Spartans in Russia 9

September 5th, 2010: Krasnodar, Russia

The two groups split up with one heading to Mykop and the other to Krasnodar.

Mykop Krasnodar
Ben Ball Devyn Plett
Josh Doornenbal Rudy Verhoeff
Lucas Van Berkel Dan JVD
Derek Thiessen Branden Schmidt
John Wiebe Jarrod Offereins
Mikiah Schalk Brad Kufske
Micah JVD Nick Del Bianco
Ryan Adams Ben Josephson
Joel Jansen Jordan Geransky
Aaron Vandenbrink Dave Johns
Stan the Russian Victor the Russian

Unfortunately I will not be able to blog for the group from Mykop so we will have to get their experience uploaded once we all rejoin en route to Moscow on September 8th.

The trip to Krasnodar was 2 hours…and a half, according to Victor the Russian. And yes…it was 2 hours…and a half. We were actually on time for something…sort of, we did depart an hour late but the estimated time of travel was correct.

Upon arrival we had to go straight to a gym where we were to have a match. What we saw and experienced when we arrived is going to be hard to capture in words. It was some kind of “cultural-sport centre” whatever that means. It seemed like a community centre and once inside we were led to a gym. As we walked in there is no way to describe just how odd the first scene was but here goes. First off there were 6-8 spotlights on each wall shining flood light magnitude light on the court. The walls were covered with picket fencing wooden panels reaching 20 feet high and 4 inches from the wall the whole way up to the roof. The gym was about 9.2 meters wide. For those who don’t know a volleyball court is 9 meters wide so we had about 10 centimeters between each sideline and the walls of wooden panel. (10 centimeters is about 4 inches for my wife, Doorny’s wife and any other Americans reading this) Climbing the wooden walling were 2-3 “gremlins” according to Jrod and they were attaching the net to the walls. Upon further examination the net had curious features. Other than the major discrepancy in height between the wings and middle the antennas were…interesting. On one side you had an old pool cue while the other was a fishing rod. The rod was extended to at least twice the height of a regular antenna so needless to say that drew some attention from the guys. Our opponents were just as interesting. Apparently we were going to play two games against a couple “church” teams. So we began and the first few points were just serving practice for Brad Kufske with none being returned. Then the locals began to find a rhythm and some real volleyball was played. They were very excited to play against a good Canadian volleyball team so the match was very fun.

The second game was a little better as the opponents had some good players, or at least players who had some experience…some had A LOT of experience. After the game we had a time of sharing. Jarrod Offereins gave his story and then we had a great question and answer period. The locals were very excited to hear about our trip, where we came from and TWU. It was a really enjoyable night.

We then had to go to a Christian University that was housing us for $10/night but was 30 minutes away. The team piled in a van that was provided for us while Victor the Russian and I jumped in a car with our local contact that set up this portion of the tour. Wait…did I say it would take 30 minutes…nope…12. Michael Schumacher…aka the driver…was for sure preparing for the Talladega and help me Oprah Win-a-frey I was terrified. The entire ride I kept praying that I wanted to meet my unborn son, I want to meet my unborn son…I’m here writing so that dream is still available to me, thank you Lord.

The accommodations are great. Truly this is a blessing as we are able to save some much-needed money in preparation for Moscow. A quick snack and off to bed at 12:30am with a 9:30am match to come the following day…woops.

Go Spartans!!!