Day 2- No time for jetleg

Video coming soon!

We can barely call the second day of the trip "Day 2," since the day began before Day 1 even ended. We met our USAAI crew (we decided the fitting team cheer is USA, pronounced OO-SAH), at the connecting flight airport in Detroit. Soon after that, it was shut eye, personal TV screens, and music for the next 7.5 hours. Our flight landed early midday in Utrecht, Netherlands. We had very little time to adjust and freshen up because before we knew it, we had a team practice at a local gym. Every place that we are scheduled to play at this week is in a different location. This will change when the weekend arrives for the big Dutch Volleyball Tournament which starts on Saturday.

There are a lot of strong fundamentals that make a strong, successful team, and anyone that is familiar with sports can vouch that it isn't easy to throw a group together and click right away. Sure, it is possible that one or two players form special connections right off the bat, but for everyone to mesh seamlessly after 10 minutes, it's just not gonna happen! We dusted off the cobwebs, though, and hopped right into it. Our coach, Margot, is actually the collegiate coach for our two youngest teammates (Kelly and Beth who just recently finished their first year at Providence). Needless to say, there is some familiarity between coaches and a few of the players, but not enough to call ourselves a team just yet!

A few things we needed to keep in mind at this point: 

• Some of us were able to sleep during the trip, but a lot of the girls and guys on the team were sleep deprived at this point! A 6-8 hour time difference is a lot to try and combat with high energy and activity at a volleyball practice.
• We do not have a setter! A setter is a key component to a volleyball team. They are comparable to a quarterback in a football game. They call out and initiate plays, and ultimately are the deciding factor of the offense and tempo of the game. Without one, it can be very hard to run a consistently strong offense and effectively utilize your defense! 
•  (The guys team has 2 setters--we have been joking that we may just borrow one of them and put a wig and spandex on him :-P hehe)
• As a brand new team, you need to really focus on getting to know your teammates. Let's remember that every collegiate volleyball season, you have an entire preseason (2-3 weeks) to do this. We, unfortunately, have one 2 hour session before our first match on Day 3.
• We are a mix of D1 to D3 athletes that all have a talent for the game and come from very different backgrounds! However, none of us have the intention of coming all the way out here to goof around and battle with our international competition; we all share the passion for a competitive drive!

Here is our roster for the week: 

Genevieve (#12) & Rachelle (#14)- Bradley University , DS/Liberos (Class of 2012)

Emily- Limestone College, Outside Hitter (Class of 2012)

Alexis- NYU Engineering School, Middle (Class of 2012)

Beth- Providence, Defensive specialists (Class of 2015)

Kelly- Providence, Outside hitter (Class of 2015)

Maggie- , Outside/Rightside hitter (Class of 2012)

Kim- University of Tampa, Outside hitter (Class of 2014)

-Rachelle