Two European Cup matches, 40 Hours on a bus, five bags of Haribo candy, numerous buckets of Kraut and roughly 50 poker games later we are back in Denmark...
It's hard to say what we are bringing back with us at the moment as I haven't really had much time to digest it all but here are some of the highlights from the trip:
Volleyball: We played heads up with a GOOD austrian team at times. Clearly, we were not consistent or well rounded enough to beat them but we certainly played at a high level for a good portion of the time we were down there. Unfortunately, SK Aich/Dob (probably one of the worst volleyball team names I have ever heard) had more experience and more power when it came down to the important points. (Quick Note: They also had the head referee on their side. And I don't mean in the sense that they were at home and got a few "home team" calls. I mean that the referee was Slovenian and at least half of their team was slovenian and that there were several points in the match where players from the other team and the referee had small friendly conversations in Slovenian. I also mean that both the head ref and down ref were sitting outside in the cafe of our hotel with the other team's trainer, owner and others drinking beers during the day before our second match. Just sitting around having a FEW friendly beers BEFORE the match later. I'm not saying that the referee decided the match for them, I don't think we would have won either way, but there was something going on here. And he did make some very, very questionable calls. The more I think about it, the weirder it becomes.)
In my opinion (and I'm not going to tell you why) they did some things tactically that made it far too easy to side out for us and that helped us alot. Where they made up for it was in their serving, they use their own gym to their advantage and hit a lot of jump serves. They also had a lot of experience and ball skills. Their opposite was just consistent, didn't make mistakes, could hit angle or line with equal ability and saw the block well, whenever they needed a big point they just gave him the ball and let him take care of it. It was simple but effective for them.
Bottom line, we got a lot of good experience and we got a chance to jell as a team. I think a trip like this can go a long way in developing a team and there is no doubt that we can take this experience home with us.
A few other random thoughts from the trip:
Don't ever go to Bleiberg, Austria unless you have no other option. Weird, weird place to be.
The gym was cool but really, really small. 6 meters to the ceiling and maybe two meters from the sides of the volleyball court to the walls. Kind of annoying for passing and defense but cool because 200 spectators made for a crazy atmosphere. It was loud and hot, perfect conditions for a volleyball match.
I forgot my digital camera but I think there are some guys on the team who took some pictures so I'll try and upload something when I get the chance.
PVC Lyngby 3-0 over DHG? Anybody feel like filling me in on what happened over there?
HIK - Middelfart 2-3. I heard it was a bit of a poor performance from Middelfart and some good serving from HIK that kept this one close... I had this one picked clear for Middelfart and I'm glad my money isn't into Nordic Bet yet...
Hvidovre 0-3 to SK Aarhus. Not really surprised, I think SK is definitely good enough to do this to a lot of teams. We'll wait and see how it goes against one of the so-called "top teams".
Lyngby 0-3 Gentofte. Yeah. Gentofte is good, Lyngby is kind of in transition.
Glad to see that the season is back on again!
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6 comments:
Jeg kan ikke sige hvad der skete med PVC og DHG, men måske får Kristoffer B. tid til at skrive et par linjer om det (lille Kristophpher skal jo også passes).
Men hvis jeg skal nævne to ting: 1) PVC fik i sidste sæson virkelig meget ud af deres spillermateriale. De kan være meget effektive.
2) DHG ser ud til at operere med en ekstremt lille og smal trup. Måske har de manglet nogen, eller måske er de bare ikke så gode.
Hej
Ja nu er jeg jo ikke nogen volleyball guru men vil da godt lige give min indsigt med. Jeg så stævnet i Middelfart og jeg var ude og se Middelfarts kamp mod Aalborg. For mig og se spillede Middelfart ikke specielt ringe de forsatte faktisk i samme spor som det vi så til deres stævne. Derimod synes jeg Aalborg havde hævet deres niveau betydeligt og spillede noget bedre end de gjorde ved stævnet weekenden før. Jeg var egentlig begyndt at tro at Aalborg ville vinde kampen men til sidst gik det helt galt for dem og som Jordan har påpeget tidligere var det deres modtagning der ikke holdt da det gjaldt i 5.sæt. men alt i alt en god kamp på et fint niveau også taget i betragtning at det er den første turneringskamp. Aalborg spillede iøvrigt uden både Jeppe Vestergaard (han blev indskiftet) og uden Jesper Villadsen der var på tilskuerpladserne - ved nogen hvorfor de ikke spiller ???
Iøvrigt tror jeg Gentofte bliver mester i år. De ser ud til at have får et rigtig godt hold med den tilgang de har fået fra især Holte. Men man skal ikke glemme en Michael Søe efter min mening er han nok blevet overset lidt i forbindelse med at de har fået nogle nye profiler. Han mangler nok stadig noget i modtagning, men eg synes han har udviklet sig til at være en af de bedste angribere i ligaen og med to stærke centerspillere skal der nok blive endnu mere plads til ham.
Ellers glæder jeg mig bare som tilskuer over det ser ud til at der i år kan blive lidt mere spænding med flere lige hold og deraf flere tætte og spændende kampe.
Ja det var så min 5 cent, måske jeg tager helt fejl men hva meninger kan jo ændres.....
Jesper Villadsen har karantæne i de to første kampe. Han sagde vist nogle grimme ting til dommeren efter semifinale nummer to i sidste sæson.
Det gav tre kampes karantæne, hvoraf den første blev afsonet i bronzekampen.
Læs eventuelt mere på www.aalborg-hik.dk.
Det lyder skummelt med dommerne og hjemmeholdet, men jeg tror desværre det er ret almindeligt. Her er en lille historie:
Da vi spillede EC i Letland var vi indkvarteret på et ret anonymt hotel i en forstad til Vilnius. Lørdag aften (værterne skulle spille mod puljens stærkeste hold fra Ungarn søndag) fik de dommere, der skulle dømme hjemmeholdets næste kamp, pludselig besøg af nogle unge damer. De var meget sminkede og - taget i betragtning at det mest festlige på stedet var en bowlinghal - udfordrende klædt. Den eneste grund til at vi så det var at vi sad et helt hold og spillede kaste gris i lobbyen, hvorfor dommerne pludselig fik meget travlt med at trække de besøgende med ind til værelserne....
Næste dag var det en meget lille finsk dommer der gik forbi vores opvarmningsfirkant.
Godnat og sov godt.
PS. Det var vist ikke fordi vi spillede kaste gris at de fik travlt.
Ah ha ha, crazy! Yeah, I don't know what the deal is but I guess it's just a part of volleyball these days. I'll have to remember that next time we play a big game...........
If these are the terms im signing up as a referee.
/William
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