 |
|
|
|
||||||
| Coaching with the Bring It Promotions European Tour has been
a fascinating cultural experience. Up until this point I have never been
to Europe, and have never had the chance to work with any European players.
I believe that the best coaches are always looking for opportunities to
have a new experience and to get better. This tour has done that for me.
When we all stepped off the plane in Frankfurt Germany I think everyone had expectations of what would be in store for us but I believe that those expectations were definitely surpassed for everyone sometime during the Spring Cup competitions. For myself it was during the pre-game warm-up for our match with the Croatian National Team. I have never seen so many women over 6'4 in one room at the same time. It must have not fazed our team as much as we captured a 3-1 victory and played the best volleyball of the tour during that match. Even though all of the athletes on our team have had extensive training and experienced a successful career in their sport, it didn't take long for everyone to become a better player than they have been. The Europeans play such an aggressive game that our players had to make adjustments to become competitive. The first thing that we needed to take charge of was our serving game. There is a big difference in the serving game of a typical college team and the European National Teams. Most of the European players either have a rifle of a jump serve or they drop back about 30 feet and rip a line drive float serve at you. For us to have had a chance to win a match we needed to serve tough and get a solid block set up. The one thing that was almost assured each match is that our team was more aggressive and enjoyed the competition. The athletes that came on this tour had an incredible opportunity. There are not many volleyball players in the US that have ever had the chance to play on such a high level, much less a whole week of top European competition. I have also learned a great deal about people on this tour. One of the greatest things about traveling is you have plenty of time to have conversations and get to know one another. I think that you could be in some of the most beautiful places but it is the people that you are with that really make the experience special. I have had the opportunity to get to know European Coaches as well as University Coaches and players that were only names to me before. I feel that our group has definitely grown form the experiences we have had on this tour. We have learned how to think differently about our sport and from each other. Many of the athletes will be able to further their experiences by playing for one of the professional clubs and all of us one way or another will leave better than when we arrived. I would highly recommend the Bring It Promotional Tours to everyone involved in volleyball. - Dave Best |
||||||
|
|
||||||
