224 days. That is how long it's been since the last time I have been involved in an official indoor volleyball match. Although I have stated several times on our podcast that the three man grass style may be my favorite version of the game, it is wild to think that we would be playing any type of regulated indoor volleyball in the year 2020. Going through a crazy and uncertain summer with me leaving this club last year and not even knowing where I will end up the following season, it's nice to return and be somewhere familiar I must say. Some sort of comfort and certainty was nice in a way. Not only had a global pandemic abruptly stopped our season last year but now before we even played a single match in my second professional season, the city we play in (Friedrichshafen) kicked us out of our arena. Don't even get me started on how or why this happened because most places and people in the world outside of Germany will laugh hysterically. If you're really interested refer to our podcast with the links below. I've gotten a lot of questions about what the procedures and protocols are for the league here in Germany so I wanted to clear some things up...
1) Our club clearly is one of the most cautious and careful groups in our area when dealing with Covid-19. We get tested weekly and are required to fill out a questionnaire about possible symptoms EVERY single morning and before we can enter practice or a any team event our temperature is taken. Among the people in the town however it is hit or miss whether they take any Covid procedures serious and so it is on our own record to be safe and ensure we keep this season rolling.
2) Does Covid exist in Germany and within the league? Well, yes. Three teams already have publicly released that they have had to go into Quarantine over. the past couple of weeks due to an outbreak within their squad. I hold the mindset however that we need to learn to live with the virus and not just avoiding the issue. It might make things tougher and it certainly puts more responsibility on every piece of the puzzle in organisations and leagues but the world needs sports back and I couldn't be more stoked to see things starting to return back to "normal".
3) There forsure is a decent probability in my eyes that Covid comes back to effect the league in someway possible. The league has gotten ahead of it however and made it clear how they will handle that situation if a cancellation occurs. The results at the time stick. There was an uproar last year when the season ended and we were sitting at a tie with Frankfurt and the league decided to give us the Champions League bid for this season even though Frankfurt had the tie breaker. This won't be the case however this year if the season is cancelled abruptly again so there is no point of the season for anyone to relax. Every match is crucial cause who knows if three weeks into the season a second wave comes through and destroys yet another season. It's 2020...don't act like this is a far off possibility.
The bottom line is WE BACK BABY and you guys can all follow along with professional men's and women's leagues all over the world in various ways. We are organising a way right now to show you where you can access as many matches as possible because we know you've been asking about it. Let's start here with the link to my team's first match below and the link to the best volleyball podcast on any platform. Yeah I said it...
Joe
For the Spotify Link to the Podcast CLICK HERE
For the Apple Podcasts Link to the Podcast CLICK HERE
VfB Friedrichshafen vs Netzhoppers 10/17 @12PM EST/9AM PST-
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