Badger Volleyball in Europe: Day Ten
June 09, 2007 | Volleyball
As part of the Badger volleyball team's 13-day tour of Europe, each member of the UW team will write a journal highlighting the events of each day.
The 10th journal entry is from senior Taylor Reineke, a middle blocker from Naperville, Ill.
Greetings from Lignano Sabbiadora, Italy!
Today was our second and last day of 'volley-jail', as our tour guide Tim called it. He called it 'volley-jail' because other than taking an occasional trip to the local internet cafe, we have been confined either to our hotel or the gym. Luckily for us, we had some free time this morning to explore.
The day started off with a trip to the beach'and the best weather we 've seen all trip. The beach is absolutely breathtaking with powder like sand and a view of the Adriatic Sea as far as the eye can see. It also happens to be populated with half-naked women and children, as well as European men in tiny swim trunks. Europeans definitely have a more relaxed attitude when it comes to nudity! While most of us averted our eyes and relaxed on beach chairs while reading a book, Jackie, Maya, and Hannah searched out adventure. They rented a plastic pirate paddle boat with a giant slide attached to the top. They came back with plenty of pirate tales to tell.
At noon, we sat down to a lunch that consisted of pasta, chicken, bread and fruit. Fruit and bread are staples in every meal we've had so far in Italy. It is very refreshing after our overload on weinerschnitzel, potatoes and dumplings in the previous countries we visited. After our short lunch, we watched tape of last night's match against the Italian Junior National Team. We usually watch tape of ourselves to point out our strengths and weaknesses so we can better ourselves before our next match. After the tape session, we had a short time to nap or visit the internet cafe. At 3:30, we had another marienda with the Italians before our departure for our last match of the spring season.
We took the Italians to five, winning the first and fourth games'but we ended up losing to them 12-15 in the fifth. Although we lost, the competitive play helped us to learn about ourselves and what we need to do to prepare for fall. Overall, the one word that I would use to describe our spring season is adversity. We overcame many obstacles including back and leg injuries as well as illnesses such as mononucleosis, strep throat and influenza that affected nearly everyone. I am proud of our team and our adversity throughout this spring season and I look forward to great things next fall.
Ciao!
Taylor Reineke #12
