Coaching in Athens, Greece!

Mo’s Blog:

I just returned from 5 days in Greece!! I left with ASP’s Varsity Girls’ Volleyball team on Wednesday morning on Aegean Air. Myself and their coach, Jessamy, were on the flight with 10 players and it was a great trip!! These girls are world flyers from living internationally and so they are very low maintenance. We just stuck near each other in a group, but they knew how to do everything on their own and they are super relaxed and mature so there was never anything to worry about. It made for very ‘easy’ travel since they check in, keep track of their housing partner and don’t really need us for anything.

Chris and Greg were also going through ISSTs back in Paris and battling like crazy to win some games in front of a home crowd. They did not have a strong turn out this year so Chris and Greg ran the show, and Greg was the obvious stand out – the All Star according to many people who noticed him and talked about the tournament. I watched some of his play in my hotel at night through live streaming online and saw some AMAZING hits! In the end they finished 5th of 8 teams in Division 1, so not as bad as some. We’re all a little sad to see it end since it is a sport the kids both enjoy a lot now.

Back to Athens: We arrived in Athens after a slightly bumpy flight and there was a coach bus to take us to the Athen’s School. Our students met their ‘housing families’ there and then we were fed a Greek dinner during a coaches meeting. We were shuttled back to our hotel at about 7:00pm (1 hour ahead of France). It was a relaxing night there planning for our games the next day. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were round robin game play (2 out of 3 against every team there). Then Sunday we made it into the Division 2, Championship finals for Gold! We ended up in 2nd overall, so the girls brought home silver medals.

Yeah “Rebels”- GO ASP!!!

Between games in the gym, we would try to sit outside and get 5 minutes of sun. But usually there was only time to grab lunch in the Coaches lounge and check in on Greg’s ISST play in Paris!! (fantastic that it was live streamed but stressful!!). Our games were between 2 gyms so we were shuttled back and forth every day. Then we either took a taxi or the Metro home. We were given money for food and transportation so it was really stress free all the time. The weather was 20 degrees and cloudy 3 of the days, but blue skies the other two.

Thursday after games, we went for a nice dinner a few streets from the hotel (authentic local Greek restaurant recommended by ‘George’). Then we went to a bar recommended by the restaurant (Raindogs – home of anarchists of Athens). We were the only ones there and the bartender was drinking more than us, but there was great music and atmosphere nonetheless. This is where we tried ‘Mastika’ – a liquor only made in Greece, on the island of Chios, from the Masticha tree. Then Friday after the games, Jessamy, Fadime (Dutch coach) and I went to the old city to get lost around the Acropolis and found a beautiful, quaint restaurant called Daphne’s. We sat and talked there for 2 hours.

Saturday night the girls came to the hotel after their final game, so we checked them in and then all went out together to walk around the Acropolis and see Plaka (the old city streets). We visited the Acropolis Museum which is new and wonderful, and then had dinner and a Greek show with a lot of dinner and dancing. We were all up on stage a few times as part of the show! Once we were all singing Mama Mia together, and another time we were doing a ‘belly dance’.

We got back to the hotel at 10:30pm after a Metro and taxi fiasco. The night had been all the more interesting because we had one player with a sprained ankle so she was on crutches that we borrowed from the hotel and in a wheelchair at the museum (buzzing all over because it’s electric). We had to carry her up the rock outcropping you see below to get her the view and photo op. 🙂 Needless to say, it was a jam packed 5 days and I am exhausted and glad to be back “home”, in Paris.