Guests

As a part of the Marienlyst - Wuppertal cooperation agreement, Daniel Thompsen and Shane Alexander are both here for the week to train with us. So far, we've done very little ball work, opting instead, to lift weights and do more jump specific training. But, tonight we should have a mostly competetive practice and it should be interesting to see how they fit in with the rest of the guys. It's also great for us to have a couple extra players since we have had so many injuries lately. Although, with Shane, we now have three setters and that can never be a good thing. I might have to warm up the old shoulder and show the rest of the team how to put a couple of balls away.

Seriously though, it looks like Gergei and I will do a lot of switching in and out on one side while Shane runs a team on his own. Kind of a weird system but also kind of good for everyone. We get to work specifically with one side while Shane gets to figure things out and get a lot of touches. In any case, it should be nice to get a real strong practice under our belts, 6 vs. 6 is always so much better than 5 vs. 6 or whatever else. It makes a huge difference to have that complete team.

One of the major differences between what I’ve experienced in Germany so far and what I experienced while I played in Denmark is the difference in the general attitude of the people. It’s a hard thing to describe accurately, but there is a certain palpable excitement that flashes across people’s faces when you tell them that you are a professional volleyball player. In Denmark, I had many a conversation that sounded like this:

Random Person: “So, what are you doing in Denmark?”
Me (after awkward look comes across my face): “I play volleyball?” (The question in my voice making it obvious that I don’t expect them to know what I’m talking about).
Random Person: “Nåh… Can you live from that?”
Me: “Barely.”

And then we would move on. The point is that people were generally put off by the idea that I could play volleyball professionally. I don’t know if it was because they had never heard of that before, if volleyball is so small that most people don’t know there is even a league, or if they just didn’t really care, but it was almost always the same weird conversation. Of course, some people were more enthusiastic than others, but no one ever got that kind of starry-eyed look in their eye.

Now, I’m definitely not trying to insinuate that I’m living here in Germany, snorting gold-laced cocaine off of the backs of rare Asian imported white tigers, eating only green M&M’s, like a rock star; however, there is a big difference in the way I, and the team are perceived. People here want autographs, they want to shake our hands and generally, they treat us with more respect than we deserve. It’s a thrill and a weird feeling all in one. In any case, it’s a big difference from what I’m used to.