Aug. 4, 2005

The 2005 USA Junior National Team...

August 2, 2005 - It is 4:30am in the city of Hyderabad in the Manohar Hotel. We have had our first extended sheltered rest since we departed Lake Placid over 60 hours ago. I can no longer sleep as my body has not exerted itself for days, and my mind is filled with concern for the team and the adventure that still lies before us. I have reached the conclusion that the twists and turns this trip has taken could only be captured in a paperback fictional book. However, the events you are about to read are real, the characters are not paid actors, and this is the story of the 2005 USA Junior National Team and our trip to the FIVB Under-21 World Championships in the city of Vishakhaptnam, India.

I will start where most stories start - the beginning. Our lives were simple and focused for the first 9 days, from July 20 to July 29. Over the course of that time we trained every day, with most days consisting of two-a-days, and a few one-a-days thrown in. We would watch video of practice in the evening and learn what we needed to work on for the next day. We trained hard, but more importantly we trained smart. Each day we got better and each day we became closer as a team. Our downtime was spent eating, sleeping, going to a movie, and we had the honor of witnessing the running of the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon.

Final cuts were made on the 26th, and over the next couple of days we said goodbye to the guys who would not be going on the trip. On our last full day at the Olympic Training Center we celebrated our time with some cliff diving into a local river. Life was good and we were looking forward to competing. We bought our recommended supplies - bug spray, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and some peanut butter. The main concern we had was whether or not we were going to get the uniforms in time for the tournament.

We spent our final days at the center hording power bars and protein bars in preparation for the dietary change we'd be facing. This brought us back to the reality that we would be traveling to a place that is unfamiliar to most of us. A place where the comfort and amenities we are used to as Americans are only found within the secluded and guarded confines of the newest and nicest hotels. We all prepared ourselves with our immunizations and we started to take our anti-malaria medication.

Saturday, July 30 Lake Placid, NY - Montreal, Canada We left the training center at 2pm on July 30 to begin the first leg of our journey. To look back on that time now and remember how annoyed our driver was when we were stopped at the border is laughable now. The 12 players and 3 coaches met up with our team doctor and his wife, Dr. Dyke, and our Head of Delegation, Tom Tait at the airport in Montreal. We boarded the plane and took off shortly after 8pm.

Montreal, Canada - Paris, France The flight was about 6 hours, and it went off without a hitch. Some of us read, some slept, some listened to their music, some did a combination to pass the time. We were on our way, and so far things were running according to the itinerary that was given to us by the folks at USA Vollebyall. We gave little thought that the itinerary beyond arriving at Mumbai, India was non-existent.

Sunday, July 31 Paris, France - Mumbai, India We spent little time in Charles De Gaulle Airport and found ourselves on another plane for a 9 hour leg to the western side of India. We had been keeping an eye on the weather developments on this area of India, but like most of us living the privileged American life, we didn't really believe that the floods of this region would affect us. So we arrived at the airport after 11pm on Sunday night and took in the sights and smells of our new surroundings. The security guards walking throughout the airport carried machine guns and pistols.

The humidity seemed to carry the not-so-sweet smells and magnify them. We picked up our bags and made it through customs and stepped into the covered receiving area to be greeted by...no one. We searched through the signs for our greeting party but found none. Not altogether surprised, we patiently waited while Tom Tait made his best efforts to sort us out. As we gathered and waited for any developments, we watched the rain cycle between a light drizzle and heavier shower. The guys waited very patiently and dealt with the time well.

We were faced with the option of having to stay at the airport for the next 9 hours until the scheduled departure of our next flight to Vizag. Three hours later we were met by some men who proceeded to take us 10 minutes down the road to a hotel. The hotel was an oasis in comparison to the demolished buildings and roads lined with tarps under which we can only assume people lived. The roads were paying a heavy price for the rains and flooding and were hard to travel. At this point is was 2:30 in the morning and we were relieved to see that the hotel was elegant and we were greeted by a female hotel worker who proceeded to greet us with a candle and a read paste that was placed on our forehead and topped with a few grains of rice, traditional Indian welcome.

I was the last one in and she seemed to triple the amount of paste and rice on my forehead and the guys got a good laugh out of it. We were pleasantly surprised at the contemporary décor and the level of comfort of the beds. The television had dozens of channels, many of which were showing music videos from the states as well as from India. Shane and I roomed together and we agreed that the hotel made up for the time we wasted at the airport.

Monday, August 1 The Manohar Hotel, Hyderabad After waking up at 6:30 we went down to the hotel restaurant to a great breakfast buffet. Omelets were made to order and we had been uncomfortable enough over the last day to appreciate the familiarity of the food. As we prepared to gather our gear to load up, we were told by the very hospitable hotel manager that our flight was delayed and that we would not have to leave the hotel until 9:30. That was fine by us and we all made ourselves comfortable again in our rooms. At 10am it was time to go back to the airport.

When we arrived we were met by a couple of "guides" who told us that we needed to rebook our tickets as the flight to Vizag was cancelled. We waited around until Tom let us know our new travel itinerary. We caught a 1:30 flight to our new destination, Hyderabad, from where we could catch our flight to Vizag. The flight was turbulent and people were told to return to their seats on several occasions. When we arrived we were once again met by no one, and we were once again forced to camp out for another 3-plus hours. During that time the weather changed from sunny to a downpour in a matter of minutes.

I had fallen asleep on our pile of bags at some point and woke up to the annoyance of flies surrounding me and the others who were asleep. At about 5:30 a small bus came by to pick us up and take us for a 2 minute ride to our next hotel, The Manohar. When we drove through the gate we were greeted by a man wearing what appeared to be Sikh clothing. The entryway was under renovation but we could tell that this was one of the nicer hotels in the area.

After dropping off our bags we were able to go to the restaurant in the hotel and get some dinner. The food took some getting used to, but the cheese and garlic naan was a big hit. The kitchen had enough room for one cook so the food came out after some time. However this allowed more than enough time for us to find out that we may have to take a 12 hour train ride the next day in order for us to get to Vizag. You can imagine the expressions of incredulity from the guys. When we were finished we were all beyond exhausted so we promptly went to bed.

Of course, our paranoia about the mosquitoes forced Shane to light the Citronella candles that we purchased in Lake Placid. After some sleep and dreams that may have been made more vivid from the anti-malaria meds, I find myself to the beginning of my writings. If I could summarize the trip to this point, it would be a combination of the movies Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The battery in my laptop is about to go so I will continue my story when I recharge. Until then, you call Coach Speraw Dr. Jones!

Tuesday, August 02 The Manohar Hotel, Hyderabad After sleeping at 7:30am, we woke to the phone wringing and receiving instructions to go down to breakfast. In the paper we saw the article that Speraw was interviewed for at dinner the night before. We then heard the good news that we were not going to have to take the train and that we would be able to fly out tomorrow around noon. After some arrangements we were also going to be able to practice from about 12pm today until about 3. We left the hotel in a bus and jumped into the moving mosh pit that is Hyderabad traffic.

Unless you've experienced this level of organized chaos, it would be difficult to describe the complete disregard for traffic lines, lights, signs, and markers. The 3 lanes that were painted on the road allowed for 5 cars side by side. The extra space was taken up by scooters, motorcycles, and the sea of 3 wheeled, motorized rickshaws. These things were no bigger than a golf cart, and yet 8 adults seemed to have the ability to pack into one of them. We were half expecting them to pile out of one of them with clown outfits on. We were stared at, begged at, and waved to by numerous onlookers.

We made it to the gym and we were happy with the sports complex. The floor was made of wood, and there was enough space to fit 2 courts. There was a person taking video and a journalist and some of the guys were asked a few questions. We got started and it was rough. The jet lag, the lack of food, the lighting, the humidity, you name it, it was affecting us. But the guys pushed through, broke a good sweat, got some touches in, and we called it a day. We ran the gauntlet back to the hotel and went right to a late lunch. It was still hard to figure out if the hotel people liked having us there or if they were really annoyed.

When we got back to our rooms at about 4:30, Shane and I did what everyone else did...we slept. I managed to get up a couple hours later, but a lot of the others slept all the way until dinner at 9pm. We were delayed a bit from entering the restaurant so many of us managed to fire off a couple of emails. During dinner there was live music and it was really quite interesting. There were 2 men performing - one with 2 small drums and one with an air-driven keyboard that was about as big as a shoe shine box. They played all throughout dinner, and it complemented the food we were enjoying. The naan flowed like water, they brought us cola and some rice and chicken. Of course they brought out the appetizer that we've become familiar with but still could not pronounce. It was an interesting mixture of curry, chicken parts, cashews, ginger and miscellaneous spices with the consistency of the product of a long night of binge drinking. However, the chicken was delicious and the fried rice was plain enough to appreciate. After another long meal, there was only one thing left to do...go back to our rooms and try to sleep.

I walked down the hall to the guys' rooms to get the electrical transformer that we brought. Some of the guys were congregated in a room so I went in. Of course, Beckwith and Schkud were up to their usual antics and they filled me in on it. They were making calls to the team and, faking an accent, convinced whoever picked up to go down to the lobby. Their next victim was going to be my roommate, so I hurried back to my room to hear the result.

The phone rang, but Shane was in the bathroom, so I had to tell them to call back. The prank did not go as expected as Shane figured it out as soon as he picked up the phone the next time it rang. Good times. By the time Rambo: First Blood Part II was over on HBO, Shane was asleep and I was on my way.

Wednesday, August 03 - still in Hyderabad... After a decent night's sleep, I woke at around 8 to the TV. It turns out Shane had been awake since 4:30am again, and had done a hotel room workout, showered, read, and watched TV. I noticed my stomach was beginning to feel a little queasy, but it was nothing to be too concerned about. It was still more than an hour before breakfast so I decided to check out the weight room.

It was in a separate building and I had to be escorted there so I wouldn't get lost. The equipment was old an outdated, but iron is iron, and I needed to workout. I could not believe how much effort everything required. I was spent after 40 minutes so I went to breakfast. Feeling worse, I couldn't eat anything but a couple pieces of fruit and a couple sips of coffee.

We found out that we would need to bring our bags down at 10am, a deviation from the original plan of 10:45am. That left only a couple of minutes so we got our stuff together and brought it down to the lobby. Of course it was another episode of the "hurry up and wait" saga because the van that was going to take our gear and us to the airport was not around. There was no place to sit so we all went back to our rooms. 15 minutes later it was time to hurry back down to get to the airport for our 12:40pm flight to Vizag.

As some of the guys were wrapping up their incidental charges, most were already on their way to the airport. I double checked with the man organizing us to make sure the "bald headed coach guy" had already left, and I was reassured that he had. So, we loaded up all who were left and as we were about to leave, Speraw came wandering down. I looked at the man and pointed at Speraw and we both had a laugh...you call him Dr. Jones! At the airport Tom had things sorted out.*

*Tom Tait will occasionally be referred as "TTT", or "Terrible Tom Tait - Delegation Linebacker." If you don't know the reference, do a search for Terrible Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. Those of you who are familiar with the commercials and with Tom Tait, you'll know why this is funny.

Well, off to another airplane trip - on our way to Vizag...

Finally, after 4 days of unscheduled travel adjustments due to the floods, we arrived at the tournament city in Visakhapatnam (Vizag for short). We had an amazing welcome at the airport with the traditional red paste and rice grains, and flower necklaces. Someone was holding an American flag and our charter bus had a flag in the window.

There were guards armed with machine guns and a police escort that drove ahead of us to stop the traffic. We drove through the streets to waves and smiles from the locals. There were signs promoting the tournament everywhere, and we were greeted with the most impressive welcome when we arrived at the Green Park Hotel.

We practiced at the gym in the Vizag Steel Compound and our guards and police escort stayed in the gym with us. People stayed to watch as we put the guys through their paces. We had to stop several times to wipe up the sweat on the floor as the heat and humidity were impressive.

All of our hosts and people we have come into contact with are putting their best foot forward for us and we very much appreciate it. This early competition will be good for us and it'll force us to get up to speed in a hurry.