Alabama European Tour Wrap-Up: Assistant Coach Jill Pape-Kramer
6/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Alabama volleyball team is on a 10-day, three country tour of Europe. The Tide is traveling to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia and will play five matches while visiting. To keep the fans informed, the Alabama players are writing daily journals about their trip of a lifetime. Due to limited internet access in Europe, some of the journals may be a couple of days late being posted.
Wow! Thirteen days on the job and eleven of them have been spent in Europe! I consider myself very lucky; not because of the travel experience itself, but because of the people I had the opportunity to spend it with. I had one goal going into our Euro-trip and it was to get to know my new team and colleagues better. Spending nearly 24/7 with them, many times in close quarters, definitely made this possible. I learned a ton of new things on this trip about each individual I traveled with, which could’ve possibly taken months had we not had this opportunity. On the last day of the trip one of the players told me, “It feels like you have always been a part of our team.” That statement made me feel like one of our goals as a team had been accomplished on this trip.
Another goal of ours was to improve team play. From the beginning of the trip to the end, we made a dramatic improvement in that area. The girls really know how to get each other going, and play outstanding team volleyball. I feel very good about the energy and enthusiasm everyone will bring into the gym come August!
I want to make sure I mention what a great job Bring It Promotions did touring us throughout Slovenia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Brook Coulter, our tour guide from beginning to end, is an absolute joy to be around and represents the US volleyball community well in each and every country she plays in. We can’t thank her enough for providing us with such a smooth trip.
Meredith “Snoop”, our trainer, also did a great job helping out. She needed to lug her big trainer bag everywhere with her. Way to take one for the team Snoop! And an even bigger thanks to Walt Slack for putting up with Finn the whole time. What a tough rooming assignment  !!!
To finish up, I’d like to share with everyone the most important discovery I made on this trip. I hold the University of Alabama and the outstanding support she shows her student-athletes in very high esteem, but spending time with the staff and players in a foreign land solidified the real reason I chose to become part of the Crimson Tide volleyball staff. The staff and players immediately felt like family to me. Now I know, it doesn’t matter whether or not we are in Tuscaloosa or Brno, when I’m with them, in a way, I’m still home. Tuscaloosa, Alabama is my new found home and I absolutely LOVE the new additions to my family!!!
ROLL TIDE!!!
Jill
aka Beans
(FYI I drink a lot of coffee, so Leroy decided my name should be Beans, short for coffee beans )
