|
Day Two
Alyssa Williams, U 17’s team
Editors Note: The German Youth National team is currently training in a small town in Northern Germany. Germany’s top 15 players born in 88/89 are at the camp preparing to play the Dutch Youth National Team this weekend. The German coaches divided their 15 players into two teams giving Northern Lights U17’s and U16’s the opportunity to play two matches.
This morning we arrived in Munster, Germany. Around 9:00 am, we took a coach bus from our hotel and drove about 3 hours to Munster. We walked around the town for a little while and then went our separate ways to get some lunch. The group of girls I was with went to a nice little sit down restaurant. The people here don’t speak English quite as well as the Dutch, but we managed. Angie and I ordered a cheese and bread dish. I liked the Munster and Brie cheeses, but wasn’t so fond of the blue cheese. Jo got beans and sausage, which was pretty tasty, as was Adam’s spinach pancake.
Alyssa, Abby, Amanda, Jolene, Tashebia and Angie at lunch in Munster
After lunch we took the bus to our youth hostile that we’ll be staying in for the next two nights. We are all quite excited about this. It’s very nice with many things to do. There’s ping-pong, pool, and badminton and many board games to keep us busy. During the afternoon we had a couple hours of downtime. Jo, Liz, Amanda, Mary, and I all took a walk around the hostile. There’s a lake right down the road with a very nice park that we sat at for a while. The weather is great. It’s probably 70’s and sunny.
“Amanda, Jolene, Mary and Liz getting settled at the Youth Hostel
We then went back to the hostel and got ready to play the German Youth National team. We drove about a half hour to Warendorf which was where the facility was located. The German girls greeted us very nicely. They were all pretty tall. We warmed up and tried to adjust to their European style of play. One big difference is that the ball is heavier. This wasn’t so hard for the hitters to get used to, but passing and setting was a bit harder. The floor was also different. When you dove for a ball we pretty much stuck to it. Another distraction was the big windows with light shining through, this made it difficult during serve receive.
U17’s playing the German Youth National Team
The matches didn’t go so well. We lost 25-18, 25-19, 25-22, 25-17, and 15-13. We improved as the games went on and should do better tomorrow. We all had a good time and are looking forward to having a barbeque with the German team tomorrow.
Day Two
Naomi Johnson, U 16’s team
We arrived at the regional sports training facility and were thrilled to play our first international match. As we dressed we curiously anticipated our German competition. The gym was huge, with a large set of empty stadium seats and a court with boundary lines that were very difficult to see. We also found the volleyballs to be much harder than the ones we have at home in the USA making it more difficult to pass. After a shaky warm-up, we shook hands and were ready to start the match.
The play was very informal as one of the German girls refereed the match for us. We got off to a slow start that slightly improved during the match. Our passing, serve receive and defense lacked intensity, but our serving and block positioning went very well. Our energy was a little low but, considering how busy the past two days were, that was to be expected.
The German players were mostly tall and all powerful hitters. Because of the lack of fans and other teams in the gym it was very quiet during the match. There was one especially surprising moment when, after a great serving run by Hailely, the Germans began to chant while she served her next ball! Other than the chanting, the way the Germans played the game was very similar to ours. They ran B’s and slides just like our middles and also ran a few X plays with their outsides and right sides. Their defense and serve receive wasn’t very good though.
U16’s vs. the German Youth National Team
The results were slightly disappointing when we lost 16-25, 18-25, 21-25, and 18-25. Despite the loss we had tons of fun especially when Hailey played libero and Katy and Tawny played left.
After our matches we all quickly showered and put on our make-up on the bus and headed to dinner. We are now at the restaurant and we are excited to try some authentic German Weiner schnitzel!
Lights enjoying traditional German Food
|
