July 20, 2008
Greeting from Pula, Croatia.
Yesterday was the longest day of my life! We practiced at 9:00 am and I don't think I was over the jet lag. We returned to the hotel for a much needed nap and then played the Denmark Youth National Team. They came out strong and ran a quick 31 to their middle but our incredible athletes were able to adjust. We beat them 3-0.
At dinner, the coaching staff (myself, Rob Patrick from Tennessee, Ray Gooden from Northern IL, and Jozsef Forman from New Orleans) decided that we could have a final four team on our hands, meaning that if we could train these girls for three months that we would end up in the NCAA Final Four. That sounds wired, I know, because we don't have any "big name" recruits on our team. What we have is a bunch of women who have worked hard in their career and want to play hard to represent their country.
After we played Denmark, we went to dinner (pork again) and then traveled two hours to Lubijanna, the capital of Slovenia, to play again.
We won 3-0 and then went to dinner at a great restaurant. We immediately left after dinner for a two and a half hour ride through Croatia. The drive to Pula, Croatia was long and windy. We saw the Alps and they are much bigger then our mountains. They are pretty in their own way.
Liz [Rondone] and Carrie [Minogue] seem to be having a great time. I know I am learning a lot and enjoy working with this talented team.
My responsibility is to work with the offense in general and the middles. Carrie is one of the middles I get to work with and she continually impresses the entire staff. For a middle hitter, he defense is INCREDIBLE!!!! Rob keeps telling me she should play all around, but Liz, being our Libero, would strongly disagree with that.
This morning we played a Russian club team. The cool thing about them is that their coach is like the Red Auerbach of Volleyball. Carpiel has defined volleyball for my generation. He has won two Olympic Gold medals and many world championships. I was really excited to see him in person and I barely recognized him. I remember watching him coach the Russian VB team in the 1986 Souel Olympics. He just screamed and screamed at his team and they were awesome. I thought I would like to play for him but he scared me to death. He was always purple on TV so I barely recognized him. I was completely star struck. To put it simply, he makes Bobby Knight seem like a passive person. It was RELLY cool to meet him. Liz and Carrie have made it into the starting lineup and we beat the Russians in 3.
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Tonight we had the Opening Ceremonies for the tournament. Up until tonight we have been playing friendlies, practice matches. After the opening ceremonies, we were able to walk the city of Pula. They have one of the six original Coliseums left in the world. It is incredible.
