-courtesy of Tour Players

Page 2

Day 5 - Match vs. Croatian team
-Kelly Price (Loyola Chicago)

We began the day with a practice that was run again by Paulo and Tore. We had several foreign players join us again at practice: three girls from Poland, Bri from Germany, and a new girl from the Czech Republic. We scrimmaged for most of the practice so that the foreign girls could be seen by the American college coaches and get filmed by Tim and Cory. After lunch at the hotel, we went to another gym to play the Croatian Junior National team. They were extremely tall and very good. This is the core of the team that many European think will win the Olympics in Athens 2004. Barbara Jellic's (the current world's best player by many standards) sister was on this team as were many other of the top 17-18 year old players in Europe. This was a very good team. But our team played well also and we won in four games. After the match, the hosts provided us with snacks. We had wonderful sandwiches with very interesting toppings that we could not quite identify. Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner and a little rest. We all decided not to go out. Some of us went to the internet café to check out what was happening back home, and the rest of us played a rousing game of slaps - a card game that involved much laughing. Bri played with us, and was totally lacking any beginner's luck. She had fun playing, and we had fun getting to know her and her German ways. Then we all went to bed because we were pretty exhausted from our dual matches.

Teams USA and Croatia after USA's 3-1 "upset"

Day 6 - Matches vs. Finland and Sweden
- Katie Almquist

Day six, our last experience in Brno. Instead of the usual morning training, we played a "friendly" with Finland at 11:00 a.m. Top Pro Club team coaches from the Canary Islands, Slovenia, and Belgium stopped in to watch the 3 game match, which took place in the small gym where we had been practicing. Additionally, Teresa from the Czech Republic stepped in to serve as middle blocker for part of the time. Due to the informal nature of the match, Cory Solomon substituted as both ref and scoreboard. A week's worth of intense international competition had begun to take its toll. Our normal team energy was missing on the court and we played with fatigue. Uninspired play resulted in a 3 game loss to Finland. Later on in the evening, after lunch, more bread and "Dobra Voda" (good water), and waiting around for Tim, we stepped on the floor to face Sweden and continue the Scandinavian theme for the day. Maybe a little disappointed in our morning performance, we came out strong early on and convincingly spanked Sweden the first game. Unsatisfied with their play, the Swedish girls stepped it up and beat us the next two games. Determined to make it a match, we fought back and won the fourth, forcing the fifth game meeting. Sweden decided to put in all of their big dogs for the last few points, resulting in a 5-game loss for team USA (BIP). Though it was a disappointing loss, the decent -sized crowd that had accumulated throughout the match showed their appreciation for good volleyball and clapped for us all. We extended our thanks to them as well and then devoured some wiener schnitzels and bread! As it turned out, most of the Swedish girls spoke English very well. Conversations during the bus ride back to Hotel Avanti continued to improve international relations and we bonded with the Swedes. Later on we exchanged T-shirts. They gave us their bright yellow and blue warm-up shirts and we each presented one of them with a shirt from the university we played for. At this point the day was still far from over. Though a couple people stayed to play more "Czech Dice", most of us decided to spend one more night out in the town. Joining us for the night were "Swen & Swet" from the Denmark team. Swen, the team trainer and physical therapist, had been kind enough to "massage" the soreness out of some players earlier in the week. And Swet, whose name is actually Skafte, was the assistant coach for Denmark. The two guys were a nice addition to our all girl party and proved to be a lot of fun! After a communication mishap and almost entering a popular strip club, we ended up back at Charlie's for one last interesting night of disco and laughs. Two intoxicated Czech guys swore that some of us were members of the Spice Girls and Brittany Spears. Oh…and then there was an encounter with an extremely hostile Czech woman over a specific seating arrangement! Papa (Joann) was not happy. The evening ended as some walked back with Swen and Swet and others caught a taxi. All in all it was a great day and yet another invaluable cultural experience.

Day 7 - Leave for Austria
-Anne-Marie Cochran

We survived Spring Cup 2001!!! We were then on our way to Austria after we dropped Joanna off with the Slovenians. She was going to visit the town and meet some of the players on their team - a kind of tryout for a team there. She would meet back up with us in a couple of days in Maribor. Good luck Joanna! It was a six-hour trek from Brno to Linz, Austria. Usually everyone passes out when we get on the bus but surprisingly, none of us slept for most of the bus ride. I think everyone was anxious because we didn't know quite what to expect. We heard that the rest of the tour wouldn't be as structured and organized as the first week and that we needed to mentally prepare for it so I think this kept us a little nervous but also excited. Frank, the bus driver, delivered us safely to the designated gym where we scrimmaged the Linz club team. We met Roland, the coach of team, who informed us that most of the regular players were out of town or not available for the game so we ended up mixing up the teams and playing 5 games. We were getting used to playing with girls who didn't speak English. It was a challenge to communicate quickly and effectively on the court but everyone seemed to get the hang of it after a couple of plays. It was also tough to play hard after just getting off the bus only a short while ago. I think we were all ready for a hot shower, a meal, and relaxation after another long day of traveling and playing. We were all pleasantly surprised about the hotel we checked into. It was actually pretty awesome! We each had a toilet and a shower in the room!!! We all now know that this is a luxury in Europe… like ice cubes! After pairing up and dropping our bags off in the rooms we met Roland and one of the players and her family for dinner downstairs at the restaurant. Dessert was the highlight! A bunch of us ordered this pancake thing with vanilla ice cream inside- it was topped with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. It was good grub! After filling our bellies we decided to rent 'Meet the Parents'. We were all very excited to watch an American movie… MTV and Scooby-doo (the only English-speaking channels in Brno) wouldn't cut it any longer! Finally, BED TIME!!! We all had a good nights rest and were off to Maribor, Slovenia the next morning.

Team Melting Pot USA

Day 8 - Wien,
Michelle Frazier

Today we traveled from Linz, Austria to Vienna for our day off on Mother's Day. After checking in to a very nice youth hostel, we took off with our maps to see the city. Each group had a different agenda, some toured around on the public transportation seeing as many sights as possible, one group took time to go to a beautiful butterfly park with waterfalls, and the other group strolled through the parliament area, stopping at a couple cafes to people watch and enjoy the sights. The weather was perfect - blue skies and about 80 degrees. It was nice to just be tourists for the day. There were many people out sunbathing in the parks that surround these incredible buildings. Huge palaces and government buildings that just take your breath away. I couldn't even take pictures of the sights, because it just wouldn't do it justice. There is just so much history in Europe that you can't really appreciate until you see it. On every corner it seemed there was a café filled with people enjoying the afternoon in the sun. We stopped to eat a pastry from an outdoor bakery that was in the middle of the sidewalk. That was definitely a good choice. A few more steps and we saw a crowd of people surrounding a street performer, but we just caught the end of the show.

We all met up at about 6:30 at this huge cathedral in the center of the city. One group had bought tickets to a Mozart performance that consisted of ballet, opera singing, and an orchestra. They took off to eat quickly before the show, and later said it was wonderful. Our group ate at a local pizzeria café, which was very yummy, and then we headed off to the Internet café, that had really cheap phone rates, so we all tried to get a hold of our mommies on Mother's Day. We took taxis back around 10:00 or so, and decided we were too worn out to go out that night, so we headed off to sleep. Tomorrow, it's off to Maribor for more volleyball action.