Loughborough Volleyball EUSA Blog
Friday 13th July
Training
has now finished. It's gone reasonably well with a couple of friendlies thrown in for good measure, close defeat (15 - 17
in the 5th) against Sheffield Hallam and a last set win against a team made up from some Newcastle Staffs players, both teams
from the National Division 1. It's now a relaxing weekend with gym training,
a game of golf on Saturday and a barbeque at Cobby's on Sunday. Watch out for
the golf results tomorrow!
Saturday 14th July
After
a week’s solid training the time had come to test the group fitness.
So a round at Shepshed Golf Course was arranged
to see who would come out on top. The leading favourite Mr Benjamin Hall was troubled on the 15th where he shot an
unusual
10 and Phillip Ebner pipped Matt ‘Bunga’ Rogers by a couple of
shots on the 18th. A special mention
should go out to Chris Stott, who managed to get all the way around without breaking any clubs, a first for him! Tomorrow
is a day of rest and that is what we intend to do!
Sunday 15th July
It’s
the last day before the trip. A barbeque at Cobby’s – well with the summer weather it’s cooking the meat
in the oven and just a quick grill on the barby. Everyone’s talking about the weight restrictions (on the cases) 15kg
it seems everyone is under the limit – just. All leave early for an early night we have to meet at 6!
Monday 16th July
After
an early start the team waved goodbye to a muddy kneed Amy Seaman and Matt Rogers who has unfortunately been kept behind due
to work commitments and headed down to Stansted. The new Union President and
Sports President elect were the taxi drivers as the team headed for a morning flight to Trieste.
We
arrived in Rijeka about 17:30 local time and eventually settled
in to our rooms. The draw had been made at the Head of Delegations meeting, and it pitched us up against the runner's up from
two years ago in Portugal, Slovenia,
and Greece, Estonia
and Mainz from Germany.
The
opening ceremony took place on the dockside. All the teams were introduced to the assembled crowd and due to some swift movement
backwards when volunteers were sought, I ended up carrying the Team Sign.
On
the social note we were at the Karolina Bar
down on the dockside and mixed with all the other teams. Darren has set two tasks;
for George to get us pictured with all the Womens’ teams (we have 3 teams so far) and Ebner a picture with all the Men's
teams - we have yet to start with this one! I tried ordering my beers in Croatian
causing some amusement to the barmaid, who had originally been quite sullen. The charm worked and by the end of the evening
Ben, Riding, Coops and myself benefited from the effort as we all receive a free pint!
Tuesday 17th July
We
have had our first training session and had to take about 3 litres back on board - this time water with the temperature in
the sports hall topping 40oC! The first match is against Estonia at 16:30 this afternoon. As well as our games we have training every day, even the day when we already have 2 matches! We have no games just training on Friday so that will be the day we take a rest and explore the beautiful
region surrounding Rijeka.
So
here it is the start of our real European Campaign against the Estonian University of Life Sciences from Tartu.
Unfortunately we froze in the first set and were 0 - 5 down before Rob Flay had a good spike down the line to score our first
point. After that it was more a reliance on serves being missed for our points as we lost 10 - 25. The second set saw a lot
better start and we actually led (all be it only 2 - 1)! George had a good block and James Cooper had a good spike to keep
us in contention be we were still reliant on Estonia's
mistakes. The set was a loss 18 - 25.
The
third set saw us scoring the points rather than relying on Estonia's
errors. Bastian Maass had a kill with one of his spikes and Coops followed that with two more as we stayed in contention.
Stotty had two ace serves as we pulled back to within 3 points at 16-19. Estonia
were not finished they pulled ahead again and Dovey's block staved off what was probably inevitable which was Estonia taking
the set 25-18 for a 3-0 win.
The
evening saw us making friends with the Greeks and Germans who were to be
our opponents over the next 2 days.
Wednesday 18th July
Today
was our match against the group leaders, The University of Mainz from Germany.
Armed with a few large hitters and early success, the match was looking like a real challenge. However, having settled a little
more and with more experience of passing the European jump serve we were able to surprise the German side, finding ourselves
level at 21 each in the first set. Unfortunately we were unable to take the initiative and lost the set 23 - 25.
Overcoming
their initial surprise by the level of British performance, Mainz
started very well in the second set taking an early lead. We were able to react and found ourselves only 2 points behind at
17-19. After losing a run of 4 points it was too late to recover and we found ourselves 2-0 down. Galvanised by our ability
to compete at this level, we went 6-0 up in the 3rd set, and then extended the lead to 12-3. An excellent performance from
the whole team allowed us to get on top of the Germans, and we started to dominate taking the set 25 - 15. We continued the
good work in the fourth set 25 – 23 to tie the match at 2 sets all.
A
very close 5th set meant that there was only 1 point in it until the change of ends, where the experience of the German side
began to show, pulling away to take the set 15-12 and the match. A very positive performance, promise for what’s to
come over the next few days...?
So
tonight’s the night we get dolled up in our finery only I’ve just been told the reception is just for Heads of
Delegation. Oh well the lads have brought their stuff to look neat and tidy perhaps we can let them look smart – no
one will mind the little joke – or will they? It seems the Head of Delegation is in trouble because 2 or 3 others found
out and aren’t dressed up leaving the rest looking very smart!
A
new drinking game stems from the evening – how best to erm describe it? Well before you name any place or country you
have to precede it with erm or 5 press-ups wherever ever you are immediately.
Thursday 19th July
The
lads gain their revenge for last night as on the way to the first match I’m asked a load of questions to find myself
set up for 20 press-ups. It could have been more had I not been told what the game was having seen 5 press-ups performed on
the bus on the way to the match!
Today
was always going to be our toughest day both in the fact that we had 2 matches and that they were both against teams that
led the group and were favourites to go through to the top division of the second phase of the competition.
The
first was against the team that finished 2nd in 2006, Slovenia.
Matt ‘Bunga’
Rogers was introduced to the starting line up having flown in from England; this joined with the
momentum gained from their unlucky 5 set defeat to Germany the previous day led to an impressive start with Loughborough leading
the set until the final stages where Slovenia showed their quality and took the set 25 - 23.
The
second set was a one sided affair which we lost 25 – 14 but Loughborough pulled together for one final push in the third
set losing it 25 - 22. The team were very happy with their performance but knew that they had to recover in preparation for
their 2nd match vs. Greece later that
day.
We
had learned earlier in the competition that the Greek Captain and off-setter, “John” was coming to Loughborough
in September, thus enhancing our chances of a return to this stage next year. He did not show us any favours as he knew they
had to have a good result to maintain their push for the top eight competition. We stayed in contention through much of the
first set but a loose few points towards the end saw us lose it 25 – 19. The second set – well… John showed
us no mercy as he managed to get his timing right on his jump serve. Coops bore the brunt of the serving as John pounded out
the points. It was a disaster as we lost the set 25 – 9! We did gather
ourselves together slightly for the third set. Again John blasted the serves at us but we lost the set 25 – 13.
There
was not more for it than to go out and try and relax. We had delayed celebrating Stotty’s birthday until we had a free
day following and we also had our referee, Debra Smart with us as a treat (well we thought it was for her being amongst such
a fine band of fellows!) for all the hard work she had been doing for us. She did start to have second thoughts as we all
turned up on Hawaiian gear but it was too late to escape!
A
swift couple of pints at our established local was followed by a visit to the evening’s entertainment on board the good
ship Arca Fiumana. Absinthe seemed to be the drink of the night though the elder amongst us stayed well clear sticking to
beer.
Friday 20th July
The
team had a well deserved day off from matches and went to the beach for
some rest and relaxation when everybody had eventually
raised themselves from their “pits” around midday! A slightly eventful bus journey to the beach was the start
(!) of
the day. We had found a row of empty seats on one sides of the bus and on leaving the bus station realised why
– the sunny side! Flay seemed to be suffering most with a pool of sweat almost the size of Lake Windermere forming under
where his elbow bent. Matters took a turn for the worse when a number of Croatian chavs tried to break on to the bus and ride
for free. They succeeded in kicking the back door of the bus in and then in trying to fix it ripping it from its hinges. Rather
annoyingly, this meant all the bus, about 50 people had a delay and Coops had to be restrained from causing a diplomatic incident
of ripping said chav’s head off! We had to sit in the sweltering 40 degree heat waiting for a second bus to come. When
it did it was already standing room only so a team decision was made to wait for the next one. The remaining 35 passengers
managed to fit on the bus, the last two moving their backsides to allow the doors to shut. They say every cloud has a silver
lining, not that there were any clouds, and sure enough a couple of minutes later along came an empty replacement bus. This
time we had the shady side and whistled through to our destination with our any further stopping only to pull up behind the
bus we didn’t take in time to see the 843 passengers alighting! The empty bus also allowed Bunga to catch up on a number
of press ups on the seats across the aisle! We made it to the beach and proceeded to play a selection of highly physical team
games including a tennis ball. Needless to say, the team consisting mainly of middles won.
Saturday 21st July
Waking
up at 6am, we were really up for this morning’s game against our
English rivals, erm Sheffield Hallam. After an
early breakfast, we went to
the sports hall and warmed up. The warm up went well, but we went 7-1 down
right at the
beginning. Heads started to drop, and we never recovered.
Fatigue set in from the strenuous week, finally losing 3-0 (25
– 12; 25 – 21; 25 -19). Despite some good defensive work from Libero, Andrew Riding, the team were beaten convincingly
in the first set. Sets two and three were an improvement, but still disappointing compared with the team’s previous
performances.
With
the match tomorrow being 11:00 a few of us venture to the Dva Lava (two
lions – they’ve lost one). We get the free bus back now we know it exists. There’s a lot of running up and
down on my landing and I’m told by Ebner in the morning it’s a forfeit on a German card game!
Sunday 22nd July
Having
avoided Sheffield around the town the night before we’re back for a match against Lyon,
France. Another team we spoken to and made friends with at
the various social functions Hopes were high that we could get something out of this match but Darren hoping to spark some
life into the team changed the rotation for the first set. Unfortunately it didn’t work as we lost 14 – 25 but
it was worth a gamble. Reverting to our original line up we improved only to Toulouse,
sorry to lose 25 – 19. The third set also showed further signs of improvement but we still lost 25 – 21.
That
meant we had one chance to redeem ourselves the last match against Turkey.
We should be able to beat them surely. The match is at 9 in the morning so there is a mixed reaction to going out in the evening.
In the end the substitutes and Flay join me for an extra drink at the Opium Buddha (who says I look like Buddha in my Adidas’s
(Speedo’s)! There’s a live band playing the twist but the floor’s too sticky. The referees arrive having
had a night out so we have some fun with them but it’s an early (01:30)
bus back to the hostel and it’s a mild 26c temperature!
This
time I’m awake brushing my teeth when I hear the running up and down the corridor. I turn to the doorway to see someone
“flash” past! On going to the door and looking down the corridor I see two stark b naked Germans entering the
room opposite mine being slapped with a flip flop by another stark b naked German standing out side the door. I make sure
my room is locked that night!
Monday 23rd July
We’re
up early and off to the match Turkey 1, or TOBB; the University of Economics and Technogy. We cruise
through the first set 25 -15 with Rob Flay again showing the way. Even Ben can make an appearance in this match, though his
spike cover directly in the line of Flay’s approach was slightly out of position! Ebner and Stotty get their chances
in the second and third sets as we continue to dominate and both make good contributions. We take the second set 25 –
19 and lead well in the third. It is quite appropriate that Ben, who has had to sit and suffer with the coaches for the first
six matches, is the person to score the last point for us.
Deb’s
is refereeing Mainz v Tartu
in the 15/16 place. I told her it would be close and it is, 19 – 17 in the fifth to Mainz
and they show their appreciation of having our support with an “England,
England” chant.
We
now return to the hostel and say goodbye to Riding and Debs as they leave for the airport and then we return through for the
Men’s final. Turkey
2, a side made up of players all doing the same course starting in the same year, take on Russia. Russia take the first
set but Turkey draw the first blood (from
the nose of the Russian setter!). In the end Turkey
take the match 3 – 1. Whilst others return to the hostel, Bunga, Dovey, Ebner and myself settle down for a quick drink.
We only have time for two pints and the Women’s final is over!
Amongst
the awards the best setter is the Turkish player who prepares by throwing up postcards he has been given by the Russian team
to make his own ticker tape reception!
So
it’s off to the last night party. An open air party with a snack meal, bar and live music to follow but….. no
toilets! Fortunately I remember passing a restaurant on the walk down and return only to find two foot plates and a hole for
a toilet!
Bunga
and Ben are the first to feel the effects of about 20 Jagermeisters plus other drinks and having eventually found him Bastian
ensures he is in a safe (and dry!) place to sleep. Many others are making merry perhaps not realising what time we have to
get up Mainz, who we are travelling with in the morning, are
matching our drinking. The next victim is Neil, the Sheffield Coach. I have suspicions that someone has been mixing his drinks
but in the capable hands of Stotty, Bastian and myself we all arrive at the bus stop to what looks like a scene of carnage
with Bunga and Ben both flat out lying at ninety degrees to each other in the bus shelter. We all catch the 3-o-clock bus
and manage to get back and to bed by 4!
Tuesday 24th July
A
matter of three hours later we’re all up ready (I don’t think so) for breakfast and the journey to Trieste. Ines our attaché is our guide. It’s
all very quiet on the trip up through Slovenia,
where we see…rain! The Mainz lads with us arrive only
to be told they have a 90 minute delay on their flight. We are lucky with ours. It’s also that time that the MVP award
is made it’s…… Rob Flay who has was our most consistent performer in all areas.
We
then have a panic that our cases are somewhat heavier (up to 6 kilos!) than when we came out! Some frantic repacking into
hand luggage takes place to avoid extra payments and we all get through, considering we bought very little I can only put
this extra weight down to sweat, lovely!
It’s
been a brilliant, unforgettable experience that has whet the appetite to return next year. We have John the Greek and maybe
one of the Mainz lads coming to Loughborough for the second
semester. It was hard work getting there but boy was it worth it.
Dovidenja
Rijeka 2007; Ciao Italia 2008?
.
