Spartans in Russia 13

September 9th, 2010: Moscow, Russia

Today began with a team session where we talked about the Holy Spirit. What he is, does and what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The challenge to the team is to invite the Holy Spirit to join the team on the court, continuing our path of learning to blend our sport and our faith.

After the team session we had a short practice in the facility beside our residence. It was a great place to practice with one exception, no lighting. Most of the Russian gyms are very dark, which only adds to the intimidation factor. If you cannot see you opponent it is hard to play them…its not too bad but we miss the LEC. A good practice then lunch were the perfect beginning to day two in Moscow.

We then jumped back into the death box…wait, what is this? A different box…we call this one the moderately maimed box. It is a much smoother ride with much less carbon monoxide leaking but the driver resembles Andy Samberg from Hot Rod (maybe not the hway he looks but for sure in the hway he drives). We went to a sport university where Stan the Russian trains with the team and our new Russian friend Yuri the Russian has a campus ministry. What we saw when we arrived made all of us very jealous.

This is a sport university where all they do is study their sport and the methods and methodology of the game. All aspects of sport are represented and all Olympic sports have a department in the school. They gave us a tour of the facility and there are gyms for every sport, indoor & outdoor. An unbelievably impressive campus and a breeding ground for future Olympians…literally. While we were on tour we went around a corner and came face to face with Ovi. Yep, Alexander the Great went to this school but we are all fairly sure that he didn’t actually “attend” but he was enrolled. They also began to rattle off the names of the other great athletes who went to this university and its pretty impressive. We began to get nervous about our matches.

We were to have two matches against their two teams. The first was their second team in a best of three. We played the baby Spartans and beat our opponents 2-0. They weren’t very good but we were still very concerned about their 1st team. Apparently the first team was full of High League A players. The Russian pro system goes Superleague (Kazan, Dynamo Moscow etc) then High League A, High League B then 1st Division. So many of the players we were to play played their club in High League A. They had to compete for the University to keep their scholarship to the school.

As soon as warm up began we new we were in for a battle, or a shelling, we were still unsure. In typical fashion of Russians they were huge with huge arms and bombed away in warm up. The first set was great. Back and forth siding out with huge blocks, digs and kills. It was beautiful volleyball, especially for this time of the season. We lost the first 23-25 but let it get away late. The second we controlled the whole way and evened the game up 1-1 (25-19). The third was a stinker for us as we were blown out due to unforced errors (18-25). The fourth was outstanding and maybe the most exciting we’ve played in a long time. The big plays made were insane. Foot digs, massive bounces (block & kill) and heroic strizzles (digs). 25-23 for us forced a fifth set and that was just what this match deserved. For those who saw our National semi final last march in Kamloops, this match had much the same feel. The play, intensity and blows going back and forth had a very similar feel. We went up big in the fifth set but they came flying back. It was a battle to see if our speed or their block could control the match. 11-11, 12-12, 13-13…we flinched…down 13-14 with their right side going back. A 6’8 leftie with the most impressive arm any of us have ever seen. He had been fairly inconsistent with his spin serve throughout the match but he striped this one. Big players make big plays at big times and their big guy did. But so did one of ours, but it was one of our babies. Nick Del Bianco dimed their best serve of the night and Doornenbal killed it to level the match up 14-14. We scored a point on Doorny’s serve and had a 15-14 service for the match. Mikiah subbed in to serve and ripped a tape ace…should have been. A hometown call kept the play alive and then a missed touch call gave them the point and kept them alive at 15-15. Then another of their great servers ripped a great serve that missed the baseline by 2.5 centimeters or for our American friends…not much. The refs got this one right and we were up 16-15. The match point wasn’t too exciting but the win was. It was a great match. Playing that type of game at this point in the season was very special and a ton of fun for all involved.

After the match we had a snack and time of sharing with the players and staff. It was a great time to talk and get to know our Russian opponents. They were very impressed with how hard our guys competed and our example of unity and love shown through again.

On the long bus ride home Victor the Russian and Yuri the Russian thanked us for our performance. They said that our play and result helped their ministry a lot. Their credibility went way up in the eyes of the University and they called it a miraculous moment. Maybe an overstatement but we were very proud to help out their ministry. Our time in Russia is short but their ministry remains. One of our goals was to help open doors for the in country AIA staff to continue and grow their ministry. We also talked with the university officials about a potential exchange program where they would come to us in two years. That would be an exciting opportunity should that fall into place.

After a long ride back to home a very tired and content volleyball team went to bed and had a short turn around before we play Dynamo Moscow’s farm team who competes in High League B.

Go Spartans!!!