Editors Note: The Italian Youth National team trains in Ravenna, Italy (two hours south of Venice) for 9 months during the year. (September to May) They compete throughout the year in the Italian B1 league, or the 3rd division in Italy. Most of these players will start playing A2 or A1 within the next three years, as they are currently ages 16, 17 and 18. I asked many of them if they would consider playing in the USA and they all said “No, as I hope to be playing professional volleyball in Italy in the next couple of years” Ravenna is right in the “hotbed” of Italian volleyball, as there are many A1, A2 and B1 teams within one hour of this city. Many top Americans have either played in Ravenna or in cities in this region.

In three tours to Europe, Northern Lights has now played the following Junior and/or Youth National teams:

Switzerland
Germany
Italy
Austria

Summer of 2007 Northern Lights will also add the Czech Republic and Slovenian Junior National teams.

Ravenna/Italian Youth National Team Match
Leslie Bielski Northern Lights U18’s

Today we woke up nice and early in the beautiful city of Rome to get a head start on our trip to Ravenna, Italy.  It ended up being about a 5 hour drive up there, some of us got pretty bored so I guess being bored makes girls get the urge to put on makeup.  Bridget and Liz decided to put eyeliner and mascara on while driving on the bumpiest road in Italy.  I don’t understand how they do it.  As for the people with eyes left to see out the windows… everyone was amazed by the BEAUTIFUL scenery!  The grass was unbelievably green and while driving we were weaving in and out of the mountains.  After driving for a few hours viewing the surreal scenery we finally reached Ravenna where we played the Italian Youth National Team.  When we got there we walked into the gym, which was in a big dome with two courts, one with a wooden floor and the other had a funny sport court type floor.  Then their coach brought us to the locker rooms where we got dressed to play the Italians.  When walking into the gym we walked onto the court and were in awe to see how TALL the Italian girls were!  At that moment I was pretty sure that every one of the girls on the team was at least 6 feet tall, and when it was time to warm up hitting… WOW… you could tell that everyone was at least 6 feet tall because pretty much every girl on that team could hit the ten-foot line!  When we finally stepped on the court we started off kind of shaky, but we got better as the game went on.  We played four sets (games) against the Italian team.  The scores of the games were 25-20, 25-18, 25-14, 25-8… Italy won all of the games, but it was still fun to play such great players.  A couple of times the Italians didn’t have much of a block to hit through, so Maggie got hit once in the chin and once in the chest at about the ten foot line.  Then Steph got pegged in the leg once and I’m surprised it didn’t leave a ball print in her leg.   After we saw the score of the fourth game we wanted to play just one more game so the Italians agreed and we did a little better that time, 25-15.  From observing the way they play their game, it’s very much like our “American” style.  They don’t have any special plays.  If I had to compare them to an American volleyball team I would say they looked a lot like a Sports Performance team but just a little taller and better skilled.  After the match we asked to take a picture with them and got one, it was really fun.  After some we showered and got dressed we walked across the way and had dinner.  We had some tortellini with ham in it; later on we had some Italian style steak.  They don’t have the regular slab of meat like we do in the U.S.A.  They served it on a plate with shredded cabbage and sliced steak that was cut up into strips.  After about 45 minutes the Italian girls came in to eat their dinner.  They were just sitting across the room and Cory gave us the idea of going over there to talk to them.  So we did as he told and went over there to talk to them, and yes I was a little nervous to talk to total strangers that didn’t really speak English, but as we started talking to them more, the girls that spoke fluent English talked to us a lot.  It was really fun to learn more about them and how they lived their life.  We asked them how often they play and they said they practiced twice a day for eight months out of the year.  They also said that they go to school in between practices and at night after practices.  During dinner they came to our table and offered to have us come over to see where they lived.  While we were there we traded T-shirts, we gave them our practice jerseys and we received some of their practice jerseys as well.  The room that I went in was with Steph and Laura.  The girls and I got to see the Italian girl’s room.  It was very much like a dorm room but just a tiny bit larger than a normal dorm room.  When they gave us their shirts they decided to write their number and name on them for us.  We also exchanged our email addresses and they asked us if we would write soon.  So that should be a really fun time emailing with them once we get home!  After dinner we drove back to our hotel where we got ready for bed and some of us went to find a café with Internet, but never ended up finding one.  In my room I was rooming with Liz and Bridget and I do have to say we had a very interesting night.  I was sleeping in the same room with Liz and all of a sudden we heard a HUGE boom in the other room.  Liz got up and the boom was Bridget hitting the wall really hard killing mosquitoes that were just eating her alive.  It was so funny because in the morning we all got up to have breakfast and talked about our interesting nights.  In the room with Abby, Mary, and Laura they couldn’t find out how to work the heating system, so they went the whole night without heat!  At breakfast we had the common croissant and jelly breakfast and were on our way to Venice for the day. 

We hope all is well in Minnesota, and we’ll keep you updated on our trip J 

Love you all,
Leslie Bielski