their first game against Marcopolous youth team but we hoped to make up for them with a win later that afternoon. We warmed up and prepared to play against the Marcopolous Juniors team. Though most of their team of 16, 17, and 18 year old’s were a fairly good size, there was one player, #4, that completely blew us away. At about 6’4 her arm swing was amazing and a reward of a coke was given for anyone to block or dig her swing.  Unfortunately we lost the first match with heartbreaking scores of 18-25 and 26-28. Though we sadly lost, Jessie, Rachel, and Kamryn walked away with the promise of a coke for their blocking and digging. After taking pictures with the Greek team, we headed outside to rest and reenergize for our 5:00 game against the Marcopolous youth team.  We then headed inside the gym to talk to some players from the Marcopolous youth team. They spoke amazing English while none of us could boast about speaking a second language fluently, unfortunately. Having the pre game helped ease the intimidation that some of us had anticipated. Against the team if 14, 15, and 16 year old’s, we defeated them 25-11, 24-26, and 15-6. We were given fanny packs and a cloth version of the Greek flags from the teams.  Following our last match, we all headed back to our rooms to quickly change and wash our jersey’s before our senior team played. We all hurried back in fear of the punishment that would await us if we arrived late to the game. This would be to serve beverages and clean up the plates for all of the American teams at dinner. We watched as the seniors demolished the opposing team and then ran to dinner. The dinner was a favorite of many as we feasted on Jell-O, cheese like pastries, stuffed tomatoes, and a variety of meats.  The dinner wrapped up and all of the teams headed off to bed to awake for another amazing day here in Greece.

By: Kristin, Jacksonville, FL (JJVA) and Whitney (Miss Texas)
Marcopolous Youth: 19-25, 22-25 L
Irqiais Junior/senior: 17-25, 19-25 L

We had breakfast this morning at 7:55 a.m. We had cheerios, as per usual and bread which we don’t exactly know what it is, but it’s good. We enjoyed it. After breakfast we all decided to play cards. We played Kent and Spoons. Janice got to play spoons and Kent for the first time ever. And Whitney as usual lost at spoons. It’s not her best game! Whitney and I owned at Kent though. Our sign is the best. We met at 10:45 a.m. to head off to the beach. We got on the bus and headed the ten minutes over to the beach. We went to the Sea of Corinth. The water was absolutely breathtaking. The water closest to the pebbles is clear and it gets darker as it gets deeper. It goes from clear, to aqua, to deep blue. It’s seriously gorgeous. And what’s even more awesome is that there is no sand!!! No sand at all. Instead of sand there are smooth pebbles. They are really cool. We all get ready to get in the water and the minute we put our feet in, we jumped right back out. I have NEVER felt water that cold before in my life. It was honestly like taking an ice bath. So Whitney and I jumped in, and the minute I jumped in, I could feel my extremities becoming numb! It was so cold, but after 20 minutes of being in the water, we started to become used to it. Then Whitney, CJ, Megan S, Taelor and I all started trying to skip rocks across the water. And as time the size of the rocks increased. And when we started skipping the bigger ones, it wasn’t really skipping any more, it was more like throwing and the rocks sinking to the bottom. Haha! Megan even had setting practice with the rocks! It was quite amusing. Then after we pulled Janae in, Coach Bill started splashing Taylor, she came in as well. Eventually our whole team came into the water. Well Coach CJ came up to us and said “I heard that if you bang the rocks together under the water the sting rays will come.” The next thing we know Gabby and Kelsey are banging rocks together, then Gabby goes “Wait a minute, I don’t want to end up like Steve Irwin!!” It was seriously the funniest thing ever. Well after about 10 minutes the team decided to get out of the water and lay out. Whitney and I decided to stay in the water with CJ, Megan and them. We get out and then Whitney and I started taking pictures with Megan. We’d all jump up in the air and it would end up being a pretty good picture! Then CJ, Megan, Holland, Taelor, Coach Bill, Mrs. Brown, Jen, Whitney and I all walked down the boardwalk. Some people got gelato, which looked really good! We walked back to the bus and then went back to eat lunch. After lunch we all got ready to play. We played two really good teams. The first team was pretty good, however, we should have beat that team. Our passing was off a bit in the first game. The blocking was also off. It was our first game together though and for not playing together before we did fairly well. The second match was extremely intense. The girls we were playing were well over six feet and they were only 14 years old!!! The passing was very consistent and strong. The blockers also stepped it up. It was a very good match; we all stepped up and played our game. It was a lot of fun. Even though we lost we really enjoyed the game. After our matches, we watched the senior team play, and the flies were everywhere! It was the worst. I can’t stand flies. We started swatting the flies with flip flops…it was very funny. After the senior team played we ate dinner. Dinner consisted of pork on a stick, rice in a pepper, Jello, bread, chicken, and a croissant with feta cheese. The croissant was really good. 

By:
Irqiais Junior/senior: 18-25, 25-17, 20-25 L
Papagos Senior: 25-16, 25-21, 25-21 W