10 uur

hey
bout 10 something here in amsterdam today. i'm pretty tired, but the team is playing quarters in the cafeteria right now so i hope i can get in on that in a bit. my agent is getting my flight tonight for either tomorrow or tuesday sometime. i don't remember what i wrote about last time, but for those of you just tuning in i'm going down to austria for a private tryout and contract negotiations. it's a town called klagenfurt. they have an fivb grandslam event every year so beach ball is played too. they also have an american football team, so if volley doesn't work out i'll play tightend or quarterback or something with a bunch of converted rugby players. the austrian league doesn't have a limit on foreign players so there will be like 7 north americans living together in a big house the team owns. kinda fraternal. it's a small town on a lake so from what i can tell it's pretty fotographic, under the alps and not far from the adriatic sea and venice italy. i feel pretty lucky to be going. they needed another middle so today they picked up another one of my favorite guys from the tour. also canadian... ha. it's going to be a fun time.
last night we all went out as a team and watched an improv comedy troop downtown. it was an american comedy show so it was nice to get some jokes in for the week. i like the comedies. today we divided up into four teams for a morning and evening round robin. east usa, west usa, canada, and rest of world. we had a good team, but my only highlights of the day came off two carreer digs playing left back on bombs down the line. both were self defense plays, but both came withing 3 points so it made me look pretty good. i only played this morning and took the evening off to prevent the swelling in my left knee from getting big. last week with all the walking and nowhere to get ice took it's toll on my knee. the two-a-days have me pretty stiff and not jumping all that well. i worked pretty hard and didn't sit out at all the first four days. i'm going to tomorrow completely off so i can get fully recovered before having to play for the team in austria. i was bouncing balls pretty well right off the plane so i want to be able to show the new team what they are getting and maybe be able to add a few chips to my contract by winning warmups. this week has been great for my overall game, but at the same time really taxing. it's been good to play with some really solid players and against some top teams here in holland. i've got an idea of where i am and where i can end up as a player here and that is motivating. i feel like i can do pretty well for myself when i look around and compare myself to what i've played against. so i'm on a high note right now and hoping to keep it going these next couple days.
thats all for now. tomorrow i may be flying to munich and then training down to austria, but maybe i'll be here all day just resting. so there is a chance i may not post tomorrow, but i'll keep everyone informed when i get there.
night