Klagenfurt, Austria-On the Train

Supposedly this is the BEST FIVB event……Well, it was a pretty good set-up, but our results were not. We beat the Czech’s, but lost to Kuhn/Schwer, the Swiss team. So, we spent the next few days being tourists, practicing a bit, and enjoying the lake. Lake Woethersee was quite the source of entertainment…waterslide, diving boards, floating dock, Red Bull boat (which happened to take 16 of us out to the middle of the lake and do a few 360’s-then we got a ticket)……but, all in all the day was a much needed break from volleyball. We sat on the floating dock ALL day, then proceeded to the side event at Fabrik, in the evening…..Heidi and I held our own dance party-also, much needed!

Klagenfurt is a great little town, weather was great, and the side events were great. The last night there, we went on the Swatch Boat cruise. There were many players on board and we had a blast, free food, free Swatch squirt guns, and lots of dancing……..now to Norway and Finland………then, well…………

Massage Table

So, it is 645 am, July 30. On a train from Villach to Klagenfurt, Austria. We began the journey in Bern, Switzerland thru Zurich……with many stops along the way. When we purchased our tickets, we were told there were no sleepers, so we would be sitting for the entire 10 hr train ride. This is pretty much how the European train system works. Well, to help you understand the situation better, we were asked by USA Volleyball to transport the team massage table from Gstaad to Klagenfurt. It was otherwise going to cost a lot of money to ship, so we agreed. However, a massage table is a large piece of luggage, and would not store easily in our train cabin. So, we decided to store it behind the seats on the car next to ours……..bad move. During our stop in Feldricht (?-around 10:30pm) we made a few forward, backward movements……it confused us. What was happening…….without further thought; we stayed in our seats, and waited for the train to continue to Villach. Well, we realized at 6am in the morning, as we went to retrieve the massage table, the train had split, and half went to Graz, while our train proceeded to Villach. Yes, the massage table we were asked to bring for the players went to another city. So, today, we begin to track it down and act like nothing happened. Stay tuned!

From Gstaad ro Klagenfurt

So we arrived in Austria this am. Took the overnight train from Bern to Klagenfurt. we play in 2 days in the Qualifier for this event. It is a Grand Slam event......Countdown 31 days til we are on US soil! These are some pics from Gstaad. They do not really do it any justice.

Day 2 and Day 3-Gstaad

So...we played Austria yesterday and lost in 2 sets to Montagnolli and Swoboda. Was a good match, just did not have all the shots. But, today we played Finland (Nystrom, Nystrom) and won in 2 sets. This should guarantee us 2nd seed in our pool and a bid to the 32 team sinlge elimination bracket....woohooo. Exciting.

First Day-Gstaad

Yeah...so we beat Australia today! Austria tomorrow. Hope it goes just as well. Out.

Gstaad-World Champs

So....we are Gstaad. Pronounced Gustawed....it is in the mountains. Very beautiful here, green, lush, and lots of chalets. We play tomorrow at 2pm against Australia. This will be our 3rd meeting with them. They say 3rd times a charm:) Wednesday we will play Austria and Thursday we play Finland. Beyond that we will have to come out of our pool 1st or 2nd....in order to enter the 32 team single elimination draw. This will be a great event for us, and we hope to make the 32 team tournament.

Ciao

Visit to Bern, Switzerland

Bern is the capitol of Switzerland. It is also where Dave and Nadine live. I met Dave a couple years back in Australia, then ran into him again in January in New Zealand. Small world. He invited the 3 of us to his house in Bern to train and sleep before the Gstaad event. Even better, we went to his parents house in the country in Ruschegg Heubach. They cooked us a huge meal and we visited for about 4 hours. It was awesome.