December and January highlights

Some quick highlights- going all the way back to December!

My Swiss host-family, the Guggers, came all the way up to see Lüneburg and see me healthy and playing some volleyball again! It was a super heartwarming visit.

Christmas was short, but I got the best Christmas present– a contract extension to continue doing what I love with an amazing group of people–I will be coming back next season to play for SVG! That will be really nice when the time comes, but my focus is on the present moment and giving whatever I can to this squad. We sit 5th and it is not set in stone yet, but a betting man would have us holding that position (or 4th which probably means the same matchup) going into the quarterfinals which start March 18th (ya never know though, that’s why you play!). Three more regular season matches remain and more quality time in the gym with the guys to keep pushing to become the best we can be! (Hint: really, really, good)

The Christmas markets in the city and around Germany were simply lovely throughout the whole season, and a highlight was a big dinner with the team complete with secret Santa. Fellow American Matt West, who is currently playing in the Netherlands, also came to visit Brinkley and I to celebrate Christmas.

For the New Year I met up in Berlin with one of my best friends from home Mitch Beal, along with a bigger volleyball crew to ring in 2017.

The journey is never complete or worth it without a little, or a lot, of adversity and challenges. One little one recently was my strange “injury” that lasted about a week. During a Saturday match against Frankfurt I was feeling some jumper’s knee pain and put a strip of tape around my knee on the skin. After that match I took the tape off along with some leg hairs, too. Soon after that somehow one of the open pores  right under my kneecap became really infected (from sweat, my kneepad, etc.) and the infection spread into the bursa of my knee. I could barely walk for a couple days and missed about 6 days of volleyball. Two other guys on the team have had similar issues, surprisingly, but overall a super random thing. Lesson there I guess is don’t put tape directly onto your skin, and/or just make sure you keep sweaty areas and open pores extra clean! (I have always been a hygienic person just not those couple of days I guess). I did get to watch from the sidelines, though, as we dismantled Berlin at home in 4 sets. The guys were unstoppable that night and it was a joy to watch!

The highlight of that same time period was Grace’s visit, though. Before she started her new job in San Francisco she made the trek all the way back to northern Germany for about a week. It was bittersweet timing. For a few of those days I was slightly hobbled, but her love and support was exactly what I needed. As the infection dissipated we did get to see a lot more cool sites, including the gorgeous new Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

Then, at our away game at Bühl I got to see my wonderful Swiss friends, Alex, Sabrina, and Nina who were out in full force to support, along with my Dad’s friend, Udo!

A little bummed after a loss

On one of our off-weekends, I was treated to the most hyggeligt time in Copenhagen with Mads Møllgaard, his girlfriend Solrun and their families. Here’s a description that comes close to capturing the sentiment I got to experience from the Danes themselves:

“Hygge (pronounced hue-gah) is a Danish word that is a feeling or mood that comes taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary, every day moments more meaningful, beautiful or special. Whether it’s making coffee a verb by creating a ritual of making it then lingering over a cup to a cosy evening in with friends to the simple act of lighting a candle with every meal. Hygge is being aware of a good moment whether it’s simple or special.

Some refer to hygge as an “art of creating intimacy” (either with yourself, friends and your home). While there’s no one English word to describe hygge, several can be used interchangeably to describe the idea of hygge such as cosiness, charm, happiness, contentness, security, familiarity, comfort, reassurance, kinship, and simpleness.”

The journey there included the first large ferry I’ve ever been on in my life (even the train car drives straight onto the boat and then links straight up with the other side of the tracks!?!?)

Mads’ brother Oscar showed me the main sites and history of Copenhagen one day (including the iconic [very] little mermaid), and we also went ice skating, went to a big food truck gathering inside a warehouse and even saw the bizarre anarchist community of Christiania, all linked together with some amazing meals and more hygge. It was simply wonderful!

My dad was also working in Amsterdam and Scotland and got to pop over for a few days to see my life here.

It’s really special to share a passion with a parent, and I think one of the most amazing things about the way my dad raised me with volleyball is the way he never pushed me into the sport, but rather indirectly cultivated my love for it- along with anything else in the world that piqued my interest. It was not until I was older that volleyball ended up being a focus.

As I get older, too, I realize more and more how lucky I am to have been raised by such a great dad (and I am increasingly aware and grateful towards the expansive village of family, friends, and support that raised me and continue to do so). The recent passing of Carl McGown hit really close to home in this regard, and had me thinking about how we all stand on the shoulders of giants throughout our lives. Carl was vital in my development as a player, but more as a human, both through my dad and directly. My dad’s blog on his passing and life says a lot of it really well, as do the countless tributes from all over the world– http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/Features/2017/January/04/You-Are-The-Magic –it is just amazing to me how much he affected positive change and the lives of those around him, and he will be missed dearly.

Life moves crazy fast. A reunion with our old foreign-exchange student Danijel, who my dad, sister, and I hosted 13 or so years ago from Germany, was also a) mind-blowing and b) really special. I remember when I used to think Danijel was tall and HUGE, and he was a stud judo champion–look at the photos of us from then and now. And Danijel now has a child and another baby on the way! And I’m just a wee bit bigger now. Was really cool to play in front of both my dad and Danijel (and we even surprised Danijel with my dad being there).

These past couple months have also included some great and not so great practices and matches, but the good days way outnumber the “bad” and it’s an awesome journey and process to be a part of.

To close out, recently really enjoyed the book Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Super thought-provoking, would love to chat about it if you have read it!

Bis bald!

2016 Daily Motivations

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily.” -Zig Ziglar

In memory of 2016, below are a series of quotes and images I have saved on my phone from this year that made me think, helped motivate or inspire me, made me laugh, or all the above. 

I hope you find at least one that resonates with you and that can contribute positively towards your journey.

I’ve lost track of where many of these came from- but thank you to all the sources!! Leave one of your favorites below, too, if you like the collection. 

Here’s to a phenomenal 2017!

Sülfmeister, #LüneHunen, Berlin, Hamburg, SVG powers on!

Been awhile since my last update! I had a special visitor as Grace came over for a few weeks and things have been busy in a good way with volleyball and the first part of the SVG season! But it’s time to catch everyone up!

Before we got underway with the season we got to participate in a really unique city tradition- the Sülfmeister Games and Parade. Basically every year the town of Lüneburg names a “man of the town” (could also be a woman!) based on a series of tests of strength, stamina, teamwork and prowess. But basically today those tests have become slightly ridiculous but very fun games that are watched by a sizable crowd downtown. The main city street shuts down and all sorts of corporations, city groups, and local businesses put teams together to fight for the right to name the Sülfmeister. Awesome. Many of these teams train extensively for the event- complete with full-mock up devices and props (for example giant barrels) to train as “gamelike” as possible. We got to do a short training session trying out the different games to help prepare us.

This is the goal- to become Sülfmeister!!

This is how you get there:

Our opposite, Eric “Boulder Shoulder” Fitterer had one of the most memorable performances ever in the beer stein challenge. See the video here or on our Facebook page if you missed it: (Our Facebook is also a phenomenal way to stay updated more consistently with the season!)

Below is a video of our trial run on another challenge. Check out the wingspan of Michel Schlien- our studly middle with a wicked float serve.  On the day of the games our skilled Spanish setter Carlos and I set a record time in this same “fish cart drag.”

Below are two teams competing in one of the challenges- solving the puzzle of the mixed up beer crates on the floor and then handing them to a nimble guy who has to build the puzzle below him as he climbs up!

The next day we got to walk in a giant parade that wound its way through the old town that was a really cool experience, too.

Some other highlights of the preseason included a team presentation, visits to Berlin and Hamburg, team bowling, and of course Grace’s visit!

All of this built towards our first home match and season opener. And what an amazing experience it was!! The game was scheduled to start at 8:00pm and I showed up before the normal report time- I think 6:20pm or so- and there was already a line of fans wrapped around the building waiting to get into the gym for the best seats!! Apparently it is only a capacity of 800 but it feels like 1800+ and the energy you feel channeled to the court is just really uniquely powerful, special, and indescribable. We had put in weeks and weeks of work with just us in the gym- and for game time for it to be so packed was just really special. Our fans are die-hard. I’m jumping ahead a little bit but we had a 10+ hour bus ride down to one of our away games and we had a few fans come all the way there to be at the game in person. So amazing.

Here are some shots to give you an idea of what our home gym looks and feels like come game time:

The first set was crazy, too. Really back and forth- complete with an overlap call, a missed overpass kill by the opponent, and the excitement that comes only with the end of close sets. Our Captain Scott finished the whole ordeal with a trickler net ace- one of those ones that just hangs on the tape at 50-50 and then barely tips over and falls- sending the whole place into a frenzy. It was just a really special night to share with all the guys, coaches, management, and fans!! A nice start.

Carlos, Fitt, and I were also extra lucky to have our respective girlfriends cheering us on!

We then went right into our first round Cup match. The Cup- like most volleyball Cups- includes teams from multiple divisions who are then randomly paired and randomly assigned home and away status. Win 4 matches and you’re the Cup Champion. High-stakes, big promotion, and great for the sport. For our first round we drew a third-league team relatively close to us- only about an hour drive. The whole roster got a shot to compete and we handled it professionally 3-0. The unfortunate thing for the team we played- Pinneberg- was that this year we “took” their best middle Florian Krage AKA Flo Rida from them as he is now on our team as a Lünehüne.

The next challenge was a doubleheader weekend away in Berlin. First against VCO Berlin- essentially the junior national training team program that also competes in the first division this year. We prepared well, got gelling early, and never let up and rode that to a 3-0 win, as well.

Next was Berlin Recycling Volleys. They are a powerhouse here in Germany and have recently been strong not only in Bundesliga play but internationally. They have had a history of American players, too- Scott Touszinsky, the Shoji brothers, and Paul Lotman- so I have followed them for a long time. For me it was also an extra cool match not only because of the great venue (3,000+ in the Max-Schmelling Halle) and opponent but because it was one of those cool matches where I got to compete against someone I’ve always looked up to. In this case it was Paul Carroll, the Australian lefty opposite. He was my coach at a Pepperdine Volleyball summer camp when he was playing there, all the way back in 2008 when I was 16. A cool moment fulfilling the quote that is something along the lines of “work until your idols become your rivals.” Unfortunately he showed a little of his experience and went off for 19 points against us. Not so cool. We had some really good chances in the match and it did not feel at all like we got swept 0-3, but we did. Unfortunately we also drew Berlin AT Berlin for our next round of the cup and dropped that match too. It even hurts to write but that put us out of the Cup.

We also had our chances against a strong Friedrichschafen team away at their gym as well but let that match slip away 0-3 too. Despite the outcomes I know we are growing into one gnarly team. Getting to play three matches in a row against perennially the two best teams in the league was not great results wise- but we are using it to build. We came back home that next weekend and picked up an important three points against Rottenburg 3-1. That was home match #2 and I’m looking forward to many more! I love going to battle with this group. Unfortunately we just dropped another really close battle away at Düren 1-3. I am still so confident in this group of guys and the team as a whole, we have so much room for improvement and we are working every day to grow into the absolute BEAST of a team that we can be. I continue to learn so much from my teammates, our opponents, and our coaching staff and I get excited to come into the gym every day. How lucky can a guy get?

Off the court Grace and I got to adventure a good amount, too. We saw a good amount of Hamburg, Schwerin, and Berlin- including the Jewish Museum which was powerful beyond words.

AND I ALMOST FORGOT!! Fitt, his girlfriend Kelly, Grace and I had the privilege of being featured in an EXCLUSIVE article about the two crazy girls that put up with our foreign volleyball adventures in the Bild, which has a circulation of 2,500,000. Pretty hilarious!

Also a big thank you to the Hauschilds!! This summer I was playing an NVL tournament on Hermosa Beach when my partner Dave Smith heard some German being spoken. He played many years here in Germany and struck up a conversation with the family- it turns out not only are they Hamburgers, and not only do they know Lüneburg, but they are very close family friends with the Radzuweits -whose son, Lukas, is my fellow outside hitter this year. Too wild!! the Hauschilds graciously hosted Lukas, Grace and I for dinner and younger Moritz and Leo schooled me in ping pong and a round of grass volley. Such a small world and lucky to meet such a great family out of the blue like that.

Another side note –especially for Game of Thrones fans- take a look at the map of all the teams in our league, the Men’s Volleyball Bundesliga.

We are the one team way up in the north away from all the rest. We are the Starks of the Bundesliga. This means some long bus rides back and forth to play our away matches, but we always get to come back to our castle, our Festung, Gellersenhalle AKA Winterfell. We are the Kings of the North. Which I think is pretty awesome. Winter has come already at times, but, still…Winter is coming.

Don’t forget your SVG gear!! https://www.artiva-sports.com/SVG-Lueneburg-Fanshop

Loving Lüneburg

I’ve been in Germany almost a month now and I absolutely love it!! 
First a very quick recap of my summer: 
Spent time in New York with Grace. 

Caught up with a lot of friends at Princeton Reunions.

Saw Mac graduate.

Road tripped with Mac back to Colorado.

Spent time with family back home.

Worked some volleyball camps.

Played a lot of beach tournaments- AVP, NVL, CBVA. Took home the Vail King of the Mountain title with my great friend and partner Skylar, and qualified for my first main draw at the NVL in Hermosa with Dave Smith. Also really enjoyed the other tournaments I got to play with Dylan Maarek, Brian Cook, and my buddy Chris Patz.

Moved to Venice Beach with Grace and stayed with her sister Genevieve who so graciously hosted us for pretty much the rest of the summer.

Recovered from my ankle injury fully and crushed a long-term workout plan with the help of my strength-coach-via-Internet Brian Swenty. 

Drove back to Colorado with Grace and took down Vegas for a night on the way back.

Enjoyed many moments with new and old friends and my family!

But it’s time for the next chapter of my life overseas! 

After a very hectic travel day to Hamburg that included hours on the phone with multiple airlines and travel agents (thanks Dad, Lily and Grace for helping get me off successfully) I got routed through Iceland and made my arrival time. 

I was picked up and welcomed by one of our managers/PR people Henrik. Henrik is a renaissance man- he has a lot of things on his plate and rarely sleeps- for example right now (on top of many other things) he is running for public office and so it was pretty funny to see his face all over billboards once we got into town. He showed me the beautiful city of Lüneburg.

Way up in northern Germany, Lüneburg was not heavily affected by World War II bombings/conflict- so the main old city and its 3 gorgeous churches still remain- cobblestones, winding streets, and a number of buildings that have begun to slowly sink into the earth because of the salt flats underneath the town that originally brought it riches and acclaim. It is also a university town with almost 10,000 students attending Leuphana University. I have heard that the city fills up even more with when the school year starts sometime soon. 

And it is super close to Hamburg too- which I briefly explored a few weekends ago wth some of the guys and will definitely be taking more trips back to.

After the drive from the airport-so nice to get a little autobahn action- Henrik took me to grab my car (sweet!) and took me to my new flat which was already stocked with some groceries complete with a big loaf of  white “American Bread”! It was a great welcome. (Don’t worry Coach Shweisky I am conscious of my white flour intake)

I live above a really nice family along with our stud of a libero Michael Brinkley and it’s maybe a half mile to the gym we play and train in! The apartment is great- and even has a little sun porch that has already made for some awesome sun-filled meals. Living with Brinkley has been great. We also share a car and just yesterday I gave him HIS first lesson driving a manual when just last year it was me stalling the car at inopportune times.

A gorgeous sunset from the living room

And the team!! I love this group of guys already- since reaching the first division SVG Lüneburg has finished 3rd twice behind powerhouses Berlin and Friedrichschafen and they made the cup final last year (big deal) complete with shirts that read #the little team that could on the back—-I have half a mind to do an small interview with each guy so you can get to know everyone better too. We have 6 newcomers including myself and 8 guys return. Check us out online and don’t miss any of our games if you are close enough to make it! 

It is no secret that we are a smaller budget team but we do not play like one. For this to happen not only does it take the right guys, it takes a great team around the team- that starts with our coach Stefan Hubner. I’ve learned SO much both in the weight room and on the court from coach already it gets me so fired up for the rest of the season ahead! I’ll spare everyone all the details but everything we do just makes so much sense and I know I will grow so much here. Stefan had a long professional career in Germany, Italy, and was a mainstay and captain for the German National Team as a middle blocker. He is back for his third year at Lüneburg. 

Other people involved with the club include President Andreas Bahlburg (who came over and installed my washing machine by hand), assistant coaches Eugenio, Bernd AKA Papa B, and scout Maltey. Our physios Thomas and Michaela have already helped me out a lot. I’m definitely forgetting some team around the team members but just very grateful to be part of such a good group of people. 

We play in a cozy gym-Gellersenhalle- that (from what I hear) gets absolutely PACKED and is known as GellersenHELLe for the other teams that visit. I really like the gym even if the ceiling is a little low. For matches tickets are even hard to come by- part of the reason that the club is in the process of building a brand new gym complex that will be ready by next season. We also got to have a barbecue with the fans recently and it was an awesome thing to get to know some of them better! 

The team is a pretty big deal in the city, too. A couple years ago they were named the best sports team in Northern Germany. A local bakery even has a sandwich named after the team- the Lüne Hüne with hüne roughly translating as Greek-like-hero-stud-man. We had our first team meeting at a local Greek restaurant and there is just this great family feel with the club. 

Oh! And I can’t believe I almost didn’t mention the fact that we have four- yes FOUR Americans on the team this year. Me, Michael Brinkley from Huntington Beach who played at UC Irvine with Scott Kevorken, our returning captain and middle blocker from Thousand Oaks, and Eric Fitterer a big opposite from Saint Louis who played at Lewis and last year in Spain. What a squad. I’ve followed international volleyball for awhile and I can’t remember a team having this many US guys (Besides LEKA last year in Finland) it is awesome to push with the guys every day. 

Also made it to Berlin a couple weekends back!! check out the photos

Some team-building paintball was also a riot-just too much fun

and as I post this we are headed to Groningen in the Netherlands to play another couple preseason matches. We started the year by playing a third league team as the “opener” for a match between the Czech Republic and Germany in a huge arena, and then a second league team the next weekend in a smaller gym like ours that was great fun. 

There’s way more to tell you about but that’s all I’ve got for now- until next time and please reach out online or on WhatsApp (I won’t be using my American phone number again until I return in May). 

Ending Moments

My first pro season is in the books. And what a year it was!!

It was full of big ups and big downs, dominating victories and tough defeats, peak performances and debilitating injuries. Such is life and sport.

Even though we did not reach our goal, (we finished a close 5th to the top 4 who will continue on) we went out on the best note possible, again beating Champions League contender Lugano at home to send two of the best teammates and players anyone could ask for- Jan Schnider and Marco Heimgartner- into retirement. I learned a lot from all my teammates, but Jan and Heimi’s veteran guidance, as well as the way they carried themselves, taught me so much. Their skills on the court will be missed almost as much as the people they are off it.  

While my season was cut short by an ankle injury, the learning never stopped. I know I will be back smarter, stronger, and better than ever before. I learned lessons that only real experience can bring and am taking all this momentum into my summer and moving forward with my career. Below are my first moments passing a ball in months- a few days ago-felt amazing:
  
First a huge thank you to Volley Schönenwerd for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to live my dream of competing overseas. Bü, Roland, along with the rest of the organization, I can’t thank you enough for the chance to play, your support throughout tough times, and especially for supporting me through a frustrating injury and recovery. It truly shows how much you care and the kind of people you are. I couldn’t have asked for a better community, and family to be welcomed into. Thank you to all the Schöni fans, supporters, administrators, club members, bus drivers, and volunteers for sticking with us even when things were not going well. Vielen, vielen, vielen dank, für alles!!

Thank you to all my teammates. I learned something from all of you and enjoyed my time off the court with you just as much as on. I consider you all my brothers and even though we will not be together in the same combination again – I was proud to battle alongside you all.
   
 Thank you to my coach, Nik Buser, for being constantly devoted to the process of making us all better and for grinding it out day in and day out with us. Your consistency, work ethic, and passion were unmatched. Thank you also for fielding any and every question I could possibly come up with at our many Schmiedstube lunches and especially for going out of your way to help me through my first days in Switzerland and throughout all the stages of my injury- from the many doctor’s visits to teaching me DataVolley and helping me find ways to add value and improve even when I couldn’t help directly on the court.  
  
Speaking of Schmiedstube, thank you to the entire staff: Corina, Chantal, Mia, Andrin, Daniel, and anyone I missed who served me practically every weekday for lunch and had to put up with all kinds of shenanigans. Corina also thank you for going out of your way to help me with improving my German. Some of it has stuck I promise. Ich lerne, langsam, aber ich lerne.

A huge thank you to my host family, the Guggers, who made me feel at home away from home throughout these seven months. Your kindness and generosity continue to amaze me!

Thank you to my fellow assistant coaches for a time- Dominik and Walter- it was great hanging with you courtside and I will miss your company.

Thank you to the Hirslanden trainers- Patrizia and Madeline, for countless ultrasounds and rehab support- along with Doctor Walser- for the best treatment and care I could ask for. 

Seba thanks for stepping in at the last moment and helping us get that epic final win.

Dana and Silvia, thank you for being so understanding and dealing with my “American” style of coaching the young ones. Thank you also for translating often and covering for me when I couldn’t make it and through the injury.
  

Thank you to Grace for literally coming across the world to support me and share Swiss life with me in the first months.

Thank you to all the visitors I had- Mac, Gavin, Dad, Junior, as well as Ali for sharing some great times. Thanks Georgie and Grandpa and Grandma Richards for some great trips too! 

  
   
   
Thank you Nina, Kira, Simon, Alex, and Sabrina for your friendship. It has been so fun getting to know you all and I truly value the time we have gotten to spend together! Even when the Nerve beats me in Dog…

Thank you to Jordan Richards for sharing so much of this journey with me- from all the weight-room sessions, morning practices, meals, and recovery of the athletes we are to the downtime, adventures, and times in between of the friends were are that made up this pro life this year. I couldn’t have asked for a better mate to go through it all with.
  
Above all, my biggest takeaway from the season is the fact that when it really comes down to it: There are no big moments, there are no small moments, there is just this moment. Enjoy it, thrive in it, and love all the moments you get.

Finally thank you to all those out there reading for sharing this adventure, these moments, with me.

For now, a little bit of travel for me, then back home for a beach-volleyball filled summer and more importantly- some quality moments with family and friends.

Bummer Overcomer

Before reading this blog post, you should check out Gavin’s GoPro video edit of his and Mac’s adventures here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zjoev6vydgw8mba/SwissTripEdit.mp4?dl=0

Want to come visit now? 🙂 I’m pretty sure you could make daily chores look amazing with a good GoPro edit and good soundtrack- but they really did have so much fun and saw so many incredible things!

The bad news now: In January I sprained my ankle on a weird transition play. In training before our first match back from the holiday break my toe was hurting after every landing- but I wasn’t going to let it stop me from playing- so I started using a more padded insert for my shoe and that stopped the pain. I practiced with the insert for a couple days with no problem- but in the match I made a hard cut on an inside out approach and my guess is that the pad threw my proprioception off enough- combined with me favoring and adjusting for the pain in my toe without thinking about it- and my ankle gave out for a fraction of a second. I finished the rally- jumped for a block and then even jumped to kill a low overdig but rolled back onto my back afterwards- my body knew it was hurt. I walked off the court (I haven’t sprained my ankle in 8 years) and didn’t think it was bad at all. Maybe out a few weeks at most is what it felt like.

Unfortunately this is what it looked like after I took off the compression a couple days later.

Luckily I’m at a great club in a great country with quality healthcare and quickly got an MRI that showed one torn ligament, one strained ligament, and worst of all- a bone bruise on my talus (main ankle joint bone). Bone bruise is kind of a misnomer- it’s a significant compression injury to the inside of the bone and healing time varies. Typically 2-3 months but can be more. Because of all the high-impact landing involved in our sport (and for me from very high up) the Doc said done for the season- and now, 8 weeks later, the joint still doesn’t feel quite right. So waiting for another MRI scan in the coming weeks to show that the bone is healed enough to start coming back to the game that I miss playing so much!!

It’s been a tough couple months- my worst injury in terms of time away from volleyball ever- and it’s pretty frustrating because I can’t rehab “harder” and help the bone along exactly. Just good diet, rest, some ultrasound, and rehabbing the best way I know for the ligaments. I plan on having a long volleyball career so even though it’s killing me now I know it’s best to not rush back because I could do way more damage to the joint if I do. And in the grand scheme of things this is nothing. Accidents happen all the time- just two that recently hit very close to home help give me perspective on this baby of an injury.

1. Princeton ’16 hockey player Denna Laing faces a much more intense and steep recovery after suffering a spinal injury in her pro game http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3393371/Hockey-teams-form-number-14-ice-honor-Boston-Pride-player-injured-spinal-cord-NHL-Winter-Classic.html
2. Cara McCollum Princeton ’15. Our Miss New Jersey beauty queen died in a car accident. There are no words- just a reminder of the randomness of life and to hold your loved ones closer:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/former-miss-nj-dies_us_56cb1627e4b0ec6725e32382

So for me this is basically nothing- only a test in patience. Not what one would wish for their rookie season, but I’d be damned if I didn’t make the best out of the situation.

I’ve stayed on with the club and have found a lot of ways to add value to the team and keep learning- we are in the midst of the 10-game playoffs right now and sit 5th out of 6 teams but can still make the 1st place final series (or the 3rd place series). I come and code DataVolley for all our practices and basically have just become an assistant coach and scout man. Still keeps me pretty busy going to every practice, doing film, and working out the rest of my body everyday plus rehab- I also read a lot, work on my mental game, spend time improving  my flexibility and expanding my cooking repertoire. The German is still coming along rather slowly…

Karch and the USAV women talk a lot about expecting and then embracing adversity as it is bound to come:

http://www.teamusa.org/usa-volleyball/usa-teams/karch-kiralys-blog/stuff-happens-learn-to-love-it

Also see: http://www.jamthegym.com/jamming-in-five-questions/2014/11/18/cultivating-the-ultimate-trust

“Tori Dixon, the youngest player on Team USA eluded to this as well.  “When something doesn’t go our way, we embrace it.  Karch calls it ’embracing adversity’.  This can come in small notions, such as not getting upset when a referee makes a bad call, or bigger things, like food poisoning”   Karch explains it so well in his blog.  “One of my goals is to prepare the team for as many speed bumps as possible, both in volleyball and in life. I’m going to call it “Adversity School.” Its mission will be to condition ourselves – players and coaches alike – to handle adversity so it doesn’t detract from what we’re trying to accomplish on the court.”  From the youngest to the guy in charge, this team gets it.” Good stuff.

This injury is just a great opportunity for me to work on so many other things.

And thank you Internet!! I’m sure this kind of strange injury would have been much harder to deal with without being able to learn from and be inspired by so many stories of other elite athletes who have gone through much worse and come back way stronger. Stephen Curry’s recovery from his own ankle problems along with Peyton’s comeback are my favorites right now that help drive me.

Steph’s “glass ankles”: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14750602/how-golden-state-warriors-stephen-curry-got-best-worst-ankles-sports

Speaking of Peyton, though, here also are some quick highlights from the past months:

I got to go to the U.S. Ambassador’s house in Bern to watch the Super Bowl with Ali!!  I was the only die-hard Bronco fan there it seemed but it did not lessen my joy in the slightest. We got to hang with another 100 or so Americans staying up until 5am to watch the game. Was such a cool house and we met some other hockey pros playing over here, too. I can’t even put into words how ecstatic I was about the win- and the experience.

This is us with the Ambassador

And this is the beautiful Broncos defense TAKING OVER

Technically I was back on U.S. soil for just a little bit, and we got spoiled with snacks too!

We had a week off completely from matches leading up to the playoffs and I was then able to actually go back “home” to New York to visit Grace!! It’s a big walking city so I was a bit limited on crutches- but it’s also a big über city so Grace and I- through a bunch of different activities- reunited with countless friends and family members. It was so good seeing you all again!! Some activities included a Broadway play, shuffleboard, and rainbow bagels just to name a few. It was so good to mentally recharge and as well as get some other opinions from doctors.

I also snuck down to Princeton for the day and got to reconnect with my coaches, professors and team that I missed dearly. Was so good seeing them all!

Recently before our match against Lausanne I got to go to the Olympic museum there. I highly recommend it. It reminded me of how much of an Olympic upbringing I have had (born across the street from the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs-home of the USOC- a Dad who raised us in the spirit of Citius, Altius, Fortius, and physically took us to the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City , and SO many more memories I can’t even begin to summarize) so much of the museum was second nature to me and brought back childhood memories more than anything.

I should have taken more pictures because it was such an inspirational and extensive display!

Our team had quite the eventful trip to Lugano through a flash snowstorm that even the Swiss infrastructure was not prepared for. One of my teammates said it was the worst snow in the area since the 70s. We did eventually make the match a few hours late and got outplayed big time unfortunately. We might have to throw less snowballs next time.

Our team held a tryout with a player and I was showing him around for awhile. Upon meeting Jordan and I he decided we looked like Logan Paul and Edward Cullen, respectively. I thought it was too funny to not share:

Finally, it is still great getting to coach this little squad of U13 ballers along with about 20 more that aren’t pictured every Friday.

Until next time!

It’s February already!?

Lots of adventures these past couple months. Three visitors to Däniken, two Swiss train passes for them to explore the entire nation, and one team headed to the playoffs.

I’m going to let the photos do most of the talking for this post.

Mac gets to see me play in a pro jersey!! We go up 2-0 but lose 3-2 before the holiday break.

Ice Skating with the crew: Swiss beach volleyball star Simon and his girlfriend Kira, along with Jordan and Mac.

Basel Christmas market- holiday wonderland- thank you Hagenbuchs for the hospitality and exposing us to our first roasted chestnuts and Mac’s first raclette and glühwein!

Sunset Lake Zurich and a singing human Christmas tree- thanks Nina for the suggestion!

Beautiful Bern with our friend Killian

Mac and I stay at an Airbnb in a Medieval Italian Commune in the Alps complete with a giant mirror that, for a time, reflected some sunshine onto the village square below that used to go without seeing the sun for months on end: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6189371.stm

Lake Como and Milan

Casual Matterhorn

Gavin joins in on the adventures

This really gorgeous lion monument in Lucerne commemorates the Swiss Guard (mercenaries) who were killed protecting the Tuileries Palace when it was stormed by  French Revolutionaries in 1792.

The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff — for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies.

Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion — and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is.

— Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, 1880

Those two then purchased the Swiss golden tickets- two 8-day Swiss passes that let them ride unlimited trains. Up early every day and back home to Daniken late at night meant they got to see more of the country than most Swiss probably!!

And the Guggers spoil us with fondue again–danke vielmal!! AKA Thank you many times (not danke viermal as I pronounced it for awhile which is thank you four times hahaha)

My Princeton teammate Junior visits on a snowy week and gets to practice with the squad. Was great having you here, man!

Also lots of phone calls with the little redhead who is now living life in New York!

And last but not least, Jordan Richards is still unable to put the antenna on the net correctly. (white band should be on the inside)

Two matches at home this weekend against Lugano and Einsiedeln, and then away at Geneva on the 13th to close out the regular season. We are qualified for the playoffs and will begin a double round-robin involving the top six teams on the 23rd of February to set up the first place and third place finals in April. Proud to be!!

S-W-W-I-T-T-Z-E-R-L-AN-D

“What is it like over there?”

That is the standard question I receive. Hopefully the general content of this blog gets at a bit, but I also wanted to set aside a post to talk about Switzerland as a country more directly.

I also recently finished the book “Swiss Watching” by English travel writer Diccon Bewes and a lot of the ideas it presents have been on my mind recently (I highly recommend it- it is informative, easy-to-read, and quite funny! Mac and Gavin have also really enjoyed it as a complement to their travels). It is really difficult to get at the essence of a country and/or its people adequately or succinctly- but Bewes manages to pull it off rather well! I tried to write this post many times before, and each time I got kind of overwhelmed trying to explain Switzerland entirely- and I can’t really get close without writing a book of my own, so I’ve picked some of the highlights from the book, combined with my own experiences, and have made an acrostic to share with you all instead!

One also can’t talk about a country or people without the risk of falling into stereotyping. So I’ll also start with a big disclaimer: Not everything I say below applies to everyone in Switzerland. It is an incredibly diverse land, both geographically and demographically. I personally have had an incredible time here, have experienced nothing but the finest hospitality and kindness (in a number of occasions overwhelming and over-the-top hospitality), and have a really positive view of the country and its people. I will also be speaking mostly in generalities. That being said, here is my SWITZERLAND acrostic!! Haha!

S is for Swiss German.

The Swiss don’t exactly speak German. They do, but the main spoken language is actually Swiss German- a hybrid language unintelligible to my untrained ear- and even to most native German speakers. Swiss German is not really a written language, but in more recent times has shown up a lot in texting/social media. The Swiss, then, learn to speak, read, and write in High German (normal German) in school- often along with French, English, or Italian. To further add to the confusion, even the Swiss-German dialects vary so greatly by area that they can be mutually intelligible.

W is for William Tell

The sharp-shooting apple man is THE Swiss folk hero. As the story goes, Tell refused to put up with the tyranny of an Austrian lord named Herman Gessler who forced Tell to shoot an apple off his son’s head for not genuflecting to him. Naturally, Tell’s sharpshooting prowess saved his son’s life, and versions of the story differ after that but eventually Tell kills Gessler with another arrow.

“Thanks to a play written by a German and then a catchy piece of music composed by an Italian, Mr Tell became a household name across Europe…Tell became a hero in the mould of Robin Hood. For the Swiss he’d always been that, but his legend becoming an international phenomenon dove-tailed neatly with a bit of nation building (in 1803 six cantons [Swiss states] joined the nation en masse). The trouble is no one really knows if he existed, although to dismiss the story as fiction is tantamount to treason for Swiss nationalists.”

W is also for Wanderweg

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            I’m going to do two Ws because I think the Wanderweg is so cool! (and I had already written William Tell and didn’t want to delete it!). Basically everywhere you go in Switzerland—both in urban sections and rural areas—you will see yellow arrow signs pointing you in all different directions. This is the marked-out Wanderweg, a term used to describe over 31,000 miles of walking/hiking trials that crisscross the entire nation. Hiking or walking the Wanderweg is a common Swiss past-time and all around the country you will see these yellow sign-posts,  with approximate distances and hiking times often included.

I is for Immigrants

Despite perhaps seeming rather homogeneous from the outside, 22.4% of Swiss inhabitants are, like me, not Swiss. Why such a high number? One reason is that “Swiss citizenship is privilege, not a right, and even children and grandchildren of immigrants are not classified as Swiss (unless one parent is Swiss). These Secondos make up about one-fourth of that 22.4%. Becoming a Swiss citizen is also a “lengthy, expensive process, involving applying, and paying, for citizenship at the community, cantonal and federal level, and only once you have lived in Switzerland for 12 years.” This 22.4% number is also often twisted to claim that Switzerland has ‘one of the highest populations of foreigners in Europe’, but as you have hopefully just seen, that is only because Switzerland’s citizenship rules are very different…”if you compare like with like, so that the playing field is level, then Switzerland only has 6.9% foreigners, much the same as Britain and far less than Germany’s 8.2%.” As with all of Europe currently, the immigrant crisis is on the minds of many- as well as ideas about the best ways to move forward.

T is for Tidy

Swiss people are quite tidy and value cleanliness. That’s just a fact. I have yet to see a dirty car on the road—honestly. Homes are spotless and extremely neat, even the roads, train stations, public bathrooms, etc. are incredibly clean by any standards I have experienced. Things are just CLEANER in general.

T is also for Timing

Swiss trains and most of Swiss life run precisely on time (remember also that this is the land of watches). The only downside to this perfection is when things aren’t on time, for example the trains—people kind of lose their minds.

Z is for Zurich

Canton Zurich is the largest of the 26 Swiss states—and it is home to the city of Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city. “Each canton has its own constitution, laws, parliament, courts, and flag; it also sets its own taxes, issues car number plates, and has its own police force and education system. In true federal style, the canton is both the basic building block of the country and a balance against the center having too much power. And for many Swiss, the canton is emotionally as important as the country, if not more so.”

The five main cities in Switzerland also shed a lot of light on the make-up and functioning of the country today:

“For centuries the cantons were bound together by pacts but grew independently, rather like the Italian city-states. That’s why Switzerland never had one big capital, á la Paris or London, but a group of more or less equal cities. Even in today’s united country, each of the five large cities has its role” Bern, the federal capital, is the political center; Basel, thanks to the pharmaceutical companies, the Industrial one; Lausanne, home of the Supreme Court, the legal; Geneva, HQ for the United Nations, the international; and Zurich, the biggest of the five, the economic. It’s as if London were to be dissected and dropped off around Britain. Even then, each part would be far larger than Zurich, whose population is only 375,000. Take a walk along the pedestrianized, cobbled streets in the center of Zurich and it doesn’t feel like a big city at all. Londoners and New Yorkers would say that it isn’t, but for the Swiss it’s a veritable metropolis. Or at least that’s how it’s marketed by its inhabitants…”

E is for Education:

Swiss children must attend 8-9 years of school, and throughout the schooling process there are a few options for how to proceed. I might be simplifying a lot here, but most Swiss children/teenagers attend school until 16, 17 or so, and then start an apprenticeship lasting 2-4 years (often with additional classes during the week). A smaller percentage- about 20-30%- then go to a senior high school (commonly called “gymnasium” in German, “gymnase” or “lycée” in French and “liceo” in Italian) to prepare them for a Technical college or a University—which focus almost exclusively on research and theoretical work. There are many paths to take and many ways to transfer to different training programs.

Another interesting education fact- The International Baccalaureate Program—which is also how I spent my high school days and is more affectionately known as “IB”—started here in Switzerland in 1968!!

P.S. on the E- Switzerland is NOT part of the European Union, maintaining their soveringty and sticking  to the Swiss Franc as their currency. (They have a lot of bilateral agreements with their neighbors but are NOT EU)

R is for Recycling

“Most aspects of Swiss life are efficiently organized and strictly controlled, and recycling is no different. Supermarkets take back old light bulbs, plastic bottles and batteries, while paper and cardboard collection is free from the doorstep, and bottle and can banks are dotted everywhere. Sorting your rubbish is seen as a civic duty, rather than a personal choice.” WHICH IS HOW IT SHOULD BE! Thus, the Swiss have really impressive recycling rates. Glass recycling is as high as 95% (US around 25%) and batteries 74% (The UK comes in around 3%). Their waste production per capita isn’t particularly low, but I have been impressed with how well organized and dedicated the recycling efforts are. I even have to buy special (and more expensive) waste-bags from the local store- an effective incentive to keep general refuse levels down. I think those in the U.S. would recycle more too if it meant saving money and if the infrastructure was se up like small Switzerland’s.

n.b. Even most Swiss graves are recycled- rented out for a period of years (usually around 20-25) before being replaced. Not a huge amount of excess space in this small country.

L is for Languages

There are actually four official national languages, French, German, Italian, and Romansh (spoken by 1% of the population and generally ignored entirely) so almost everything federally printed comes in three versions. Switzerland lies in between modern-day France, Germany, and Italy and embraces all of the surrounding languages and cultures, to an extent, while still maintaining its independence and particular “Swissness.” English is also widely used. To sum it up, simply being bilingual over here makes me feel somewhat lacking.

A and N are for Armed Neutrality

One of the first things that came to my mind before coming here was Swiss “neutrality” and notions of pacifism. The Red Cross did start here, after all. I also honestly remember thinking that the notorious Swiss army knife was purposely misnamed because the Swiss couldn’t possibly have an army. Boy was I wrong. What I didn’t know at all is that hand-in-hand with that neutrality comes a highly “militarized country, with uniformed soldiers a common sight in trains and towns” and barracks in most town centers. “Nevertheless, the Swiss think nothing of it. For them, it’s just a fact of every Swiss man’s life. From the age of 20 a Swiss man must complete 260 day of compulsory military service, either all at once or in annual stages, before he reaches 34.

After his active service time is up, he remains in the reserves for a further ten years and must regularly practice shooting his rifle. (Kurt, my adopted Swiss dad, is quite the sport-shooter and expert marksman- and he has many medals to prove it- William Tell’s sharpshooting prowess seems to perhaps be a natural Swiss trait). Objectors to army service used to go to jail, but in the 1990s the law was finally changed to allow community service instead, though it’s a longer stint of 390 days. Women can join in voluntarily, but unsurprisingly, few do: only 141 did in 2010. It all adds up to an army of over 200,000 that can be called up at any time to defend the country. But the big question is, against whom?

Having a permanent army in waiting doesn’t come cheap. Defense annually eats up over four billion Swiss francs, 8 percent of the national budget, or more than agriculture….Not only that, each solider gets his own rifle and two uniforms to keep at homes, so that he is ready at a moment’s notice to shoot the enemy and be properly dressed for it. The rifle has to be kept locked out of sight, but this doesn’t stop army weapons being used in over 300 deaths a year. With about 2.3 million guns in Swiss homes (75 percent of them army issue), it’s really no surprise that Switzerland has by far Europe’s highest rate of gun suicide.” As an American, though, it’s safe to say we have a MUCH bigger gun problem.

Switzerland is also ready for anything else that might be thrown at it. Everyone has access to a nuclear shelter, but for most people it is their cellar, as almost every Swiss building has a cellar.” These cellars will often house communal laundries, or volleyball net closets as I have often found!

And although the Swiss, and especially Swiss banks these days, receive flack for aiding the Nazis in various capacities in WWII and for hiding away vast amounts of seized Jewish capital, if invaded, the Swiss were prepared to make any leader think twice before trying to subdue a nation full of sharpshooters hiding away in their mountain fortresses. (Unfortunately true Swiss neutrality is a little bit of a myth—as I have heard often—the Swiss are always on the side of the money).

“Perhaps the worst side of Swiss militarism is the export of weapons. A lot of them. It defies [Bewes’] logic to see how a country that preaches peace and neutrality can sell weapons to 69 different countries, with the number one customer being Germany. Per capita, the Swiss are one of the largest arms’ exporters in the world, selling more than either the British or the Americans. Armed neutrality is one thing when it’s a matter of self-defense, it becomes a whole different issue when you are exporting death. To declare yourself neutral in a conflict, and even offer mediation, is laughably hypocritical if you’re selling arms to one side; the Swiss get over that by selling arms to both sides. What are morals when there’s money to be made? War is an extension of business…Just as when it exported its men as mercenaries [the legendary Swiss guard] or accepted gold from anyone who had it, Switzerland is still profiting from wars fought by others. A referendum on banning weapons’ exports was defeated in November 2009; clearly most Swiss aren’t willing to put their mouth where their money is.” A scathing critique, but I think very fair!

Neutrality does come with its benefits, though. Bewes poignantly points out that “once you’ve visited a few Swiss towns and villages, one thing stands out. Not the time-warp medieval centers with their sculptured fountains, not the stenciled decorations and overhanging roofsl and not the sturdy churches and pristine graveyards. It’s the lack of a stone cross in every village center, no engraved lists of dead sons on a town cenotaph…Such things are part of the fabric of nearly everywhere in Britain and France, but in Switzeralnd they are almost non-existent. How strange for a place to be so close, both geographically and culturally, but for it to have a completely different collective memory of the last hundred years. The two world wars affected the Swiss but just not in the same immediate, every-family-lost-someone way. And in November you can really see the difference: no poppies, no two-minute silence, no Last Post. There’s no Rememberance Day in Switzerland…For all its imperfections and contradictions, armed neutrality has at least given the Swiss the luxury of no lost generations. How lucky they are.”

D is for Däniken!!!   

My hometown of Däniken is close to my heart. But I’ll close the acrostic out with the main values most Swiss hold dear. They value trust very highly, and therefore privacy follows closely behind. They also value and pride themselves on precision, accuracy, timeliness, cleanliness, and hard work (Bewes I think rightly compares Switzerland to a beehive where the product is not honey, but chocolate and a very high quality of life.)

This acrostic didn’t even include Heidi, fondue, Muesli, chocolate, cheese, the Alps, raclette, Ticino, watches, Gotthard tunnel, etc. And there is so much more to the country. Again I highly recommend the book “Swiss Watching” as a great quick read packed with info and humor. I will close with a description given by the author of “the average Swiss family” according to the average of a series of statistics and national questionairres-meet the Müllers.

“Stefan and Nicole are in their late 30s and have two children, Laura and Luca, after eight years of marriage. They live in a rented four-room flat and get on with their neighbours, as long as they always say hello and are considerate of everyone’s peace and privacy. Nicole only works part-time, as bringing up the kids is more important then her career; instead, she spends 53 hours a week cooking, cleaning, washing and shopping. That’s twice as much as Stefan, who works full-time in the service sector. He drives to work and racks up 40 hours overtime a year. The Mullers watch television for 2.5 hours a day, but always find time to read the local paper.

At the weekends they go hiking. Both are free family fun, and they’d rather save for their annual holiday in Italy, France or Spain. The children go to football training, ballet or horse riding, and will live at home until they are 23. Both will be expected to get good grades at school.

They always shop in Migros or Coop, with yoghurt their most purchased item. Per person, they eat 250 grams of vegetables, 120 grams of potatoes, 160 grams of meat and 390 milliliters of milk every day. Family finances are carefully watched, as Stefan and Nicole worry what would happen if he lost his job. And of course, they have to think about their own old age and pay the dentist. Straight white teeth are as important as good grades for the children.

The three words the Müllers use to describe themselves are cautious, friendly and punctual; they are highly unlikely to see themselves as open, spontaneous or disorganized. They might be just the average family, but the Müllers are patriotic and proud to be Swiss. And in that respect, they are typical Swiss people.”

If you agree, disagree, have any thoughts, opinions, arguments, etc. please share or get in touch with me!! I love learning and thinking about it all!!

P.S. I did not meet my last blog’s self-imposed deadline or was even close—but I did go on a lot of fun adventures instead which one of the next posts will be full of!

Two month recap

It has been WAYYY too long since I last wrote. Almost two months. But hey in this case I’ll go with the “late is great” motto. Not exactly a very Swiss saying but time really has been flying by…which it actually does more and more as we age. See this website for an interactive version of “perceived time”: http://maximiliankiener.com/digitalprojects/time/

Some say this concept produces a lot of anxiety, but for me it’s more of a motivator. It harkens back somewhat to the Steve Jobs quote I love so much, “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Life is short; fill it with love and passion!!

Volleyball has had its ups and its big downs, but we are still in a solid position headed into the last eight games of the regular season. Unfortunately we lost our match in the first round of the single-elimination Swiss Cup (maybe the toughest loss I’ve ever experienced with any team.) It’s even hard to talk about. I don’t really want to go into details but it was one of those losses where you mostly beat yourself- we just had a really bad day. The other team played solid and credit to them but if felt like an outlier of a match in terms of how badly we performed. To make it even more baffling it came the day after our very best match of the season that we dominated. Stuff happens. We’re still alive and grinding and we are getting much better (I can even prove it because we track it.) And when things click we are a dangerously good team, and unfortunately for the other teams in our league things have been clicking more and more lately.

My individual game has also had its ups and downs as I learn new skills, and new motor patterns. For a couple matches I definitely let “the pressure of competition get in the way of the pleasure of competition,” as my dad likes to quote, but I’ve gotten back in touch better with the pure joy that comes from playing (and all the love and passion I have for the sport as touched on before) and that has helped immensely.

I have also been doing all the right things (and more) every day- from eating great meals, to having great workouts, to taking care of my body with soft-tissue work and stretching, to getting great sleep, etc. It is my job but I know I am doing it well and all that action breeds confidence, courage, and success, which I have also had a good amount of on the court. Another reason I haven’t written in awhile is that I have been really focused on “emptying the tank” everyday and putting everything I have into training and making myself the best possible volleyball player off the court as well as on.

We have one more match tomorrow before a weeklong Christmas break which will also be good for the body and mind. All the time not spent in the gym I got to spend alongside Grace before she left about ten days ago, but I don’t even have a chance to get THAT lonely because my sister arrives TODAY, followed by my best friend Gavin after Christmas. They will be using my hometown of Däniken as a home-base of sorts to travel around when my practices start up again but it will be too fun to show them around and to have their company for more adventures. I am one lucky guy!

Speaking of adventures, here is a numbered recap of some other highlights from the past couple months:

1. The big DAD came to visit!! He snuck over from Lithuania for a couple days to see our second match. He also gifted Grace and I with a pasta-pot (with special strainer built-in) that makes some of my carb intake that much easier. It was really cool to show him my life as a pro just as he had in Italy only a few years ago…

All the other photos (all of us looking at the camera, too!)  are on some other camera somewhere I don’t know. Was so fun to have you here, dad!!

2. After our first win of the season I took advantage of the next weekend being a bye week and went to Paris for a day with Grace and her two lovely parents who were doing a mini Euro-trip across Italy, Switzerland, and France. This was weeks before the attacks and it was such a wonderful time. The Fish family spoiled me with some great meals while they visited Switzerland, too, and they also lugged about 2 kilos (maybe more) of my favorite popcorn snack with them for a good chunk of their journey, which I will be enjoying for the months to come. In Paris we had some incredible food, saw the classic sites (my first time in Paris, or France for that matter), went to the Pompidou, and just had a wonderful time.

3. The weekend we had no match there was a club-wide party in Olten, a town away. It was a fun chance to hang with all the guys outside of the gym and meet a lot of the other club members. There’s so much support for the club and it is a great group to be a part of and to represent.

4. My teammate Simon and his girlfriend Sabina invited Grace and I for a hike and barbeque/picnic at Top of Zurich on one of our days off. We cooked our own special bread for a cool Swiss-chocolate treat (the particular name escapes me now), among other snacks, and really had a wonderful time. Thank you Sabina and Simon!!

5. Grace and I also made sure not to miss the one-day-a-year local carrot festival AKA Rüeblimärt. It is one of Aarau’s main attractions of the year. I have never seen the city so busy as it was on that day. And of course we saw more varieties of carrots than I could have previously dreamt-up (and brought home a rainbow set for experimentation in the kitchen).

6. One of the rare Mondays we had off just happened to coincide with a concert in Zurich by a band Grace and I had enjoyed listening to in the past, MS MR. Jordan joined and while it wasn’t what we expected- we were a little underwhelmed- we saw a fun part of the city and had a good night.

7. The Guggers, my downstairs neighbors/adopt-a-parents continue to go above and beyond with their kindness and hospitality. In this case, they invited me over for authentic, home-made fondue not once but TWICE, because Grace missed the first session away on her travels. It was a first for us both, and it was SO GOOD. Grace and Esther also realized they had French in common which made the last couple weeks a little more enjoyable/transparent! THANK YOU GUGGERS!

8. The only thing that could’ve upstaged the carrot festival/market?? The ONION FESTIVAL!! AKA Zieblemärit in Bern. I linked up with Ali and her Neuchatel ice-hockey teammate Bree again to enjoy this crazy, confetti-filled celebration that takes up the entire old-town. The onion-braids are a big hit, as well as sugar onions, onion wreaths, onion soup, etc. There is one main confetti battle but really it is a perpetual confetti shower and no one is safe. Also kids ran around with little plastic squeaky hammers bonking people on the head and it was 100% permissible that day to give anyone a good harmless whack. I have an onion braid and necklace still hanging in the kitchen.

9. Jordan Richards was also guilty of exposing me to Vegemite for the first time. Let’s just say it will also be the only time that I try it.

10. Grace and I (mostly Grace) pulled off our Betty-Crocker dream [Swiss Betty Crocker is Betty Bossi-more on that next week] of hosting an American Thanksgiving with our friends Alex, Sabrina, and Jordan who we also shared Racclette and American-burger-place dinners with. Besides a small amount of burnt bread it truly was quite the success, the sweet potatoes taking the prize of best dish by far. We didn’t do a turkey (cue Cody running to the store at the last minute to grab a few cooked chickens) but we made everything else!! Another priceless time with friends!

11. I also had a birthday- thanks to all for the thoughtful gifts and well wishes, both from my newer Swiss family and friends and from everyone else across the world. Thank you internet for letting me feel the love from all over- it was a great one. (Tia Donna and Uncle Doug- thanks for an amazing care-package, too!! And Mateus!!)

12. After our match against Lugano down in Ticino, Grace and I treated ourselves to a nice hotel stay and toured the city of Lugano for the day.

13. For our second to last weekend Grace and I visited Bern. All was great, but the end of the night was particularly memorable. I had made an online reservation at a nice restaurant and in the comments section where they ask for any special requests etc. I put something along the lines of “my girlfriend is leaving soon, I’d really like a nice table, thank you.” We will never know what got lost in translation, but upon arrival (we almost cancelled the reservation and went home early) we were greeted very kindly and ushered to the dead center of the restaurant where a table sprinkled with rose-petals, candles, and small hearts was waiting for us. Every eye in the restaurant was immediately on us- we were “the couple” the special table had been set up for. We enjoyed it as much as possible, but everyone was waiting for a proposal the entire night. I’ve rarely seen Grace more red.

14. The last adventure for now with Grace was a trip up to Top of Europe/Jungfraujoch, which was really absolutely stunning. Picture cliché Switzerland then add to it. Our train zig-zagged its way up a steep snowy mountain. We passed hikers, then skiers, and got to the top and were blown away by the views. It wouldn’t truly be Switzerland without a Lindt chocolate store at the top in the visitor’s center (along with a fine watch store). And yes we got sucked in and bought some chocolate 🙂

15. Went to a really nice spa with a few teammates on Monday- complete with one of those salt-water float tanks which was my favorite.

I definitely missed some things that went on but basically everything is awesome over here!! I love my team, I love my job, I love my life!!

I’m going to use this post to publicly hold myself accountable, too. I will write and post another blog by December 28th,- loosely the working theme is “Switzerland”- and all the things I’ve learned so far about this quirky little country. Until next time!!

Failure to be Present

“There would be nothing more obvious, more tangible and palpable than the present moment. And yet it eludes us completely. All the sadness in life lies in that fact.”

-Milan Kundera (quoted by Jess Walter in Beautiful Ruins)

My younger sister McKenzie posted this quote on her Instagram account more than a year ago. And it is easily in my top five favorite quotes of all time.

(Since I’m mostly concerned with volleyball at the moment) a lot of sadness on the court comes from not being able to stay present- both physically and mentally.
Volleyball is incredibly error-ridden, and it follows that the older and/or better volleyball players I know are very good at staying in the present moment and have very good “instant amnesia” when it is needed, because the next point is coming right up in 20 seconds or less.[1] I think all peak performers share these traits. While no one should neglect the past or future- the present is king. We know it is the only thing we truly have any control over. Sports demand our true presence for us to be successful- something I did not do a great job of this past Saturday.

Below are some excerpts from a book my dad gave me before I came over to Switzerland. The book is The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery, and I definitely recommend it. Below are some of my favorite passages from the book:

“Entreprenuer Sara Blakely has often described the influence of her father’s unique way of asking about her activities when she was a young child; the lessons gleaned from his perspective became part of the foundation that helped her become one of the youngest self-made billionaires at age forty-one. Sitting at her family’s dining-room table at night meant hearing him constantly say, “What did you fail at today?” She and her brother disclosed their failed attempts at school activities like sports tryouts. After each one, he raved the way other parent’s might over a stellar report card…Blakely is the founder of the girdle-redefining line Spanx, valued at one billion dollars in 2011. She founded the company before the age of twenty-nine, and currently owns it outright…Failure became not the outcome, but the refused attempt.”

This is not a new concept, but it is an important one to remember. For most the classic Jordan quote probably comes to mind, too: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Back to The Rise:

“The equivalent of Blakely’s childhood dinner table conversations now exists as a conference called FailCon, a summit in Silicon Valley, which also takes place around the world….helping people ‘be wrong as fast as they can,’ and speak publicly about how they did it. The rule there is that people can’t speak about their successes, only their failures.”

SO, I’m going to do my own little version of FailCon.

Last Saturday. My professional debut. Season opener. Home opener. A game to remember. Unfortunately it was too much for me- I didn’t play very well. We got crushed, especially in the serve/pass game (20-25, 17-25, 16-25).

Reflecting on the match, I think I tried way too hard to impress people (my teammates, crowd, [all the people I’ve met here that have been so nice to me], other team, etc.) instead of just PLAYING like I know how to do very well. There were moments when I got caught up in the match (the present) and just played- and those moments often went well- but many more moments I was thinking way too much into the future or past or about unhelpful things.

This all goes back to being mindfully in the present moment. I’m too often “overly-mindful” when I play. Maybe I should listen to the advice given to Tom Cruise in one of my favorite movies as a teen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbecIBvR3mE

TOO MANY MIND- NO MIND hahaha but SO TRUE

I tend to overthink things and it needs to change if I want to be consistently successful. So what am I going to do about it?

Besides continuing to work on my game like I do every day of the week, I have recommitted to practicing meditation. I recently started “Headspace”, a free app intro into meditation that a friend recommended and it has already helped a lot on and off the court.

I also continue to revisit the ideas and methods in The Inner Game of Tennis that I read this summer, which I also highly recommend.

Have any other thoughts? Tips on developing focus or hyper-focus? Please reach out I’d love to start a dialogue with you. Thanks for reading!!

P.S. This post is not meant to celebrate failure. It’s awful losing/failing- and I don’t want it to happen again!! But my team and I will learn intelligently from this setback and be back stronger. We are back in action on Halloween (October 31).

[1] The best players combine their instant amnesia with large visual encyclopedias they are able to access quickly [basically unconsciously] that helps them read and react to the game better than less experienced players. One part goldfish brain, one part big computer database brain.