Pordenone/Venice - Heading Home Tomorrow!!

Last Post (I think!) - girls had an easy bus ride to Pordenone. A very quaint old town "center" with tons of shops on narrow cobblestone streets. Gelato was great! Girls had a final team dinner last night (Friday) and spent the day in`Venice today (Saturday). "Venice is not a city - it is a museum" (according to one of the guidebooks) - overwhelmingly beautiful and totally unique. Girls all met at San Marcos Plaza for a final group picture, and will be flying home tomorrow. Please check Delta schedules for flight updates!!! It's been a blast! Congratulations to all the girls for their accomplishment in making the SCVA teams, and thanks to all the parents for allowing the girls to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity, and thanks to SCVA, BringIt (Cory and Tim), and to the coaches (Val, Dana, Hava and John).

Chow!

- Kevin :) :)

Istrija Division GOLD for SCVA Red !!!!!!!

SCVA Red defeated a scrappy Front Range to win the Gold in the Istrija Division, beating Front Range 3-1. More info and photos following the Closing Ceremonies tonight!!

- Kevin

UPDATE - just added a bunch of photos from the Closing Ceremonies and "Pool Party". The two group pictures at the end of the Closing Ceremonies are for the MVP Team for each division (Brioni and Istrija) - note the excellent SCVA Red representation!! Now we pack and head to Pordenone tomorrow. It's been an amazing adventure. Hope you've enjoyed the blog! `I may post one more update in Pordenone/Venice. `Please check the Global Challenge for details on scores, awards, etc!

- Kevin

DAY 10 - Part 1

UPDATE - SCVA Blue lost to a very strong Romanian team (check out the height of their front row in this picture and in the "most recent pictures" slideshow!!), finishing GC 2008 in 8th place (a major accomplishment for such a young team to finish in the upper division). SCVA Red plays Front Range (Denver) at 4 PM, followed by the Brioni Division Championship at 7 PM, followed by the courtside Awards Ceremony and the end of tournament "Pool Party" back at Hotel Pula.
- Kevin :)

DAY 9 - Part 2 (Quarterfinals)

SCVA Blue (Youth) played their Slovenian Youth friends in a very close match, winning one game, but ultimately losing 2-1. Although a little frustrating for our competitive girls, they are one of the youngest teams here at Global Challenge, and making it to the upper Brioni Division is quite an accomplishment in itself. They play the Romanian team (again, much older!) tomorrow morning at 9 AM.

SCVA Red (Juniors) beat the Russian Team 2-0, and will be playing in the Istrija Division Championship tomorrow at 4 PM against Front Range Volleyball (Denver, Colorado).

- Kevin :)

DAY 9 - Part 1

A beautiful day in Pula for GC 2008 Day 2 (Wednesday)! SCVA Blue lost to a very tough "OK Pula" team (MUCH older, including one professional), taking one game from the "big girls", losing 3-1. SCVA Red beat Galeb to advance to the semifinals in the Istrija Division. Tonight (5 PM), SCVA Blue plays the Slovenian girls (again - same team we roomed with and scrimmaged in Ljubljana), which would put them in the 5th/6th place game in the Brioni Division. The SCVA Red plays (7 PM) against the Uralocka team; winner advances to the Istrija finals tomorrow.

In between matches, the girls have been enjoying the pool or the little beach right below the hotel. The parents have discovered an amazing little coffee shop right across from the "Super Pu" market, and a fantastic fish restaurant right above the market.

More to follow after this evening's games!

- Kevin

DAY 8 - GC 2008 (Round 2 and 3 - Tuesday)

Big day for GC 2008!! SCVA Blue beat the Austrian team handily, which resulted in a crossover match with SCVA Red! The SCVA Blue played a solid game against a very strong SCVA Red, winning the crossover 3-1 (check http://www.bringitusa.com/gc08 for updates and details!). The SCVA Blue will be playing tomorrow in Round 1 of the Brioni Division, and SCVA Red will be playing tomorrow in Round 1 in the Istrija Division (team seeds and first match pairings will be posted later tonight). As I sit here blogging (7:45 PM our time), it's a beautiful sunset in Pula, with a fantastic thunderstorm!

- Kevin

UPDATE - Both teams play tomorrow morning at 9 AM. SCVA Red (2nd seed) plays Galeb (7th seed) at 9 AM, and SCVA Blue (7th seed) plays OK Pula (2nd seed) at 9 AM.

DAY 7 - GC 2008 Round 1 (Monday)

Today was opening play for GC 2008. The SCVA Blue (Youth) played well, losing a close match to Pula (a VERY big team!!), and then beating the Russian Team Uralochka Ekaterinburg (and met legendary coach Nikolai Karpal). [We'll post an update on the Red team and other photos soon!!).

- Kevin

DAY 6 - Bus to Pula for Opening Ceremonies!

Today the girls traveled via bus to Pula for the Global Challenge 2008 Opening Ceremonies. After checking into the Hotel Pula and enjoying some free time at the beach, the two SCVA teams headed to the Pula Town Hall (Forum) for Opening Ceremonies. Each of the teams was introduced, and we had some time to relax in the 2,000+year old Town Hall plaza. Play begins tomorrow (Monday) at 9 AM - check the Global Challenge website for game results, and blog updates in the evenings!

- Kevin

Last day in Ljubljana

Allison Li & Kaila Thomas

Our final day in Ljubljana began at 11am with an hour of practice. The main focus was rehearsing our warm up for the upcoming matches and tons of serve and pass. At the end Valerie changed our regular cool down and switched it up with a relaxing ball massage: we left the gym floor flooded with sweat!
For lunch we took the familiar walk to Hotel Slon - we we learned means "elephant" - with the Slovenian team that we would scrimmage later in the day. Even though we played with them competitively in the scrimmage, we maintained the friendly spirit that began Friday night. Shortly after, a few of us left the Hostel with 5 of the Slovenian girls to find a market. We did not take into account that it was a Saturday and all the stores closed at 1 o'clock. We walked around town center for nearly 30 minutes until we found someone who directed us to an open grocery store. Luckily we had native Slovenian speakers with us to help pick out yummy treats!
Meeting up with the rest of the team for dinner was uneventful though they were upset we didn't pick up extra goodies for them.
But the best part of the day was roaming the city at night. Splitting into groups, K and I joined the Slovenian girls for ice cream at Cacoa then french fries and McD's!!! Finally we browsed the jewelry stands and I bought rings for myself and my sister. I (Kaila) bought a ring for myself and my best friend. Getting back to the Hostel at 11, the Slov girls were faced with a big problem: a broken lock which made their room inaccessible. As they waited for the Hostel owner to arrive they taught us a game called "killer". The night ended with lots of laughs and good memories and, best of all, new friends!

Pre Friendly vs Slovenia

Lauren Birks & Courtney McCutchan

Waking up at 7:00 AM which really is 10:00 PM to us California girls was not easy. We slowly put our volleyball shoes and clothes on because we had PRACTICE!!! We had many tired faces and woke up to no breakfast. But magnificent Cory showed up to the gym with bananas, apples and traditional Slovenian jelly filled donuts. We quickly woke up with a sugar high enough to power through a fun and productive practice. Afterwards, we had lunch at the Hotel Slon, where we ate soup, salad, and chicken. The Danish team was there but the huge age difference does not help us relate to each other. Once we came back from lunch we were greeted by tall and friendly Slovenian 16 year olds! Stephanie, Ainsley, Luci, and I (Courtney) are lucky enough to room with two Slovenian girls. We had another practice and rushed home to shower. We were excited for a night out with the Slovenian girls who were ready to show us their turf. At dinner we all mixed together and tried to learn the language. Luci was definitely catching on to the Slovenia language. There were many laughs caused by the mispronunciation. After dinner we were all craving some Gelato! While walking down the cobble stone streets we got many stares since Slovenia is not use to a group of 20 6'0 tall girls! While asked where we were all from one of the Slovenian girls quickly said we were ALL from California! We were all loving the attention!! The river was beautiful and we took many many pictures. A random Greek guy even asked for a picture with all of us. After walking around the town we came back to the hostel to hangout some more. We made videos of Luci and I reading a Slovenian magazine and compared our fantastic accents to Petia and Nina's. We are excited to scrimmage them today!

More on the Danish match

7/19/08
Lauren Allen & Stephanie Scheele

Odbojka! We are two members of the U.S. SCVA Junior National Team. We are currently in Slovenia staying in a hostel called Veselova. We are honored to have the whole hostel occupied with foreign teams that include the Danish National Team and the SlovenianNational Team. Each team has one room and each floor shares a two shower, three toilet bathroom (tight quarters to say the least!). We are constantly interacting with all of the girls in the hostel and downtown is only a five minute walk, so we can also interact with the locals who are very friendly. During our stay we have the luxury of practicing in a nearby high school gym that is very similar to a high school gym in America, except for none of our highschool gyms have mini rock walls. We have practiced everyday since arriving in Slovenia and last night we were given the opportunity to play a friendly scrimmage against the Danish team. We started off nervous and timid on the court but towards the last game we really pulled together and started to look like a team. Although we only won 1 out of 3 games, we all felt that it was a big accomplishment given that it was only our third day playing together. We were told that the Danish team has been playing together since they were 12. The language barrier was frustrating. We felt like we were at a disadvantage because they understood English and we didn't understand Danish. It was a learning experience getting ˝a taste˝ of competitionbefore the tournament in Croatia to see what we are up against. We will be leaving for Croatia tomorrow and we will be staying there for 4 days for the Global Challenge Tournament. We are excited to be able to put our hard work from Slovenia into the matches ahead. The experience here in the hostel and in the city has brought together our team and allowed us to carry that bond on the court. Our intention is for that bond to flourish and grow in the up coming week we have left here.

Hostel Life

Tiffany Morales & Ainsley Lovejoy

At first we were pretty scared to stay in the hostel because it reminded us of the movie. As we walked into the building our minds soon changed. The rooms were so cute. One room had lime green walls, two bunk beds and two other beds. The other room was all the way in the attic with six beds and orange walls. The bathrooms were very small and hard to take normal showers. After they were used, the bathrooms were always wet and gross to walk around in. (sidenote – it wasn't that bad, just small space being used by several girls- Val) the orange room didn't even have a bathroom, actually. They had to share with the older girls. The lime room got to share a room with two girls from the Slovenian Youth Team. They were fun to talk to. We pretty much talked about our different cultures and compared them. We even tried reading one of their magazines. Let's just say, they were laughing at us the whole time!

There was a lot more stuff to do in the hostel than in the hotel in Innsbruck. There was a common room with the computers. Everyone had to fight to get on them because everyone wanted a chance to use them. The common room was also the area where we socialized with the other teams. The Slovenians were very friendly while the Danish didn't really talk (likely the age difference as they are 17-22 yr olds). Breakfast was served in the common room as well. No one wanted to eat it though. It smelled bad and taste even worse! We would skip it or go to the market and get our own food. The hostel was a new and exciting experience. We would definitely love to stay there again.

Final Full Day in Ljubljana

Mimi Cuttrell & Chelsea Oemcke

This morning we woke up early for morning practice…it was hard to wake up. Breakfast was really simple – with just toast and cereal. After breakfast Corey picked us up and we all piled into the van that looks like a spaceship and headed off to the gym. It was hard to wake up and get moving for practice, but after some quick moving drills we all woke up. After practice we went back to the Hostel to shower and get ready for the day. Nothing was planned for us other than lunch and dinner so we headed to the boutiques along the city streets. We also went to this ice cream stand where they had over 20 flavors!!! It was very good and only 1 euro – a really good price! We walked around the cobble stone streets glancing at all the shops and found a cute bathing suit shop (Mimi's favorite pastime).

We headed to lunch after that at the Elephant Hotel (where we ate all our meals): we had soup, fish and potatoes. After lunch we went back to the Hostel to do some laundry and pack a little. During our packing process two killer bees flew into our room…they were the size of our pinky finger! We ran out of the room and left to go shop on the streets again. We went to the open air market and bought fresh fruit. We walked along the river where they had carts alongside full of jewelry, but the shops closed early because it was a Slovenian holiday so we returned to the Hostel prior to dinner. We enjoyed dinner with the Slovenian, Dutch and BIP teams. It was altogether a good day.

xoxo

Friendly match vs Slovenian YNT

Taylor Richard & Katie Gamsky

When we played the Slovenians on Friday, it was a good opportunity to see how our competition was going to look like in Croatia. Our first game started off slow and all of us were a bit nervous, but afer the nerves went away, we came together as a team and brought the intensity to the court. Most of us weren't expecting the big block but we adjusted and eventually got some great kills. Unfortunately the game was close and we lost 22-25. The second game ended in the same score but the third game had a different outcome. WE WON!!! We were communicating and acting as if we had been playing together for longer then we have. Obviously they had some great hits, but our defense was on top of their game. The end score was 25-23 and we all thought it was funny when the Slovenian coach was yelling because we had no idea what he was saying. Our fourth game ended 23-25. After leaving the gym, we had an awkward ride home because we were mad at Cory and no one would speak to him. He announced to us that he wanted us to win but when the time came, he was on the other side cheering for them. As the day went on, we formed stronger bonds with the Slovenian team and they showed us around the city. All together it was a great day and an amazing experience except for the losing part.

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Friendly match vs Denmark

Kaitlyn Plum & Lindy DeGeare

Today was the day of our friendly match. We woke at 8 and headed down to eat breakfast which consisted of tea, coffee, bread, cereal with warm milk, and nutella. After finishing breakfast and washing our dishes we headed up a mountain on a Tram to see the castle. It was raining cats and dogs – when we reached the top we ran for shelter and had coffee in a café.

After sightseeing at the castle we walked around town going into shops. While shopping for a while we came across an old church, went inside and looked at all of the historic statues and murals, it was very beautiful. Then we went to the Hotel Elephant for lunch where we ate soup, salad, chicken and potatoes. It was delicious!

After lunch we went to practice where we prepared for our friendly match. When practice ended we headed back to the Hostel for a resting period before the match at 7. We arrived at our match against Denmark and after a rather extended warm up, play began. We struggled to find ourselves as a team in the first game but brought the heat in the next two, winning the third. While we were playing it was interesting to hear the Danish team speak in different languages while calling out plays and hitters. Their style was very similar to ours and they were good competition.

So far we have enjoyed playing and touring in other countries…this will be an experience we will NEVER forget!!!

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Hanging with the Slovenian Youth Team

Luci Hanley & Stephanie DeGeare

On Friday night we had the biggest cultural experience of our lives. We ate dinner with the Slovenians at the Elephant Hotel. At first we all just sat there staring at each other not knowing how to start the conversation. After a few minutes we all were introducing ourselves and getting to know each other. The main topic of conversation was us asking them how to say things in Slovenian. After dinner and learning a few new words, we all decided it would be fun if we went for ice cream (sladoled in Slovenian) together. After we were stuffed full with ice cream, the Slovenian girls showed us around Ljubljana. We took pictures at the famous river, bought Slovenian jewelry and were checking out the Slovenian sights and sounds. We definitely bonded and got to know one another better than we expected. They listen to the same music as us, and we actually had a lot in common. Our Slovenian roommates lost their passports so we aren't sure if we will see them in Pula, but certainly hope so. We are really excited to exchange phone numbers and t-shirts at the end of the tournament.

Sidenote: the girls who lost their passports will be meeting us in Pula, just a day late as they must go to the consulate and replace the documents - Val