Sadly I don't have any pictures for this mytake but I'll still try and make it entertaining.
Volleyball is awesome!
Yesterday was quite a day. My team got promoted to a higher league at the end of last season. We're now in first league which is the third highest league after National League A and B. Before we only played teams in one "state" but now we play teams from all over the country.
We rented a bus to get to this place because it's an hour away and it was also one of my teammates birthday and we planned to party after the game. I brought beer the coach brought beer and the teammates dad brought beer.
This guy plays my position we're almost the same hight but he jumps higher than he's tall XD He's one of the pros that impresses me the most.
The game starts
We got there warmed up and got absolutely destroyed in the first set. 25-10. It wasn't even nerves at least not for me but it was still hard to adjust to their play. We've never played any of these teams and we were on the road you have to find your footing first. In the second set we got into the game, we took a lead early and led the whole set. but sadly we got caught right at the end and lost 26-28.
But the feeling of playing the game was amazing this level is just so much fun. It's a huge difference if your coach tells you something when you're already working on 15 things and you have your hands full or if you're forced to adjust your play and be better because the other team will punish you if you don't. It's so much more motivating when you can see the results of your mistakes in the game and then also see the difference when you correct them.
I've been playing beach volleyball for most of my life and transitioning to indoor at this level was not easy at all. But I'm starting to get the hang of it now and it feels really good. Usually I was always thinking too much during the game and that made me take less action but in this game I turned of my brain and was fully in the game. I even started forgetting where to stand before the serve sometimes because I wasn't thinking at all and I went to block at the net once when I was in the backline(that's not allowed) just because there was nobody blocking and I just acted before thinking.
I got a bunch of good blocks in this game it was so awesome when I landed and my teammates cheering and smiling at me it's a great feeling when you work and work and try and contribute and in the beginning you can't do much but when it finally happens it's awesome. And my attacks were good too! That's been my biggest problem area but now I'm feeling more and more confident. I figured out something that was holding me back in my approach and now it's going so much better :). The other teams coach even told his players to look out for me and focus on me because he was scared lol :P
But everyone played well, the birthday boy was a monster in the attack he plays middle blocker and everytime he got the ball he smacked it down. And another guy who's only 19 played really well too at outside hitter.
We won the third set 25-21 and I was feeling so good if you get 2 sets even if you lose you get a point and I really thought we could do it.
Then the coach subbed me out
Teammate drama
This one guy who's been on the team longer than me and who's the brother of the captain got subbed in he doesn't usually play my position but I guess the coach just wanted to let him play our two middle blockers were playing really well and up till now I often got mentally fatigued in the game. This time I was actually feeling great but the coach didn't know that I guess.
This guy he was already pissy before we even went there he wanted to get picked up by the bus at his apartment instead of coming to a meeting spot to make it easier for the driver so he decided to go by himself. And his body language is always so negative like he doesn't want to be there at all. We lost the 4th set and as we went to the locker room the first thing he said when we went in was I'm not gonna come to Wil to play two points and a set that was already lost anyway. He played the whole set from start to finish so there was nothing lost about it and if we won we'd get at least one point and force a fifth set. I told him if you go out there with that attitude of course we lost and he insulted me I don't know what he said and I said look at your body language it says I'm pissed that I have to be here and he said "well I am pissed" then I said well then don't come. Then he said:"And this from a guy who destroys his teammates in practise."
I had ACCIDENTALLY poked him in the eye during a warm up game we do where we pass a ball around and try and throw it on mats that are the goals. I apologised to him multiple times and asked him if he was better the next time I saw him. At this point I didn't say anything because he was so emotional that I thought it was pointless to even talk to him. He went to shower immediately and after when we discussed the match as a team he was already dressed and on his phone. He left and didn't celebrate our teammates birthday with us.
Afterwards his brother came up to me and told me to stop demolishing his brother physially and psychologically. :D I told him that one of the biggest reasons why I joined this team and even started playing indoor competitively is because of the team spirit of this team and how warmly they welcomed me and it is true every other member of this team gives a lot for the team and tries to help us win and has great team spirit. I didn't care about being subbed out and I didn't care that we lost but to hear him be so egocentrical about this opportunity to play a really important set and not even try his best pissed me off a lot.
His brother told me that they've been trying to "work on that" for a long time but haven't succeeded, maybe it's because nobody ever says anything and he gets to play even if he doesn't put in effort and his brother always plays bodyguard for him. If there's any interaction it takes less than 5 minutes and his brother is there. Some of the other teammates kind f approved of what I said I think but anyway I decided to put it behind me and try and be the bigger person for the team and just leave him alone I guess? I'm not the best at dealing with people where something is clearly wrong but kinda pretending like it's not or something? That's why I usually just don't deal with people when I can't get along with them but here I have no choice.
Afterparty
Afterwards we were hanging out outside the locker room. The whole family of the birthday boy and his girlfriend were there and they brought Späckzopf a special swiss white bread that's delicious. It's made out of two dough blobs that get intertwined like a hair braid that's where it gets it's name from. And this one had bacon bits in it. There was also birthday cake of course and then we began drinking ^^
I talked to the dad about sports, he used to do gymnastics and track and field he had a lt of interesting stories. Some of the other teams players joined us too and we had a great time. We kept drinking on the drive home we even had shots of this thing called ouzo. It's not good don't try it. When I had the first shot I actually threw up in my mouth even though I wasn't that drunk yet.
When we got bak to our town we went to a bar called Hardy's. They have a jukebox and the people were playing Scooter and german rap songs. We crowded around the foosball table and kept drinking, we got two rounds of shots one was this sweet liquor that tasted really good it was in this tiny coffee glas and the other was a mixture of two fluids that I don't know what they were but it was pretty good too.
Liking the wrong girl
Me and the guy who's birthday it was went to play beah volleyball a bunch of times this summer so I already knew his girlfriend. She's really nice, she's always positive and encourages people to talk to her not with words but just with her reactions but if you don't she never takes it personally or gets upset or something. She seems very secure and stable and she's also kind, supportive and fun and attractive. She has a lot of feminine qualities.
You don't have to tell me I only like her because she's taken most of my teammates have girlfriends and idc about any of them. You also don't have to tell me that I'm an asshole I won't do anything I'm just saying what happened. We were all pretty drunk at this point and me and her played one game together. I only realised it later but I was doing all the things people say are signs of interest. I was encouraging her, I was facing more towards her, I was complimenting her, I was touching her like patting her on the back etc. She didn't mind any of it but it was probably kinda stupid.
I think I'm improving my mindset when it comes to interacting with people, dating I'm becoming more open and social and that's probably why I'm more attracted to women in real life at some points there were barely any women that I would find attractive.
At some point we went home, I didn't finish my last drink (gin and tonic) and I'm glad because I had quite a headache today but I didn't have to throw up or anything. Tomorrow I wanna focus on cleaning up my room doing laundry working out and cooking for my housemates because I haven't done that in a while. Then on Tuesday is practise and on Wednesday we have our next game. This is not part of the championship but the first round swiss volleyball cup. I hope I can get some more experience and keep improving.
Thanks for reading and have a nice day! :)
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Great manga tho