The games on Saturday sucked. I have never played so bad. Can't wait for next practice, I need the practice.

Brussels

So we went to Brussels today to pick up Scott's girlfriend. What an amazing city. It was awesome seeing all the buildings and places. The crew was Me, Scott, Kim, Tine and Kierra. It was a really fun group to go with. I will post pictures on my facebook!

We split 2/2 with the team last night. They seemed to have a completely new team. I is turning out to look like an interesting year. Everyone knows who the good teams are, but no one knows who the best is. I'm Excited! Its for the taking!

Slow

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. It's been slow as up to right now. As you can see on my facebook, went to the beach Sunday. It was good, but really crowded and no waves to swim in. Thats my favorite part! I can see why the California beaches are so coveted. But it was still a lot of fun! So Coffee here only comes as Expresso. And no one knows what a latte, or a mocha, or a white chocolate mocha, iced, shaken not stirred is! Haha. I would like a good mixed Coffee though.

So the funniest thing of the week (to me) is the fact I am going to have to get a list of all the drugs I can't take because I am now a professional athlete. So of course, I can't take steroids. Darn! (j/k) But also on the list are random things like extra strength Tylenol. I can have regular Tylenol, but not extra strength. Weird. What happens if I take more than two regular Tylenol? would that be considered extra strength?

Tonight we play the team who won our league last year in an exhibition match. It should be fun!

Playing

So this year I will be playing Zoarsal in Belgium. My season starts basically now till May. It is super exciting. I couldn't have asked for more. The team is awesome, the coach is great, and the people are taking care of us. It should be a good experience.

We had a tourney today and it went okay. We went 2-2. We could have done better though. The team is just having to work out kinks of having two foreign players added to it. Things look good though. We play a lot the next week to get ready for season. I am excited to be playing this high caliber of volleyball. Everyone is good.

So Whats Happening?

So up till now I haven't explained very well everything that is going on. So I'll do it now. From what I have understood there are many divisions of volleyball. For Belgium I believe there are 4. The team that is working out the details on signing me (called Zoersel) is a division 2 team that sometimes plays the division 1 teams. All teams can compete for the Belgium cup, but it is very unlikely that we will win. If we do well, we will lose in the quarters to the team that will probably win it. After winning it that team will go on to play in the Euro Cup Champions league. That Belgium team usually does well in the Euro Cup which encompasses all of Europe's best teams.
So that is the divisions. The winners of divisions 2,3,4 and so on get to move up to the division higher. So the goal is to come in first. For us that means winning our league, and then playing a challenge match against the other 1st team from the other division 2 league.
Every team is broken down into three other categories based on how much money they have to play around with. You have professional, semi-professional and amateur. Professional clubs are usually Div 1 and pay a lot of money for their players. Amateur teams usually don't have a lot of money and so they don't pay their players a lot. Zoersel (the team looking at signing me) is an Amateur team. The difference in amount of money a team has is usually based on sponsorships or endorsements.

Currently Zoersel likes both Scott and Me and wants us both to play. We are working out things like transportation (they want to get us a car to use through the year), a room (which will probably be a house with common kitchen, bathroom and so on), and how much we'll be making. Both of us are looking into doing School and/or work while we are here. The team practices tues, wed, and friday. They play on Sunday nights. Season goes until the last week of April.

I hope this updates you enough. If you have any questions leave a comment and I'll answer.
Saturday we play in a tourney with the team.

Here's some cool reading material.
http://www.bringitusa.com/events/firesale_men_2009/index.php

Quick

Game went great! I passed great, which is what they are looking for, but I didn't hit very well. The team we played was good. Very good. I have never seen a complete block every time. Crazy. But we are excited. I will give a better update tomorrow! Now, off to see the town with the team!

Big Day

So everyone must have done a grip of praying cause I played great today. We had two practices one from 9 am- 12 and then from 4-7. We scrimmaged and I did very well. So well, I had two coaches come up to me after morning practice and ask a lot of questions about me. It turns out they were from Belgium, are looking for a good all around outside and were interested in me. So we talked, and then I went to afternoon practice. Performed well and now I am sitting in one of the coaches houses in Belgium. So the deal is, there are two of us trying out for this team. They could take both of us, or take just one. We play in a game tomorrow night with the Belgium team to see how we work out. If things go good, I could be playing this season for Belgium.

I can't believe it.

First Practice

Wow. I am so sore. Best practice I have participated in, in a long time. There are a lot of very good players here. It will be very tough to be in the top 10 of all the players. I think I am going to give up on the wishing luck, and start asking for prayer.

So, give me prayer. I am going to need it.

Walk, Walk, Walk

So Sunday was a fun day.... when we were not walking. So I am with 3 guys I met (all Canadian) (By the way, they all heckled me because I only knew where Canada was, not their Providences). Well back to story, we want to play some volleyball and so go to this nearby sports club to ask where some nets are. The lady looks at us and makes some calls. We appreciated it. Then she starts to give us directions. No joke they were, well its about 3km and takes 25-30 minutes to traverse. She said it is a left, then a right at the light and straight on after that. She said she could call a taxi, we said heck no, we are athletes, 30 minute walk would be easy. So we start walking, take a quick left, take a semi quick right and then walk. And we walked. Past the town, past a meadow, through a forest, past a farm, through another forest and then made it. We walked for an hour and a half before we got there. We asked probably 4 people along the way an all of them were like 1 more km. 1 more kilometer. It ended up being like 5 or 6 kilometers. So in the end we got to play some sand volleyball. And after, we called a taxi.

I love my Wife.

BLAH!

One whole day gone! Traveling sucks. We'll I'm here in Eindhoven and the town is beautiful. I like the way Europe looks. So green, so fresh. Now time to try the food!

-Kit

Preemptive Strike

First Log, Starship Enterprise.

Tommorrow morning I leave to take my claim in the volleyball world. I am trying out with 36 other good volleyball players to make a spot on a Professional European volleyball team. 20 of them play my position. Resistance will be futile. The goal of the mission: to impress. Theoretically, I am too short (at 6'2") to play indoor volleyball. So I have to use other skills like passing, serving, defense to make up the fact I am 2 inches shorter than the short professional players.

Nervous you ask? Never. Actually, I lied. I feel like there is this weight over my head. Like a meteorite is in direct path of my coordinates, and I have no choice but to walk straight into it. On the flip side, I am excited. I get to practice more volleyball in two weeks than I did in a whole season at Fresno State (Shout out: National Champions!).

So my Aerodynamic Ship leaves tomorrow morning at 620am. I arrive in Amsterdam the next day at 640am, with a couple stops in between. From there I get the wonderful and delightful treat of having to weave my way through Amsterdam, maneuver through red light districts, evade soft drug dealers, find the train Station, and get the flock out of that part of the galaxy.

Wish me Luck!