Pre-Season Review

It was slightly premature when I said earlier that this blog was back. A certain internet company, which will remain nameless, who has their name plastered all over the shirts of a certain Champions League playing German football team, decided that me having internet was not very high up on their list of priorities. The result, after numerous trips to the store, and several phone conversations, is that last week the apartment finally joined the modern era…

With that said, I wanted to start by looking back at what has been going on down here during the past month.

First, I want to say that it has been an experience being a part of this team. Besides working hard on the court, we’ve got several initiatives off of the court that we have been participating in. More importantly than that, there is an overall feeling that we’re headed towards something, both as a volleyball team and as a part of the community. Without overplaying it, I think that everyone in the club feels the same way and it’s a good thing for all of us.

The season unofficially started a few weeks ago with our first big exhibition match against Duren. Duren has been one of the best teams in Germany over the last few years. They have finished in the top 2 and actually done a fairly decent job in Champions League.

Coming into the match, I had no idea what to expect. We had worked very hard with our conditioning and strength programs over the first month, but hadn’t spent a whole lot of time on volleyball specific drills. We had played a little but certainly not a lot and were still working to get everyone on the same page. We were at a normal early-early season place for most volleyball teams and it was exciting to see where our level was. We’d also been making a big deal out of this match as a part of a “Double Feature” with handball, there were posters plastered all around town, radio announcements, etc… And it turns out that quite a few people responded. There were around a thousand people in the stands when the lights turned off and the music started for introductions.

It was actually something that I needed some time to get used to. Drums were banging, people were screaming and the game moved at a faster pace than I was used to. We ended up winning in four sets (no thanks to my poor performance in the third set) and even though Duren was missing one of their best players, it was a good win for us and for the crowd. Anytime you beat a good team you have to be happy about it.

Just for a quick comparison point to Denmark, after the match we had several jobs to do during the handball match. Some people started by serving drinks, etc… in the bar for the fans, some mingled downstairs in the VIP room with the sponsors and some sat at a table and signed autographs. Weird experience.

So, it was a good start to the season for us. And a good way to end our “pre-season/hell conditioning program” while transitioning to the next phase of our preparation. Next Stop: Denmark.