Over?

Coming from the University system in the States,where the volleyball season is much shorter than in Europe, it's surprising how fast the last eight months have gone by. Like I said in the last post: you play and play and play and all of a sudden it's the playoffs and you have one match that decides everything.

Now, the season is over and it still hasn't really registered with me.

Coming into our last match in Unterhaching, and for the first time in a long time, I didn't really have an idea of how everything would turn out. Somehow neither winning nor losing seemed probable. So it was just as much as a spectator looking forward to a great match as a player that I walked into their gym last Tuesday.

It turned out to be a bad experience in both respects.

The match was ugly for us. Nothing really worked at any point. Setting rhythm, serving, blocking, defense, nothing looked sharp. It's not the first time that we took a beating in an away game this year but it certainly was the most disappointing. No one wants to come up empty in a match with so much significance. That's perhaps the best way to describe the feeling afterwards: empty. In a way, it's a fitting end for our team, it's been a roller coaster year, full of ups and downs - most of the ups coming at home and most of the downs coming away - and everytime we had a chance to really break through we took a step backwards instead. It happened in the pokal quarter final, it happened away against Delitzsch and Leipzig and it happened again on Tuesday. All I can say is that hopefully the disappointment turns into motivation and experience for the future.

Personally, I've got all sorts of mixed emotions. While I feel like I contributed a lot to this team, if not in the matches where I played, then definitely in training, I also feel like I never got enough playing time to really get comfortable and make the kind of difference that I wanted to make. I developed my game like crazy and I found out that I am absolutely good enough to be a player in the league, I also had a chance to play significantly and beat a team like SCC Berlin, and that feels good.

As I look forward to next year, I have no idea what is going to happen. Wuppertal has expressed interest in keeping me here, and that would be great, but expressing interest and offering something concrete are two completely different things. Surprisingly, considering the amount of playing time I got this year, I've aready received quite a few phone calls asking about availability for next year. It's always flattering to hear that kind of thing.

At this point, I've got no idea what I want to do. And I'll definitely write more as I work my way through the confusion in the next couple of weeks. Until then, as you can see above, I'm on vacation!

Playoff Time

It's weird when playoff time rolls around. I mean, on one hand, it is what you've been waiting for the whole season. On the other hand, it feels rushed, almost like you can't enjoy it before it's gone. With all the preparation, daily practices/weights, scouting, traveling the last five days feel like a blur. We've been to Unterhaching and back, lost, practiced a little bit and won our match at home. Now, we're looking at a match this Tuesday that has all sorts of implications.

If we win, we finish in the top four no matter what. On top of that, the season lasts another month, during which, we'll play the semi-finals and the finals or 3rd/4th place qualification no matter what. If we lose, the season's over and we're more or less finished. On top of all that, if we win, we're qualified to play European cup tournaments next year. If we lose, we're not. So, you could say that this match means a lot - in a lot of different ways.

In any case, it feels weird to be sitting here, waiting for a deciding third game that carries so much baggage. It just feels like we could have done without half of the regular season games and just gotten down to business with the playoffs. I mean, we play all of these matches over seven months and everything gets decided in about a week. There isn't really anything to be done about it except win!

Besides all the playoff stuff, this time of year is always an interesting time for a volleyball professional. It's the time of year where you sit and wonder about what you're going to be doing at this time NEXT year. And since the majority of volleyball contracts last one year there are a whole lot of athletes in the same situation.

I'll write more about this process soon. For now, worrying about the playoffs and finishing this season is enough without adding the invariably convoluted contract negotiations.

One more day at home before we hit the road for the long trip down to Munich on Monday and hopefully the triumphant return trip Tuesday night!

We Win, the Bundesliga Standings are Unimpressed.

Coming into this weekend, there were still a lot of different playoff scenarios. The three teams below us in the standings all had the possibility of finishing above us. We also had the ability to move up to fourth place and get home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs if Unterhaching lost to Eltmann.

Well, we did our share and won: 3-1 against SCC Berlin. Unfortunately Unterhaching won also.

So, now the situation is that we are most likely going to finish fifth. Our win over the weekend makes it impossible to finish any lower than fifth which is a good thing. But we'll need a lot of help if we are going to move up.

The match was really positive for the team and for me personally. We've been playing well in the last couple of weeks, beating Friedrichshafen, playing a solid match in Dueren and now beating SCC Berlin. That's 2-1 against the top three teams in the league...not bad.

We started well, playing consistent high level volleyball. They played good defense but couldn't really turn anything into points. They looked a little out of rhythm and didn't really challenge us in the first.

The second set saw the roles reversed as we started making mistakes, attacking and passing, and they worked themselves into the game. The outcome was never in doubt as they stretched a lead in the middle of the set to six or seven points. I got to come in late in the set but it didn't change much as they continued to side out.

I got the chance to start the third set and from the first point I could tell it was going to be a good day. I had good touch and the passing was really solid so I could do a lot of the things I wanted to do. We sided out at a high level and picked up enough points here and there to win the set.

The fourth set was pretty much the same. We got a lead early and did enough to protect it until the end. Tomas' kill down the line ended it 25-22 and 3-1 in our favor. Needless to say, I was very happy.

For me, this weekend was extremely important. Over the season I've had chances to come in and play quite a bit. I've come in and helped us to wins over Rottenburg, VCO Berlin, Koenigswusterhausen and a few others. But this weekend's match against SCC Berlin was particularly satisfying for a few different reasons.

First, Berlin is one of the best teams in the league. So, getting a chance to play against them and especially to have success is a really good feeling.

Second, in my own opinion, I've been playing really well in practice for about the last month. I feel like I'm constantly improving but haven't really had a chance to show it on the court during a real match. To get that opportunity and for it to work out the way it did was really important for me.

Third, it's just hard in general to be on the bench. Playing a significant role in our win, simply put, felt good. It gives confidence and it serves as a reminder of why this game is so much fun.

In the end, we got a big win that doesn't seem to help us that much in the standings. While we are assured of fifth place, it doesn't look likely that we'll pass Unterhaching for fourth place. The playoffs start in a couple weeks, things are starting to get exciting.

Dueren and Some Other Things

Last weekend was Dueren, another Champions League team, and after our defeat of Friedrichshafen, the number one team in the Bundesliga. To add to the level of difficulty we had to play in Dueren which is not an easy task. From what I've been told, beating Dueren at home is extremely tough. Apparently, last year's finals were decided by home court advantage. Dueren won all of their games at home and Friedrichshafen won all of their home games. Luckily for Friedrichshafen, they got to host the final game of the championship series. Maybe some unnecessary information, but I just wanted to set the stage for how important home court advantage can be sometimes.

Anyways, I take back my statement about Rottenburg being the best gym in the league, Dueren is definitely better. The crowd was louder, more intense and generally more full of energy. Of course, when your team wins all the time, it is easier for the fans to be excited and to create a really cool atmosphere.

The game was actually fairly positive for our team. We played well enough at times to take strings of points and were never completely blown out of the match until the last ten points of the last set. We had opportunities to win the first set and we won the third set in convincing style. In the end, their serving was better than ours, or at least it caused more problems than ours did, and they were able to score more transition points. Possibly because they had the option of setting to their opposite - Quero - who I decided during the match has a fifty-fifty chance of killing the ball no matter what situation he is in. What I mean is, if the set is low and tight and there is a well set up three man block in front of him, he has just as good a chance at killing that ball than if he is looking at a perfect set in a one on one situation. He's a great hitter who is like a box of chocolates. And we all know what that means.

We lost the match and now we move towards the end of the season. We're sitting solidly in fifth with a very small chance of finishing lower. There is still the opportunity to move up at least one place and finish fourth which would mean a great deal to us as we would have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. After this weekend everything should be a lot more defined.

On another note, we've pretty much run out of middle blockers. Dirk is done for the season with his judo inflicted shoulder injury. Artur is questionable for the time being with a quadricep problem - he has not practiced this week. And that leaves Andy as our last remainig true middle. Nate has done a little work out of the middle for us and we have a second team middle who helps us out at practice but neither is a great solution for our problems. A good story that I think sums up the whole situation comes from yesterday: Jens contacted a former Bayer middle blocker who played on the team a couple of years ago but hasn't touched a ball in about a year to see if he would help us out in training and in the game this weekend. He said he would and came to training yesterday with the plan of easing his way back into things. What happened after about forty five minutes of playing? Jammed his thumb blocking on an attack from Peter. The joint capsule is messed up and the doctor says that it is very unlikely that he can play this weekend. Apparently the gods are against us at the moment.

So, we'll give it a shot and see what happens. I guess the best we can hope for is that no one hurts themselves before we play on Saturday...

Champions League?

Ahhhhhhhh. On nights like these, as I sit in the fountain of Apollo, gently reclining, buoyed by the breasts of several young virgins, I lke to ponder the intricacies of living life, not as mere mortal, but as a god.

True, being a god among men can be difficult. (Ha, who am I kidding?) You get to wear sweat pants all day every day and no one can say anything to you. Of course my sweatpants are made of the hides of thousands of rare arctic snow foxes which are then sewn together by either Dolce or Gabanna. I prefer Dolce, but sometimes he is too busy even for me, so I have to use Gabanna :(

The oxygen that is pulled into my lungs emerges again, tinged with gold, carrying the smell of sweet wine and success to the rest of the world. People who stand next to me suddenly look taller and stronger (of course they actually look smaller and weaker because my personality and bone structure take over any room I am in) just because of my mere presence.

I have eaten the heavenly ambrosia of the gods and let me tell you: it is a disappointment. Now, I only eat meat that is taken from my own flank and roasted to perfection by my own team of master chefs. In this way, I save the world from an appetite which is boundless and get to eat of something that is worthy of my discerning pallete. My skin is made of rainbows and vitamin C tablets - Vitamin C tablets that are actually made of multi-vitamin tablets that offer the full daily allowance of every element from the periodic table (yes, including - ununquadium.) - it is very shiny. One time, I let this human take a bite of my skin, do you know what happened? Spontaneous combustion.

You guys heard of Sasquatch? I beat him in a two out of three arm wrestling match. Nice guy.

I think after I'm done here, I'll wrestle the legendary dragon-like beasts of far away worlds and after defeating them, create a new master race of god/dragon hybrids which will rule the universe for eternity. No big deal.


Ha! 3-1 to us.

I'm not going to spend too much time on the signifigance of a win like this. Of course it is a big win for us, for the standings and for our confidence, but I'm not going to say that this win means anything more than that. We caught them at the right time and we played our asses off. Our passing was incredible throughout the match, we got a few timely blocks and serves and then built enough of a lead in the fourth set so that we could hang on when they made a run of points. They also missed a few too many serves and didn't seem as sharp as they normally do, especially in passing. Their coach is Germany's national team coach and well respected by pretty much everyone, so maybe I'm not qualified to question him, but he seemed awfully stubborn, refusing to make any substitutions through the first few sets. Their outside hitters did not perform well, and with the quality they have on the bench, I'm surprised they didn't make a move earlier.

Anyways, it feels great to win a match like this. If not for a few questionable calls in the second set, it could have easily been a 3-0 win for us which is kind of staggering seen in the light of the beating that we took when we played them earlier in the year. It's the great thing about sports, you get to test yourself with every new game and measure your progress in very real terms.

We've got a lot more work to do. Hopefully we are headed in the right direction though. In the space of one month we've lost to one of the worst teams in the league and beaten a possible top four European team - I have no idea where we are going next...

Rottenburg

The Map24 printout said that the trip to Rottenburg would take about four hours. Apparently, the computer didn't adjust for Friday afternoon traffic...

Rottenburg is a college town with a lot of things going for it. The location is excellent, deep in the South of Germany, reasonably close to the border and surrounded by natural scenery.

The club is also fairly impressive. As one of the worst teams in the league, they average 2500 spectators per home game. The gym is a perfect place to play volleyball: the right size, high ceiling, nice atmosphere...and covered in pink paint. In my opinion, it's the best gym in the league.

Unfortunately for them, all of this hasn't been enough to create any success on the court.

Our guys came into this one with a slight tinge of urgency. We've lost two straight away matches and neither of those were pretty games. We all knew that if we played the same way we had we'd be looking at another disappointment. Besides that, we're in a dogfight for a good seed in the upcoming playoffs. The match against Rottenburg represented the last "easy" match of the year as we have Friedrichshafen, Dueren, Berlin and Eltmann remaining on the schedule. Two points were an absolute must.

To our credit, we came out playing well. Surprisingly, Rottenburg didn't just lay down in the face of the Wuppertal juggernaut, they decided to play a good match as well. We weathered their first set assault and won a close one.

As we have done so many times before this season, we lost intensity in the second set, and ended up losing that one without putting any real pressure on them.

After a little talking to in the locker room we got our game together and figured out a way to win the last two sets.

Overall, the game was fairly unremarkable. We played fairly well in the three sets that we won and we have to be happy with that. But, this was a match that we had to win so there can't be too much celebrating about it. I think we're satisfied and happy enough to move on towards what is going to be a hard final stretch of the season. If we can get a few wins we'll be in great shape for the playoffs. If not, it's going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

Matches

Two wildly different results in the last couple of weeks. And I think that the difference illustrates the importance of the home crowd to our team.

Last weekend we played in a small town called Delitzsch and lost an ugly match 1 - 3. They are currently one of the worst teams in the entire league and losing to them is nothing less than a catastrophe. From the very first ball we played poorly. We hit a ton of balls out or into the block and we didn't do anything positive to make up for the bad stuff. We saw a quick edited compilation of all our mistakes in a row yesterday - it wasn't pretty.

Matches like that are the hardest to figure out. You can always look back and think about how poorly we practiced the week before or look at the problems we ran into when both of our opposites weren't fit to play, but that doesn't really give any answers for why we played so weakly in the actual match. The guys who were there shouldn't have been affected by any of that stuff. It's kind of like, immediately after the match, you understand what you did wrong and if you had another chance to play the same game the whole thing would happen differently. I don't know if that makes sense, but I am 100% sure that we would play an entirely different game if we had another chance to play them. It's like a lesson in instant wisdom.

I guess the trick is figuring out how to change the bad vibes during the match and not have to wait for the 20/20 rearview vision. Sometimes I think we should have little cheat notes that we could refer to during the games. Several lines of text tattooed right on our forearms: Stay Aggresive. Play with heart. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Etc... Maybe that would help. Anyways, the whole thing was embarrasing and hopefully we won't have to deal with anything like that again.

Yesterday, we played VCO Berlin at home and the outcome was completely opposite. I wouldn't say that we played a whole bunch better, and this is where the home crowd comes into the argument, but we did enough to get out of there with a 3-0 win. And it looks like when everything is all settled at the end of the season, set score is going to be pretty important so 3-0 is also big for us.

There wasn't anything too remarkable that happened during the match so I don't want to spend more time on it.

Off the court we've had some...ahem...interesting things happening lately. Starting with the league's top blocker and one of our co-captains breaking his shoulder trying to do a judo roll for a university test. Sometimes that Fortune lady is a bitch. He's basically out for the year and it's not so much that I don't trust his replacement, it's more that we now only have two real middles. Nathan is actually our new backup middle blocker. No matter how well he bounces balls out of the position, it is asking quite a bit to have him learn to play middle in the space of two months. Just a negative development in so many ways. But, we'll see, maybe it will force us to pick up our game in different areas. I should also say that I feel terrible for Dirk, he's a great guy and it always sucks to see someone injured like that. Hopefully he'll be back and ready to go as soon as possible.

Otherwise, it was fun this weekend to have a visit from some of the people from Amager Volley. Always nice to see some people from Denmark and to get a chance to show off a little for them. I guess this weekend wasn't too bad of a choice considering that it is Karneval here in Germany!

This weekend we're off to Rottenburg and another win is absolutely necessary. Apparently they have one of the best fan bases anywhere in German volleyball - around 2500 people at every match - so it should be fun to see what it's all about down there.

To the East again.

One more time headed east towards Berlin and Leipzig. This time we're going to Delitzsch to play one of the lowest ranked teams in the league. Needless to say, we have to win. Delitzsch though? Isn't that a weird name for a city?

Anyways, at some point soon I'd like to reflect a little bit on the differences that we see when we leave the comfortable confines of what used to be West Germany. Maybe when we get back on Sunday...we'll see.

Moers

This weekend it was Moers at home in the Bayerhalle. For reasons I talked about in an earlier post, there was little room for a bad performance from our side in this one. Fortunately, it turned out to be a positive experience for everyone.

Moers is kind of an enigmatic team. They've got arguably the best attacker in the league - Georg Grozer Jr. - and a pretty solid supporting cast around him. They played themselves into the Cup finals recently after beating Dueren and SCC Berlin in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. But they've also been inconsistent in the league. Currently they are sitting eighth in the standings.

When you're playing a team like that, you just have to be more solid than them. Don't give them the chance to get hot. Don't give them any reason to elevate their game or get excited. Keep constant pressure on them and they will eventually crack. I think that we did all those things and it resulted in a good win for us.

We served well, they did not. We passed well, they did not. I've said it before and I'll say it a million times more before I die. When you win the serving and passing battle you will almost always win the game.

Some notes from the match:

Apparently, Moers' libero was sick and did not play in the match. This forced one of their back-up outsides to play the libero position which in turn forced their coach, none other than, Georg Grozer Sr. to suit up. He was very good back in the day. Also pretty crazy. But he is, shall we say, slightly past his expiration date now so it was kind of weird to see him sub himself into the match. At one point I realized that it was the first time I had ever played indoor volleyball against a father/son pairing. I started thinking about what I would say to my dad if he just kept shanking passes and I couldn't really come up with any ideas. It must have been awkward for them though.

The sets to Grozer Jr. were beyond high balls. I can't imagine what he would do if he was going one on one instead of the normal three man block that he sees.

Peter was really good when he came in for us. Ended top scorer and therefore justified the awkward picture above...

Let me start with a little explanation for what’s been going on here on the site. I’m not sure there are any people left checking in anymore, but if people are like me with blog reading, they probably look in every once in awhile and see if there is anything new.

Obviously I haven’t been updating. There are a few reasons. One, and the most significant, I’ve been writing a lot, but not about volleyball, and I just haven’t had the extra will power to write for this site. I may start a different blog at some point where I’ll post the short stories, etc… I’ve been working on but first I’ll have to write something that I think is good… Second, and I’m going to talk more about this below, volleyball has taken over a large part of my brain. Even when I’m not at practice, I still think about it a lot, so writing about it also can be a bit tedious. Third, I’m a little lazy. Fourth, our schedule can be hectic sometimes, that means little time left over for blogs!

So, if there are still people out there checking in, hopefully I’ll update a bit more often. I could imagine a few posts finding there way online at some point; however, I can’t guarantee anything.

Now to the volleyball:

As a team we’ve just been through a really interesting time. Starting before Christmas we were in what has been referred to as a “crisis” of sorts. We lost a few matches in a row. More importantly, we lost badly. Even more importantly, when we played, it didn’t really look like any one of us cared that we were losing.

Needless to say, it wasn’t a good recipe for success and it wasn’t a fun time for any of us.

Since then, we’ve done quite a few things to turn things in a new direction. We’ve had multiple meetings, with coaches, without coaches, with administration, etc… And I think, in the end, and without going into detail as to what was said, the meetings were very positive. It’s a good thing to be able to honestly express yourself in front of your teammates.

This is also where volleyball kind of takes over your life. Not that it isn’t huge for all of us, it is what we do for a living, but it can be hard when you feel terrible all the time because you know you’ve been underperforming. It’s a double-edged sword, you love the game and you get to play it as a professional, but when you lose and you don’t play well, it’s depressing. Fulfillment in your job comes down to tangible wins and losses. Two points in the fifth set can be the difference between a good week and a bad week. Kind of a bitch sometimes.

But all the meetings in the world couldn’t guarantee anything. We also had a lot of work to do on the court – just straight technical stuff – in practice in order to really develop ourselves.

As soon as league play resumed in January we saw a difference in our game. We beat a good Unterhaching team 3-2 and followed that up with a 3-2 win over Eltmann. Both of those matches were huge as far as the standings go because both those teams figure to be close competitors when we come down to the end of the season. We also beat a team that has been dangerous on their home floor, Koenigs Wusterhausen, 3-1 at their place. Three wins out of three chances, all in one week, pretty good right? Well…Yes. But…

We followed it up by catching an absolute beating in Leipzig last weekend. And I’ll be honest here, this weekend we’re playing Moers (better known as this guy and six other guys who hope to touch the ball every once in awhile) and we pretty much have no choice but to play well.

I do think that the game in Leipzig was a hiccup. I think that we are a better team and that we are headed in the right direction. I heard someone saying that every time we have a real chance to move forward and break through that we always end up taking a step backward. I don’t think that’s true. I’m choosing to look at it from the viewpoint that sometimes you have to take a couple of steps backward before you can move even farther forward. Because we are a better team right now then we were three months ago. I can only hope that we are a better team in two months than we are now.

Personally, I’m getting some playing time. I’ve played quite a bit. There hasn’t been a game in recent memory where I didn’t get a good chunk of playing time. And I’m doing pretty well. You don’t believe me? Well, as we all know, statistics are the only thing that really matter in sports, I mean, they never lie. So check this out. It pretty much means that I am the best setter in the world. Possibly ever.

Read Blocking

One of the biggest differences in style of play that I've noticed between what I've learned in the States (particularly during my time in University) and what I've experienced here in Europe has to do with blocking.

Read blocking seems to be the key word throughout international volleyball right now. Everyone is doing it because it seems like the most effective way to block. Of course teams are running extremely fast offenses as well in an attempt to beat the bunch read blocking system. And basically, a good read blocking team has a great chance to beat almost any offense. Even if the passing is pretty good.

But, what I've noticed is that most teams don't really read block. In most cases, when you see good passing, the middles jump with the middles trying to take away the quick attack. It doesn't matter if the setter on the other side has not set the middle in the entire match. Somehow, taking away that quick hitter becomes the most important thing to do. Discard the fact that almost any setter will NOT set the ball to the middle when the pass is perfect, (this is another topic that I would like to discuss in detail in another post) why do middle blockers do this?

In college, we spent lots and lots of time on blocking. And I think the result was a group of much better blockers than the average. We were also smaller than most other teams so we were forced to be better disciplined. We were a true BUNCH READ blocking team. That means that you read and REACT to the other team. The idea was to never decide before the setter sets the ball where he is going to set it. Just read him, read his hands, look if he is leaning one way or the other and then react when he sets the ball. DO NOT GUESS.

Needless to say, this is easier said than done. But since I have been in Europe, all of my coaches have said that we are going to read block, and I truly don't think any of the middles I have played with have done that. And I don't think that any of said coaches have ever really attempted to force them to do it. I remember hearing, "DON'T GUESS!" or "WATCH THE SET!" over and over again. Middle blockers would be drilled over and over again. If they leaned the wrong way or left too early from their spot they would be out to the side to do push-ups.

I understand that this was really hard training and not an easy skill to master, but in the end, it really paid off. And I think that most of the teams I have played on could benefit from implementing the system. Because honestly, right now, too many middles just jump blindly with the middle. As a setter, this is exactly what you want, because then you don't have to do anything hard. All you have to do is set the ball to the outside or behind you every time and you will almost always have a one on one situation.

I don't know, maybe it's better to go on gut instinct sometimes and just do what you feel is right as a blocker. But I think being disciplined will get a lot more touches in the end.

Bodensee - A Nice Place to Be!

The German Cup tournament finally opened up this weekend for us with a match in a little city named Konstanz. Located on the border with Switzerland, the city is home to a lot of students who come to enjoy the incredibly nice, laid back atmosphere. Lake Bodensee, one of the biggest lakes in the area, is also close.

As it turns out, the gym was located right on the shores of a quiet river that flows into a bigger lake just nearby. One of the smaller halls actually had a huge windowed façade facing the flowing water. After a short walk and a bite to eat I was ready to proclaim the city of Konstanz as the nicest in all of Germany.

The team from Konstanz was not particularly impressive. They weren’t supposed to be, playing in the third division, but I expected them to come with a little bit more than they did. The match was nothing too spectacular - we played fine and that was plenty to win. The most memorable moments were Dirk helping a serve that wouldn’t have gone over the net by bouncing it off his hand at the net and the referee not calling anything, Dirk also made a nice play when he had a short joust with the setter then proceeded to hold the ball in one hand after the setter let go (the referee failed to call this a lift, choosing instead to call a replay) and of course the Konstanz middle who had red contacts which made his eyes look exceedingly weird.

The biggest news came from the drawing of lots for the next round of the tournament which took place directly after our match. In probably the best scenario possible, we drew SCC Berlin at home on the 22nd of this month. I wrote last time that we would have to wait quite a long time to prove that we are a better team than Berlin. Well, it looks like that won’t be the case! I think everyone is excited for the match-up and hopefully we’ll be able to come out of this one with a big win.

Two Weekends - Two Losses

Last weekend, we hosted a four-team tournament. Eltmann from Germany, Opava from the Czech Republic, Marienlyst from Denmark and Us were the participants. Unfortunately for us, we finished fourth with Eltmann finishing first, Marienlyst second and Opava third.

It wasn’t our finest hour and there is little to say besides we are lucky that the tournament means nothing as far as official records are concerned. Hopefully we learned some lessons from the way we played and hopefully those lessons will have a positive effect on the rest of the season.

Personally, I played one set against Eltmann which we won, and then a full three sets against Marienlyst which ended 2-1 for them. I’ll be the first to admit that losing to a former team doesn’t feel good. On the one hand, I’m happy for all the guys on the team that I played with for two years, they played really well. On the other hand, losing sucks. Needless to say, the weekend was not a good experience for me personally. I didn’t play well, and the team didn’t play well, and that’s never a recipe for success.

So, congratulations to Marienlyst for the second place, and congrats to Eltmann for winning the whole thing. We’ll see you guys soon though in the Bundesliga…

On Sunday we finally resumed our Bundesliga schedule with a match against SCC Berlin, in Berlin. Traditionally, they’ve been a top team in the German league but this year there has been some talk of them slipping. At the end of November they lost 3-0 to Unterhaching and it appeared that they were in a bit of a crisis. As described above, we’ve been having our own troubles, but we had had a pretty good week of training and we came into the match feeling positive.

As it turned out, the match was hard to classify. We played well at times, they played well at times, we played poorly at times, they played poorly at times and generally, the momentum of the match swung back and forth often. In the end though, we lost 3-2 and have to feel upset about a lost opportunity. I say lost opportunity because there were certain points in the match where we had the chance to take it over and leave them behind. We had several leads, and we scored a ton of points in our own serve, but just as quickly we would give those points right back through our own personal errors.

Once again, I got a chance to come into the match later, playing all of the fourth and fifth sets. And I feel good about what I did while I was out there. I think that generally, the tide changed for us once I got the chance to do a few things, serving and running the offense especially, but I still made a few decisions that weren’t correct and it hurt us in a few spots.

We’ve got to take this match, take the positive out of it (we won a pressure filled fourth set 33-31 in a hostile environment) remember it and then use the negative (losing big leads several times) to motivate us for the future. We should also take confidence from this one and hopefully start to understand how good we are as a team. I think everyone feels that we’re a better team than Berlin, unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait quite a while before we get another chance to prove it.

Now, we look forward to our first Cup tournament match this Sunday in the far South. I know very little about the team we’re playing as they are from somewhere down around the third league, except that they played a close training match against Friedrichshafen (playing without either setter). In any case, nothing but a win will be acceptable.

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.

Interlude

I don't know if everyone knows this, but the Bundesliga is going to sleep for about a month starting this weekend. The break is because of the world championships in Japan in November and since Germany is competing several teams in the league will be missing players for the month.

What does that mean for the common man you ask? What will the average volleyball player be doing during this time?

Well, it means that we have a month without any league matches. It does not, however, mean we have no practice. Nope, we get one week off and then it's back to the grind. Circle/Circuit training will rear its ugly head, weight lifting will intensify and training will probably be a little bit more technical. Basically, we'll be doing all the same stuff we did during the pre-season in an effort to keep everyone's bodies from falling apart down the road.

We've been particularly affected by injuries so far this year losing a back up outside hitter for two months, one of our opposites until the end of November and Mads was just out for a little while. All of that besides the small injuries that everyone deals with day to day. But generally it has to be said that we're in pretty good shape at this point in the season. Sitting in third place after a good chunk of the first half of the schedule has been played. Admittedly, we've played our share of "weaker" teams, but none of those teams are easy teams to beat. From what everyone is saying, even though we aren't sitting in first place like last year, the team is playing better at this point in the season. So, hopefully things will continue to go the right way.

Over the weekend we played Rottenburg, a team that didn't play in the Bundesliga last year, and ended up winning 3-1. Again, I got a good chance to play in this match, coming in after the second set and helping our team win the last two. Things have gone well lately when I've been on the court and I've been pretty happy with the way I've developed. It's also fun to see the difference in our team when we switch setters. Gergei sets a lot more balls to the outside and pipe while I focus a lot on the middles and I think it throws other teams off to have to adjust to our very different playing styles. Of course, our own team has to adjust as well, but I don't think I've ever seen such a difference in style from one setter to the other.

We're going into the break optimistic after having accomplished a fair amount here in the beginning of the season. Good luck to everyone else who is actually playing during that time, I'm also looking forward to seeing Marienlyst come down here at the end of November, that should be fun as well. Also, good luck to those ripper Volleyroos, bloody oath!

First Start...Disaster.

Driving the six hours back from Friedrichshafen last night I had a good chance to consider a match that our team will remember for a long time. Friedrichshafen is, without a doubt, a good volleyball team with lots of physical, experienced players on their roster. Clearly, there were few outside of Wuppertal that gave us very much chance to win a match in their gym. And after the way we played last night, those people are justified.

Positively for myself, I got my first start in a Wuppertal jersey last night, something I had hoped for but was still a little surprised to have happen. Standing on the court before the match started I was excited, it felt good to be out there from the beginning, hopefully it will happen more often in the future.

But, on to the match, as a whole it was a poor performance from our team. Afterwards, Jens said that he felt that we were influenced by the fact that it was Friedrichshafen on the other side and that we gave them too much respect. Whether or not that is true is unimportant, because in the end, it looked like we were. The mistakes we made were the ones that you make when you play scared, when you play afraid of making mistakes. As much of a cliche as that is, it was obviously true. I tend to think that we all put too much pressure on ourselves. Generally, when everyone is telling each other to, "play loose" and that, "we have nothing to lose" then the match is already lost. Why should we play any different than any other time? As soon as you start saying, "let's play loose" you are pretty much guaranteed to play tight. And we did.

For a good portion of the first and third set we were actually playing good volleyball, aside from serving. Our sideout was effective and we were able to keep the score close for long sections. Unfortunately, we couldn't put any defensive/serve pressure on them and that just made it too easy for their side. In the end, we would make a couple of mistakes and they would make a few good serves and all of a sudden we would be behind by three or four points at the end of the set.

I've played in matches like this before and I think that is what makes me sick about this match in particular. The next day, or even hours after playing, you sit back and think about the match and you realize that you did play nervous in some aspects and that it was totally stupid. You need to play as best as you can and let the chips fall where they may, but you don't play tentative because that never does anything good for anyone. The feeling I have, is that if I could do it over again, I could play the match ten times better than I did, mostly from the service line, and that's a feeling that I don't want to have again. It's a feeling that I tell myself to remember because the next time I am in that same situation, I have to be able to change my focus and get better. And that's what I want to kick myself for, because I know better.

Anyways, there were some positives, setting wise, I feel good about what I did yesterday. I'm unhappy with two or three decisions but those are going to happen sometimes. Otherwise, we can take this loss and turn it into something positive I hope. I think that if we all understand what happened yesterday and decide to embrace the fact that we can all learn from it we will get better and we will be better prepared to play in the same kind of match in the future. Even more importantly, even though we were controlled by them yesterday, that team is not unbeatable. And in the face of such a bad loss, we'll have to take whatever we can get out of it and move on.

Game Time

I finally got a chance to play a fair amount in our match against VCO Berlin and I'll tell you what - playing is more fun than not playing!

We drove to Berlin a few men short, Lars and David are out with long term injuries and in the morning training before we left, Mads hurt his knee. So, going into the match we knew that there were two people left on the bench who could actually play if necessary: Me and a middle blocker, Andi.

We won the first set and lost the second, both semi-close. I came in at the end of the second set and played the last ten points, got subbed out for the last point and to my surprise came back to start the 3rd set. From there I played the rest of the way. We ended up winning the 3rd and 4th, still close, but no question about it, I had a good time finally playing a bit. I've been coming off the bench for small runs of points, tours through the backrow, etc... but haven't really had the chance to establish a real rhythm with the team, so it was really nice to get a chance to run my offense and settle into the match a little bit. In any case, it was exciting and even though we were supposed to beat this team, it still feels good to have had some influence on the match.

Now, we look to a much harder opponent. Tomorrow we leave for Friedrichshafen knowing that we're going to have to play a real good match if we want to come away with anything. Bet and Win has us as 11 to 1 underdogs so apparently our second place doesn't buy us very much respect...

#2 With a Bullet

We’re several weeks into the main schedule now and everything is working out fairly well. At the moment we’re sitting number two tied with a couple of other teams. Partly because we have played more games, partly because we have had a fairly easy schedule so far and partly because we are playing pretty well and have won some important matches.

Our biggest win this year was clearly the 3-0 thrashing that we gave Moers in their home gym. Coming into the match they were heavily favored (I’m not sure exactly why, looking at their team and comparing to ours they are not particularly impressive) and had won against Unterhaching and SCC Berlin, two teams that are also top teams in the Bundesliga. Two things about Moers, they set the ball higher than I have ever seen a team set, the tempo of their offense is not one of their advantages. Blocking against them is like when you are learning to ride a bike and you have training wheels and then you take them off and suddenly riding is so much better and faster. We blocked a lot of balls in this match, mostly because we had enough time to (as Jens likes to say) enjoy a cup of coffee from the time the ball left the setter’s hands until it reached the attacker. Second thing about Moers, their opposite, George Grozer is probably the best attacker I have ever played against and I can understand why they set him so high. He hit balls out of the back row diagonally inside our three meter line, easily. It was impressive to see, the kind of hits where all you can do is just clap and say good hit, we’ll try and get the next one. I heard that Moers signed him to a contract a couple of years ago and he didn’t know that the club had put in an option for themselves that gave them the opportunity to keep him for two more years. Which sucks I’m sure when you are getting offers from Italy… Anyways, that was a big match for us and it has given us confidence that we can hopefully use against the big time teams later in the schedule.

This week we’re headed to Berlin to play one of the lowest ranked teams in the league. They are basically the junior national team and they aren’t terrible, but they haven’t won a match yet even though they have been close. Another win and we go into Friedrichshafen next week in the number two spot…

A Life on the Outside

A few people have asked me what it’s like playing in a stronger league on a team with a deep roster. Generally, I tell them that it is all a learning experience for me, that I have slowly been getting used to the more physical, taller players and the faster tempo of the game. I came into this season with the expectation that I would have to play very well to earn a starting role on the team, and that it would take quite a bit of time before that could even happen. But, that doesn’t mean that standing outside of the court during our matches is easy.

Throughout my career as a volleyball player, I’ve spent little time on the bench. The times that I can remember are short and inconsistent with me being subbed in often. So, the situation here in Germany has been different for me. Up until now, I have yet to play my first points in the Bundesliga, in our two matches I’ve watched entirely from off the court.

Not playing is a grind. I’ve never realized what being a bench player entails, besides the physical aspect (standing for two hours and trying to remain warm is not really that easy, at least basketball and football players have actual benches to sit on) the mental side of being a back up is extremely difficult to grasp. Leading up to a match I can feel my body and my mind getting excited, after all, that’s what warm-ups are for, but as soon as the match is ready to begin and I’m not headed for the court, it is very difficult not to feel some sort of let down. Your body is ready to play, your mind is ready to play, and there is no outlet for that emotion. You feel the emotions with the rest of the team on the court, you want to win, and you want to help your team, but in the most basic way you have no connection to what is going on inside the court. It’s a hard adjustment to make when you are used to playing all the time.

Several people have also asked me how I feel about being on the outside of the court during matches. The question usually implies that I must have a hard time being satisfied with not starting but I don’t really feel that way. Is it hard not playing all the time? Sure. But do I have an issue with it? No, definitely not. Referring to my previous post, I’m fucking Zen. I knew where I stood when I came here, and I have no problem with competing for my spot. I’m going to keep coming to practice and I’m going to keep working hard until my chance comes. Because, to be honest, I like where I am right now, I like the fact that I can see improvement in my game every week. I like that I am getting more and more comfortable with each player and their role on the team. I’m confident that when it’s my turn I’ll be ready and that’s all that I can be at this point.

Tomorrow we play our second home match of the season against Leipzig. If we want to be a top team this year that means that this has to be a win for us. When you play at home against a team not named Friedrichshafen or Duren you pretty much have to win. So, hopefully the team will come with the same intensity that it did in the first set from last week. If we do, it won’t be easy to beat us…even if I’m not on the court…