Cincinnati Women's Volleyball news

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Day 9

Hello everyone! This is Niemer. Today was a great day in Saquarema, Brazil. This morning we woke up for breakfast at 9AM
and surprisingly...MORE BREAD! However, the breakfast at the training center is the best we have had so far. Other than
just bread, the team enjoyed requeijao on the bread, which is a spread that tastes like butter, but looks like melted
cream cheese. Fruit was also offered at breakfast, along with these cookie-like crackers, granola, and cereal that
resembled Frosted Flakes. The thing I enjoyed the most at breakfast was the Brazilian form of yogurt. It was served in
a pitcher so I poured it in a glass as my drink. I saw some of the girls on the Youth National Team pour it in a bowl
and sprinkle granola over it. It tasted like a strawberry banana smoothie--it was delicious!

The most interesting part of breakfast was that we mingled with the girls on the Youth National Team. I was very
impressed with the amount of English some of them knew. Some of the girls did not know any English, which obviously we
can relate to. However, the girls that knew English have been learning the language for 2 years. We asked them a lot of
questions about their schooling, training, and culture. In return, they also asked us many questions about the United
States. It was fun interacting and talking with them outside the gym.

After breakfast, the team walked to the sand volleyball courts to play in a sand tournament, amongst ourselves. We split
into pairs of two and played for about 2 hours. By the end of the tournament, Reed and TK were undefeated, but chose not
to play in the championship against Myanna and Camila (I think they were too tired to play, or maybe just too nervous to
play the agile pair of Myanna and Camila). Once we were finished playing, we were given 2 hours to go to the beach or the
pool. The beach was beautiful and everyone spent some time there today. Everyone ended up at the pool around 1PM and
sunbathed until 2.

At 2 o'clock, the team ate lunch at the cafe. They offered chicken, beef, salad, mangos, rice, and many other choices.
After we ate lunch, we were given time to do whatever we wanted, as long as we were not in the sun. My room, which
consisted of Annie, Upton, and I, napped from 2:40 to 4:15PM. The sun is pretty powerful here and it drained a couple
of us, so it was good to get some rest before the match. At 4:30, we walked back over to the cafe for a pre-game snack.
There was fruit and juice available, but I headed straight for the strawberry banana yogurt/juice.

Our match began at 6PM and the match went to 5 sets. The Youth National Team took the fourth set to make it 2-2. We went
down early in the 5th set but came back and ended up winning 15-11!

We then went to dinner and had another great meal of chicken, beef, vegetables, rice, beans and more! It was delicious!
Now it's shower time and off to bed as we play at 10a tomorrow! It's our last match for the trip so send us some good luck!

-Stephanie Niemer

Day 9

Hello everyone! This is Niemer. Today was a great day in Saquarema, Brazil. This morning we woke up for breakfast at 9AM and surprisingly...MORE BREAD! However, the breakfast at the training center is the best we have had so far. Other than just bread, the team enjoyed requeijao on the bread, which is a spread that tastes like butter, but looks like melted cream cheese. Fruit was also offered at breakfast, along with these cookie-like crackers, granola, and cereal that resembled Frosted Flakes. The thing I enjoyed the most at breakfast was the Brazilian form of yogurt. It was served in a pitcher so I poured it in a glass as my drink. I saw some of the girls on the Youth National Team pour it in a bowl and sprinkle granola over it. It tasted like a strawberry banana smoothie--it was delicious!

The most interesting part of breakfast was that we mingled with the girls on the Youth National Team. I was very impressed with the amount of English some of them knew. Some of the girls did not know any English, which obviously we can relate to. However, the girls that knew English have been learning the language for 2 years. We asked them a lot of questions about their schooling, training, and culture. In return, they also asked us many questions about the United States. It was fun interacting and talking with them outside the gym.

After breakfast, the team walked to the sand volleyball courts to play in a sand tournament, amongst ourselves. We split into pairs of two and played for about 2 hours. By the end of the tournament, Reed and TK were undefeated, but chose not to play in the championship against Myanna and Camila (I think they were too tired to play, or maybe just too nervous to play the agile pair of Myanna and Camila). Once we were finished playing, we were given 2 hours to go to the beach or the pool. The beach was beautiful and everyone spent some time there today. Everyone ended up at the pool around 1PM and sunbathed until 2.

At 2 o'clock, the team ate lunch at the cafe. They offered chicken, beef, salad, mangos, rice, and many other choices. After we ate lunch, we were given time to do whatever we wanted, as long as we were not in the sun. My room, which consisted of Annie, Upton, and I, napped from 2:40 to 4:15PM. The sun is pretty powerful here and it drained a couple of us, so it was good to get some rest before the match. At 4:30, we walked back over to the cafe for a pre-game snack. There was fruit and juice available, but I headed straight for the strawberry banana yogurt/juice.

Our match began at 6PM and the match went to 5 sets. The Youth National Team took the fourth set to make it 2-2. We went down early in the 5th set but came back and ended up winning 15-11!

We then went to dinner and had another great meal of chicken, beef, vegetables, rice, beans and more! It was delicious! Now it's shower time and off to bed as we play at 10a tomorrow! It's our last match for the trip so send us some good luck!

-Stephanie Niemer

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Day 8

Hi people this is Karen :) Today was such a long day. We got up very early to leave Sao Jose de Campos and go to the Brazilian training center for volleyball. We spent over 6 hours on the bus watching all sorts of movie from Avatar to Forest Gump!

The training center here is AMAZING. There is an ocean on one side (well right across the street)and beautiful montains when you look the other way. Everything is super close together from the dorms where we are staying to the gym, to the cafe area, nothing is more than a 15 second walk! The volleyball courts are really nice too and they have pictures of their players on the wall which adds a nice touch!

We played the Brazilian Youth Team today. We played 5 sets and won all 5! All the players for their youth team are 16 years old. They are such a young team but they have power and speed. They were great at serve receive too. We struggled a bit at times, especially in the first set, but then we started to get better on defense which helped a lot.

Tomorrow, we will play some doubles on the sand court here and everyone is so excited!!! Hopefully tomorrow is going to be a great day again!

Tchau!

Day 7

Today the team woke up bright and early for a delicious hotel breakfast. Once again, we found ourselves amoung an assortment of breads, cereal, fruit, cheese, ham, and juices.
We ate quickly and headed to our rooms to get ready for a day of shopping down town. The weather was really nice today, so we made the short walk downtown where we were able to
shop at different street venders. A few people in our group bought Soccer jerseys for the Brazil vs. Chile world cup game today.

After a few hours of shopping, we made our way back to the hotel to change into our "game day" outfits. Annie and Jeff went all out by wearing "Brasil" hats, shirts, and the
Brazilian flag as a cape. The rest of the team sported "Brasil" shirts and, of course, a lot of green and yellow. When we finished getting ready, we loaded up the bus and
headed to a restaurant where we would be eating lunch and watching the game together. The restaurant was buffet-style and we were able to choose from an assortment of any
type of meat imaginable, along with whatever we wanted from the salad bar. I am still amazed at how common sushi is here - I've seen it available at every lunch and dinner
buffet so far.

When we finished eating our lunch and our plates were cleared from the table, the group moved to an outdoor part of the restaurant where we gathered around a TV to watch the
3:30 Brazil vs. Chile game. The energy was very high and everywhere we looked there were people wearing jerseys and getting pumped up for the game. The game began and it was
extremely intense from the start. It was so exciting to be a part of the celebration everytime Brazil scored. Brazil ended up defeating Chile 3-0, and the celebration continued.
When we left the restaurant and headed for the bus, we saw cars riding by with people hanging out the windows yelling, playing loud music, and holding the flag of Brazil.

We headed to the facility where we would be playing our match. When we arrived, we had to wait outside for the doors to be unlocked because the gym was closed for the soccer
game. We finally got in, changed into OUR jerseys, and started warming up for the match. Our opponets were a club team called "Sesi," and we played very up and down throughout
the match. We Lost the first, won the second, lost the third, won the fourth, and wound up pulling together and playing really well to win the fifth set 15-4. After the match,
we shook hands and took pictures with the other team in the same way we did after the other matches we've played, but this time, we were caught off guard by hugs and kisses on
the cheek from the other team to say "goodbye."

Once we got changed out of our dirty clothes, the group got back on the bus and headed to a late night dinner. We went to another restaurant where an assortment of pizza was
brought to our table side, and we were able to pick and choose which kinds and which slices we wanted to eat. The restaurant also had live entertainment by a man that played
guitar and sang portugese songs while we ate our food. When we finished eating, we got onto the bus and headed back to the hotel to get a good nights rest before another long
day of shopping, sight-seeing, eating, and playing volleyball!
-Megan Turner

Monday, June 28, 2010

Day 6


Hey Everyone!
Today is our off day! We woke up early this morning to catch some rays from the Brazilian sun. While we were all laying out, five monkeys jumped up on the deck right next to us! They reminded me of squirrels you would see in the U.S. but they were little MONKEYS! We fed them bananas and other fruit we got from the breakfast bar. It was amazing. After a few hours of laying out, we packed up our things and headed toward our next destination, Sao Jose dos Campos. We stopped at a mall about halfway to eat and shop for a couple hours. Even though it was a Sunday, the mall was packed! This is also were we said goodbye to Erin Virtue, she was heading back to the U.S. (bye Virtue, we miss you!) We got to our hotel in Sao Jose dos Campos around 6:30pm. We all got ready and went to dinner. We went to a pizza restaurant, it was similar to the one we went to last night. The best part of the dinner was the dessert! There were tons of different types of dessert pizza--chcolate banana, chocolate strawberry, vanilla ice cream, chocolate caramel, just to name a few. It was delicious! After dinner, Camilla took us to a local club so we could experice the night life in Brazil. We were all nervous and excited for this experience. The dancing and music were very different from the U.S. and none of us really knew what to do. However, the local people there were very nice and helpful (and patient with us) and taught some of us a few steps. Overall, it was a great day! Tomorrow is back to volleyball!
-Julie Guenther

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Day 5 - Jordanne

Today was our first day of being able to sleep in, haha not. I mean if you think 9:30 is sleeping in. We all went down to breakfast were it was full of bread and butter. Then at 10:30 we were off for our exciting day at the Zoo. On our bus ride we watched Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. The movie was great up until the last 10 minutes of the film were the chick messed up her lines and killed the whole movie(it was TERRIBLE, if you haven't seen this version don't waste your money stick with the original). The ride was about two hours, and when pulling in to the Zoo it was full of trees. You could say it was similar to a safari.

The sun was beaming when we started walking to see the monkeys. They were so cute; surprisingly, they were very friendly and wanted to be right up next to the glass to see us. They liked to use their tales to hang from the top of the cages. We saw lots birds of many different colors and sized, a few of then liked to hop around their cages, while others sunbathed. Throughout our mile and a half walk we saw Rhinos, Elephants, Otters, Lizards, and lots more.

To end our day at the Zoo we stopped at the Zoo Restaurant. We are all starting to get used to the buffet style restaurant, were we walk through grab whatever looks good then go to the cash register and have our food weighed. The sad thing is you don't get to go back up and get more without paying extra. So what you get is what you got.

After leaving the Zoo we drove to our new hotel, where we all decided to explore the city. There were many little shops we browsed and bought souvenirs. After walking up and down all of the hills in the city many people were tired and went back to the hotel to take a nap before we left for the game at 6:30.

Our hotel was about 10 minutes away from the gym. We arrived at the gym around 7:00 to get ready to play Itatiba, an adult professional team of the city Itatiba. This game was the first to have officials and an announcer, and before the game the National Anthem for both teams were played, which was cool to hear. If you ask me, I thought Brazil's Anthem was extremely long. The game begun and we started off really strong. We were up 6-0 before they finally got up on the board. We won the first game 25-18, then the second was 25-10. In the third we became a little relaxed and started letting them back in, but then came back and tied it up 18-18. To end the third we finished strong and won 25-20. They asked to play one more game and it was a bit shaky, but we again pulled it out 26-24. After the game we took pictures with the team and exchanged t-shirts, which was hilarious because the girls(or should I say woman) wanted our shirts so bad.

Later at dinner we had the salad bar with pizza that was constantly coming out with different toppings. Everything was so good, it was great way to end our long day of excitement.

J-Scott's signing out

Friday, June 25, 2010

Day 4-Becca


Howdy! Today is Friday(?) Yes, Friday. This is Becca(?) Yes, Becca. The Bearcats woke up bright and early this morning and headed down for breakfast at the hotel. There's not much bacon, pancakes, or cereal, but there was plenty of bread! They definitely enjoy it here! After breakfast, we all changed into our "Brasil" t-shirts and walked to the mall to watch the soccer game at the bar, "Badenbec". As we treked through the mall, it was eerily empty. It dawned on us that absolutley no stores were open because they had all closed just for the game! We waited in line for the bar to open and then rushed in. People were everywhere. They were all dressed in their jerseys and even brought their "Vuvuzelas" (aka loud, obnoxious horns). Haha! The game, to fill you in, was between Brazil and Portugal. It was the last game of their group before the elimination round, and Brazil was heading into it with a first place rank. We sat at a long table facing the T.V. as everyone surrounding us went nuts as the game started. Throughout the game, whenever Brazil was about to score you would hear ear-piercing screams and yells in anticipation of a potential goal. If Portugal was about to score, you would hear agony and stress in their voices. It was interesting to see everyone so into the game. I guess you could compare it to the superbowl, but even then you dont see followers as avid as these people. I mean, an entire city not working for 3 hours in the middle of the work week for a game that isn't even the finals?! Insane. It was an experience that we all very much enjoyed! The game ended with nothing but a couple of goose eggs(0-0), but Brazil won because they were ranked above Portugal. Having a tie in a sport is contradictory if you ask me, but I guess thats just how they do it here!

The team split up into groups and we were free to shop and eat where we pleased. Some of us went back to the hotel before we had to meet again at 5:00 P.M. Annie, Bruce, Jeff, and Upton came back to find that their keycards didnt work. So being the problem solving bunch they were they decided to use Annie's Dictionary to find words like "Doesnt work" and "Key". They were prepared and ready to break the language barrier. As they acted out very animatedly and used their newly learned portuguese to try to explain to the desk clerk their problem, the lady just looked at them and spoke in very plain english, "So it's not working?". The whole lobby laughed and the group was embarrased. It made for a good story though!

At 5:00, we loaded up again and drove to play Taboao Da Serra. It was a circle-shaped, colorful gym with a dome roof. The first set was shaky and our serve receive wasn't our best. We ended up losing 27-29 after putting up a pretty good fight. With the first set under our belts, and us having a better idea what we were up against, we won the second set 25-19. The third set passing went down again and we had a few more errors then we would've liked. We lost 19-25. The fourth set we started strong, but let them go on a 7-0 run after a tough server. The Bearcats rallied back though, and worked hard to come out with the win 25-21. The sets were tied, so things were getting exciting. We were down at first, but caught up at 8-8. They scored the ninth point, but we scored right back and got a few point lead. They made a short run back and the score was rally back and forth until Niemer scored game point with a deep hit to the corner. Bearcats win it 17-15! Post-game we were able to trade with some of the players! Niemer gave away two headbands, and I traded my shorts. They must of really liked them because as we were walking out the rest of the team started grabbing our shorts and asking for them!

It wasn't till around 10:30 that we finally got on the bus. We were exhausted, happy with a win, and looking forward to bed, but we weren't ready for a very delicious surprise. The team went to an authentic Brazilian Steakhouse! Meat, meat, meat...the only words that could describe what we ate. We stuffed ourselves with sirloin, steak, beef, sausage, pork, chicken, and even chicken hearts! It just kept coming and we kept eating! An interesting sidenote, the funny part of restaurants in Brazil is that they always serve you these tiny bottled water. No ice, and in small cups. We were chugging them faster then they could bring them out after a long game! It made us appreciate the annoying waiters in America that won't stop bringing out water. We wanted those guys again! After the ridiculous meatfest that was had, Reed let us have dessert! There was blackberry cheesecake, chocolate cake, and tons of others all on this awesome dessert cart. It was a sweet ending to a sweet day!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Day 3 - Lindsay

Hey everyone! Upton here! Today was a great day in Sao Paulo! We started at the Polo hotel where we stayed last night and ate a great breakfast of fresh fruit, lots of different breads, eggs and some sort of sausage dish. Becca made the discovery that the milk was not, in fact, real milk but made from powder. I tried it and couldn't even tell the difference! Then we started the trip to the gym which took about 2 hours so we watched Sahara to pass the time.

We ended up playing the at the Paulistano Club, which happens the be one of the most exclusive(and expensive) country clubs in Sao Paulo. They were redoing the floor in the competition gym so we played in their practice gym which was very nice and had sport court(score!!). We played tennis and served and passed a little to warm up, then we peppered and hit and the game began. We came out a little rusty after 2 days of nonstop traveling and A LOT of sitting. We lost the first game 26-24 but came out much better in the second and ended up winning the next 3. We struggled a bit in the 5th game and ended up losing. All and all it was a relatively good day and it felt great to get in the gym and get our blood flowing. After the game we ate at the club. It was so good! I got the Especial which was a filet sandwich with cheese, tomato, and bacon on a sort of pita flat bread. It was delicious!

Then we loaded up the bus and made a stop at a historical statue in the city. We had fun taking pictures an climbing all over it because it was so big! I got kicked in the face(my luck) but all in all it was a worthwhile stop. Next we drove to the hotel and I have to say traffic in this city is CRAZY! I'll never complain about Cincinnati traffic again! We saw a motorcycle run straight into a car and a public bus that had at least 100 people on it!

Anyways we made it to the hotel, Formula 1 to be exact and boy were we in for a surprise. BUNK BEDS! Who would have thought?! The shower is literally right next the the bed and the toilet is in the closet. Very space efficient! We went to the mall across the street and some of us got Brazil shirts to wear for the game tomorrow. We're waking up and heading back to the mall where we have reservations at a great spot to watch the game. I can't wait! GO BRAZIL! Look back tomorrow night for Becca's account of our day. Tchau!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Day 2 - Missy


Olá! (hello in Portuguese)

Landed in Rio De Janeiro at 9 a.m. It was a long red eye flight, but we made it! We were greeted by Reed and Tim and took the bus to Copa…Copacabana. The team then went to the beach where there was the FIFA fan fest. There was a huge screen on the beach where people could watch the world cup games for free. Walking through the side streets there were little shops selling various items from mattresses to jewelry to fruit to fan gear.

We grabbed lunch at Apo’s, a small eatery where they sold many juices, pastries, and sandwiches. This was our first experience of Brazilian food. Some things were better than others, but we were not discouraged and will continue to sample more Brazilian cuisine.

After walking along the beaches of Rio and experiencing the Brazilian culture, we loaded up the bus to drive to Maracana soccer stadium, where the world cup will be help in 2014! This was an awesome experience as we got to go out on the field, in the locker room, through a museum and walk through the halls where we saw the many faces of the country’s best players! We then got back on the bus to drive a few hours until grabbing a bite to eat at a Brazilian buffet.

I am now writing from the bus as we are almost to our hotel after about a six hour bus ride. After a long day of travel and sight seeing, we are ready to get some sleep and freshen up at the hotel. We are excited to play our first match tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. Wish us luck!!!

-Missy Harpenau #14

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Brazil Day 1

For the next 12 days, our team will be going down to Brazil for a couple days of competition and a couple days of fun. Our team has been counting down the days to our trip since school ended, and over the past 10 days, we have been in the gym prepping for the trip.

The atmosphere in the gym has been extremely competitive and filled with energy. For many of us, this is our first time out of the United States. We are really excited about experiencing a different culture. Each day this week, a pair of girls put together a presentation about different aspects of Brazilian culture in order to prepare us for what we are going to experience. However, we are sure to be in a bit of culture shock.

A couple of things the team is really looking forward to is seeing the Cristo Redentor statue in Rio de Janeiro, being in the city of Sao Paulo, a huge industrial city, and going to the beaches in Rio. I am most excited to watch Brazil play in the World Cup on Friday (June 25) vs. Portugal, considering soccer is like a religion to the people of Brazil. I can only imagine what it will be like if they win the games while we are down there.

We have heard that volleyball is the second-most popular sport there, very different from here in the United States. We are looking forward to playing international rules against the Brazilian Junior National team.

We leave this afternoon for a long day of travel and will be in beautiful Rio de Janeiro tomorrow morning ready for a day of touring!

- By Annie Fesl -

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Olá


Olá = Hello

Get ready Bearcat fans ... the University of Cincinnati Volleyball team is gearing up for our trip to Brazil! Check back here to keep up with the Bearcats on our trip! We'll be posting pictures, videos and blogs each day, so come visit us!


Here is our tentative itinerary:

June 22: Depart Cincinnati

June 23: Arrive Rio de Janeiro, Tour Rio

June 24-June 30: Compete in Sao Paolo

June 30-July 3: Compete in Rio de Janeiro

June 4: Return to Cincinnati



We are looking forward to sharing our experiences with you!


Go Bearcats!!