Volleyball

People who know me know that sports is my favorite pastime. So it was clear from the beginning that I wanted to continue doing sports here. However, it's a bit different here than in Germany:

Sports here are generally organized by schools and are seasonal, meaning they are trained and practiced in competition only during a certain time of the year. There are club teams that have year-round training, but only the pros are in those.

Volleyball is a fall sport and I wanted to try it here because I enjoyed it in physical education class in Germany. So on the second day of school, I went to an open training session and the following week to the tryouts. After that, it was confirmed that I am on the junior team. Actually, I'm in 11th grade, which is senior year. But since I'm still 15, I can play in the league. In hindsight, we found out that I probably won't be able to play in the playoffs, but my coach says we'll find another role for me.

Training is on Mondays and Thursdays. League games are on Tuesdays. The games are always in Comox Valley, except for one time when it was in Powell River on the mainland. This Tuesday was also the first home game and it was a completely different atmosphere! Go Towhee! And what can I say, so far we've won 8 out of 9 games! The season is also ending next week. The first tournament was on October 14th in Parksville (1 hour south). We didn't perform that well there. Playoffs start at the end of October, after the league is over. This weekend was another tournament that I couldn't participate in, which is a shame because it was a senior tournament and it's generally very educational for juniors.

I really like my team, the girls are really cool, and even though I have some difficulties integrating into a friend group that has been existing for years, I enjoy training and I'm glad to be part of a team. I also think it's good that I'm the only international player in the team. The coach is great as well. He tries to involve all of us equally and he's also really funny.

The only problem with the training is that it doesn't exhaust me. I'm used to something more challenging. However, that will change this week when I start track and field club training... more about that later