-courtesy of Tim Kelly

In August of 2000, Bring It Promotions hosted a 2 week training camp and mini-tour for NCAA graduates looking to play professionally overseas for the 2000-2001 season. Seeing European volleyball first hand and being seen by coaches and managers in person is really the only way to get a good job.

The first week’s training sessions were held in Munster, Germany and coached by Axel Buring - the coach of recent German Champions USC Munster and recent coach of the German National Team. He has won numerous European League Championships, Cup Championships and Champions League games and is a great guy that all the girls really loved.

The training sessions were held from August 21 to 26 in conjunction with USC Munster’s preseason trainings. The team trained daily for 2-3 hours in the afternoon and had some type of activity in the morning (jog around the lake, training, etc.) The trainings focused on helping players adapt to European volleyball and getting them into volleyball shape for tryouts and/or the European season.

Munster is a university town (200,000+ people and 50,000 students) with a lively center, plenty of night life, and lots to do. The players stayed in the local youth center (Aasee Jugendjerberg) which is located on a beautiful lake and is about a 10 minute walk from the city center. The girls had a chance to spend time in the lively town market, have some team meals with the USC girls, and spend plenty of time shopping and sightseeing in town.

Our final roster:

* actually on a tryout with USC Munster

Unfortunately, Kate blew out her MCL on Tuesday of the first week, so she had to fly home early for surgery. Lacey Vicknair set off Thursday for a tryout in Austria (she would later sign with Klagenfurt) and Colleen Neels also headed home after the first week (after making the USC Munster team) in order to pack her bags for the season. Amy Eigel learned during the first week that she didn’t actually want to continue playing volleyball so she was our third lost player before the tour portion began.

Sunday was a day of rest as I finished planning the tour for the following week. The girls had a long, crazy drive to Holland where they visited the Kroller Mueller park and Museum and learned a lot about the bad weather and crazy roads of Europe. It was then that Jeanette and Judy received tryout offers in Marl, Germany so they too were out for the first days. They would later sign and never join back with our group - which now totaled just seven.

As a last minute bonus, the USA Men’s National Team Program asked me to help make a team (with 4 days notice) for some Pre-Olympic matches in France. I was also invited to the matches so we made some quick changes in the Women’s Tour to make it possible for me to attend the Men’s games at the end of that tour week and also to show the girls some top level volleyball. Russia and Italy (two Olympic favorites) were in the tournament and it seemed like a good chance to see the world’s best.

We started the tour with a Monday night match in Wiesbaden, Germany - home of American setter Katie Lundquist (San Diego ’99). We played 5-6 good sets with them and then had a nice dinner and beer in the restaurant downstairs. Their manager, coach and team ate with us (thanks Luis!) and provided a good time as well as plenty of new information about Euro-volley for the girls to digest.

Tuesday saw us make it all the way to the French city of Mulhouse where we stayed in our usual Regional Sporting center near the university. It is a gorgeous facility with really nice rooms, views, and meals and after our French rabbit dinner, we played a friendly 5 games with the Mulhouse team.. That night we went into the center to enjoy the French culture and have a little fun.

On Wednesday we drove to Saint-Chamond near Lyon to play and visit BIP Superstar client Mary Leffers. She had signed a few weeks prior and we were all anxious to see how she was doing. We checked into our nice little hotel near the station and then our hosts (many thanks to Annie and Mr. Monier) picked us up and escorted us to the gym where we played another good 5 sets with this young team. It’s always fun to play against an American and even better is when the players get a chance to hang out with someone that already has a job so that they can have realistic expectations.

Mr. Monier invited both teams to a great French meal in a little Parisian-style bistro in town near our hotel. The house wine didn’t stop flowing and neither did the multi-course meal. The girls had a great time hanging out with Mary and meeting the French players and this may have ended up being the top night of the tour. Again, Merci! Merci! Merci! to everyone at St. Chamond for showing us such a great time.

On Thursday we drove all the way to Bordeaux to catch the USA vs. Italy match at 6:00pm. The girls were crammed into F1 hotel rooms just down the street from the teams’ hotel, so they followed the team bus to the gym and were treated to some good seats and a great game. Our USA "B" Team actually won the first set against the same Italian team that would go on to win a Silver Medal in Sydney. They lost 1-3, but it was a great effort by our guys and the best volleyball that any of that team had ever played. The girls had a good time too. That night they went out in the city of Bordeaux on their own and I’m sure entertained themselves.

Friday morning we realized that the playing part of the tour was over and that we would just enjoy the men’s matches and France until we either got everyone a job or shipped them back to the USA. That night we watched France crush our boys 0-3 and then had a small social hour after the game back in the hotel. The boys had an early curfew so the girls were forced to hit the town again.

Saturday morning we had to drive south about 2 hours to the border town of Pau for the last day’s matches of the tournament. Michelle, Lisa and Laura decided to catch the train from Bordeaux back to their flights in the north as they’d had enough of the traveling and wanted to wait for jobs from home. The last four girls crammed into one room in the team hotel and we just barely made it to the gym in time for the finale – an 0-3 loss to Russia. The girls were invited into the VIP room after the match for some appetizers with the team, and then we all enjoyed the last match, Italy vs. France, together from the players’ section. After the game, the girls went for a McMeal while the USA boys had their team meal. After that it was everyone in the van for a packed ride to the all-night-Euro-disco!

After a very late night we all crawled out of bed for our late check out and started the long trek back to Munster with five of the boys that were catching a ride north or going to rejoin the BIP Men’s Tour (already in progress and running "smoothly" under the leadership of Daniel Schultz). We first had to drop Jill at the train station as she was heading to Lyon for a tryout with the team there. She had met their coach at the St. Chamond match and the connection happily lead to a chance for a job. After the drop off, we drove about a million hours through the vineyards of Bordeaux and finally arrived in Paris in time for a picnic in the van, some late night sightseeing, and a shared bottle of ‘vin rouge’ under the Eiffel Tower. We were exhausted from the drive (and had another the next day to get home) so we didn’t enjoy as much of Paris as we’d of liked, but it was an unexpected joy for all involved.

The next day we finally made it back to Munster where the remaining three girls (Tihana left for home upon arrival) would train with the USC squad and wait out their chances for a job. Ashley would later fly to Spain and get hired by Almeria, Amber would later take the train to visit Lacey in Austria and get hired by Klagenfurt, and Jill would eventually resurface in Munster and then fly to Finland for a tryout and job. So ends the adventure…

There will be a similar Camp/Tour in June, July, or August of 2001 but it will be a 4-5 day travelling tour first (to check out everyone’s ability and let people see how cruel the road in Europe can be), followed by a 6-7 day training camp (to have flexibility with sending people on tryouts), and finally 1-2 matches at the end to take advantage of the training and team-building. All girls at the end of the 14 day period that don’t have jobs will be on their own.

As with the 2001 Men’s Summer Tour, jobs/contracts will not be guaranteed. The cost of the Camp/Tour will most likely be $600. A round trip airplane ticket to Europe will NOT be included. The $600 will cover lodging for the 13-14 nights, all ground transportation once players reach the first night’s hotel, and breakfast daily. There will be 2 team dinners during the training camp and all dinners are included on the travelling part of the tour. Lunch will be the players’ responsibility daily.

Details will be released sometime in April or May of 2001 and all interested candidates will need to apply by sending a video and resume to Bring It Promotions at their earliest convenience.