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 :)
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