4 matches, 2 weeks

It was time, we were to play Orebro, my old club. There was a little bit of hype around this match about me coming back "to the home court".  A reporter asked me why I didn't go back to Orebro for another season. Wasn't it obvious? Almost the entire team had quit, the coach was a rookie head coach and to top it off, they didn't offer me a contract anyway. Sollentuna has given me an amazing contract. One that I could not imagine to get anywhere else here in Sweden, so why go back to Orebro? My time there was fun and I appreciate everything they had done for me, but it was time to move on. I miss the teammates, coaches and friends I made over the past three years and am forever thankful to the coaches who have helped shape who and what I am today. Their coaching methods and advice will stick with me forever.

Moving on, the match...it was a good one and one that we, Sollentuna, should have won in 3 sets. We were up 2 sets and they were not easy to win, it was close. Set 3 was relaxed on our side, however we kept up until the end. Set 4 seemed like we had given up and set 5 was us trying to make up for everything we had done wrong a little bit too late.  Personally I could have done a bit better in attack, being a bit smarter when it came down to it. Our serve was really good and gave us a chance. Our serve receive was too up and down to create a consistent trust with our setters and middle attackers. Our defense was good, however we needed to put balls on the 3 meter line when we were in trouble and our block needed to be more disciplined. The free balls have to be almost 100 percent perfect next match, they were here and there this time. Overall, I felt we made them fight for the win. I wish we would have closed them out in 3, but there will be more chances this season, so I am not worried about this one loss. Plus we walked away with a point so we are still ahead in the rankings and will hopefully go up a bit more after these next 3 matches. As for the feeling I got from the audience, it was great! I believe I even heard people cheering when I would make a kill occasionally. It took me about 20 minutes to make my way back to the locker room after meeting everyone. I think I hugged about 80 percent of the people who were there. It was a really nice feeling to get from an ex club. The people I created wonderful bonds with still care and I them. It was great to see them all and I still really appreciate all their love and support, even from afar.

The next match on our list was Gothenberg. We were to take the train the morning of. I was ready to go and had everything packed. I had enough time to eat breakfast and take my time. I consistently kept checking the clock to make sure I wasn't running late. Once it was time to go, I took one last look around to make sure I had everything. As I was rounding the corner to the bus stop outside my apartment complex, my heart stopped. The bus was pulling away from the stop right before my eyes. My heart bounced up to a panicked rhythm as I watched in horror as it pulled away. I thought "shit....shhhhit was that my bus?! SHIT IT WAS!!" After that I kind of blacked out and ran around the center of my small residential area trying to think of what to do. I thought my phone ran out of battery so I sprinted up to my apartment and tried to quickly recharge it, which wasn't happening. Luckily I was still able to receive and send text messages. A teammate and assistant coach told me to get on the next bus to Sollentuna and just try to go for it. The train we were to be leaving on left at 8:14....I was going to get there at 8:14, it was going to be close. Once the train doors opened at Stockholm central, I went into a full out sprint towards the platform, which I missed and was scanning the board for my train which had left already. Thankfully there is a happy ending to this story. My assistant coach told me in an earlier text that he would buy another ticket for a train that left an hour later and had the tickets waiting for me at Espresso House. Once I realized I had missed it, I almost started crying my eyes out. I was so mad at myself! This had happened once every season, being late. So this was my one time pass, which was by far the worst time to be late! I asked the assistant coach what I owed for the ticket and he told me "Just win tonight and you don't owe us anything." All I thought and said was "Deal! I'll do everything in my power to do that!". I got to the lunch spot about 30 minutes after the rest of my team, so I wasn't that much later then I thought and the girls and coaches just made fun of the situation which put me at ease for the match. Thank you team and coaches :)

Now for the match. This will be short. We won in 3 sets. The start of set one was shaky and peppered with mistakes from our attack. Once we settled in, there was no stopping us. The second set was a nervous mess. Still too many mistakes from us making it super close at the end but we prevailed. The 3rd set was easier, however we let them in towards the end a little. I was wanting to just end it and I know most of the others wanted the same so I am happy we finished it out with a bit more breathing room at the end, points wise. I ended the match with 19 total points and MVP. Not to shabby for the late comer. Overall I was happy the girls kept up a progressive and positive attitude. They kept focused on the end result.

RIG Falkoping was next, at home. The first set was slow and it seemed that we couldn't get a handle of the set at all. I was making to many hitting errors and stupid mistakes. The rest of us were having trouble figuring out how to get out of the hole we had dug ourselves. Luckily Bella, one of our middles served the other side into submission and gained back a huge deficit. Unfortunately it wasn't enough for us to grab the set, however it helped us gain momentum into the next. Our coach said that we needed to up our blocking and to take care of the ball when we had the chance. Which is exactly what we did to clench the next 3 sets in a row. Personally I did not have the best match which is why I am happy the other attackers on the court took care of business. Elina, one of our opposites played a great match and received her first MVP in the Eliteseries with 15 total points. Adding another 3 points to the rankings for us was a great feeling.

I am going to preface this last match against Hylte Halmstad with one word, underprepared. We lost in three...now let me tell you why (at least what I think). Monday we prepared for RIG so we were not thinking about Hylte yet. Tuesday was game day, wednesday was a day off. Thursdays practice came around (which by the way was our only practice besides an hour and 15 day of) to prepare for Hylte and the team seemed sluggish and unfocused. It was sloppy and pretty much a waste. My feelings about practices are, you come in and commit your time for however many hours allotted and do your best. When you step into the gym, its time to work. Even when I was in College and before that, when I went to practice, that was the time to get better as an individual and to succeed as a team. To be prepared for whatever was to come our way. Thursday was the exact opposite. I stopped us (a bit to late, we had 7 minutes left) in the middle of what seemed to becoming a daunting drill except for maybe the middles, opposites and setters. One side was to play defense against the team getting a free ball. The setters were to only set the 10 (back row attack on the right side) and the middles. It was a productive drill for about 15 minutes and then it went down hill from there. People stopped talking, stopped going for it, stopped trying pretty much. Towards the end it looked bad. So, like I said earlier, I stopped us and tried to re-motivate the team, by simply stating, how we were playing, was complete bullshit and we all knew it. If we play like this in practice we will surely play like it during the match Sunday and lose. Well, our match reflected how we played on thursday entirely.

I talked to one audience member and he told me that it seemed we weren't ready to play the moment we walked into the gym. He was right. Even if some of the girls were ready, it sure didn't look like it. A clear sign of an unprepared team is frustration and on court fighting, which we had and did. We were a bunch of individuals trying to play a match together. One of the girls would come into the huddle and say "together as a team now". I wish everyone would have listened and snapped out of it. But we definitely did one thing as a team that night...we lost as a team.

One of our opposites, Sophia Tacktor, came off the bench and performed really great and received MVP (very proud of her). My personal game, I thought, wasn't bad and my hitting errors were down but with only 3-4 people on the court doing their jobs, it just isn't enough to win a match against the number 2 team in the league. I don't like nor encourage people to use end all be all words like MUST, NEED TO and HAVE TO, to describe what has to happen on court and in practices. In this case, I don't care anymore. As a team we MUST, NEED TO AND HAVE TO keep the way we come to a match and work in a practice consistently tough. There needs to be a certain level of discipline that we as individuals need to follow. I am in no way saying we need to be robots. I for one, am not the type of player who is always serious and for those who know me as a volleyball player, know that. When it comes down to getting work done at practice and or in a match, it is all about doing your job and having fun doing it right. I am a competitive person and I expect my teammates to be the same when it comes to game time. We may not always agree with how things are done at practice but in the end we need to do whatever is being asked of us, as well as we know how, to get a positive result from it. Or else we are going to be lost and unsuccessful the entire season.

Its time for this team to grow up a bit and get tough. Stop blaming others for own mistakes and take responsibility for your job on court because that is what will make us better. That is what will help us succeed. Being disciplined in practice and during work outs while helping each other out will get us to the top.

I am excited for our next match against Katrineholm. I hope that this week in practice will be much better and a lot more focused on the job at hand. HEJA STORA TUNA! I believe!

Svedala and a Free Weekend

Finally, our first home opener against Svedala. This season, they have 3 foreigners and one or two Swedes who can hold their own on the court. The team we met was pretty well balanced but when it came to crunch time, the foreigners took control of their side. From my point of view, we were pretty well matched. I thought for sure, we could have beaten them, at least taken them to a 5th set. Unfortunately that was not the case and we ended in the 4th set, beginning to get momentum to late in the game. This match upset me the most so far. It was apparent that we were holding our own out there, it was just to inconsistent. I hope the next time we meet them, we will be sharper and can take them with out contest. Maybe I am being a little unrealistic, but I feel that this team gets better and better with every match we play. Until then, we continue practicing hard and perfecting our skill sets.

It has been said by many, that when you meet a good friend and you don't see them for a while, then come together again, its like you were never apart. It feels as if no time has passed. That is when you know you have found a friend for life. This is exactly how I felt this passed weekend when I travelled to Linkoping to visit my old teammate and friend Nikki. I met her three years ago during my first season with Orebro Volley. It was her first year playing in the top league in Sweden and the nerves were there, but she was ready to get after it. She was so excited to get the chance to play at a higher level, to play with others who knew all about it. That is why it was extremely unfortunate when her ankle took a turn for the worse, she was forced to quit playing for the season. After only about 5 months she had moved back to Linkoping to live with her boyfriend. I was sad to see her go, she was such a lively spirit on and off the court and extremely funny. We tried numerous times to visit one another but it never seemed to work out. Last weekend was the first time in three years we got to hang out with one another and it was awesome!

She prepared a "whit-tinerary" that we could loosely follow. The first day I was there, we walked through town, had brunch at her favorite spot, went on a bike ride through an amazing forest, met up with my old teammate Lena and her husband Magnus for their baby boys first birthday, ate some cake and went back to her apartment to have dinner with Albin her boyfriend and Calle who is also a friend I haven't seen in forever as well. After we ate, Calle, myself and Nikki decided to paint our faces for Halloween and to head out on the town. I hadn't painted my face since I was in grammar school, so this was going to be interesting. Nikki found a great tutorial on a really simple mouth skeleton. All three of us looked awesome! Nikki and I wore all black while Calle wore all white. Once out on the town, many stares were headed our way but all seemed to be stares of admiration. I even told one person it was a tattoo....amazingly he didn't believe me! Oh well.

Nursing hang overs with Espresso House coffee's and food the next morning, we headed to the Linkoping mens teams NEVZA match at 12. They were playing against a Norwegian or Danish team. Linkoping beat them easy in 3 to advance to the next round. It was great getting to see mens volleyball being played at such a high level again. Everything is so fluid and the players make the game look easy. I got to see parents of an old friend of mine that I hadn't seen in so long, I was a little surprised they actually remembered me. They hugged me like I had been around all along.

That night, Nikki made a wonderful chicken roast with potatoes. Her domestic side is pretty awesome when she wants it to be. That being said, they are pretty lucky to have one another regardless of who does what around the house. I envy their life together a bit. Although, Nikki needs to admit to tooth paste tube hoarding. I think she is on her way, with the picture she sent me the other day of the tubes in the trash. Bra job Nikki!

I left the next morning with a slightly heavy heart, but know we will meet again at the very least one more time before I go back to the USA. Until then, I hope nothing but the best for her and hope her man and his team do well in the Eliteseries.

Swedish words for du:

Flytta: Move (Pronounced Flee-tah
Känslor: Feelings (pronounced sh-en-slor)
Höft: Hip (Pronounced Huft)