Stavanger Volleyball Tournament

In September I went to Stavanger, Norway for my JV volleyball tournament. It is the one tournament/game we have for the entire season and we only had three weeks to prepare and only two practices a week. So a total of 6 practices to get my team prepared for a tournament. Another coach and I were responsible for 18 boys and girls in another country which was pretty intimidating to me. We landed in Norway and immediately had issues getting into the country because we had an Indian and Chinese passport holder and they did not have the proper paperwork to get into the country. Depending on what country you are from they require special visas along with the passport to enter certain countries. After 45 minutes and a lot of pleading with the Norwegian customs officers allowed them into the country. We arrived at the International School of Norway and ate dinner and then headed to the hotel. We were exhausted and we had an early morning game so I went straight to bed. The next day was pretty interesting for me. It was the most relaxed tournament I have ever been in and this was the first time I was a little stressed about the fact that I did not speak the native language because not many people spoke English. I luckily had a Norwegian girl on my team and she was forced to stick by my side most of the day due to the amount of people trying to communicate with me in Norwegian. We ended up winning one game out of four which I was proud of considering we were playing club teams and I had girls who had never played and only 6 practices. In looking at my team you could see that we were definitely an international team. I had three Canadians, two Americans, one Iranian, one Austrian, one girl from Belgium, one girl from Holland, one girl from Trinidad and Tobago and one Norwegian.

That night we got to do a little sightseeing around Norway which was great. It is a very cold and rainy city. Even colder and rainier than Aberdeen which was shocking to me but I still liked it. We also go to do a little sightseeing the next day before we took off to go home. It was a great experience for me and it ended up being fun. After this tournament I was asked to go to London to coach the JV girls soccer team. I of course said yes since it is a free trip to London. I am only coaching them during the tournament because their coach cannot attend the tournament so hopefully I do OK!!