Women's National Team Athlete Blog: Marisa Field

Blogger: Marisa Field

Hometown: Kelowna, BC

Position: Middle

Current Location: Sinsheim, Germany

Hallo from Germany!

So it’s rather late here…. around 5 am to be more exact… I guess that would actually be rather early. But since I can’t sleep I figured now would be a good time to write the blog that I promised to have in ooohh a few weeks ago…. Whoops. Anyways, here’s an overview on how playing pro in Sinsheim, Germany has been for the last month.

So, Tonya and I arrived here shortly after we returned home from World Championships in Japan and were welcomed with open arms and cheering from our assistant coach and (basically our personal) manager, who were holding a large WELCOME sign complete with our Team Canada mug shots and names written below. The sign is now the centerpiece of our kitchen J. So after following the boys around the airport for quite some time while they tried to remember where they parked and how to get back there, we finally arrived at the not-so-large car that was somehow supposed to fit the four of us and our luggage that some might say would be enough for four people. A couple sweats broken and a hilarious video and some odd photos later, the guys finally jammed all our stuff into the car and we were off…. with Tonya’s 80 lb. duffle bag stretched across our laps in the back seat… super comfy. After a long but fun day of sightseeing, lunch, a quick Facebook check, and some other random team obligations, we eventually arrived at a house in a small town called Zuzenhausen, just outside of Sinsheim. While slightly skeptical at the idea they were giving us a whole house to live in all year, we went to the upstairs portion and found ourselves in a one (real) bedroom, one kitchen/living/dining/potential bed room loft more fit for a grandma than the TWO of us. Luckily this was only our temporary bachelorette pad while they found us an apartment… not to say that we didn’t enjoy those two weeks of sharing a bed……….

As for the volleyball highlights… we played our first league match at home against Dresden – Lupo’s old club team - in front a very enthusiastic full-house crowd who cheered us on throughout the whole game, even when we losing, and at some points pretty badly. The fans here are great – our town is quite small but the people are very dedicated to supporting their home team, so that provides a nice atmosphere to play in. For our second match we traveled to Schwerin, which was a 9 hour bus ride there, and a 23 hour bus ride home after the game…… that’s right, 23 hours straight on the bus, 13 of which were spent in a complete traffic stand-still on the highway, or “stau” as the Germans call it. Thank goodness for my large shopping bag full of sandwiches and snacks J Always be prepared!.. with food…. and toilet paper for when the bus toilet freezes solid and you are forced into doing some extra squat reps in the snow…. Boys have it so easy.

That pretty much covers what my sleepy brain can recall of month one in Deutschland. We have also been “adopted” by a very nice family who are sponsors of the team and whose son is our manager that I mentioned above. They got stuck on our laundry duty since we didn’t (and still don’t) have a working washing machine, and of course took a liking to “the Canadian girls,” as we are known here, or just “Canada” for short. So we are well taken care of, between evenings spent chatting with the parents after laundry drop offs/pick ups, lunches at the grandma’s house (who makes a delicious tomato soup), and the occasional dinner with the entire family out at their favourite Italian restaurant. All of which somehow end in us bringing home a ton of leftovers or other delicious treats. Not a bad set up J.

Well it’s nearly 6 am now, which seems like a good time to get some sleep before weights in 4 hours… already can’t wait for my afternoon nap!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone back in Canada!!

“Tschuss!”

- Marisa

Great article on Women's National Team Player, Tonya Mokelki!

Click here to see the article: http://www.weyburnreview.com/article/20101215/WEYBURN0201/101219952/-1/WEYBURN/former-local-player-hopes-to-make-olympics?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4d0961056849ec05%2C0

Full time Training Centre vs FRAM by Vincent Pichette

Third day of competition.

Today started with another light training in the morning: stretching, abdominal and shoulders stabilization with Nicolas, and 30 minutes in the gym. Some little injuries are coming back, we train on a concrete floor in the morning and it is a bit colder than what we are use too. But our physio Jérémie takes good care of the players.

We will play our third match against FRAM, a young team (18 years old average), and presently ranked 6th at the Slovenian championship. Four of their athletes are also playing for the Slovenian junior national team and even though they are smaller, their abilities are impressive. Our guys seemed to loose concentration during warm up and under-estimated the opponent. And as you can guess, this turned out to be a big mistake!

This was our worse performance of the tour so far. 43 direct errors in 4 sets, including 19 serving errors. The athletes that did not play as much last night had the chance tonight to really work, but they missed this opportunity. Our middles still had problems reading the plays. The match ended 2-2

(25-21 ; 20-25; 21-25 ; 25-23). The guys went back to their old habits and started missing their serves and giving points, habits are hard to change!

We will take the day off tomorrow. Rest in the morning and the afternoon free. The guys will take the time to make some of their Christmas shopping done! Our next match will be Saturday afternoon, against Varazdin (pronounced Varajdin), Croatian champion.

Have a good weekend!

Vincent Pichette

Full time Training Centre vs MURSKA SOBODA by Vincent Pichette

Second day of competition.

After a light 1 hour training this morning (gym and weight room), we were getting ready for our first exhibition match against MURSKA Soboda. The last few days, we kept working on the physical aspects to maintain our good condition and prevent injuries. The work volume has been reduce for athletes to keep a good energy level.

We left for Murska in a mini-van and arrived to destination after a 40 minutes drive. We followed our guide Alès to the gym. When we got there, the club contacts were doing the set-up of the court and the guys realized the game was going to take place in a more official setting so they started getting a bit more anxious!

Murska is presently ranked 3rd in the slovenian championship and can rely on more physical and experimented players than the team we played against yesterday. We won the first set 25-21, making only a few direct errors but mostly because we were really solid in passing their serves. Murska started putting more pressure on the serves at the beginning of the second set and we started making more direct errors. They adjusted to our team and started using more their middle players. During the whole match, we had difficulties managing they middle hitters, who are less physical than us but quicker. The guys lost their concentration and seemed to forget the game plan so Murska won the 2nd and 3rd sets 25-18 and 25-22.

We had to remind the guys of the basic of our playing system and made a few substitutions. Murksa started with a lead on the 4th set but we were able to come back and win 25-22. The same scenario repeats itself in the 5th set, but we finally won 15-13. It is a victory but the players knew as soon as the game was done that the overall performance was average. Gord Perrin was the best scorer with 19 kills, 1 block, 3 aces, 6 direct errors, with an average of 2,93/4 on serve receive.

Tonight, we will talk about the first contact and the efficiency of serve receive. We will work tomorrow on the bloc-defense system, which the players had some trouble with tonight.

Next match, tomorrow night at 8pm against FRAN.

Jutri! (pronounced yutri, which means ''see you tomorrow!'')

Vincent Pichette

Groupe du Centre à temps plein masculin en Slovénie par Olivier Faucher

Jour 1, 2 et 3
Nous sommes arrivés à Maribor, Slovénie, en milieu d’après-midi samedi. Le reste de la journée a été consacrée pour se reposer de notre journée dans l’avion/aéroport. Le lendemain matin, nous avions au programme un éveil musculaire avec notre préparateur physique, qui fait le voyage avec nous, question de contrer le plus rapidement possible les effets du décalage horaire. L’arrivée de Benoit Raymond, notre libéro pour la tournée, était prévue pour le dîner du dimanche. Malheureusement pour Benoit, le chauffeur a oublié de passer le chercher à l’aéroport. Il a donc dû attendre près de quatre heures avant de pouvoir faire le trajet jusqu’à notre hôtel. Pendant ce temps, le reste du groupe en a profité pour monter au sommet d’un mont de ski tout près et y prendre un café. Prendre l’air et se reposer étaient encore le mot d’ordre, donc pas encore de volley, pour l’instant du moins.

Lundi fût notre première journée de volleyball de la tournée. Un petit entraînement le matin, suivi d’une séance de récupération (sauna + bain froid) et un entrainement plus collectif en soirée. Le groupe semblait être en bonne forme lors de l’entraînement, malgré le fait que certains aient eu encore de la difficulté à dormir pendant la nuit.

Jour 4
En ce mardi, nous avions droit à une journée typique de compétition. Un entraînement matinal incluant principalement du service-réception et un match/entraînement collectif le soir. Entre tout ça… on a mangé. Seulement entre 12h30 et 16h, nous avons eu droit à un dîner complet et à un snack qui se trouvait à être de la pizza. De la très bonne nourriture, mais des fois le «timing» fait en sorte qu’on mange beaucoup en peu de temps. 

L’entraînement collectif du soir nous opposait à une équipe pro slovène de la région. Pendant près de 90 min. nous avons fait du «wash» sans trop d’arrêt ce qui a rendu l’exercice très intense pour tout le monde. Malgré le fait que nous avons touchés beaucoup au ballon pendant ces 90 min. nous sommes restés quelque peu sur notre appétit. Nous savions avant de partir que nous ne jouerions pas toujours des matchs pendant la tournée, mais tous les joueurs aimeraient se mettre au défi dans des situations de matchs réelles. Heureusement, nous avons encore beaucoup de matchs/entraînement collectifs à venir, alors on aura sûrement la chance de se mettre au défi.

Groupe du Centre à temps plein masculin en Slovénie par Vincent Pichette- Entraineur

Après un voyage qui s’est relativement bien passé à part pour Benoit Raymond, notre libéro, qui est arrivé en Slovénie une journée après nous et qui a attendu trois heures à l’aéroport dû à un réveil tardif d’un employé de notre hôte, nous sommes arrivés à destination, soit Maribor. Maribor est la 2e ville en importance en Slovénie et est située complètement à l’est du pays à environ 1h30 de route de Ljubljana, la capitale.

Nous seront ‘’basé’’ à Maribor pour toute la durée de notre séjour et c’est ici que nous jouerons la majorité de nos matchs. Nous logeons à L’hôtel DRAS qui est situé au pied des pentes de ski et où nous pourrons nous entraîner le matin. En effet, un centre sportif a été annexé à l’hôtel où plusieurs équipes et club sportifs de tous les âges viennent s’entraîner ou pratiquer leur sport (badminton, soccer, gymnastique, volleyball).
Ce nouveau complexe sportif et hôtelier appartient à la famille de notre hôte, Mitja Framski qui est également le ‘’coordonnateur’’ de notre tournée. De plus, celui-ci est directeur de la fédération de volleyball de la Slovénie et entraineur avec l’équipe féminine locale de Maribor. Le site est enchanteur et nous avons été très bien reçus depuis notre arrivée.

Nous sommes arrivés le 4 décembre, ce qui nous a donné un peu de temps pour s’acclimater au décalage horaire. Hier, nous nous sommes entrainés en matinée en gymnase et en salle de musculation, cette dernière partie dirigée par Nicolas Roy, notre préparateur physique qui a fait le voyage avec nous. Il s’agit de sa première expérience avec nous et la première fois qu’il fait le saut de l’atlantique !  Le décalage ne semble pas trop l’avoir affecté sauf peut-être hier matin ou il est passé tout droit et est arrivé en retard au déjeuner ! Nous avons eu un second entrainement collectif en après-midi au centre sportif de Maribor, l’endroit où évoluent les équipes professionnelles de volleyball et de handball.

L’objectif de cette tournée en Slovénie est de donner la chance à notre groupe de cette année de jouer des matchs de niveau professionnel, de les exposer à cet environnement et de les faire connaître un peu ici en Europe. On espère ainsi qu’ils pourront poursuivre leur progression et éventuellement dénicher un premier contrat professionnel et ainsi entamer leur carrière.

Notre groupe est composé de sept des neuf joueurs qui s’entraînaient au centre à temps plein à Gatineau cet automne, les deux autres, Steve Brinkman (genou) et Mike DeRocco (épaule) étant restés à la maison pour soigner des blessures. Voici les joueurs qui ont fait le voyage avec nous :Olivier Faucher (passeur); Justin Duff (central), Gord Perrin (attaquant), Jason DeRocco (attaquant), John Galloway (attaquant), Andrew Town (attaquant) et Mathieu McLaughlin (attaquant). Benoit Raymond (libéro) et Nathan Groenveld complètent le groupe. Jérémie Breau, physiothérapeute avec notre équipe junior cet été, a aussi fait le voyage avec nous. Il en est également à sa première expérience avec l’équipe. Ce voyage lui sert en quelques sortes de préparation en vue des championnats du monde junior qui auront lieu au Brésil l’été prochain. 

Nous avons joué ce soir notre premier match contre l’équipe de Maribor qui évolue en première division slovène. L’équipe est actuellement classée au 8e rang de ce championnat qui en compte 12 incluant l’ACH Volley Bled, l’équipe que Glenn dirigeait au cours des deux dernières saisons et avec qui Dan Lewis et Adam Simac évoluent cette année. Nous aurons tous la chance de les voir jouer mardi prochain à Ljubljana en Ligue des Champions contre l’Olympiakos d’Athènes dans leur nouvel amphithéâtre de 12 000 places.
Nous avons fait des situations de 6 contre 6 ce qui nous a donné la chance de faire tourner tout notre effectif. Maribor est une jeune équipe, moins physique que la notre mais qui a engagé pour cette saison, Dragutin Baltic, lui aussi ex-entraîneur de L’ACH Volley Bled (2006-07). Il avait également dirigé l’équipe de Belgorod en première division Russe, une des meilleures formations de ce circuit très relevé. Glenn et lui s’étaient déjà affrontés en phase finale européenne à l’époque où Glenn entrainait le Paris Volley. Si j’ai bien compris M. Baltic, lui qui parle Slovène, Russe Allemands mais qui était un peu difficile à comprendre en anglais, Belgorod avait remporté cet affrontement 3-1. Ça sera à confirmer demain avec son adversaire de l’époque !

Notre première expérience de ce soir s’est bien déroulée en général. Nous n’avons pas eu la chance de faire beaucoup de situations de 6 contre 6 au centre avec 9 joueurs dont deux blessés donc les gars réagissent bien et montrent un bel enthousiasme à date. L’exécution était satisfaisante. Le niveau devra s’améliorer de match en match car nous affronterons de très bonnes formations au cours des prochains en commençant par celle de Murska demain soir. Murska est situé à une quarantaine de minutes d’ici et l’équipe est actuellement au 3e rang du championnat slovène.
À demain pour la suite… !

Vincent

John Galloway - Member of FTC in Gatineau

Hey everyone.

My name is John Galloway, I'm one of the athletes participating at the FTC.  I'm new to blogging, so I'll just put down a few thoughts about my time spent here.  When I came to FTC I thought I was in decent shape and was a decent volleyball player.  Within a couple of days you realize that you need a lot of work in both areas.  Good thing you spend 6 hours a day monday/wednesday/friday working those areas and another 3 hours tuesday /thursday.  The simplest drills like passing or setting balls in a fairly large cylinder say 7/10 times are difficult at the beginning. 
I've made a few jumps throughout my playing days.  Similar to a high schooler going to college, college going to CIS, you don't realize how bad you were or what you could get away with at the lower level.  It's a large jump from CIS to professional standards.  Bad habits have to be eliminated, and technical adjustments have to be made.  One of the toughest things to hear is that you have to change techinically to be more efficient, when you think that you already do the skill well.  I've kept a fairly open mind to changes, and am constantly reminding myself that this training is a process, an investment, and it will eventually pay off. 
For those considering professional volleyball, I would recommend the FTC.  For me it was the only way to go.  Our training group is lucky enough to have a trip planned to Slovenia in 11 days for about 2 weeks.  Once there, we will continue to train, and have 6 matches over the time period.  If I understand correctly, this is could serve as an audition for a pro contract in january.  If we play well, and have our coaches blessings, our improvement will continue overseas.  A couple already with international exposure are looking to secure something.  Having no international exposure it will be tougher for the rest of us to land a contract, but are nonetheless optimistic that there will be something fired our way.A contract would certainly be exciting, although I really don't have an idea how likely landing one will be.    I looked at the FTC as a year long investment as having only played one year of leftside before my final CIS season.  I'm still learning and new to the position, so I certainly wouldn't be crushed if I returned to the FTC in 2011. 
Anyways, for those that get the oppurtunity to play FTC in the future, here are a few things that I think will help.  Be sure to come in with willingness to change, a strong work ethic, belief in the process, and good things will happen. 

~John~

Olivier Faucher - Membre de l'équipe nationale masculine

Bonjour. Je m’appelle Olivier Faucher, membre de l’équipe nationale masculine de volleyball intérieur. Je suis présentement à l’entraînement à Gatineau avec huit autres athlètes au sein du centre à temps plein (FTC, pour Full time Training Centre). Tous les joueurs au sein du programme aspirent à une carrière professionnelle et le FTC est une étape pouvant mener à cet objectif. À travers les cycles d’entraînement, nous «rebâtissons» notre corps tant au niveau musculaire qu’au niveau technique. Les changements sont relativement importants, pour certains plus que pour d’autres, mais ils sont tout de même présents. À chaque jour, on nous demande d’être au meilleur de nous même, non seulement en termes de performance, mais également en termes d’apprentissage, de changement.

Habituellement, la semaine d’entraînement d’une équipe de volleyball est en fonction des matchs à venir et aussi en fonction de ce qui à moins bien été lors des derniers matchs. Ce genre d’entraînement, nous ne l’avons pas! Nous ne pouvons pas mettre les pieds dans le gymnase en ayant comme objectif notre prochain match. Nous avons comme principal objectif de changer. Pour la plupart, tout ce que nous faisions dans le passé avec nos équipes universitaires ou collégiales ne fonctionne plus ou fonctionne moins. Nous devons alors s’adapter au niveau international en changeant. Ces changements sont les défis auxquels nous faisons face tous les jours. Vous direz, que ca ne doit pas être si difficile! Avez-vous déjà essayé de manger avec la main gauche quand vous êtes droitier? C’est à peu près la même chose. Tu vas être à l’aise après un certain temps, mais pour cela tu vas devoir l’essayer, le pratiquer et surtout ne pas revenir à tes anciennes habitudes. Chaque entraînement est une occasion de changer, mais c’est également une occasion de revenir à nos anciennes habitudes que nous aimons tant. C’est à chacun de nous de toujours choisir le bon côté.
On peut dire que le FTC est un programme d’adaptation, de changements qui finiront par porter ses fruits avec le temps, l’effort, mais surtout avec l’acception.
D’ici quelques jours, nous aurons la chance d’aller en Slovénie pour une tournée de matchs contre des équipes professionnelles locales. Comme nous n’avons pas la chance de jouer beaucoup de matchs au FTC, cette tournée sera une bonne occasion d’évaluer où nous en sommes et où nous devons nous rendre pour un jour, atteindre les rangs professionnels et même plus.


Bon volleyball!

Olivier

2010 Women's World Championship - By Julien Boucher, Team Manager

November 17 - Final Report
I'm writing these last lines comfortably sitting in my office. We have been back from Japan since Monday night late but I haven't found the courage to do it before now. With the bus ride to Narita, the wait in different airports and the flight times, our trip was around 28 hours in total. But I have to admit that we are glad to be home and rediscover the big open spaces of our beautiful country.
The last matches we watched lived up to our expectations. The highlight of these last 2 days was the performance of the Japanese team leading up to their bronze medal performance. Japan beat the USA in 5 thrilling sets after nearly beating Brazil by the same score the night before. Undoubtedly the Cinderella team of this tournament, Japan displayed poise and flawless technical execution throughout. The team was led by its 30 year-old, 1m59 (no, that's not a mistake) setter, Takeshita, who was MVP in 2006 despite Japan finishing in 6th place. The USA just wasn't able to maintain the pressure and its tactical execution wasn't enough to shake Japan's confidence or its 12000 screaming fans. We also must add to this equation the too many errors committed by the USA's top guns, Logan Tom and Destinee Hooker.
For the 7th time of its history, Russia captured the gold medal by beating Brazil 3 sets to 2, in a match that at times looked more like a men's volleyball match. Ekaterina Gamova was their leader throughout and was, deservingly so, named the tournament MVP. Russia had crushed the USA the semis, but not before losing a game by the score of 25-13 !
Three of the other 4 finals ended with a 3-0 score. Only Germany dropped a set to Serbia on its way to finishing 7th, its best result ever. We must also note Cuba's 3-0 loss to the Netherlands to conclude a very disappointing tournament and a 12th place finish.
As far as our team is concerned, the outlook is sensibly the same as the men's team was after Italy: we are a notch behind the top teams and a lot of work remains to be done short and long term to prepare next year's Olympic qualification as well as the one for 2016. The small consolation is that besides Cuba, 2 other Norceca teams had very shaky performances in this Championship. Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (who we should have beaten on the last day) both finished 17th.
Here is what's in store in the upcoming months for our players. 6 of them have already joined their pro team: Tammy Mahon (AO Panathinaikos in Greece), Tiffany Dodds (Ageo Medics in Japan), Sarah Pavan (Korea Expressway), Tonya Mokelki and Marissa Filed (SV Sinsheim in Germany) and Carla Bradstock (Rabita Baku in Azerbaijan). If they don’t find a pro team, Julie Young, Tasha Holness and Brittney Page will back in Winnipeg in January and will join Nadine Alphonse, Claire Hanna, Beth Clark, Marie-Pier Murray-Méthot and Kelci French. Janie Guimond will remain in Montreal until the spring while Lauren O'Reilly (TWU), Kyla Richey and Jenn Hinze (UBC) have already joined their CIS team.
One note of interest before I sign off: Lupo was the big winner of our playoff pool, but my superb performance on the last day (I picked 5 winners out of 6) enabled me be to squeak ahead of Scott for third place and a bronze medal of my own.
Best wishes for a great 2010-2011 season.
JB

November 11 
The Tokyo metropolitan area counts more than 30 million people, about a quarter of the total population of Japan. The city itself, with 23 wards, has around 10 million inhabitants. No wonder Tokyo is one of the most animated cities in the world. And probably one of the most illuminated as well. We have been here since Monday afternoon. We traveled from Nagoya on the Bullitt train again and arrived at Tokyo station, apparently the busiest train station on the planet (I would tend to agree). We are staying at the Keio Plaza Hotel, in the heart of the Shinjuku ward, which is as frantic as the area that surrounds it.
Volleyball wise, the second round is now over and the cards are dealt. We now know who will battle for every position. The medal round will see the USA play Russia, while Brazil will have to be wary of a surprising Japanese team.
In terms of quality of play, we are still a bit disappointed. Here, in Tokyo, where we watched the last 2 days of competition, high-quality matches are few and far between: 6 matches with a 3-0 score out of 8. In total, close to 50% of all matches played end up 3-0 and only 2 matches out of 3-2 went the distance of 5 sets. And (surprisingly) still this stat of close to 25% of all games played ending with a score of 25-15 or less.
The match between Poland and Turkey was very good however, as well as the match opposing Russia and Japan, with many exciting rallies, and Japan taking a set off of the powerful Russians. In fact, all of Japan's matches are quite the spectacle. The organizers really have gone all out. They have even added a 10-minute break between the second and third sets to allow for mini-shows to entertain the crowd. I'll let you guess which set Japan won against Russia!
In the other pool, we heard that the match Brazil-USA was quite good. The other match of interest in that pool was the clash between Italy and Cuba, which took place after the USA-Brazil match. With the USA losing, the Italians could still finish in second place on points, but only by beating Cuba by more than 19 in total. After the 1st set ended 25-16, the Italians could still dream of a semi-final berth. But as the second game got close towards the end, we were told that Italy just gave up in order not to get a win with ONLY a 2 point differential. Played out against them as Cuba ended winning the match 3-2 with the 5th going to 24-22.
Last point of interest – but not least – is that our playoff pool took an unexpected turn yesterday. Lupo is now ahead with 35 points, tied with Scott (after all, THEY are the coaches, right?). Janek follows them with 34 points and I am now in last place with 31. But I have a few aces up my sleeve for the medal round !!!
Talk soon,
JB

November 6
We've been in Nagoya for 2 days now. Thursday night, our transfer from Osaka went very smoothly and only took 45 minutes by Bullitt train. Very impressive. We had a whole day off on Friday – what a concept – and Janek Matthes, Lupo's friend and Datavolley scout in Tokyo since the beginning of the tournament joined us here. The 4 of us will be watching the rest of the tournament together.
Yesterday was the start of the second round. In Tokyo, Russia, Japan, Poland, Turkey, Korea, Serbia, China and Peru are in pool E. Here in Nagoya, The USA, Brazil, Holland, Germany, Italy, Cuba, Czech Republic and Thailand are in pool F. first-day matches were very ordinary and offered a lot of up-and-down performances. Only the USA showed consistency against the Czech Republic. Cuba was very disappointing, losing 3-1 to a tall but quite slow Dutch team. Brazil just crushed Thailand and Italy beat Germany and totally dominated them in the last 2 games.
For statistics fans, here are a few interesting numbers from the first round.
One-way sets
Out of all the games played in the first round, 26% ended with a score of 25-15 or less. This number is obviously related to the difference in level between the top 4 teams in each pool and the rest but there are a few exceptions. Like Italy, who lost 25-7 to Brazil, or like Russia losing one set to Turkey 25-11. One would think that this would only apply in the first round. Well the very first game played here yesterday saw Cuba losing to Holland 25-12. In fact, 5 games ended with a score lower than 15 yesterday in Pool F and 4 in pool E. For an unexplained reason, a lot of teams have been inconsistent in this tournament so far.
Hitting efficiency (Thanks to Chris Green for compiling these stats)
Out of the 24 teams who played the first round, all the ones who have a hitting efficiency of 21% or higher qualified. Hitting efficiency is calculated by subtracting attack errors (balls out, blocked, etc.) from kills and divided that result by total attempts. The only exception is Croatia (25%), who finished tied for 3rd in their pool with Cuba and Thailand but ended up being eliminated on points. Canada ranks 20th with 18,5% hitting efficiency, but ranks 11th in terms of hitting errors with 74 in 5 matches. 
Playoff pool
Lupo, Janek, Scott and I started a playoff pool yesterday. We take our picks for the winner and the score of each match. We get 3 points for picking the right team and the right score, and 1 point for only the right team. After the 1st day, I lead with 8 points, Scott has 7, Lupo has 6 and Janek has 4. To be continued.
JB

Day #13 – November 3rd – Canada-Dominican Republic
A few experts were calling our match the "battle of Norceca". The Dominican Republic hadn't won a match yet and was looking for redemption against us.
We came so close to winning the second set after dominating the first one. But our inability to close out games came back to haunt us – we had 2 chances at game point – and restored the Dominicans' confidence at the same time. To think that they had played a very ordinary match up to that point. We were not able to recover and in the end the score was 1-3: 25-21, 26-28, 11-25, and 20-25.
It is tough to win when you have a hard time scoring from your serve receive phase. Not a lot of direct faults – 12 in 4 games – but a lack of "punch" helping the Dominicans in their transition game. It is disappointing to go back home with regrets but we also take back a valuable experience, which will undoubtedly serve our young group in the upcoming months.
Most of the girls are flying back this afternoon but Lupo, Scott and I are staying behind to watch the rest of the tournament. We leave tonight for Nagoya and we will move to Tokyo on the 8th of November,
This is my last official report but I'll try to stay and touch and report some facts and figures before we go back to Canada.
Click here to see a video report from Ken Wiebe
Talk soon,
JB

Day #12 – November 2nd – Canada-Turkey (Day 11 was a day off)Playing a match at 1:30 in the afternoon is kind of strange for a World Championship. The Osaka Central Gymnasium felt more like Lipsett hall when we got there. Hardly anyone in the stands and, oddly enough, not a lot of crewmembers either.
Didn't seem to bother our girls though, as we just played our best match of the tournament so far. Or, should I say, our best half-match. We controlled the first 2 games from start to finish and won 25-19, 25-20. A good execution, specifically on serving, enabled us to put a lot of pressure on our opponents. We aced them 7 times in the match, all in the first 2 games. Ironically, we also controlled the third game, as we completely lost our marks and committed 12 errors. The final score was 14-25.
The Turkish coach took a time out at 6-3 for us in the fourth game and then the lights went out on our execution game. A few minutes later, at the second technical time-out, Turkey was up 16-9. We never recovered. 2 of their subs hurt us quite a bit. And at this level, any loss of focus is suicide. The last 2 games scores were 17-25 and 8-15.
Small consolation, we are improving match after match. Tomorrow, we have a date with the Dominican Republic, for 5th place in our pool and for pride. The match is at 1pm!
JB

Day #10 – October 31 – Canada-Russia Please click here for Ken Wiebe's video report
13-25, 16-25, 21-25. The final score is a good indication of last night's match. Against a team like Russia, defending World champion, all errors are costly and all point opportunities not taken are converted into points for the opponent.
We started the match respecting our opponent too much (Lupo's words in the press conference). But then, as the match went on, we were able to increase our level of play and make it relatively close in the third set. But that was too little, too late.
Today is a well-deserved day off. I'll be back after our match against Turkey tomorrow night.
JB

Day #9 – October 30 – Canada-China A former Dutch coach, Mr. Peter Murphy, whom I've known for many years, came to see me after the match tonight and said: "If your team could play 20-25 matches a year against teams at this level, you'd be OK". So even with a much better effort tonight we still fell short 3-0: 16-25, 19-25, 10-25.
We blocked and defended much better than yesterday and played a much more dynamic game. But China has too many weapons and has too much experience. We weren't able to sustain the little pressure we put on them at times and we committed too many errors at crucial times against a team of that caliber. Our best scorer was Tiffany Dodds with 8 kills and 3 stuff blocks, with Sarah Pavan adding 9 points.
The mood is better than yesterday though, as the girls feel they accomplished at least one of the goals: elevate their level of play.
We play Russia tomorrow (at 3:30 pm, so 2:30 am in Eastern Canada). Big test, but more importantly big opportunity to play one of the best teams in the world.
See you tomorrow.
JB

Day #8 – October 29 – Canada-Korea We're coming back to the hotel with our heads slightly down. We just lost 3-0 to Korea: 19-25, 19-25 and 14-25. Lupo and Scott had done their homework well: Korea is not a great team and was well within our reach. We just couldn't grab the chance that was offered to us. It's hard to win volleyball matches if you score only a handful of points off your serving phase. We had a lot of difficulty converting our dug balls into points. And since our blocking wasn't very efficient, our back row defenders had a hard time compensating. The result: 2 stuff blocks for the whole match and very balls deflected.
To our defense, the Koreans were very effective offense-wise and their 2-player front row combinations put a lot of pressure on our blockers. Their right side player – whom we hadn't seen on any of the videos we had watched – played out of her mind (18 kills and 1 ace), leaving in her shadow their usual choice hitter, #10, Kim (one of the 3 Kim on the team!).
On our side, Sarah Pavan led the team with 14 kills and 1 stuff block while Tiffany Dodds added 7 kills.
Tomorrow, China will be waiting for us. They just lost to a very surprising Turkish team 3-1. No doubt they will be hungry and we have our work cut off for us. A very good opportunity, however, to turn things around and show what we are made of.
Please click here to see a video report done by Ken Wiebe from the Winnipeg Sun
Good night (or good day) and see you tomorrow.
JB

Day #7 – October 28
The last pre-tournament day is coming to an end. The countdown has started. In 18 hours we play Korea. We actually just finished the video session, which was made up of 2 parts. The first one saw 2 players report on our opponent and their country and talk about its history, its culture, etc… Tiffany and Julie did a great job. As this was the very first session of the tournament, Tammy and Carla also had to report on the history of the World Championship since its inception. For the second part, Lupo presented a Data volley montage about the Koreans' individual hitting tendencies.
The morning training session was very good. One half hour on the warm-up court and 1 hour on the competition court. The girls look ready and the moral is at its peak.
The match will start at 4:15pm local time which is 3:15 am in Eastern Canada.
À demain,
JB

Day #6 – October 27 We are finally in Osaka. We arrived at the Sheraton Miyako hotel last night around 8:15, after a 3-hour bus ride from Ageo to Narita, a 1½ hour flight from Narita to Osaka and yet another bus ride from the airport to our hotel. Needless to say everything was ready when we got here: room keys, evening meal, schedule for the next 6 days, and so on… Japanese efficiency is almost scary. Even the Preliminary inquiry (individual administrative meeting with each team) went very smoothly and only took 20 minutes. Probably a new record!
The atmosphere is already different here. The girls are excited at the idea of starting the competition. The first person I saw when we got off the bus was none other than Ekaterina Gamova, the 2m02 Russian outside hitter signing autographs in the hotel lobby.
This morning (it is 6 am on the 28th here right now), training for an hour and a half on the competition court, Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium.
Talk soon,
JB

Day #5 – October 26 – Match Ageo Medics-Canada
The name of the town is Ageo. This is where we are staying since last night. Ageo is a suburb located 15 kilometers Northwest of Tokyo. The name of the club is Ageo Medics. The owner is the Ageo General Hospital. It is the club who takes care of us while we're here and who arranged our trip back from Tokyo last night after the match against Poland. Its top team, against which we played tonight, plays in the V. Challenge League, the equivalent of the second division here in Japan. Their coach is Toshiaki Yoshida, aka Toshi, former USA Women's team Head coach between 200 and 2004. It is also the team for whom Tiffany Dodds will play this coming season.
The match we just played leaves a sour taste in our mouths. We played 2 good sets, with our starters on the court, against a 2nd rate team. We just couldn't take charge of the match from start to finish and we are still too inconsistent in our 1st contacts: serving, serve receiving and blocking. We took this training match as … a training match (Lupo's words). Final score: 2-3 (20-25, 25-18, 25-19, 19-25 et 16-25).
This match represents the end of our preparation for the World Championships. We leave for Osaka tomorrow afternoon. Let the show begin!
Talk soon,
JB

Day #4 – October 25 – Match Poland-Canada
Today was a long day, starting with 1-hour training session at Budo University in the morning. Departure for Tokyo in the afternoon, and a planned 2-hour bus trip, which actually took 3 and ½ hours, because of - you guessed it – heavy traffic within the extra-terrestrial freeway system of the Capital city. There is no rush hour here, more like rush day where traffic jams are present 24 hours a day. The highlight of the trip was undoubtedly the amazing light set-up at Tokyo Disneyland.
We played the match at Ajinomoto National Training Center. Ajinomoto is the company that sponsors the Japanese Olympic Committee, which is also housed in the state-of-the-art building, inaugurated in January 2008. The gym is made up of 2 volleyball courts side by side with no other lines whatsoever on the permanent Taraflex floor. This is where the Japanese volleyball teams train whenever they are together. One interesting feature about the gym is an integrated video system with 4 different cameras: 1 on each end of the courts, 1 on the wall to get a better view of all the net actions and 1 on the ceiling for an aerial view. I didn't see it, but I'm guessing that each one is connected to a central system where it is possible to view the same action from 4 different angles.
The match itself is a little disappointing. We are dominated in the first 3 games in pretty much all aspects. We lose 16-25, 18-25, and 13-25. Then the 2 coaches decide to use a few non-starters and we are able to win the fourth set 25-20. The 5th game is relatively close but we finally lose 22-25. Poland is a good team who plays a classic, simple game but a very efficient, clean one. Just like the night before against Budo, we have to learn from our mistakes and be able to increase our level of play a notch.
After the match, back on the bus for a 45-minute ride to Ageo City, where we will be staying until our departure for Osaka on Wednesday. Quick hotel check-in and finally bedtime at 1 am.
Talk soon,
JB

Day #3 – October 24
The sun sets and rises early in Japan at this time of year. Nevertheless, it is still dark outside: 5 o'clock in the morning and last night was short but pretty refreshing.
After a 2-hour morning low-impact training session – serve and serve receive only – we played the University Men's team last night. Although we did a lot of good things, we were unable to keep up with our opponents' speed and power. All their players are relatively short in volleyball standards – 1m80 for most of them – but very good technically (does that surprise you?) and especially very quick. We lost all 5 games: 21-25, 17-25, 14-25, 13-25, 21-25. Good way, however, to prepare for our matches against our Asian opponents Korea and China.
Lupo, Scott, David, Ben and I went for supper at the coach's house after the match, M. Tokunaga. Nice evening spent around a huge coffee table used for the occasion as a dining room table. 30 centimeters in height, we were all sitting around it Japanese style with our legs crossed. My knees still hurt! Typical Japanese meal with sushi for appetizers and different kinds of meat and vegetables grilled on an electric hot plate placed in the middle of the table as the main meal. Very nice… To top it all off, Mr. Tokunaga, his wife and their 2 sons had prepared presents for us at the end of the meal. Individual bags containing a few Japanese writing paper items. Thank God we had had the presence of mind to bring a few gifts of our own.
Today, light training session in the morning and then trip to Tokyo where we will play Poland tonight. We say goodbye to the IBU as we are going to stay in a hotel in Tokyo for the next 2 nights.
Talk soon,
JB   

Day #2 – October 23
3 in the morning on October 24. I couldn't sleep so I got up to write these few lines. Looks like my adjustment to this time zone will be a bit more painful than the one in Italy.
Saturday was a good day, pretty similar to our any of our team's training days. Practice from 9 to 12: 2 hours in the gym – with emphasis on ball control – as well as a 1-hour weight training session to conclude. Then a 2nd training session, from 4 to 7, this one somewhat more dynamic, focused on speed and team play.
The same scenario is waiting for us tomorrow (well, in a few hours, really). With one exception: our staff has been invited for supper at the University coach's house. He has been very accommodating up to now. He was at the airport to meet us, along with one of his players, who is serving as our interpreter. We found out pretty quickly that he doesn't speak much English. We have to be very inventive with our sign language! On the other hand, he is very devoted. He is with us for all our meals and our training sessions with 5 of his teammates. These 6 guys are probably the best ball shaggers I have ever seen. 
À demain,
JB   

Day #1 – October 21-22
As your day is probably just starting, ours is almost over (Japan is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Canada). We arrived safe and sound in Japan, with our hosts waiting for us as planned. After a 2-hour bus ride, we finally arrived at our temporary home, Budo University. We trained for 1 hour upon arrival and had supper just after practice.
Some of us are trying really hard not to go to bed too early. Everyone is pretty beat from the trip. Crossing the International Date Line will do that to you…
International Budo University is a private university in Katsuura, Chiba, Japan, established in 1984. The University is specialized in budo and sports related education.
More on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Budo_University

Official website of Budo University (site in Japanese, with a small English section):
http://www.budo-u.ac.jp/

Talk soon,
JB

The Championship
For the second time in a month, I will be participating in a World Championship as a Team Manager, this time in Japan with our Women's team. I actually wrote these lines on the plane from Vancouver to Tokyo.
The first part of our trip will be spent training at Budo University from the 22nd to the 26th, as well as playing a friendly match against Poland on the 25th. Then, we'll move to Osaka, where we will be playing our first pool of the World Championships, with Korea, China, Russia, Turkey and the Dominican Republic.
I will be sending daily reports back and keep you updated with the major events of our trip.
Happy reading.
Click here for a video from the Winnipeg Sun: www.winnipegsun.com/sports/othersports/2010/10/25/15827611.html

Men's National Team at Worlds Championship- By Julien Boucher, Team Manager

Day #14 – Trieste
As you know, we’ve just beaten Serbia, ranked fourth in the world, 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 17-25, 25-23).  It was a great match by everyone on our team and a big confidence boost for our next match.
The story of the match was our ability to limit our errors and force the Serbs to play hard from start to finish.  The final tally: the Serbs made 30 unforced errors compared to 13 for us. But the Serbs biggest error isn’t on the scoresheet. Their coach decided to start three subs. Whether it was arrogance or disrespect, our players reacted perfectly and executed Glenn’s plan to a tee.
The Serbs added two starters for the second set without any success.  In the third, with their pride on the line, the Serbs dominated. But the damage was done and we quickly bounced back in the fourth. It was a big win against a team that has won so many medals through the years. Italy is still in shock.
But we can’t rest on our laurels.  The hardest part is yet to come. The Germans are anxious to face us after a tough loss to Poland in five sets that lasted two and a half hours. The Germans have a different style than the Serbs based more on pure power, especially with their service- and less on finesse in their execution. We’ll need to adjust and continue to build on our victory.
Our situation is simple: a win and we are in the second round.  A loss combined with a loss by the Serbs to Poland will create a three-way tie for second place in our pool. Since the first tie-breaker is the grand total of points for and against it is impossible at this time to make any assessments.

Day #13 –  Trieste
We had a good start to the day.  We trained for an hour this morning on the match court, which happens rarely at an official FIVB event. Usually the match court is reserved for the matches. But a heavy rainfall this morning caused problems at the practice facility. Therefore organizers let the teams practice in the big hall.
The rest of the day also went well even though we had little time between practice and the match… 5 p.m. games come fast.
We had a good start in the first set.  It was probably our best performance in several weeks ...until 20-20. Then two errors took the wind out of our sails and allowed a nervous Polish squad to win 25-22. That shifted the momentum to the Poles and we never recovered.  Still we grabbed an 8-3 lead in the second set but the Poles responded with five straight points. After we played catch-up for the rest of the set. The final score was 25-21. The third set ended 25-13.
Fred Winters continued to be our main offensive threat with nine kills and 3.21 score out of 4 for service reception. Gavin Schmitt led the team with 12 points.
The coaches and I returned to the gym after supper to watch the Serbia-German match.  Serbia appears to be on a mission and easily won. The Germans had beaten Brazil two times in three matches last week. Therefore there is a big challenge ahead for us tonight against the Serbians.

Day #11 and #12 – Trieste
It is 6 p.m., September 24 in Trieste. The team is completing its training session without me and Larry McKay who have been assigned laundry duties this afternoon. We did a great job.
The trip from Bled to Trieste went well.  We actually arrived earlier than expected. At our arrival, everything was ready: hotel rooms and lunch. Since then it hasn’t been as smooth. It is true the worlds are a big event being held in six cities. For example the organizing committee wasn’t aware of our request made last month for tickets to other matches for our team members. We hope to solve this dilemma prior to our first match.
On the court, training is going well and our guys are focused.  Last night’s training on the match court was held at a high level. Lots of work on ball control, six-on-six. The intensity was high.
For Glenn and me, two meetings in 12 hours: the first at 9 p.m. was for preliminary enquiries. This meeting is to verify the players’ passports, registration forms and team uniforms. This afternoon, we had a technical meeting with the organizing committee, officials, as well as, the coaches and team managers.
With all formalities aside, the serious stuff starts tomorrow. Our first match is at 5 p.m., against Poland. In fact our three first round matches are at 5 p.m.
Photos are available at :
http://www.fivb.org/EN/Volleyball/Competitions/WorldChampionships/2010/Men/PhotosVariousF.asp?Tourn=MWCH2010.

Day #10 – Bled
Last full day in Bled.  The team is very positive and is anxious to travel to the world championship venue.
This morning’s training focused on defence and reception, Glenn wanted to limit the number of jumps.
In the evening in Zirovnica, about 10 minutes from Bled, a match against Remat Zalau, the Romanian league champions, coached by Radovan Gacic, Glenn’s assistant two years ago at ACH Volley.
The match went well. We played four sets and won all four 25-20, 25-20, 25-16, 25-18.  Our six starters were slow off the mark but dominated the opponent, a weaker squad than ACH. The subs also did well especially Gord Perrin. Fred Winters delivered another consistent performance. It augurs well for the weekend.
Tomorrow morning we have weight training, then travel by bus to Trieste, Italy.

Day #7, #8 and #9 – Bled, Slovenia
The final phase of our preparations for the world championships started today.  We had training this morning and a modified match against Bled tonight
The last day and a half was relatively light.  On Sunday night, Glenn held a video session with the players focusing on Poland, our first opponent in Italy. In the first part, everyone provided comments on each of the Polish players. In the second part we watched three sets of a match between Poland and Brazil a few weeks ago.
Everyone had the next day off. We were received by Bled’s mayor in the morning at a castle overlooking the lake. We went to lunch at the ACH players’ favourite pizza parlour for lunch then visited Ljubljana in the afternoon.
Then this morning, we were back in our routine.  A two hour workout with a short weight training session and defensive work with one on one attacks (defence exercise 5 vs 5). We ended with service and reception. The rest seemed to be beneficial for all.
We have just returned from our match against ACH.  The match was more like a training session: there were no uniforms, no officials, no scoresheets. We played four sets; the last two played the regular way. Both coaches decided to modify the first two sets by allowing three consecutive serves per team. Therefore once the first exchange was completed, two more serves were immediately launched, one an easy ball over the net and then an easy ball directly to the setter to simulate a ball high in the air and in transition. Each set went to 25 points. We won three of the four sets.
Tomorrow, we have two more sessions. In the morning, we have training and in the evening a friendly against, in a town close to Bled.

Day #6 - Bled, Slovenia
It was a gala evening at the Radovljica Arena. This venue, about eight kilometres from Bled, is where the ACH Volley plays its home games. The corporate headquarters for ACH (Auto Commerce Holding) the club’s main sponsor, is in Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital.
The club celebrated its 40th anniversary last night and our match was part of the festivities.  For the occasion there were many special guests including Bled’s Mayor, members of the original 1970 team and…Glenn Hoag begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting (Hoag coached here the last two seasons). During the presentation of the six starters for Canada, the arena’s announcer named Olivier Faucher as the team’s starting libero instead of Dan Lewis as a prank to one of the crowd’s favourites. Lewis is a member of the Bled squad during the winter season.
Even though it wasn’t a great match we were able to get back on the winning track.  We won 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 25-23. Glenn took the opportunity to provide everyone with some game time.  For the first time on this trip, all the players were on the plus side in the plus\minus rankings. Glenn used Olivier Faucher as the second libero but mainly for defensive purposes. The FIVB could soon imitate the CEV league and allow this rule. In European Cup play, a team can use two liberos in the same match, as long as they are not on court at the same time.
Tomorrow we will train in the morning and have a video session in the evening.  Since we left Gatineau each player has videos on all three teams we will face in the round robin at the world championships: Poland, Serbia and Germany. They must all fill out reports during this trip and tonight will be the first opportunity to compare notes.
Monday is an off day for all, including me.  I’ll be back Tuesday with more news.
Meanwhile you  can visit http://www.ach-volley.si/   which will post photos of the match.
For travelling enthusiasts here are some websites to check out on the area.
Bled tourism: http://www.slovenia.info/?_ctg_kraji=3284&lng=5
Our hotel website: http://www.hotel-krim.si/


Day #5 - Litomysl-Bled                    
We have just arrived in Bled, Slovenia. The trip went well but was very long. If you combine the bus rides, two one-hour flights and the waiting time in Prague and Munich, it took us 15 hours to get here. It took us just as long to travel 6,500 kilometres from Ottawa to Litomysl on the day we left for overseas. Long live international travel!
Bled will be familiar territory for many of us over the next five days. Glenn Hoag begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting coached the ACH pro team here for two seasons; Nic Cundy was a member of the Bled team for two years while Dan Lewis will return for a second season this winter. Assistant coach Vincent Pichette begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting and I visited Glenn here last winter. Dustin Schneider trained here in March-April 2009 and Toon Van Lankvelt and Adam Kaminski played for teams in the same league as Bled last season. Adam Simac has joined the squad for the 2010-2011 season.
Glenn has managed all the arrangements and we just received our schedule from Petra the Bled club manager.
Tomorrow we train at 2 p.m. and play a match against Bled in the evening. Glenn’s former players are obviously looking forward to challenging us and apparently the match is nearly sold out.
The ACH web site will broadcast our match at: http://www.ach-volley.si/index.php?page=novice&id=1139
The team’s health is also improving.  I was even criticized for saying Justin Duff was sick which wasn’t the case. The first beer is on me Justin!
Until tomorrow.

Day #4 - Czech Republic
Our illnesses outside the court persist.  While I felt much better, Glenn Hoag begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting, Louis-Pierre Mainville and Justin Duff all continue to suffer from abdominal pains. Toon Van Lankvelt suffered bad indigestion the previous evening and did not participate in training and the match.
The rest of the team showed a higher energy level in the morning training and the level of intensity climbed a notch.  Glenn decided to keep it simple. He put aside the formation with the middle in front of the setter which had worked relatively well against Cuba. We played tonight with the fourth attacker in front of the setter.
The other theme in training: counter defence.  However the match tonight was similar to the other two. A 0-3 loss (19-25, 24-26, 23-25). It wasn’t a stellar performance and we lacked finish at the end of sets. Our top two scorers were our middles!!!
While we defended well, we made too many errors on execution and the experienced Czechs made us pay for it. We must regroup and work very hard to play at a superior level against the Poles, Serbs and Germans. Everyone must bear down and work for the team (these are Glenn’s words).
The first part of the trip is now complete and we leave for Bled tomorrow at 7 a.m...  Long day ahead. More details tomorrow.


Day #3 – Litomysl, Czech Republic
I am writing these lines on September 16.  We didn’t have a good day yesterday. We were either hit with food poisoning or a virus, I’m not sure. I couldn’t attend the morning training session, due to illness but I finally dragged myself out of bed to go to the match in Chocen. And now, Glenn is also feeling some stomach pains. The food here seems O.K. Let’s hope the players will be spared.
From all reports, the morning training went very well.  Glenn split the group. Half the players did some weight training, while the others, the group that didn’t play so well on Tuesday, worked on reception-attack and vice versa.
Our second match was in Chocen, a small town 20 kilometres north of Litomysl.  In a packed gym (250 people) we tried to make up for our loss the previous night. But for the second night in a row we couldn’t put pressure on the Czech receivers and attackers. Glenn started Dustin Schneider for Josh Howatson and Nic Cundy for Dallas Soonias. But nothing works. We are dominated by the star Czech player who end the match with 20 kills and four aces.   He is a high calibre player who’ll play for Trentino, Italy next season which includes superstars Juantorena of Cuba and Kasisky of Bulgaria. The final score: 0-3 for the Czechs (19-25, 23-25, 19-25). Gavin Schmitt was our top scorer with 11 points.
The game plan for tonight: elevate our level of play, by playing harder and with more intensity
For the rest of the morning my main task is to find and internet connection that works, as the one in our hotel is useless.


Day #2– Litomysl, Czech Republic
Training last night went well. We kept it simple: long warm-up, followed by individual work: ball control, attack, reception and service.
It was the same story this morning. However since it was a birthday for Nic Cundy and Olivier Faucher both received some whipped cream pies courtesy of Dallas Soonias.
MATCH #1
There are many reasons why we lost our first match : it could be jet-lag, poor defence, perhaps a more experience Czech team.  Final result: 0-3 (23-25, 22-25, 25-27)
Even if we didn’t play well we still kept it close.  We even had leads in the second and third sets. Fred Winters played very well scoring 16 of our 50 points.
Tomorrow, the routine starts again.  Training at 10 a.m. and the match at 6 p.m. This time we play in Chocen, a small town near Litomysl.
We are struggling with our internet connections so we apologize for delays in our reports.