We are back in Chicago O’Hare waiting for our flight back to Orange County. We just closed out our series with Finland with two wins. It was fun to be back in Green Bay. The people here are very friendly and it is fun to connect with them after the matches.
I must admit, blogging is much harder than I thought it would be. Especially with our travel schedule. With matches on the road every weekend, we are only home for a day and a half max! It is hardly relaxing as we all try and cram all of our business and family time in such a short time span. The summer is blazing by. 39 days and counting!!!
In reference to the team. I like our position right now. We are not at peak performance, hitting on all cylinders YET but we are still finding ways to win. It is awesome to look around the locker room and realize that we have years, nearly a decade of competition in some cases, of competing together side-by-side. It is no surprise that we are a top three team when you see that more guys are staying with the team for longer periods of time. I believe that is the key to success and hopefully a sign of what is to come for US volleyball in the next few quads and beyond. With the team back in California and overseas contracts rising by the year, more and more guys are STOKED to call this their “career”. This in contrast to when I first joined the team. Back then, the volleyball culture within the team seemed more negative and pessimistic, the majority seemingly eager to retire and get on with their “real” career. Today is a good day to be a volleyball player and of course a great day to be on this team. To return to the top of the volleyball world and stay there, we need long term commitment by players. So if you are a younger player reading this, keep aspiring, pushing and grinding…
First weekend down. We won tonight 3-0. Both teams made adjustments from the previous match. They pressured us more from the service line. Got on a few runs but ended up making errors in the long run. We weathered the few serving storms and kept the pressure on them making very few errors. We also had better wing blocking tonight and some really key digs (esp. from Riley Salmon #10 and Kevin Hansen #14). It is a good start to a long tournament and the feeling on the team is positive.
Now we have to prepare for a long day of travel back to LA. It will be nice to get back home and eat some good food. Have a light recovery day on Monday and get back to business on Tuesday with all of our focus on Bulgaria.
Killing time can be difficult on these kinds of trips. Many of the guys are downstairs in a big poker game taking each others money and talking lots of smack to each other. Another group of us play a game called “Finiente”. A trump card game played in pairs that has been a USA Volleyball card game tradition for many generations now. The big news is that Millar and I had a major comeback to take the first match 2-0 against Lee and Gardner. Sure the volley results are important, but Finiente…a close second.
Its quarter past 10 at night and the sun has yet to set…very strange. In fact, its not until midnight that the sun actually sets. We just got back from a dinner that was virtually inedible following our first World League match against Finland. The 2008 season is officially under way!
We won in 4 which is great to get off to a good start. There is a lot of room for improvement though from our side of the net. They made a ton or errors early and didn’t find their groove until later in game 3. Goose (Gabe Gardner #15) came out absolutely bombing in the first set and helped set the tone for the match. He must of had like 8 kills in the first set alone, maybe more! They went on a run in the 3rd set which we closed on, just not enough and ran out of time losing that set 23-25. Back on the horse in game 4 to close out the match. If I could choose one thing to be better at tomorrow night that I believe would make a big difference it would be wing blocking. We must of had less than five stuff-blocks as wing blockers…just a bit off with timing, and position. I have to give some credit to their setter. He has a slower, deeper release but then would jack it to the pins real fast. It was tough to get a beat on.
We are back in the hotel now. Luckily my wife packed some snacks for me because the food has been mediocre at best. You never know what your going to get on the road so best to bring a stash of food to make up for poor food selection. We will try to get another full-nights rest and then have video first thing in the morning. I am sure we’ll see some good plays as well as a lot of plays we would like to have back. Hopefully we can make some of the needed adjustments and get on them early tomorrow night.
We arrived in Finland about 2 hours ago…no checked bags to be found. We checked into the hotel and are waiting for our luggage to arrive. Not the best way to start a road trip but this isn’t our first rodeo so no big deal. The summer competition is under way and it has come up fast. We kick it off against Finland this weekend with Spain and Bulgaria as the other teams in our group. A tough group indeed! We have our work cut out for us to qualify for the finals in Rio. But I anticipate it being a great prep leading into Beijing.
My wife and I are getting settled in our new home and I must say it is nice to finally be able to set up shop and unpack bags! We have been living a transient lifestyle since we were married last year. Now we get to open and enjoy wedding gifts and stored belongings and look forward to home-cooked meals. It has been a crazy month moving but now with some downtime in the hotel and on the road, I hope to be able to share more with you right here on the TRAFFIC blog. As always, I encourage feedback and questions and I will try to respond to all of them. GO USA!