2014 Day 7 Junior Age Volleyball Tour Grosseto

2013 Junior Age Volleyball Tour Day 7 Grosseto
Today is our beach volleyball tournament…. We do not have to be to the beach until about 10:30am … some of us are washing clothes this morning… others are sleeping in after our carnival night. 

Everyone arrived on time to the LIDO BEACH courts… The teams were quickly organized the individual girls into teams of 4 and we started our tournament… The day was GORGEOUS…. A slight sea breeze helped us feel a little bit cooler… but the difference between feeling 90 and 95 is not too much….

We started to play at 10:30am … and played a round robin tournament 1 game to 25 points… then the play offs…

ITALY.. was the names of the teams...
Team "I" was: Jordan, Ryan, Mackenzie, Anna they had 2 wins after pool play
Team "T" was: Kayla, Samantha, Lauren, Dalyn they had 0 wins after pool play 
Team "A" was: Noel, Cheyene, Charis, Russ they had 4 wins after pool play
Team "L" was: Emani, Gianna, Taylor, Isabell they had 1 wins after pool play
Team "Y" was: Ashley, Elana, Devon, John (a dad) they had 3 wins after pool play

The single elimination tournament had... Team I playing Y and Team L playing T
Team Y won and Team T won... pulling off an upset
The next round of games Team A playing Team T... 
The finals were between Team A and team Y..
Team A won 30-24

Following our games we spent a little more time on the beach, swimming, getting henna tattoos and having lunch... 

We had a team diner set for 8pm at the LIDO on the beach.  We took some beach photos at sunset, said our last goodbyes to the beach and had dinner..The rest of the evening was free to go to the carnival for the last time

Curfew was 11:30pm

Tomorrow PISA and Florence

2014 Day 6 Junior Age Volleyball Tour Grosseto

2014 Junior Age Volleyball Tour Day 6 Grosseto

Today is our 2^nd day on the beach here in the Marina…  We need to be ready for drills at 10:00am …

All most everyone arrived on time to the LIDO BEACH courts on time… 2 girls were locked in their room and could not unlock the dead bolt....The day was GORGEOUS…. A slight sea breeze helped us feel a little bit cooler… 

Coach Russ ran the beach drills for us…. trying to get us to move a little more easily, and to feel more comfortable on the beach.  Also to recognize more quickly where the ball is going and to arrive there before the ball does.  Moving in the sand is very difficult and if we wait a fraction of a second before we start to move … we will be late.

Following the drills we divided up into teams and played a mini 4 vs 4 tournament.

We had the rest of the afternoon off to shop, shower or sleep before our games tonight…

Several of the parents joined in and played with the girls and also a few of the boys from the beach.... 
For our indoor games tonight...We arrived to the community gym at about 4:45pm and started to play at 5:30pm.

The Older team played first…. The team we played was pretty much the same team as the night before...
The Older team lost 25-18; 25-18; 15-10

The younger girls played next… and won again 26-24; 25-22; and 16-14 in some very competitive games... 

Everyone went to different places to eat …. And then to the carnival for the last hour before curfew..

Curfew was 11:30pm everyone was home before curfew

Tomorrow beach volleyball tournament

2014 Day 4 Grosseto Junior Age Volleyball Tour

2014 Junior Age Volleyball Tour Day 4 Grosseto

We had everyone up and ready to go at 8am and after a quick breakfast we were going down the road out of Rome towards Grosseto.  But first we are going to stop in Ladispoli ( a little seaside town about 1 hour north of Rome ) to play a morning match with their club teams and have a lunch with them.  We have not been to Ladispoli or Grosseto but from the photos that we have seen from other tours and from what Russ and John tell us…. we are really looking forward to going there…
As we drove further down the road outside of Rome the country side began to change from the high rise apartments to the amber rolling hills of the rural area… As the bus drove down the  
road, the warm sun shining through the window… it was not long before most of us were asleep.  As luck would have it … just as we we were asleep we arrived into Ladispoli. The gym was about the same as the one we played in last night with one exception… this bubble gym was over a framework and had fresh air….. 

The host team had 2 teams one about 14-15 years old and the other about 16-17 years old… We decided to play just 2 sets each because we had a lunch reservation at a specific time… and when you have a reservation for 50-60 people… it is always a good idea to keep it.

The younger girls played first..the first game the score was very close the entire game … but the host team scored 2 points in a row to win 26-24.  The second set was not quite as close with the our team winning 25-16.

The older girls were up next and had a very close match the local team won 27-25 the second set we won 25-20....All of the host girls were very friendly and many of them went to lunch with us…  We drove  a few mintues out of town to a little "farm like" place called an aguro-turismo farm.  Where tourist can stay there do a little work on the farm.... "a working vacation"  The restaurant was large enough for 60 people inside.... very new and clean....We had bruschetta    (toast with olive oil, garlic and tomatoes on it….)  yum…. It too was very good… let me just say… that everything was really good.  The next plate of pasta.... with tomato sauce or zucchini and bacon… I forgot to mention they also served water… we thought we were done as most of us were really full..... but the last thing they brought us was.... our salad... (which is backwards from the way we get our food in the USA.  We ate until we could not eat any more…. And we waddled out of the restaurant and onto the bus.   

Soon we were on the road to Marina de Grosseto.

A short 2 hours later … We arrived to our accommodations in Grosseto.  They are like a long term condo vacation apartments…. Some have two floors, two air conditioners, a balcony, two bathrooms and a kitchen and refrigerator… they are really nice.   John did tell us that is sort like camping indoors…. They give us towels for our stay … if we use them all up in one day we need to pay to get new ones… I think most everyone will hang their towel up and take care of the ones that they give us. 

Everyone got checked into their rooms and in no time we were walking through the little town of …. Marina di Grosseto… Marina is about 3-4 streets wide… and most of the shops and restaurants are within 3-4 blocks.   It is very casual, sleepy, relaxing and tranquil here…. Everyone feels right at home.

We walked though town (4-5 ) blocks long and then down to the edge of the beach.
We arrived to Grosseto about 6pm ... and there was not too much to do... (as far as playing volleyball was concerned).  Most of us had dinner and went to the carnival or walked around town getting familiar with our new town.  

John showed us were we would have our breakfast, where the ATM machines and the pharmacies were located... and told us where we would play and practice volleyball tomorrow.   The LIDO beach is where we can play volleyball and go into the ocean.    It was now time to go eat…. Most of the girls went to the little street café on main street…. They had AMERICAN Hamburgers, hotdogs and…. Pizza and spaghetti…. Some went back showered and went to sleep as it had been a long long day..

After eating everyone was ready for bed and most of us were fast asleep by the time the 11:00pm curfew arrived….

Tomorrow… Beach Volleyball Training and our first indoor match in Grosetto.

2014 Day 5 Grosseto Junior Age Volleyball Tour

2014 Junior Age Volleyball Tour Day 5 Grosseto

Today is another beautiful day in Marina…. Everyone arrived on time to beach practice… applied their sun screen and Russ, had them going through their movement drills….  After about 30-40 minutes of moving and jumping in the sand ... Russ divided the players into new teams of 4 persons.  We played for about 45 minutes in some mini games... getting use to the sand the wind and the sun ... playing in the sand is MUCH more difficult that they make it look on TV.   At about 1pm we finished the beach games… The rest of the afternoon is free to take in the beach atmosphere go swimming (John reminded us that we needed to stay in front of the beach life guard and we could only go out into the water up to our chest.... !!!)  Some of us decided just hang out and use the wifi at the beach to tell all our friends what we are doing (and to make them jealous).We had a group meeting tonight at 4:45pm at the gym to play our teams from the Marina.  The U16 team played first tonight.... they seemed to play better and moved better after the movement skills in the sand this morning....We won the first 2 sets 25-19 and 25-15 and decided to play the 3rd set as well the local team won that set 16-14.  The older girls were up next ... the level of play was quite high.... but the individuals of the older group were playing a team that has been together for 2-3 years... and their level of play showed it.... our girls lost 25-10 26-24 and 15-4.  The scores did not show how close the games really were... After the games most everyone went to the carnival (just across the street from our hotel ….) many of us went there to see what it is all about and to ride some of the rides…The time was about 11:15pm … when we made it back to our accommodations on time.  Tomorrow… More Beach Volleyball lessons – a mini beach tournament and our indoor match with the Italian girls – and a return to the carnival

2014 Day 3 Rome Junior Age Volleyball Tour

2014 Junior Age Volleyball Tour Day 3 Rome

Due to the time differences between Italy and various parts of the USA… the daily blog is written at the end of each day… that means it will always be about 1 day behind… the readers in the USA… 

This morning we are going to the Vatican Area, St Peters Church and the Vatican Museum.
In the afternoon we will meet our tour guide for a walking tour of the Ancient Roman Forum.
On the way to the Vatican.... we discovered that the SUBWAY (METRO) was having a problem due to all the rain last night... oh ... did I forget to tell you that last night / early this AM... the end of the world came and went.... after dumping several inches of water on ROME .... the sky was alight with lightning and the thunder was so loud that we could feel it in our chest..... POW... KABOOM....

CRACK..... The bottom line was.... the Metro was running intermittently.... and no one knew it it would get better or not... 
So.... there we were standing about 1/2 down to the platform... with about 2-3000 of other folks all trying to get on the METRO.... that may or may not arrive...
The tempurature, humidity.... and the fragrance of 2000 less than hygenic people made it an easy decision... "Lets go to plan B"... which was to take a bus..... Great Idea..... but about 2-300 other people also decided to do the same thing..... The first bus was full and John told us to all get on the next one... and to

not be polite or we would be left at the curbside ... Not wanting that to happen... we lost our shyness and elbowed our way onto the bus like a true ITALIAN... We did not have to worry about falling over as there was no possibility of that to happen... The ride to the Vatican area was only about 15 minutes... but is seemed longer... once we got off the bus we all felt like we should take a shower in the hand sanitizer lotion.... Ah.... the life of a TOURIST....
We were only a couple of blocks away from the St Peters Church... and the Vatican ....
We all went to the Church first... John gave us the instructions on where to go and how to get in and where to meet.... and after our group photo we all headed in different directions to make the most of our time here... 
Within 15 minutes the end of the world ... part 2 happened... The skies opened up and rain began to fall.... Some of us were luck as we had made it inside the Church or inside the museum... others ... not so much... they were between locations and were ducking for cover where ever they could find it... (oh did I happen to mention the 10,000 other people that were doing the same thing...)
Some people were thinking of maybe not going on the walking tour as the weather was not cooperating.

The rains came and went... the sun came out and warmed us up .... and our time to visit was almost up so we made it back tour our meeting point to get ready for our WALKING tour of ANCIENT ROME....
We had a 15 minute walk to PZ NAVONA along the way we went past Castelo St Angelo, across the Tiber River, and into PZ Navona.... We had about 50 minutes before our guided tour so most of us went to lunch..... and made it back just in time to meet our guide Rahul.  He gave us head phones so that when we was walking we could hear all that he was saying about the area or things we were looking at... He spoke English very well.... and it was very interesting to hear.
We went to PZ NAvona, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, PZ Venetzia, the Ancient Roman Fourm and back the the Colloseum.  
Russ met us at the Colloseum and brought us back to the hotel... WHEW.... a full day in Rome....
Being a tourist is WORK.... but ... FUN WORK...

Tomorrow...we go to Ladispoli for another game, Lunch and then go to Marina di Grosseto

2014 Day 2 Rome Junior Age Volleyball Tour June

 2014 Junior Age Volleyball Tour Day 2 Rome

Our second day in Rome… after a good nights sleep it all seem real now… yesterday everyone was in a travel induced FOG…. I vaguely remember what we did and where we went…. But when others start talking about what we did… I remember it…. Vaguely… thank goodness I took photos.

It is 8am we are at breakfast… Breakfast simply means that there is food in the morning…. Gone are the eggs, hash browns, bacon, etc… Breakfast here is coffee (in several forms but still coffee…) hot chocolate… (very chocolaty ) croissants, breakfast bread, corn flakes, orange juice… and some sort of melba type toast…  But when one is hungry… it is not bad…

This morning we are going to Circus Maximus, Coloseium and Palintine Hill.  We left the hotel about 10am to go to Termini Station to take the Metro to Circus Maximus.

We all re-grouped at the hotel for our trip to our first competitions.

We were picked up by our motor coach at about 5:30pm and made our way to the gym.  The gym is a BUBBLE DOME gym and a very nice private facility … but because it is filled with air (like one of the blow up jumping areas at the fair) only 4-5 people can enter the equalizer chamber at a time to enter the gym… then the next 4-5 enter and so on.  Once inside it is a large clean space with a soft floor.  The Blue team played first and jumped out to a 10 point lead.... and then started to get a little over confidant and were trying to run plays that were a little to complicated for a group of players who just met the day before... Suddenly the score was tied at 22 each.... After a time out we played a little more disciplined and basic... and won 25-23.  The Blue team played next, and the score was pretty close up to about 12 -12... one of the Italian servers went back and served about 8 straight points ... making the score 20-12...We tried to fight back but the score was too much to overcome we lost 25-15.
For the 3rd set ... we started with the blue team playing the first 12 points .... then the Red Team would sub in for the final points.
The Red team fell behind 12-6 before the Blue team came onto the court.... And unfortunately the Blue team did not have any any time to warm up after sitting out a game and a 1/2 and found them selves behind more that 6 point most of the way thorough the game.  The combined team lost 25-18.
It was a very good night.... lots of energy... lots

of talking.... and good contributions by all players.  Following the games we went to pizza with the local team toe Ristorante Maia... a short drive away from the gym.  The fixed menu included beverage, a fried rice and cheese ball, bruschetta, Pizza... all for 12 euro.  IT as great.... We had our 34 people plus about the same number of Italian players and parents.... If you can imagine 60 teenage girls trying to talk all at the same time.... the noise level and energy levels were ..... very high..... fortunately... we were just about the only ones in the ristorante...

We finished up at about 10:30pm... made it back to the Hotel by about 11:15pm... and everyone was exhausted.... and went to bed....

Tomorrow morning we visit St. Peters and the Vatican.  We will then have our guided tour of Ancient Rome.  The late afternoon is free for shopping. 

2014 Day 1 Rome Junior Age Volleyball Tour June

2014 Junior Age Volleyball Tour Day 1 Rome

The first group of 2 different flights began to land in Rome at about 8:30am….It was schedule to arrive at 8:50am but due to bad stormy weather it actually departed the USA early to avoid the bad weather.   As each flight landed and exited the luggage area… John met them and took them to the “waiting area”, showed them where to change money and … most importantly…. Where to go to the bath room….  As each group arrived our waiting area grew larger and larger… 

The final people arrived and we went outside to go to our bus…. The air was hot and filled with cigarette smoke… (it is illegal to smoke indoors in Italy.. but that does nothing to help when you walk outside expecting FRESH AIR… only to be greeted with a face full of smoke…).  We boarded our Motor coach for our 45 minute drive into Rome and to our accommodations…  It took a few minutes to get our large group into the rooms those who were on the 3^rd or 4^th floor could use the elevator…

We all settled in … took showers … had a bite to eat and slept until it was time to go to practice.  We practiced for a couple of hours learning each others names and the type of system we would use for our team

By this time everyone was experiencing some heavy jet lag and our eyes and body were starting to drag.  We had a quick bite to eat at a little café near our hotel and …. Off to our BEDS….. AHHHHHH Sleep

Tomorrow…. The Coloseum, Circus Maximus, Ancient Roman Forum ... and our first MATCH...