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Puerto Prueba Summer 1999 USA Select Team Represents in Puerto Rico -by Chris Walmer (playing in Orkelljunga, Sweden for the season) My expectations of the trip were; to meet and play with other players that Tim Kelly represents, party hard and compete against the Puerto Rican National Team, with hopes of impressing some of the club coaches so I could get a contract out there next summer. I arrived at the airport at ten o'clock at night on Thursday, and there to pick me up was Esteban Rodriguez- one of the setters from the Puerto Rican National team. He was accompanied by Donny Harris and Brian Bowers. We postponed our departure to "the Albergue", The Puerto Rican Olympic Training Center, where we were staying and instead we went bar hopping in Old San Juan. We hung out until about 4 am and then finally headed back to join up with the team. Friday morning, only a short 4 hours later we awake, eat breakfast and practice for an hour or so with 5 of the worst back yard, weenie roast volleyballs, I've ever seen. I guess they weren't 100% ready for our arrival- but we made do. After practice we spent the morning at the Olympic pool. Everyone went crazy on the hive-diving boards along with the diving platforms. It took Keenan about 20 minutes to work up the courage to jump off the high one. Zack Pelzel was voted the pool MVP for his diving and arial capabilities that would make Greg "Loose-...." jealous. Friday night was our first game and Esteban, our designated tour guide, lead our caravan into town using the freeway shoulder to maneuver through traffic - very nice. More on his above average driving skills later. The first game took place at the Coliseito de Levittown in Toa Baja. We all played well, but just had a few lapses where we gave up runs of points, the scores were: 22-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20, 15-13. I was impressed by the Puerto Ricans defensive skills but not by their fan support, the stands were empty, maybe 10 people. Again, I'm not sure they were 100% ready for us. The drive back to the training center was one hour, and I awoke the next morning in our non-air conditioned room. Saturday morning after a night of mosquitoe bites and non air-conditioning we decided to get a hotel room that night. The game that day went well, it was cut short but we did win 2 out of 3 sets- 25-23, 20-25, 25-22. We played well and controlled the tempo most of the match. The 'Rican defense was again impressive. We then checked into the hotel (the San Juan Marriot- right on the beach) and almost immediately hit the hotel casino. I first tried my luck at black jack and then at craps. Captain Steve Loeswick showed me how to play craps. They say one in eighteen is a hot table. I bet where he bets. I didn't do very well, but it was lesson well learned because I cleaned up at Vagas a few weeks later. Sometime later, Esteban came up to the table, well dressed, and said, "We're ready to go." Esteban took us to his girlfriend's birthday party. Traffic was again awful but his driving skills didn't fail him- he drove down the wrong way of a one way street- in a bus lane! incredible!!! We partied and played some pool down in Old San Juan. Jason Kepner and Donny Harris got us kicked out of this pool/bar because they were too cheap to pay 50 cents for each game. They were caught putting plastic cups down the pockets to stop the balls. The fuzz were called in to kick us out. Its was a late night of fun again. Sunday mooring I peeled my battered and beaten body off the hotel room floor to stumble down to the beach. We "gringos" were to compete against ourselves in an exhibition volleyball tourney. It was at the same site as the local beach tournament right outside our hotel. It was a great set-up on a gorgeous day and the Puerto Ricans really take their beach tournaments seriously. It was pretty tough to play in the heat and humidity but we had a good time. The last game of the day was me and Loeswick against Donny and Kepner and the game lasted close to an hour and a half. I was cooked after that- "stick a fork in me". To top it all off, I dry heaved all the way back to the hotel. It was time for a nap. (editor's note: losing teams were Tom Duke/Chris Guigliano and Zach Pelzel/Brian Bowers to finish out the 4 team group. Winners split $200 (which paid for the hotel rooms for all) Monday we took a little road trip to our next match. On the way there we did a little sight seeing in Old San Juan, and it wasn't just the bars this time. That night I played my best match of the trip, I had a few good kills and some nice defensive plays. Duke and Loeswick both had a solid game and Keenan had a great night blocking and hitting. We were expecting a better crowd that night because it had been publicized in the local fish wra, but it was still pretty small. After all of our efforts to get down to Puerto Rico and all the fan-fare we'd been promised, it was a pretty disappointing showing by the locals- poor, poor planning by the federation I'm told. We lost the match after winning the first set and barely losing the second. After the match we went to eat, and had some interesting dialogue on everyone's favorite movie: mine was "Fletch" and I think Kepner's was "Secret Of My Success." I took off for home on Tuesday morning and I missed the last match that night. I later heard that we played really well but barely lost. (editor's note: after dropping Chris off at the airport the team spent the day in the only North American Rain Forest "el Junque". It started off as a gorgeous drive and then the heavens opened to absolutely dump rain on us during our half naked hike through the forest in search of waterfalls. The temperature was perfect though and it was an awesome day. After el Junque we spent a few minutes at the Westin Beach Resort showering and swimming in the waves. After a late-lunch we played our best but last match (again a poor showing by the crowd) in Bayamon in front of about 100 people.We were finally expecting a no-show so for the first time of the week it didn't bring us down. Many thanks to spur of the moment guest coach Ivan Marquez for his enthusiasm and help. Without him and our trusty guide and liaison Esteban, the trip may have ended in shambles.) Over all the trip was a lot of fun, good people and good times and hopefully some of us will have the chance to play down in the Superior League this season. |
