ennifer is SUCH a pleasure to work with on the court. Her positive attitude and confidence in every one of her players really come out in the situations where we need it the most. I sometimes find myself "arguing" with her on the court on who’s fault the mistake was. I’m thinking that it was just a dumb swing and she’s blaming it on her setting; she’s always taking accountability for things she does (or doesn’t do) and is constantly working hard to be the best she can be.
Week 1 of Grand Prix complete. It wasn’t the result we were hoping for but we definitely gained a lot of valuable experience this past week. We arrived in Lima, Peru on (last) Monday evening and went straight to our hotel. The flight was going to be ok – it was only an 8hour flight (most of us have dealt with longer) but unfortunately no individual TV’s were provided. Good seats are always a dog fight to get, especially traveling with 14 VERY tall women, and an extremely tall coaching staff.
During the Intercontinental Round, Pools A to O will play matches in three stand-along tournaments, for a total of 9 matches per team. Pool P to S will have 6 matches. Six teams will qualify for the World Grand Prix Finals featuring the top four teams from all matches, plus the winner of the Final Four of Division 2 and the hosts.
If we make finals in our group, we will be heading to Koszalin, Poland for the final rounds. Our team then gets 1-2 weeks to rest up after Grand Prix (depending if we go to Poland or not).
Stay CONNECTED - we have just recently been informed that all of our 9 games will be broadcasted on SportsNet1 which is very, very exciting!!! You can see under 'Schedule' the dates and times we are playing but I will be sure to post weblinks whenever I can gain access to them!
After the Grand Prix, we are back training in Winnipeg until the World Championships from September 23 - October 12 in Italy!
We are also hoping to travel to Slovenia before World's to get some extra exhibition games under our belt. After World Championships, we (the players) will depart to various countries to continue our volleyball career with our new professional teams.
Professional contracts typically finish up in April and we are back training with the National team shortly after that. Playing overseas on a professional team in Europe as well as the Canadian National Team makes our job a 12 month stint, with no offseason.
Depending on tournaments in the summer, we will typically get one longer break of 1-2 weeks but that's about the longest we have off to physically and mentally recharge. We're in it for the long haul but this summer especially, we have some pretty exciting opportunities which make all the sacrifices and hard work SO worth it.
The Grand Prix takes place from July 21 - August 23, 2014. 28 countries from across the world will be competing in this year's Grand Prix, which is the first time this tournament will be featuring that many teams. During the Intercontinental Round, Pools A to O will play matches in three stand-along tournaments, for a total of 9 matches per team
I wanted to start up a blog overseas to keep my friends and family up to date on my life! However, I also wanted to create a space that promoted Team Canada Women’s Volleyball. Often, people don’t know if we’re coming or going, competing or training, living in Winnipeg or on the other side of the world. This is a space to keep everyone updated and informed with where we are!!
