Postcards From Argentina - Day 4
September 19, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
Journal Day #4 – by Jeremy Dejno
Hello Anteater Volleyball Fans! This is Jeremy Dejno with an update on Day #4 from Argentina. Starting with an early wake up, the team gathered for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. with a pleasant surprise of bacon and eggs! It was a nice addition to the endless croissants and coffee that everyone has been indulging on. Unfortunately, the Argentinian recipe for scrambled eggs includes an astronomical amount of salt. I have not figured out if they believe American's find eggs cooked in salt water appetizing or if this is a traditional egg-cooking recipe for them? Either way, it came as a shock to me when I overheard that the Japanese team was asking for more salt….
We all loaded onto the bus to head to our first team training session. The gym is a diamond in the rough. From the outside, it appears to be an abandoned warehouse, but on the inside, it is every volleyball player's dream. A small arena that bolsters only the bare essentials: neon orange seats accent the green and white paint, while doors and windows provide little protection from the elements allowing the cool air to fill the court. Before our training , a stray dog found its way onto the court. The zoo-like atmosphere continued into this morning with a frenzy of birdcalls! Everyone is excited to see the potential of this small arena during competition. After watching the passion exhibited by fans during the basketball game the night before, I anticipate nothing short of pandemonium. We are truly lucky to play the hometown team.
The cool air of around mid-50's made it quite difficult to get the blood pumping and the muscles loose, but we were able to have a quality training session. Kniff ran us through functional movements and moved onto some specifics to focus for the upcoming match. After training, the day was wide open. Most of the (if not all) of the guys took advantage of the time by climbing into bed for a nice long nap. By the time dinner had rolled around, Connor Hughes and Jason Agopian had arrived from their travels. It is nice to have another outside hitter here; for once, there was an excess of middles but not nearly enough outsides or liberos. We wrapped up the night with a video session and went to bed fairly early to prepare our bodies for our first official match of the tournament. The team is eager to represent the USA and bring home the first victory of the year!
Jeremy D
Kniffin's notes:
Today we saw the arrival of Japan and Canada. The atmosphere in the hotel has changed as the dining hall is now filled with teams, attachés and tournament staff. Our team also continues to evolve and grow in more ways than the physical addition of Jason and Connor. Today's training was a grind. We warmed up on the host's court, which is dug out and lies about ten feet below ground level. Because of it's depth and dense walls, it seems to radiate a constant 55 degrees. If you can handle this adversity, you can handle anything the NCAA or MPSF throw at you.
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