Atlantic University Sport

Hey everybody,

This is my first update since the summer has begun. it took me awhile because Tricia and I had a slow start to the summer. but now we are getting our groove back so i feel like sharing it with all of you.

Tricia and I have played in three international events since the beginning of July and one National tour event. The first event was in Toronto and was a National Tour event - we finished second and lost in the finals to Guylaine Dumont and Annie Martin. They are a good team from Quebec. We then flew straight to Norway for an international event and played in a country quota game against another Canadian team Wanda Guenette and Izabela Rudol. We lost a close match against them and were eliminated from the tournament.

Just to let you all know how the World Tour works...Last year they had a double elimination format and this year they changed it to single elimination. Pretty brutal system and extremely expensive when you fly to another country. They also changed it so that if there are more than 4 Canadian teams registered you have to play off first to determine who continues in the tournament to try to qualify for the main draw. The number of teams in the qualifiers is not limited but the top 24 teams in the world based on FIVB points (world tour points) get in automatically. They leave the last eight spots for qualifying teams.

The number of teams in the qualifying tournament ranges from none to over 50 so it can become very competitive.

Anyways Norway was very disappointing because we didn't win then were stuck there in the rain. We flew back a bit early and regrouped to play better in the Montreal event.

We played in the World Tour event in Montreal and won our first game in the country quota against another Canadian team. We then lost in the first round of the qualification tournament against the same Canadian team we lost to in Norway. Nightmare - especially because if we play well we have the ability to beat that team. It was supremely disappointing because we lost the first game closely. Then in the second we were winning 17-13 and it is rally point to 21. All we had to do was get a couple side outs and we didn't and lost. Very frustrating...but you know how sports are...

Anyways...finally some GOOD NEWS!!! We just returned from Greece - Rhodes Island. First of all, the island is absolutely beautiful. We had spectacular weather and Tricia and I toured around the island and saw some ancient Greek ruins. We took a donkey ride up to the top of a mountain to a castle that enclosed the ruins and the view was spectacular. We then took the donkeys back down the mountain and after I had gotten off, the donkey sneezed on my foot. I know what you are thinking - cute - it really wasn't though because my foot was absolutely sopping wet.

The next day we played and the morning of our first match (Wednesday of last week) I woke up so sick with a fever and major congestion (perhaps donkeyitis???). Anyways, I stayed in bed all day and luckily our match started at 7 pm when it was cooler out. We matched up against Greece and beat them handily in two games. YAY!!

We didn't have to play in a country quota which was great because there were only four Canadian teams that entered. In our second round we played a good team from Australia and won the first game lost the second. It was close and went to a third and deciding game. It was a great game and Tricia and I played really well. We pulled out the win 15-13 in the third game!! It was a huge win for us!! What a great feeling!!


We then played Latvia which was a really good draw for us. Unfortunately we didn't play well. They played very unpredictably and unconventionally and we didn't adjust well. We lost two straight and all we had to do was win that game to qualify for the main draw. Disappointing...

Overall the tournament in Greece was a great one for Tricia and I. We had a great week seeing the sights and had some major highlights playing wise. We played so well against Australia and it was such a great feeling to be patient and hang on for the win in the third game.

We are off to Japan and China this Sunday. I am home in Toronto for this week to recover a little and hopefully Tricia and I will qualify for the main draw in Asia.

I will send an update to let you know how i am doing...

I hope you are all well.

Take care,

Kirsten