zia volleyball

Thursday, September 9, 10:25a

Just a quick final send to close the "Olympic Experience" before John Kessel
begins sending similar reports from the Paralympic Games also in Athens.

The Olympics was a wonderful experience and while some will feel
disappointed by the outcome of some of the teams, it goes to show how close the world of international volleyball has become. To succeed, one needs to be peaking at the right time and have some breaks go their way.

The USOC staff did a GREAT job and always went out of their way to make
things as easy as possible for the teams and athletes. A big thanks go out
to Doug Ingram and his staff including, but not limited Chris Vadala, Lynne
Wentland, Jerry Searsens, Kelly Skinner, Rick Miner, Glenn Werner and many others (sorry for any misspelled names).

Travel home was difficult as there were delays with the Charter, which
caused luggage problems and missing of flights. After leaving the village on
the bus to the airport at 3:30a, we were "scheduled" to arrive back in
Colorado Springs around 6:30p - taking into account that we will pick up 9
hours. Making a very long description of the trip short, suffice it to say
that I got to my house at about 2:30a on the 31st after Theresa had to drive
to Denver to pick-up Monica, Todd and me. All tolled a 29-hour adventure.
The Women's team, however, had different routing and their own set of
problems as they ended up not getting back until about noon on the 31st due
to having to overnight in Salt Lake City.

This trip would not have been complete with out me losing my luggage one
more time. That's right the same piece of luggage that was lost between
Italy and Greece. Fortunately, it was returned this past Monday - a mere 7
days after I returned.

Todd was the only staffer from the Women's Team to attend the Closing
Ceremonies. The rest of us remained in the village and watched on tv. This
tv watching coinciding with Monica, Robyn, Kevin, and I engaging in a
marathon game of " ", a card game widely played by the Men's team and taught to us by Kevin. The game that started at about 8:30p was finally completed on the charter flight from Athens to Frankfurt. Let's just say that the come back by Team Kevin/Tom rivaled that of the Russian women in their
quarterfinal victory over Brazil - must to the dismay and chagrin of Team
Monica/Robyn.

A couple of final observations:

Best thing about being at the Olympics - the entire experience and being so
closely associated with so many athletes participating in the event that
they have spent at least the last 4 years preparing for, if not much longer.

The worst thing about being at the Olympics - besides being away from home
and family for the length of time, the worst thing was that I missed the
Olympics. Other than one afternoon at Team Handball and one evening at
Beach Volleyball, and the Opening Ceremonies, I didn't see any other event
of the Olympics. Thank goodness that EuroSport Network would do their daily wrap up show after midnight each night, which allowed us to find out about who won events the preceding day. Our days were typically very full. On match days, we had an additional training session. On non-match days, we typically had 2 training sessions. On match days, Todd, Monica and Robyn would stat and video all 6 matches played that day beginning at 9a and finishing usually around mid-night. Kevin would join them after the
training session. The Men had a similar schedule, but with only 1 training
session on off days.

Biggest Pleasant Surprise - The Athens Organizers surpassed my every
expectation that I had after my visit in November. The venues were good,
the Village was very good, and the transportation was very, very good.

Biggest disappointment - other than the finish of the women, the low crowd
turnout in general, but especially for the medal round of volleyball.
Coupled with that was that Peace & Friendship Stadium was simply too big for the competition. The crowd was so far away from the action that I think it
simply wasn't as intimate of a setting as say, Team Handball or Beach
Volleyball and that may have affected the crowd feeling more a part of the
action.

Many of you sent replies and well wishes - thanks to all who took the time
to send. Sorry that I rarely responded back as there were MANY. Please
know that they were well received and passed along. I hope you enjoyed
reading the numerous sends as much as I enjoyed writing them - well ok, a
couple of times it was more like work than pleasure - but overall it was
enjoyable. I look for a few more pics to be loaded to the web including
some looks at the Village, the Dining Hall and some staff hard at work.

Thanks for the continued support of Team USA!

Sunday, August 29 - 6:00p

The USA Men simply couldn't withstand the pressure from Russia, which
ultimately spelled a bronze for RUS and a disappointing end to an
overall good tournament for USA. Russia defeated USA 3:0. The first
two sets were close. The second should have been won by USA, the first
might have been. After failing to capture game 2, the Men seemed to
lack focus and the edge it had in the first 2 games. The third was not
close.

The gold was won by Brazil 3:1.

On the women's side, Cuba upended a flat Brazilian squad - obviously
still stinging from choking away their quarterfinal match to Russia,
3:1. The final was a great match won by China, 3:2.

Today is packing day. We've turned in our luggage already. Some will
attend tonight's closing ceremonies. Others of us will watch on tv. We
are scheduled to board the bus for the airport at 3:30a. After layovers
in Frankfurt, Wash/Dulles, and Denver; Todd, Monica and I hope to be
arriving back in good 'ole COS around 6:30p on Monday night. Due to
their still booking on the back end of the Grand Prix trip, the women's
team will go to Atlanta from Frankfurt before arriving in COS around
6:30p.

Saturday, August 28 - 4:00p

The USA Men, coming off a miraculous comeback two nights earlier against
Greece, were hoping the wave of emotion into the semifinals against #1
Brazil. Unfortunately, Brazil had other plans as they lived up to their
ranking in dismantling the Americans 3:0, 25-16; 25-17; 25-23.

The normal starting line-up was complimented by spirited play off the
bench by Riley Salmon and Brook Billings in the 3rd game.

In the other semi, Italy looked equally impressive - well not quite - in
defeating Russia (that's right, Russia - Italy vs Italy as previously
report) in straight sets.

USA will go for the bronze versus Russia at 12:30p on Sunday afternoon
and will be followed by Italy/Brazil for the Gold.

Tonight, Cuba and Brazil will play for bronze and Russia/China for gold
in the wrap up of the women's competition.

Friday, August 27 - 3:00p

Yesterday (Thursday) was an off day for many of us with the Women's
team. Some of the players have left the village for home or to stay
with family in Athens. Most will remain until the team returns to COS
on the 30th. Athletes met up with family members and friends and took
in other competitions. Some went to basketball and the gold medal
soccer match. I met up with old friend from Indy, John Wilson and his
friend, Nick and took in the women's quarters in team handball. Good
time. Interesting game. Great venue - I wish volleyball had been there
as it was much more conducive to a good competitive experience than the
huge Peace & Friendship Stadium. I'm guessing the larger seating
capacity at P&F drove that decision for ATHOC.

We saw a competitive match up between the teams from France and Hungary. Rabid fans coupled with a good game made it quite enjoyable. While we were there, we met an elderly fan, "Jimmy" who had been a letter carrier for 32 in years in Queens, NY. I should have a picture loaded to the
web site in a few days including John and "Jimmy". Jimmy is easy to
pick out, given his hat and t-shirt that proudly boasts, "I do all my
own nude scenes." Jimmy also provided this tidbit of insight regarding
the wonderful experience of attending the Games, "Where is can you meet
someone from Namibia?" Hmmmm.

The other "pearl" for the day was, "Sometimes helping people means not
being nice."

The only volleyball on the docket was the women's semifinals in which
Russia rebounded from being down 2 games to 1 and facing a 24-19 deficit
to come back and win the game and eventually the match. They were also
down 12-9 in the 5th game to the Brazilians. Cuban also rebounded after
being down to China, but just came up short in 5 sets. Needless, the
say the volleyball competition has been crazy.

The craziness will assuredly continue tonight as Italy will square off
against Italy, followed by a rematch of the somewhat controversial match
between USA and Brazil. Match time for USA will be 9:30p.

Go USA!

Thursday, August 26 - 1:30a

The USA Men advanced to the semifinals of Olympic competition Wednesday night with a 3:2 (25-20, 22-25, 25-27, 25-23, 17-15) win over the host team from Greece.

Ho, hum - just another match in just another competition that happened
to go 5 sets, right? Hardly!

No cliché can do this match justice. USA jumped out to win the first,
and then proceeded to lose the 2nd and 3rd sets. The Americans fell
behind 8-1 in the 4th and I was having bad visions of the previous
night. The only saving grace was that this was the 4th set to 25
points, rather than the 5th to 15. Coach Beal subbed out setter and
team captain Lloy Ball and inserted back up Donald Suxho to try and
somehow change the game, match, and these Olympic Games around for the USA. At first the move didn't seem to change the flow as the Americans
as things continued to look bleak as they fell behind 20-12.
Inexplicably, keyed by the serving of Ryan Millar, momentum slowly began
to change. The balls that were rattling through blocks and finding
their way to diggers for USA were now finding their way to the floor.
Balls that we were deflect blocking were becoming free balls for us
rather than them. They began to make unforced errors and before we knew
it, the USA had made a miraculous come back to take game 4 and send the
match to the deciding game 5.

USA started game 5 with Suxho (setter), Millar and Hoff (middle), Priddy
and Barnett (outside), Stanley (opposite) and Sullivan (libero). The
two teams jostled back and forth until Greece surged to a 12-9 margin
and actually served for the match at 14-13

Immediately after the match questions rose as to where this match ranked
in our respective "top match" list. This was easily the best match I've
seen in person of a USA team play. It still may be slightly behind the
incredible men's gold medal match in Atlanta between Holland and Italy.

The win assures the men of playing for a medal in these games. On
Friday night, they will once again face Brazil for the right to play for
the gold on Sunday.

Brazil knocked off Poland, 3:0. Italy defeated Argentina, 3:0. Russia
defeated Serbia and Montenegro, 3:0. This means that all 4 teams in the
semifinals came from Pool B.

The women are recovering from their disappointing loss on Tuesday night
- actually early Wednesday morning by the time it was over. A team
meeting at 11a, followed by individual meetings with Toshi and the
players was the order of the afternoon culminating in a dinner near the
volleyball venue involving the team, their families and Kerry
Klostermann, Becky Howard, as well as Springs for Volleyball board
members Craig Engelage and Mark Iverson.

Thursday should prove to be a day of rest before the men return to
action on Friday evening.

Wednesday, August 25 - 2:45a

Although some members of the USA Women's Volleyball Team may feel that
they didn't play their best match in the quarterfinals versus Brazil.
However, no one can question the effort - not only as an individual
player, but as a team. After getting down 2 games to 0, the USA Women
bounced back to take the next 2 games and push the match to a 5th set.
Brazil came out strong in game 5 and took a 8-1 lead. Still the team
fought to the bitter end.

It was felt that if we played with the intensity and fire that we did
against Russia and Cuba, there was no way we could lose - we may get
beat, but we could not lose. This was the case as Brazil had to play
their best match of the tournament to date before they could punch their
ticket to the semis.

USA started the same starting line-up and needed Ogonna Nnamani to come
off the bench to play a role in sparking the turn around in game 3.
Berg, Metcalf and Cross-Battle all saw action as well.

While the result was a disappointment, the effort was something that USA
and its National Governing Body can be proud.

This sets up the semifinal matches of Brazil/Russia (defeated Korea in
3) and China (defeated Japan in 3)/Cuba (defeated Italy in 5)

On the beach, USA won 2 medals as Walsh/May won the gold over Brazil and Youngs/McPeak held off Australia to win the bronze.

Wednesday night at 7:30p (10:30a in CO), the USA men will face Greece in their quarterfinal match, which should prove to be an emotional match as tickets are already at premium.

Tuesday, August 24 - 1:30a

The USA Men closed their pool play on Monday evening with a 3:1
(25-victory over #1 Brazil. Both teams were assured of advancing to the
quarterfinals and took the opportunity to rest some players and give
playing time to others.

After winning games 1 and 2, Brazil stormed back to claim game 3.
Brazil was leading 16-11, when a near miraculous turnaround occurred as
the USA rebounded to win game 4 and the match. The come back was aided by a rash of serving errors down the stretch - 7 of 8 to be exact.

The win moves the Americans into a 3rd place finish in the pool and sets
up a quarterfinal with Greece who finished 2nd in Pool A. Brazil still
placed 1st in Pool B and will face Poland. If they can get past them,
Brazil will face the winner of USA/Greece in the semis. The other half
of the bracket is Serbia & Montenegro-Russia, Italy-Argentina.

The USA women began preparation for their quarterfinal match with Brazil slated for 9:30p on Tuesday night.

Monday, August 23 - 12:40a

The USA Women's volleyball team knew they had one chance to advance in
these Olympic Games - beat Cuba. The 3-time defending Olympic Champions
were no match for the American girls on this night as USA played a solid
match in defeating Cuba 3:0, 25-22, 25-12, 25-19 in front of a raucous
and largely partisan Cuban crowd.

The match resembled that in which the same two teams played for the
Grand Prix bronze medal back in about "Olympic 4". In that match, USA
dominated the Cubans and it was much the same tonight.

USA started the same way as usual and other that the Berg/Metcalf for
Haneef/Ah Mow-Santos double sub, it was the line-up for the entire
match. No need to sub when the players on the court are performing at
such a high level. A particular bright spot was the play of Keba
Phipps. This was easily the best all-around game I've seen from her
this year. Passing was solid, good defense and smart play at the net.

This now sets up a USA v Brazil match up on Tuesday - time yet to be
determined.

The crowd was probably the largest we've seen for our matches. There
were very few "U-S-A" chants heard until late in the 3rd game - not
because they weren't being chanted, mostly because they were being
drowned out by the Cuban fans. May of us wondered, "How did so many
Cubans get off the island?" We decided that while many were Cuban, many
were also Greek, Dominican, Brazilian, and German. Especially German,
as a Cuban win tonight would have meant that Germany advanced to the
quarters in our spot. All was cool until some "Go Home, US" chants
sprang up when it was apparent that it was our night. Sorry to spoil
the fun, but the USA Women are still alive and must be regarded as a
very dangerous team in this tournament.

Most every person wearing "USA" knows they are part of the USA Team -
not just the volleyball team, or the track team, or the wrestling team,
etc.. This made very clear last Wednesday night when some veteran
members of the USA Softball Team called a team meeting with our girls in
a meeting room in the village. They simply wanted to let the volleyball
team that all was not lost as they were in a similar situation in Sydney
- needing to win to advance after a tough loss - and were able to
accomplish the goal. They discussed the process they went through to
become a unit that could not be stopped rather than a bunch of players
on a team. They even went to the point of their entire team and their
families planning to attend our match with Russia. Unfortunately, 75
tickets were not readily accessible. It has been abundantly evident
that the meeting has made an impression our players beginning with the
effort put forth in the 3:2 loss to Russia, as well as tonight's win.
It was a different team than the one that floundered to defeat on
Wednesday morning. A classy act by a classy group of ladies. There is
little doubt why the USA Softball team is largely regarded as the best
in the world. Now we know that this has more meaning than just on the
diamond. They go for gold against Australia on Monday.

On the sand, our lone remaining men's team of Dax Holdren and Stein
Metzger were eliminated from the tournament in losing their quarterfinal
match to Switzerland 2:0. Both Women's teams advanced to the semifinals
with the team of Walsh/May defeating Canada 2:0 and Youngs/McPeak
knocking off Germany 2:0. The two USA teams will now play each other on
Monday to advance to the gold medal match.

The men will play on Monday evening at 9:30p for positioning into the
quarterfinal draw. Currently, the men are tied with Russia on matches
(2-2) and sets (8-7) with Russia having a better point percentage than
USA by 0.001. This tie will be broken as USA will play Brazil and
Russia faces Italy.

Saturday, August 21 - 11:29p

The USA Men advanced out of pool and on to the quarterfinals by virtue
of their 3:1 victory over Australia (25-19, 23-25, 25-13, 25-19) coupled
with a 3:0 win of Italy over The Netherlands. The actual position of
their ranking going into the quarters is still to be determined given
that another day of matches is yet to be played on Monday. USA will
face #1 in the World Brazil on Monday evening.

The USA Women began preparation for their all-or-nothing match with Cuba
slated for Sunday night at 9:30p.

On the sand, the USA Womens' teams both advanced to the quarterfinals.

Events are beginning to conclude and people are packing to leave. Hard
to the believe that we are at the mid-point in the 2004 Summer Olympic
Games.

Saturday, August 21 - 1:15a

Despite the best effort in these Games, the USA Women went down in
defeat to the hands of Russia 3:2, .

USA started the normal group of 7 and had inspired subs by all. That's
right, all 12 players saw some action in the match that lasted just over
2 hours. Many players had their best match of the tournament - most
notably Keba, Logan, Robyn, and Stacy. Stacy may have had the best
match I've ever seen her play. Her defense was tremendous and her serve
receive was near perfect.

However, the cold hard truth is that a loss is a loss, no matter good
some individuals played. The bad news is that we are down to having to
win our last match to advance to the quarterfinals. The good news is
that we still have a shot. That shot will come on Sunday evening at
9:30p against Cuba. A very tall order indeed, but I am confident that
the girls are up to the challenge.

Here's to a Men's victory over Australia at 9a on Saturday (midnight in
CO).

Friday, August 20 - 3:20p

The USA Men came out blazing last night and hung on to take game one.
Russia was determined to not let the Americans take the match as they
won the next three sets in route to a 3;1 win. USA is now 1-2 with 2
matches remaining with Australia and Brazil. Next up will be the Ausies
on Saturday morning at 9a local time. A win coupled with Italy knocking
off Holland should assure the team of advancing to the quarterfinals
next week.

The USA Women will need to rebound after Wednesday's devastating upset
loss to the Dominican Republic as it faces Russia tonight at 9:30p
locally - 12:30p in Colorado. The team must win at least one of its
next two matches to have any chance of advancing to the quarterfinals.
Even with a win a tie breaker could go against us. The team has had 3
good practices since Wednesday's match and will give it all they have
tonight. Their final pool match will be Sunday evening - also at 9:30p
locally - versus Cuba.

Already today, Cuba defeated the Dominican Republic and China knocked
off Germany - both 3:0, which seems to help our cause.

Bottom line is us taking care of business.

Three of the four beach teams are still in the running - both women's
teams and one men's team. The lone team eliminated was Nygaard/Blanton.
They now move into single elimination rounds of 16.

A couple of quick observations:

* The dining hall can accommodate up to 5,000 people at a given time
* The Dutch athletes have bicycles to assist them in traveling around
the village
* One needs to watch his/her step, especially in the vicinity of the
dining hall as the ground is rapidly becoming covered in brown
splotches. The reason: It is so hot that ice cream bars rapidly melt
and the chocolate shell is dropping all over the place.

Wednesday, August 18 - 3:30p

Well, the USA Women may have been involved in the wrong end of the
biggest upset of the volleyball competition in these Olympic Games to
date as they were knocked off by the Dominican Republic 3 games to 2,
26-24, 22-25, 27-25, 23-25, 19-17.

Team USA could never seem to finish off the Dominicans, who kept
fighting until the bitter end. USA started the typical starting line up
and brought in subs Nnamani, Cross-Battle, Berg, and Metcalf.

Coming off a solid win over Germany on Monday, the Americans felt like
they were in the driver's seat with regard to finishing in the top 4 of
the 6-team pool to advance to the quarterfinals. Now, with a record of
1-2, and world powers Russia and Cuba remaining, things are not a clear.

Just as with the Men, the USA Women's pool is loaded when compared to
the other pool. Obviously, that is the way the draw went and we have to
live with it. As expected, not only are match wins important, but also
sets and points as all three areas could factor into whether a team
advances to the quarters or not.

To make matters worse, Cuba just beat China in 5 sets.

The women need some wins and they may need some help from other teams.

The men are back in action on Thursday as they take on Russia and 9:30p
locally.

Pics from Syros and Athens can be found at
http://www.usavolleyball.org/National/photojourn.asp

Wednesday, August 18 - 12:00a

The USA Men won their first Olympic match since defeating Argentina in
Atlanta in '96 by dominating Netherlands 3:0, 26-24; 25-20; 25-18. Down
big in the first set, the American's clawed to a come from behind
victory behind the serving and attacking of opposite Clay Stanley. It
was all USA in set 2 and despite Holland jumping to an early lead in set
3, USA put on a blocking exhibition led by Kevin Barnett, Tom Hoff, and
Stanley to stake Team USA to the victory.

In a match that just ended, Brazil survived a match worthy of ESPN
Classic as they downed rival Italy in 5 sets with the 5th set ending
33-31!

The Men are now in a 4-way tie for 2nd place at 1-1 with Russia, Italy,
and Netherlands. Leading is Brazil at 2-0. Bringing up the rear is
Australia at 0-2. By game percentage, we are currently in 3rd. Of
course, there is lots of volleyball left to be played.

The women are back in action with a 9:00a match versus Dominican
Republic on Wednesday. This will mean a 7:20a bus from the village to
the arena. The biggest benefit of playing the first match of the day is
knowing that it will start on time and you can set your warm-up schedule
accordingly.

Crowds at all the venues are beginning to pick up after a relatively
slow start. I still get the feeling that the organizers are taking a
bath on these Games.

After the conclusion of the men's match, Al Monaco and I walked about a
mile to the Beach Volleyball venue to watch the two USA teams on the
slate on Thursday. In the 8p match, Holgren and Metzger looked to have
the match in hand as they easily won the first set over a team from
Norway. Things changed in a hurry as Norway easily took the 2nd set.
The 3rd set was a battle eventually won by Norway, 15-13.

The 9p match featured Kerri Walsh and Misty May as they thoroughly
dominated a duo from The Netherlands winning in straight sets.

The beach venue is very nice and it was a nice, cool evening.

After the match, Al and I came across Lloy Ball, Ryan Millar, and Lloy's
father, Arnie who had also been at the match and were trying to figure
out where to find the bus back to the village. Arnie had just arrived
into Athens yesterday.

Many of the families of the Women are also in town. Many came to the
American College of Greece to observe practice.

Hope to continue the good news in "Olympic 11".

Tuesday, August 17 - 12:30a

USA Women get their first win of these Olympic Games with a victory over
a tough German squad 3:1, 25-22; 25-22; 22-25; 26-24. The normal
starting line-up of Ah Mow-Santos, Haneef, Bown, Scott, Tom, Phipps, and
Sykora took the floor anxious to avenge not only a Saturday night loss
to China, but also a 5 set loss to this same German team the final week
of the Grand Prix preliminaries.

The first two sets were not very cleanly played, but USA surged ahead
behind good blocking and sparks off the bench by Tara Cross-Battle,
Ogonna Nnamani, and Lindsey Berg.

Game 3 looked as though neither team wanted it as numerous unforced
errors mounted from both teams. Some untimely errors at a critical time
spelled disaster for USA as Germany captured the game.

Game 4 was a nip and tuck affair until Germany took a 3 point lead about
half way through the game. That's when Heather Bown stepped up and ran
off 5 points off serve, including 2 aces, and some timely defensive
plays to give USA the lead for good and sew up the match.... or so we
thought. It seems that Germany had other ideas.

Staring at a deficit of 21-24, the Germans refused to give in and went
on a 4 point run of their own to go ahead 25-24. A big kill by Haneef
tied the game at 25 before USA salted away the final 2 points to take
game 4 and the match.

The win was critical as China easily won its match with the Dominican
Republic to up their record to 2-0. Cuba and Russia just concluded a
marathon affair with Cuba coming back to win 3:2 and 15-13 in the 5th.
Cuba is now tied with us at a record of 1-1 as they lost Saturday to
Germany also in 5 sets. Russia is also 1-1. The Dominicans drop to
0-2. Hopefully, we can make that 0-3 on Wednesday morning as they are
the next opponent of the USA Women. That match will be played at 9a
locally, midnight in Colorado.

The men had a day of rest and training in preparation for Holland on
Tuesday afternoon at 4:00p (7:00a in CO).

As was the case in Atlanta and probably Sydney, most all Olympic events
are televised on an Olympic cable network that is piped into venues and
the village. It is the international feeds with no announcing, just
picture, background sound and graphics. Nevertheless, it is kind of
nice to have a free 1/2 hour and channel surf the channels to look
either for a USA team or athlete currently competing or an interesting
sport. Catching the fancy of Kevin after the morning practice on Monday
was doubles table tennis (ARG v GRE) and a heated game of Team Handball
(CRO v BUL).

All for this day. Looking forward to the men following the lead of the
ladies and getting into the win column later today (Tuesday).

Monday, August 16 - 2:15p

The USA Men's Volleyball team unfortunately followed the lead of the
Women as they lose their opening match of the 2004 Olympic Games 3 sets
to 1 - 25-21; 21-25; 25-17; 23-25. The difference being the Men lost to
Italy while the Women lost to China. The main similarity being that
both teams lost to one of the top teams in the world.

The men started Lloy Ball (setter), Clay Stanley (opposite), Tom Hoff
and Phil Eatherton (middle), Reid Priddy and Kevin Barnett (leftside),
and Eric Sullivan (libero).

It was a hotly contested match full of emotion from both teams. The
crowd, which was largely partisan Italians was also raucous. After
dropping a close first set, USA rebounded to take 2. Game 3 was pretty
much all Italy. Game 4 was back and forth until USA surged behind the
serving of Lloy Ball to take a seemingly commanding lead, 23-21. Not so
as Italy ran 4 straight points to capture the set and the match.

While it was a disappointing loss for the Americans, it was a strong
showing that also showed the teams some areas to work on before they
return to competition on Tuesday evening versus Netherlands, who upset
Russia on Sunday in 5 long sets.

The USA women were back in the training gym on Sunday and Monday morning in preparation for tonight's contest with Germany at 7:30p (10:30a in
Colorado). Germany, fresh off an upset win of their own over Cuba in 5
sets will be a tough match for us as they defeated USA in their last
match up in the 3rd week of the Grand Prix in Rostock, Germany.

USA referee, Patty Salvatore was R1 on the Women's Greece/Kenya match on Saturday and did a fine job. She is one of 2 female referees. The
other, from the Czech Republic has yet to be assigned to work a match.

Match days are especially long days for the scout crews of all teams.
They need to work every match - beginning with the first of the day at
9a and ending with the final match of each day at 9:30p. A total of 6
that our crew (Monica Paul and Todd Dagenais for the Women and Rob
Browning, Carl McGown and Marv Dunphy) must endure along with the crews
of every other team. Most all of them know each other from their long
days spent in the same area of the arena behind the picket fence of
video cameras set up on the end of the arena.

On the sand, both the Men's (Holgren/Metzger) and Women's (May/Walsh)
teams won matches. The other men's team of Blanton/Nygaard will try to
even their record at 1-1 while the other women's team of McPeak/Youngs
will look for their second match win in as many tries on Monday.

As I'm sure it was even more so back in the USA, the buzz around the
village - especially in the USA room blocks was poor showing by the USA
Men's Basketball team against Puerto Rico.

Let's hope for a turnaround in fortunes for the USA Teams beginning with
hopefully a USA win over Germany for the Women.

Sunday, August 14 - 2:00a

The Games didn't exactly get off to the start that we would have like
for the USA Women as they were defeated 3:1 by China.

We started Ah Mow-Santos (setter), Bown and Scott (middles), Haneef
(opposite), Tom and Phipps (outside), and Sykora (libero). Also seeing
action off the bench were Nnamani, Berg, Bachman, and Metcalf.

After a very slow start in game 1, USA stormed back to almost steal the
first set. A back and forth second game finally went the way of the
Americans, 25-23. The third was also back and forth before China pulled
away at the end. Game 4 was pretty much all China.

China's strong serving game, helped keep the American attack off
balance, thus making their defense very affective.

While this was disappointing, given the relative ease that we disposed
of China a couple of weeks ago in Italy, it does not signal the end of
the tournament. There is a long way to go - 4 more matches in pool
play, then hopefully 3 more in playoffs.

The 9:30p start meat that we didn't get back to the village until after
12:30a. Good thing that the dining hall is open 24 hours. Only a
couple of food lines open - most of which had the usual selections.
However, one area had already been switched over to begin serving
breakfast items (eggs, pancakes, etc.) Two eggs up, green beans and a
piece of pizza for a VERY late night dinner.....yummy. I did refrain
from the ice cream bar for dessert.

One training session late afternoon tomorrow, then I hope to attend the
USA Men's match as they open their 2004 Games schedule at 9:30p against
Italy.

Good night!

Saturday, August 14 - 3:30p

Yesterday was a busy day as it started with the General Technical
meeting, which involves all the Team Leaders and Head Coaches having a
meeting to go over any necessary items before play begins. The event
administrators and the referees are also there. USA has one referee at
the Games - Patty Salvatore. If Patty is not the first, she is one of
the first referees to work the Olympics both as a beach ref and as an
indoor ref. A huge accomplishment for her. Congrats, Patty!!

In the early afternoon, we had our lone training session for the day.
Then it was hurry back to the Village to prepare for the Opening
Ceremonies (OC).

We began convening in the main area of the USA portion of the village
about 4:45p. We have a huge advantage on this as it is right outside
our building meaning that we can delay going out in the scorching heat
until that last minute and we get to see all the athletes as the
congregate in preparation for boarding the busses.

The basketball teams live in the building directly across the street.
The Men's team marched, but the women did not as they had had a game at
about 1p earlier today (easy victory).

The consensus seemed to be that the uniform we wore for the OC was
pretty lame, but in a group they didn't seem to be so bad. No one could
decide which way the hat was to be worn.

USOC and ATHOC did a good job of providing refreshments and snacks both
in the village and in the holding area at the stadium.

Literally hundreds of buses converged on the Village and were set up
strategically for easy boarding and to avoid having the thousands of
athletes/staff be boarded on buses in the normal loading area.

The buses departed for the Olympic Stadium at about 6p. Upon arrival at
the Stadium, we were shuffled into a designated area of the gymnastics
arena where we waited for about 2 hours before being called to get into
line.....where we waited for another 30 minutes before we started the 30
minute trek to the Stadium. Fortunately, while waiting in the
gymnastics area, there were bag lunches and a big screen playing
excerpts from past Olympics to help pass the time. A scoreboard gave a
" 30 minute warning" to about 20 countries letting them know when to get
ready to hurry up and wait. Then the "10 minute warning" meant time to
get back to your seating area as it is about time to get in line and
wait.

We are told to get into lines of 8 people. We were lucky if we were
able to maintain these lines of 8 until leaving the gymnastics arena.
It seemed like with every turn of the path, you were next to different
people. The waiting did provide photo opportunities and a chance for
conversations with other athletes. Our (beginning) line of 8 was Robyn
Romansky, Rob Browning, Doug Beal, Carl McGown, Kevin Hambly, Hugh
McCutcheon, Marv Dunphy, Al Monaco, and I - the entire men's and women's
volleyball staffs except Toshi who opted not to attend. As you can see,
in actuality we didn't even do a very good job of starting in a line of
eight.

Entering the tunnel was neat as you could get a glimpse of what was
happening inside the stadium, but coming out of the tunnel to the
thunderous ovation and countless flashbulbs flashing was indescribable.

The path that the delegations took inside the stadium made for a couple
of hairpin curves and the doubling back the other direction. This meant
that you were walking next to other countries, but going in opposite
directions. A memorable time was when the USA delegation passed that of
the Iraq. Most of the waving stopped in the USA group and was replaced
by applause, which seemed to be happily received by the Iraqis - some
returning the applause.

We were country #56 to enter the stadium of a little over 200. This
meant that once we found our designated area to stand and wait for the
rest of the countries, we were in for a long wait - about 2 hours to be
exact. Fun for a while, but then it became very tiring.

We were positioned right in the middle of the infield. Lots of the
post-march festivities took place right near us.

The event ended at 12:10a. We were back in the village and in our rooms
at 1:30a - a whole lot earlier than I was anticipating. The organizers
did a relatively good job of making the exit as efficient and painless
as could be expected.

Some other tidbits from the experience:

* Got my picture taken with Larry Brown, coach of the Men's Basketball
Team, as well as in somewhat reverse chronological order, the Pistons,
Nets, Pacers, Clippers, Jayhawks, Spurs, Nuggets, etc., etc.. I'm sure
I missed a couple stops during his career. Nevertheless, arguably the
best coach in the game at this time. After the pic, he asked my name
and after I told him, he shook my hand and said, "I'm Larry Brown...
please to meet you."

* Martina Navratalova marched a couple of rows of 8 (+/-) in front of
us and seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself. Marv and Robyn each had
their pic took with her. Marv chatted her up for a while and learned
that she likes volleyball, but her tennis coach at an early age wouldn't
let her play for fear of her breaking a finger. Oh, by the way, her
arms are every bit as big as they seem on tv.

* Most all the basketball players were very open to pics and autographs
- most notably Tim Duncan.

* Because the women's basketball team did not march, except for
flag-bearer Dawn Staley, it made it much easier to pick out the women's
volleyball team - especially 6'7 Tayyiba and 6'4 Wiz.

* Yao Ming carried the Chinese flag and was literally head, shoulders
and biceps above most of the crowd.

I hope to have some pics of the event, as well as a couple of new ones
from Syros on the USAV web site in the next couple of days.

First upset of the games in the 9a match as Germany comes from behind to
defeat Cuba 3:2, 17-15 in the 5th.

First match for our Women tonight versus China.

Thursday, August 12 - 10:00p

After a great week on the Greek Island of Syros, both teams returned to
Athens and the Athlete Village on Tuesday. It was felt by all that the
time was needed and the rest and preparation was welcomed, but everyone
was anxious to return to Athens in final preparation for the Games.

A big THANK YOU to our hosts in Syros: Tasos Nomikos from the Hotel
Francios and George Nomikos from Hotel Olympia. Both were very
accommodating to our teams. They were also extremely helpful in helping
to arrange boat transportation, bus transportation, training and
weightlifting facilities for the team.

As for the weather on Syros, let's just say that we had a debate on the
bus as to whether what we saw out over the sea was a cloud or not. That
was the closest we came to a cloud the entire time. Temps were between
low 80s and 100s every day.

Both the practice gym and weight facility met our needs nicely.

However, we are now back in Athens and having to quickly adjust to the
heightened level of energy compared to when we were here on August 2.
Increased levels of:
* people
* meal service lines
* security
* tension

Two things that I found amazing:
* The various body shapes, sizes, and types - weightlifters to gymnasts
to basketball players.
* within the span of blocks in the village and yards in the dining
hall, one can literally hear 8 to 10 different languages. Compared to
last summer's Pan Am Games, where it is primarily English and Spanish
being spoken, this is quite a switch.

Other tidbits for the day:
* We got the green light to display the American flag or similar "USA"
signs outside our buildings or on balconies. Given that virtually every
other building has flags and signs of their respective countries, it was
getting obvious that "USA" was in the building without these signs of
patriotism. I think everyone is anxious to let the rest of the
village's delegations know that the USA is here and not afraid to
display our flag.

* For the most part, security has been good on busses, at venues, and
definitely around the village.

* The biggest disappointment so far has been the laundry service, which
involves turning in a mesh bag - either white and/or dark - to a laundry
building. The bags are labeled with your name and credential number.
About 24 hours from turning in the bag, it is ready for pick up. The
process seemed antiquated and doomed to failure from the start and so it
did. So much so, that the manager of the facility closest to our
buildings was fired. This morning I waited in line for about 40 minutes
for my items to be found before simply going into the back and finding
my bags my self. A waist of an hour for a process which should have
taken about 5 minutes.

* Saw Roulon Gardner (sp) at the ACG the other day. Both basketball
teams are in the village. Kerri Walsh, Misty May and the rest of the
Beach Volleyball teams were in for a couple of days, but moved to the
docked cruise ship, which is much closer to their competition venue as
planned. Venus Williams was seen in dining hall and down stairs
checking emails. She is refusing to have her picture taken with the
other athletes. Andy Roddick is also here, and has been very willing to
oblige the photo op. Kevin saw Yao Ming in the village.

Yesterday was filled with training sessions and the Preliminary Inquiry.
Today was training and Monica Paul, Robyn and I trying to navigate the
narrow streets of the downtown and port area of Athens to collect
tickets for athlete's families for matches and opening ceremonies.

The men scrimmaged Greece last night and tonight with favorable results
both nights. They did say they were looking forward to seeing a
different team. They will get their chance soon enough.

Tomorrow is the General Technical Meeting at 9a for all Team Leaders and
Head Coaches (coat and tie). A 90 minute training session in the early
afternoon, then the estimated 9 hour ordeal - from preparation to board
the busses to go to Opening Ceremonies 4:45p to return estimated 2a.
They've told us that cell phones and cameras will not be allowed during
the parade in. We'll see if that holds true.

First match for he Women will be versus China on Saturday night at 9:30p
(12:30p in Colorado). The Men begin their quest for gold on Sunday
night against also at 9:30p against Italy. Very tough first matches for
both teams. We are confident for both teams having strong starts this
coming weekend.

11:45p, Wednesday, August 4

It's been a busy couple of days since send #4. However, almost none of
it has to do with serving, spiking, blocking, etc..

After a short final night in Reggio Calabria, I packed and left my hotel
room about 4:15a on Monday to get to the desk and check out in time to
be on the bus with the Cuban team for a 4:30a departure to the airport.
As I left our building, I could hear the music still playing from the
team social around the pool outside our building. I was shocked when I
saw the entire area still packed with people dancing the night - now
morning - away. As far as I could tell, the crowd was mostly locals and
not members of teams.

Our 4:30 departure eventually became 5:00a as the Cubans were not overly
motivated to make their way on to the bus. Fortunately, the delay did
not effect my making my 6:30a flight to Rome, then on to Amsterdam where
I switched from Alitalia Airlines to Olympic Airlines for my final leg
to Athens. All my flights went off without issue. I met the team in
the Athens airport also without issue. "Too good to be true?", I was
thinking.

NO LUGGAGE!!!! Not only for me, but 6 members of the team. Ugh!!

USOC staffer, Kirk Milburn was awaiting our arrival and quickly showed
us to the credential desk in the airport.

The Athens Organizing Committee (ATHOC), had a desk set up just as we
got out of the gate area to take care of all members of the "Olympic
Family" as they are calling it, which includes anyone needing a
credential (athletes, staff, officials, etc.). This went relatively
smoothly as we were the only group at the desk at the time and could
split up amongst the 6 reception desks.

The up side of being one of the early arrivals to the games is that we
get through the lines quickly. The down side is that many of the ATHOC
volunteers and staff are working out the bugs in the system and we are
the guinea pigs.

Those of us missing luggage then had to begin that process, which took
close to an hour to sort out. Kirk, who was probably the motivation for
Tom Hanks character in the movie, "Terminal", pretty much takes up
residency at the Athens airport welcoming every member of the USA team
as they arrive. He will then assist with sending us off as the games
wind down. Kirk collected the baggage information so he could begin
tracking bags as they eventually arrived into Athens. He would then
send them with USA Team members to the American College of Greece (ACG) a.k.a. USA Olympic Training Center - Athens.

We also met our US State Department assigned security officer, Scott
Peterson, who will be with the team throughout our time in Greece.

We boarded a motor coach bus with 2 security officers on board and a
police escort. So far the "Olympic Lane", which is a dedicated lane on
the highways only for vehicles possessing Olympic accreditation, is
working well as we cruised right along and made it to the Olympic
Village in about 20 minutes.

Upon arrival at the village, we went through credential check and
airport-like baggage search. We then went to another bus, which took us
to our housing unit, which was about 4-5 blocks away. We were met by a
group of USOC staffers, who quickly handed out room keys, helped with
luggage, and directed us to our rooms.

Volleyball basically has it's own building. Women on the first floor in
two separate units, men on the second floor, and staff on the third
(top) floor. Men's staff in one unit and women's staff in the other.
Each unit has a living area with balcony, 3 bedrooms (one, which will be
turned into a kitchen after the Games), and 2 bathrooms. Everyone
seemed to be happy with the set up, other than a couple of minor things
to work out, such as this toilet doesn't work, or that shower stall
doesn't yet have a curtain, etc. Per those in Sydney, they are larger
than the housing units there. I'd say they are slightly smaller than
the housing units for Pan Am Games last year in Santo Domingo, but they
are also housing few people. USOC medical personnel and trainers are
housed in a different building. All units are air conditioned.

The dining hall is gigantic. I can't even begin to describe the size.
I'll try to obtain some stats for future sends. Suffice it to say that
there are MANY different food lines. There is also a McDonalds set up
inside where you can choose from a scaled down menu found at a typical
McD's. The biggest difference is that this McDonalds doesn't charge.
It's just take the order, fill it, and move on to the next customer.

The men arrived from the airport around 1a.

On Tuesday, it was off to the ACG for Team Processing. We were
scheduled to begin this process at 9a with the USA Swim Team. After
receiving updates and information from USOC staffers for about an hour,
we began the process of receiving our USOC gear for wearing at Opening
and Closing Ceremonies, Awards, and Press Conferences, as well as
generally around the village. Staff gets more stuff than we can ever
wear, and the athletes get more. A combination of gear from Adidas and
Roots was distributed. It included, bags, shoes, socks, sweats, shorts,
shirts, polos, hats, and other sundry items. I think we got 5 or 6
different kinds of hats, including a beret style had to be worn for
opening ceremonies, a couple of visors, baseball caps, and what they
call a bucket hat, which with a addition of a few fly fishing flies,
would look like it came from Colonel Henry Blakes, wardrobe closet in
M*A*S*H*.

Processing also involves some last minute info gathering by the USOC
with regard to medical info, event ticket distribution, sizing for
Olympic rings, etc.

The other good news, was that everyone's luggage has arrived and was
delivered to the ACG except Kevin Hambly's and mine.

After a quick lunch at the ACG cafeteria, it was back on the bus with
our two rolling bags of USOC gear to return to the village.

The Men trained at the ACG Tuesday morning and were to begin their
Processing after lunch.

Upon our arrival back at the Village and making our way through security
and eventually back to our housing units, we hurriedly re-packed to get
back to the port to catch our boat for a week of recovery and
preparation before the start of the Games. After our boat trip, which
lasted about 3 hours we arrived at our Greek Island destination and was
greeted by our host, Mr. Tasos Nomikos. A 15 minute bus ride got us to
the hotel where we unpacked and unwound from a hectic couple of days.

Wednesday and Thursday will be days of rest before training resumes.

The men scrimmaged Greece earlier on Wednesday, then proceeded directly
to the port to catch their boat to join us on the island. However, they
will be in a different hotel about 3 km away. Finally, with the arrival
of the men's team to the island tonight, so too arrived Kevin's and my
luggage. What a relief! Given that it's been over 2 days, I was
beginning to wonder if I would ever see it again.

Earlier today, we learned that a Greek sports daily is reporting that
the USA Volleyball teams left the Olympic Village after one day and
moved to a "unknown destination" because they were unhappy with the
living conditions. Specifically, that there was no tv, refrigerator,
and stationary. Unbelievable! Not sure where they got their
information, but as far as I can tell, we are happy with the Village.
The trips to the Greek Island have been in the works for about 6 months
and is on schedule. Anything for a story, no matter how inaccurate.
Talk about trying to make us look like "ugly Americans"....

All for this send - I know, 'bout time. Sorry for the length on this
one. History would say that they get shorter as the days become more
typical. I'll try to get some island pics sent to the web in the next
day or so.

Tom

Monday, August 2, 12:00a

Coming off the long, disappointing loss in Saturday night's semis, Toshi
reduced the morning practice from 90 to 60 minutes, from 9a-10a.
Unfortunately, that still seemed to be too early for the keepers of the
keys to the practice facility. Upon our arrival, we found the medical
crew, the security guards, but no one from the facility ready to let us
in. After a few frantic calls from our guide/translator Valerie, a
person finally showed up after about 10 minutes to unlock the door and
turn on the lights. See girls on the GYNT; it happens to the National
Team too. So our 60 minute practice turned into 45. No one seemed to
mind that much.

Lunch, rest, and then it was off to the 5p match on the 3:30 bus. Each
team gets its own motor coach, typically with a police escort.

The match for the bronze medal pitted USA and Cuba, two teams that knew
each other quite well. The last meeting resulted in a 3:2 win for the
Cubans back in the first week of the Grand Prix in Bangkok, Thailand on
July 10.

Tonight proved to be different as USA put together a strong effort from
the first point to the last in defeating the high-flying Cubans 3:0;
25-20, 25-22, 25-16 to capture the bronze medal.

When I say "high-flying", it means a complete team that jump touches at
least 10' led by 20-year-old Rosir Calderon, 26-year-old Yumilka Ruiz,
and 18-year-old Nancy Carrillo around 11'.

The gold medal match went just about as planned as a raucous partisan
crowd tried their best, but couldn't will their team to victory as
Brazil captured the crown over Italy 3:1.

A relatively quick closing ceremony ensued. Logan Tom was named the best
scorer (points gained through successful attacks, blocks, and serves)
and best server.

Then the battle to get the team gathered up, herded onto the bus and
back to the hotel where the Italian Volleyball Federation is hosting an
event party for all teams and staff. The toughest part of getting out
of the arena is that although the Italian team are the darlings of the
event, many of our girls are very well known and popular due to their
playing in the Italian professional league for half the year. Logan Tom
and Heather Bown are popular, but Keba Phipps and Stacy Sykora are
approaching rock star status. Interviews, pictures, and autographs were
all part of their daily routine at the competition hall at this event.

While winning the bronze was a satisfying way to end the event and take
some of the sting out of losing to Brazil in the semis, everyone knew it
was still just a precursor to the "main event" to begin in Athens
against China on August 14.

Unfortunately, I will be traveling by myself to Athens tomorrow due to
my travel being booked separately from the team's. My bus departs the
hotel at 4:30a - or should I say the Cuban bus, as I'm hitching a ride
with them to the airport given our similar departure times of 6:30a.
The team won't depart the hotel until later in the morning. Oddly
enough, we arrive into Athens only 5 minutes apart - scheduled.
Hopefully, it works out that way as it will make transportation much
easier.

I have some pictures from the trip posted at
http://www.usavolleyball.org/National/photojourn.asp. Check them at
your leisure. Don't get any ideas about the picture of Ogonna's
impromptu birthday celebration, those are bottles of mineral water at
dinner - not a different beverage of an adult variety, widely associated
with this part of Italy...

Farewell from Reggio Calabria. Next send will be from Athens.

---

7/31, 11:30a

Just returned from a busy morning of b-fast at 6:50a; bus to practice at
7:20a; practice from 8a-9:30a; lunch at 11a. Rest will be the primary
order of the afternoon as the team prepares for tonight's semifinal
match with Brazil. Match time will be 6p. The second semi pits Cuba
against Italy at 9p. China and Germany will their classification match
for 5th and 6th place this afternoon at 3:30p.

Last night, Team USA was defeated by Italy in the final pool match 3:1;
22-25; 23-25; 25-22; 19-25. In the earlier match, Brazil dispatched
Germany 3:1. Despite the loss, we still finished 1st in our pool.

The starting line up for all 4 games was Berg (setter); Metcalf
(opposite); Bown and Bachman (middle); Tom and Nnamani (outside); and
Sykora (libero). Cross-Battle subbed in all 4 games and the tandem of
Ah Mow-Santos and Haneef entered in a double switch in games 1, 2, and
3.

Because we were assured of making the semis, and needing only to win one
game to be in at least a tie for 1st (difference decided by points), it
was the perfect opportunity to rest some players that had logged a lot
of court time over the past weeks. Italy had to win the match to have a
chance at advancing to the semis. Given this scenario, neither team
played particularly smoothly early on. Aided by a noisy crowd of only
about 2000, Italy prevailed.

Nancy Metcalf led the team with 17 attack winners, followed by Ogonna
Nnamani with 11. Ogonna led the team with 4 stuff blocks. Logan Tom
tallied 3 service aces, followed closely by Lindsey Berg with 2.

Tonight's match will be a true test for Team USA. Despite their loss to
Cuba on Wednesday, Brazil is thought of by many to be the favorite to
capture the gold medal in Athens next month.

As far as today's "head scratcher" of the day: the mascot for the Grand
Prix Finals, here in Reggio Calabria is a 16 year old girl named "Anna"
from the local junior club team. She runs around with a beach ball
sized foam ball and throws it into the crowd during time-outs. She is
supposed to "symbolize all the girls playing volleyball in Italy". As
opposed to an animal or a puppet, Anna is "a true girl in whom the
public identifies fully itself". The San Diego Chicken still has my
vote.

Hopefully good news in the next send!

---

7/31, 10:45p

Due to email problems, I've been unable to send this update, so I'll add
on tonight's results.

A valiantly fought battle ends in an unfortunate defeat as Brazil edged
the Americans 2:3, 18-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 17-19.

USA started Ah Mow-Santos (setter), Haneef (opposite), Bown and Scott
(middle), Tom and Phipps (left), and Sykora (libero). This was the
line-up that started all 5 sets except for Nnamani starting for Phipps
in sets 3 and 5. The combination of Berg/Metcalf double subbed in games
1 through 4. Cross-Battle played in game 5.

After a sluggish 1st game, Nnamani entered the game to inject some life
- and some offense. Haneef also caught fire and keyed the second set
victory. USA let a lead slip away late in game 3 to lose, but rebounded
for a strong 4th game to set up the 5th game tie-breaker. Game 5 was a
back and forth affair, which Brazil seemed to have in hand, but let a
13-11 lead evaporate to the point that USA served for the match on 3
different occasions before eventually coming up just short. This was
the first match between the two teams since the 2003 World Cup when
Brazil won relatively easy, 3:0.

In the other semi-final, Italy turned in an effort that surprised many -
especially the Cubans in pulling off the upset 3 games to 1.

This sets up the final day's matches in which USA will play Cuba in the
bronze medal match at 5p locally (9a in CO). It will be Brazil and
Italy in the finals at 8p.

Earlier today, China was met with a strong effort from Germany and had
to go the distance to win the match and finish 5th, 3 games to 2.