I haven't "blogged" recently because nothing really important has been going on lately until this past weekend. We have been patiently, yet not so quietly, waiting to play the qualification matches (matches to play to stay in the league) for 3 weeks now and the time has been finally brought upon us. This past weekend we traveled 10 hours by night train to Roveniemi to play the winners of the first division league. When we saw them play last, they were competing in the finals against a team in their league. Their level of play wasn't all that impressive and it seemed they were going to be an easy team to beat. They must have pulled out the big guns for us because they were playing very well against us. We were able to still beat them 3-0 but all 3 of the sets were very very close. We have seen their best now, so there is no reason to be afraid of whats to come because we have seen and experienced it all. I was a bit nervous because of the pressure of winning was high. The next match I wont be as nervous because like I have said before I have seen what they can do and am ready for everything they have to give now. They travel to Kangasala this Wednesday and then we go to their house this Friday for what will hopefully be the final match of our season. I have no doubt that we can beat them this up coming match. Passing has been our main struggle the whole time I have been here. With confidence and good enough passing we can rise above and win.
Our traveling situation on the way up north was something I had never experienced before. We were traveling in a sleeping car. Becca and I shared a room with a bunk bed and barely enough room to stand side by side. The beds were very comfortable though and the rocking of the train was what I thought was going to put me to sleep....wrong. The train made many stops making it a bit hard to get to sleep. I finally konked out to the sounds of our coaches snoring in the next room around 3am. Woke up at 7:45 only to realize our alarm had not gone off! Our train was supposed to be arriving at the station at 7:50. Luckily we were late so we didn't actually get in until around 8. The "city" of Roviniemi was accompanied by 2 to 3 taxis that morning. It was, to say the least, a bit interesting getting to the gym. Once there, we enjoyed a very European breakfast, sandwiches and porridge. Our one hour practice was moved, thanks to the guys team, from 8am to 10 am. After, we had ourselves a little relaxing time and watched the guys practice. Our match started at 2pm with a pretty sizable crowd. I was surprised how they came out of the gates swinging, but I would have done the same thing. When you'r fighting for your spot in the top league, laying out everything you have is important.
On our way back to Tampere, we ran into some basketball players we had met at the gym in Tampere. They had just finished a game as well, but unfortunately they lost. Being that Becca and I could not sleep we ended up talking with them for about an hour in the food car. After which we hopped 10 train cars back to our sleeping quarters and proceeded to try and fall asleep. Oh yeah, forgot to tell you, the sleeping cars had 3 beds per room instead of 2.... I was on the top bunk, nose bleeding from being up so high, if I was to fall it would have been a long way down. Every time I moved around a little light show happened from all the static, felt good to touch metal later, only to get an electric shock that I could feel through out my body. We got home at 5am and I immediately fell into bed and said goodnight until 1:30pm the same day. With some regeneration at the local swimming hall and a good practice Tuesday run by our assistant coach, we felt we were ready to take this team on again Wednesday night.
Game day arrived and it felt all to much like a normal day in Kangasala, it didn't feel like we even had a match. This worried me a little because a game day should feel like a game day, excitement, pumped up, ready to rumble, those types of feelings. Don't get me wrong I was pumped to kick some tail that day, we had been hearing that the coach of their team was saying the first match was a gift, they had given it to us....what an insecure little jerk! I wanted them to swallow those words from the moment the first to the last whistle was blown, it was on! Got to the gym and began to warm up getting in the right mind set for the match. The first couple points of the set were shaky and we weren't able to pull out of our funk until about point 8 for them. That was when we said "enough" and caught up taking the set with a little room to spare point wise. The second set was a blow out, they didn't get more then 16 points. The 3rd set was a little more of a fight. We were neck and neck for a while but once we hit 20 we broke away to finish the match 25-21. To top off the night, I was awarded player of the game, exciting! It was a good night and the team did really well, I am confident that we can finish the series this Friday and be done with this season still in the premier league! Wish me and my team luck, back on the night train tomorrow and hopefully a win for us Friday night :)
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Back to work...and some more waiting.
After 5 days off we were back to work with a physical practice on Monday...outdoor running (which I huffed an puffed through after doing nothing and being sick all weekend) plus weights with 2 kilos strapped to our ankles for that little something extra, thanks to our strength coach El Jarno. No, he is not Spanish, he is pure Finnish blood, someone started to call him that and it stuck. He doesn't seem too bothered by it...yet. Tuesdays practice was a match against a young "junior national" team. Becca was out from being sick so it was just Lauren and I on the court as the only foreigners. Being away from volleyball for a week really has its negative affects on the mid and body. We lost pretty horribly against them, passing was crap, our hitting was crap, defense was crap, serving was crap....you get it...pretty much everything was crap. Nothing was working for us and it was nothing less then embarrassing. After the embarrassment of "getting back into it" receded and the strong thought of getting a little more then tipsy that night was out of my mind, I looked to the rest of the week for some inspiration and motivation.
Wednesday morning we woke early for the gym, it was time for "Body Pump" with some of the team at Fressi. What "Body Pump" entails is a lot of weight lifting with a bar and free weights to a sound track meant for techno addicts and aerobic maniacs. Our instructor sounded like he was this Australian "Body Pump" expert with high energy techno music to back his loud cries through the microphone of "OK HERE COMES THE BODY PUMP.....TEMPO!!" It was a struggle to keep from busting out laughing sometimes. I snuck a look at Lauren to see I was not alone, she to was trying not to laugh. By the end of the class my 2 1/2 kilo weights on my 1 kilo bar were looking and feeling heavier then ever. My shoulders burned and I was positive I wouldn't have been able to punch my way out of a paper bag if my life depended on it. The instructor said goodbye at the door and asked where we were from. I in turn asked him and he surprised me by saying he was from London! When I told him he sounded like he was an aussie he immediately said "everyone says that!" Next week we do it again, I would honestly rather do the aerobics class over the "Body Pump" but I don't really have a choice here so, moving on.
Wednesday and Thursday nights practices were same old but a lot better then Tuesday. I believe that we need to take this time seriously if we want to stay in the top league. This is the time we need to work the hardest to prepare ourselves fully for what's to come. Even if what is to come is supposed to be easy, we don't know that for sure so we need to be able to cut the other team down and out of the picture from the start and not take any chances with a stupid loss. I just hope everyone else sees it that way too in one degree or another.
Friday Becca and I got intense massages so we were allowed to skip practice that night. After our agonizing beat downs by the talented Jenni, we decided to take a walk up to the tower looking over the city and grab ourselves one of their famous and oh so amazing donuts. The secret ingredient must be crack because they can only be described in one word, "addictive". After fulfilling our cravings and seriously considering just spending the day there stuffing our faces with those donuts, we made our way down to the main street to catch our bus back to home base. As we walked down the hill, however, I noticed a group of snowboarders doing tricks on the steps leading down to the main street. They were pretty talented so we watched them for a second, chatted and were on our way. Once at home, Becca and I exhausted from our massages, had a few beers to ease the pain...it worked. We ended the night at the local bar "The Caroline" with Lauren where we were joined by an overweight guy with a lion on the front and back of his t-shirt accompanied by his friend the "skinny/weird" one. Both were equally as nice and equally as creepy. Regardless we danced with them and had a great time people watching. There were so many different personalities in the bar it was incredible to witness. We went to the bathroom once and this guy yelled that he didn't speak Swedish to us....we never said we had. Assuming he was just really drunk we ignored him. The next day we went to a mens volleyball match where we got to see Kawika and Dustin (both play for the US national team) square off against one another. Kawika's team won, excited for him! Kawika is an amazing setter, every set he puts up is golden. No offense to the setters on our team but sometimes I wish that he would slap on a wig, don some spandex, put on a little rouge and play for our team. Now that I think about it, my setter from last year and Kawika are almost identical in technique...hmmm. Nah couldn't be possible, my setter last year is a lot shorter then Kawika. Anyway, it was a good match and both teams played really well.
That night we went out to the a club in Tampere called Kuuba. The place was packed and the music was so much fun however the majority age was 19-21 on the ground floor and older people but crappy music upstairs. Ok, question, what is it with people just letting their bodily functions go on the dance floor when they are drunk, or not drunk?! There were 4 specific times when I stopped dancing and looked around wondering what the hell was dying in someones pants. If your talking to someone and the smell of a fart creeps in (and you know it was definitely NOT yourself) the person your talking to might think its you or he or she might be the culprit. Either way, someone is embarrassed which makes for an awkward conversation. I guess some people get so drunk that they don't realize they are releasing tear gas/stink bombs on the people around them. Please, if you have stomach problems remove yourself from the dance floor so the rest of us can carry on with our super cool dance moves and refrain from pre mature vomiting.
After the club had closed around 3am we headed to the bus station to catch our ride home. While we were waiting and talking to friends in this crowded outdoor bus station, all of the sudden I turned around to see this chick popping a squat in the middle of a busy sidewalk and start to pee. She smiled and kindly waved at the people who blatantly were staring. It had been almost 2 minutes before she stood up and walked away, again waving at her "fans". To end the night we had to take a 35 Euro taxi home because our 4:20am bus never showed, S.O.B!! I was so happy to be home that I ended up not really caring to much at all about the taxi home.
Woke up late the next morning, made "Linner", watched "He's Just Not That Into You" (great movie), and then went to bed. Pretty boring Sunday but the weekend was worth the late sunday afternoon. This next week coming up is our last "week off" meaning a week not leading up to a match. I am so excited to get this season over with but at the same time I am sad to be leaving this place for the summer. Scandinavia is a place I never thought I would be experiencing at this stage in my life, its a wonderful area of the world even though its a freezing tundra for most of the year. There are so many beautiful things to see here besides snow and I am glad I got to spend another half year in this area of the world. I hope that I can continue to do what I do now for a little while longer, maybe play here again, you never know :) Until another time, take care everyone!
Wednesday morning we woke early for the gym, it was time for "Body Pump" with some of the team at Fressi. What "Body Pump" entails is a lot of weight lifting with a bar and free weights to a sound track meant for techno addicts and aerobic maniacs. Our instructor sounded like he was this Australian "Body Pump" expert with high energy techno music to back his loud cries through the microphone of "OK HERE COMES THE BODY PUMP.....TEMPO!!" It was a struggle to keep from busting out laughing sometimes. I snuck a look at Lauren to see I was not alone, she to was trying not to laugh. By the end of the class my 2 1/2 kilo weights on my 1 kilo bar were looking and feeling heavier then ever. My shoulders burned and I was positive I wouldn't have been able to punch my way out of a paper bag if my life depended on it. The instructor said goodbye at the door and asked where we were from. I in turn asked him and he surprised me by saying he was from London! When I told him he sounded like he was an aussie he immediately said "everyone says that!" Next week we do it again, I would honestly rather do the aerobics class over the "Body Pump" but I don't really have a choice here so, moving on.
Wednesday and Thursday nights practices were same old but a lot better then Tuesday. I believe that we need to take this time seriously if we want to stay in the top league. This is the time we need to work the hardest to prepare ourselves fully for what's to come. Even if what is to come is supposed to be easy, we don't know that for sure so we need to be able to cut the other team down and out of the picture from the start and not take any chances with a stupid loss. I just hope everyone else sees it that way too in one degree or another.
Friday Becca and I got intense massages so we were allowed to skip practice that night. After our agonizing beat downs by the talented Jenni, we decided to take a walk up to the tower looking over the city and grab ourselves one of their famous and oh so amazing donuts. The secret ingredient must be crack because they can only be described in one word, "addictive". After fulfilling our cravings and seriously considering just spending the day there stuffing our faces with those donuts, we made our way down to the main street to catch our bus back to home base. As we walked down the hill, however, I noticed a group of snowboarders doing tricks on the steps leading down to the main street. They were pretty talented so we watched them for a second, chatted and were on our way. Once at home, Becca and I exhausted from our massages, had a few beers to ease the pain...it worked. We ended the night at the local bar "The Caroline" with Lauren where we were joined by an overweight guy with a lion on the front and back of his t-shirt accompanied by his friend the "skinny/weird" one. Both were equally as nice and equally as creepy. Regardless we danced with them and had a great time people watching. There were so many different personalities in the bar it was incredible to witness. We went to the bathroom once and this guy yelled that he didn't speak Swedish to us....we never said we had. Assuming he was just really drunk we ignored him. The next day we went to a mens volleyball match where we got to see Kawika and Dustin (both play for the US national team) square off against one another. Kawika's team won, excited for him! Kawika is an amazing setter, every set he puts up is golden. No offense to the setters on our team but sometimes I wish that he would slap on a wig, don some spandex, put on a little rouge and play for our team. Now that I think about it, my setter from last year and Kawika are almost identical in technique...hmmm. Nah couldn't be possible, my setter last year is a lot shorter then Kawika. Anyway, it was a good match and both teams played really well.
That night we went out to the a club in Tampere called Kuuba. The place was packed and the music was so much fun however the majority age was 19-21 on the ground floor and older people but crappy music upstairs. Ok, question, what is it with people just letting their bodily functions go on the dance floor when they are drunk, or not drunk?! There were 4 specific times when I stopped dancing and looked around wondering what the hell was dying in someones pants. If your talking to someone and the smell of a fart creeps in (and you know it was definitely NOT yourself) the person your talking to might think its you or he or she might be the culprit. Either way, someone is embarrassed which makes for an awkward conversation. I guess some people get so drunk that they don't realize they are releasing tear gas/stink bombs on the people around them. Please, if you have stomach problems remove yourself from the dance floor so the rest of us can carry on with our super cool dance moves and refrain from pre mature vomiting.
After the club had closed around 3am we headed to the bus station to catch our ride home. While we were waiting and talking to friends in this crowded outdoor bus station, all of the sudden I turned around to see this chick popping a squat in the middle of a busy sidewalk and start to pee. She smiled and kindly waved at the people who blatantly were staring. It had been almost 2 minutes before she stood up and walked away, again waving at her "fans". To end the night we had to take a 35 Euro taxi home because our 4:20am bus never showed, S.O.B!! I was so happy to be home that I ended up not really caring to much at all about the taxi home.
Woke up late the next morning, made "Linner", watched "He's Just Not That Into You" (great movie), and then went to bed. Pretty boring Sunday but the weekend was worth the late sunday afternoon. This next week coming up is our last "week off" meaning a week not leading up to a match. I am so excited to get this season over with but at the same time I am sad to be leaving this place for the summer. Scandinavia is a place I never thought I would be experiencing at this stage in my life, its a wonderful area of the world even though its a freezing tundra for most of the year. There are so many beautiful things to see here besides snow and I am glad I got to spend another half year in this area of the world. I hope that I can continue to do what I do now for a little while longer, maybe play here again, you never know :) Until another time, take care everyone!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
TV match, last league game, and a little misfortune.
After the loss against HPK, as a team we were determined to strike back with a win. How possible was it to accomplish this against a team at the 3rd spot on the totem pole in this league? Seemed a bit of an impossible feat for the team at the bottom of the rankings, some people would think. We were under our own pressure to win, even though people said the match didn't mean anything, that it wouldn't move us up or down in the rankings, blah blah blah. But wouldn't it be nice to win on Finish National television to a team that was supposed to kill us? Hell yeah it would. Well, thats exactly what we did! We played Orpo on national TV and beat them in 4 sets. This team is stacked with tall players, aggressive middles, a consistent setter and a pretty damn good libero. The odds were definitely not in our favor. People who bet against us losing, well, to bad for you! We all played consistent, shutting down the outsides, serving tough, hitting smart and most of all, we were passing. Personally, I wouldn't say it was my greatest match but it was a good one. I wasn't positive 20 points or anything but I contributed to the win with other areas of my game not just through attacking. Overall, I felt proud of my team. So what if it didn't matter who won or lost, it mattered to us and everyone who watched saw that we beat them, thats enough for me. A win is a win, no need for an explanation and I like that...a lot, who wouldn't? The one teammate who was killing it that night was Lauren Bledsoe. I believe 98 percent of the sets she received she put down...and hard. She was awarded best player on our team that match and I think she deserved it.
The last league match was two days later against Eura, the 4th place team in the league. Well, needless to say some of our heads were still in the clouds and just down right exhausted (including me) and we bombed the first 2 sets. We went into the locker room for the 15 minute break between the 2nd and 3rd sets for a chat. Our coach was pissed as were the rest of us. How could this be happening after such a great win? We needed to get our collective heads out of our asses and play. Which is what we ended up doing in the 3rd and 4th set, but unfortunately it was to late and we lost 27-25 in the 4th set. That, was a slap in the face. Our passing wasn't very good, some of us couldn't put the ball away, the referees were bothersome and our team confidence was a bit low. The fight was gone in a few teammates which hurt us. It was a hard loss but at the same time the momentum we gained at the end of the match will help us later when we play to stay in this league. I refuse to let this team drop down to division 1, it won't happen.
That night after the match we went to the ABC rest stop for some food and a little ice cream. The ABC menu is pretty good considering its a "rest stop" but rest stops here are not even slightly the same as ones in America, they are clean, safe, and the food is so much better then what you would find at an AMPM or 7/11. So I decided to go the "healthy" route and order salmon with shrimp and potato. I didn't realize that was going to be the worst decision EVER! A couple hours later, a cider and half a beer deep at home, I was full and feeling super tired. I went to bed only to wake up an hour later with a stomach ache and vomit sweats. Yep, you guessed it, I got food poisoning. I thought for a second that it was the alcohol I drank but I hadn't drank nearly enough to be sick, trust me. Then it flashed in my head the fish and shrimp I had eaten at the ABC and thats when I knew I had made a big mistake. Well needless to say I got to see it again that night...so fun. The following day I spent my day off going from the bathroom to the couch every hour. I couldn't eat very much for two days except over cooked rice, Ritz crackers (best decision ever), and chicken broth. Note to self: order pizza like a normal person from ABC next time. Now, I am happy to report that my stomach is back to normal and I am eating normal foods again :)
Tomorrow morning we are going to check out what brunch is like to the Fin's at a well known restaurant with some of the girls. I can only hope that it is very very good since I am coming off a bland food diet. Monday its back to work and I am very thankful, this time off has been long and with out working out (for obvious reasons). I am excited to get these 3 weeks off underway and to work hard through them all finishing this season with a bang and hopefully another job :)
The last league match was two days later against Eura, the 4th place team in the league. Well, needless to say some of our heads were still in the clouds and just down right exhausted (including me) and we bombed the first 2 sets. We went into the locker room for the 15 minute break between the 2nd and 3rd sets for a chat. Our coach was pissed as were the rest of us. How could this be happening after such a great win? We needed to get our collective heads out of our asses and play. Which is what we ended up doing in the 3rd and 4th set, but unfortunately it was to late and we lost 27-25 in the 4th set. That, was a slap in the face. Our passing wasn't very good, some of us couldn't put the ball away, the referees were bothersome and our team confidence was a bit low. The fight was gone in a few teammates which hurt us. It was a hard loss but at the same time the momentum we gained at the end of the match will help us later when we play to stay in this league. I refuse to let this team drop down to division 1, it won't happen.
That night after the match we went to the ABC rest stop for some food and a little ice cream. The ABC menu is pretty good considering its a "rest stop" but rest stops here are not even slightly the same as ones in America, they are clean, safe, and the food is so much better then what you would find at an AMPM or 7/11. So I decided to go the "healthy" route and order salmon with shrimp and potato. I didn't realize that was going to be the worst decision EVER! A couple hours later, a cider and half a beer deep at home, I was full and feeling super tired. I went to bed only to wake up an hour later with a stomach ache and vomit sweats. Yep, you guessed it, I got food poisoning. I thought for a second that it was the alcohol I drank but I hadn't drank nearly enough to be sick, trust me. Then it flashed in my head the fish and shrimp I had eaten at the ABC and thats when I knew I had made a big mistake. Well needless to say I got to see it again that night...so fun. The following day I spent my day off going from the bathroom to the couch every hour. I couldn't eat very much for two days except over cooked rice, Ritz crackers (best decision ever), and chicken broth. Note to self: order pizza like a normal person from ABC next time. Now, I am happy to report that my stomach is back to normal and I am eating normal foods again :)
Tomorrow morning we are going to check out what brunch is like to the Fin's at a well known restaurant with some of the girls. I can only hope that it is very very good since I am coming off a bland food diet. Monday its back to work and I am very thankful, this time off has been long and with out working out (for obvious reasons). I am excited to get these 3 weeks off underway and to work hard through them all finishing this season with a bang and hopefully another job :)
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