PCU Volleyball Tournament with UniLu

This past weekend, I represented the University of Luxembourg at a volleyball tournament in Antwerp! The good news is: I had tons of fun. The bad news is...I got concussed again.

As soon as I got to Luxembourg, I found the UniLu volleyball team and have been trying to go to practices every week. They're at really awkward times and I sometimes have to go straight from my host institution, but it makes me sooo happy to play and it's always worth it. I'll often get home completely drained, make myself the most basic meal in the world, shower, FaceTime my boyfriend, and pass out.

Unlike university volleyball clubs in the States, we never play against other teams. There are external club teams in different towns across Luxembourg that play each other sometimes, but nothing close to the scale of club sports at home. When I found out we would have the chance to not only play other teams but play international teams, I was beyond excitement!

We don't have that many consistent players to begin with, so we were trying to recruit people to join our team so that we could go. We didn't have many practices with everyone there, and the single practice we did have all together wasn't the best. Still, I figured it's worth it to try and we would still have fun! I also got to practice as a right side hitter since I really wanted to hit and we didn't have one at the time. At practices (or "trainings" in the EU), I would often be libero because one of the guys would take the OPP position.

Days before the tournament, I got a slap to the face. I opened our WhatsApp group chat and looked at the positions. My name had been under "Opposite" for months. I never expected that to change. But it did.

I was originally really upset that I was designated as libero because I thought I would be right side, and then they added another player at the very last second. The decision was made without talking to me first and there was poor communication once the roster was announced. I almost didn't end up coming to the tournament, but I decided to suck it up because playing libero was better than not playing at all.

Arriving in Antwerp

I took the train on my own directly from LESC to Antwerp. I had to take 2 trains: one to Liège-Guillemins, and another to Antwerp. The train to Liège-Guillemins was just over an hour and a half long and there was a whole class of muddy kids on the train. Unlucky for me, these kids were on my next train and multiplied significantly. There were signs on five cars saying that they were reserved for the school, so there was nowhere to sit for about an hour. No one could even try to move to another car because we were all standing already.

When I got to Antwerp, I took the trolley straight to the University for orientation. All the girls came together either by car or by train, so they were at the youth hostel. I was the first one there and felt realllyyyy awkward waiting, but my anxiety was relieved immediately once I saw them.

The orientation was just everyone gathering in a classroom, reading the player oath, and announcing all of the teams. Our team was the smallest by far. There was ONE team all the way from Canada! It's crazy how far they traveled for the weekend. After the orientation, there was a captains dinner and an afterparty. We were all starving so we found a kebab place and ate there before some of us split off and went to the after party. There were tons of people there and everyone was soooo tall. One guy with crutches even came! Later in the night, people started playing limbo and used his crutch as the bar.

It's still so funny to me how all of the popular 90's and 2000's club hits are still going strong in Europe. You'd think they have their own nostalgic songs, but they always play classics like Dynamite and Low.

When we got home, I was exhausted. The room was sooo big and so nice though! I couldn't believe it could fit all of us. One bathroom for 7 girls was pretty rough, but we somehow made it work. I almost always choose the top bunk, so I was happy I still got it even though I was the last one to arrive. I didn't sleep that well because the room was so hot, but I got enough rest to get me through the following day.

Day 1 of Tourney

We all got up early and got ready in a pretty decent amount of time. We had a nice big breakfast waiting for us. There was even Belgian waffle dough to make fresh waffles!

Even though I didn't want to be libero, I started to feel pretty cool that I was the one with the other jersey. I have always battled between the glory of hitting and the glory of diving and digging. It hadn't hit me until this very moment with our uniforms on and traveling as a group.

While we were warming up, the opposing team wouldn't switch sides for hitting lines and didn't wait for us to be set up, so one of the players spiked a ball directly at my head. I was so pissed because I immediately started tearing up uncontrollably and felt pressure. I couldn't even stand up and just closed my eyes and waited for the pressure to be relieved. I was given ice, but no one had any pain medication. If I wasn't in pain, I would have been even more angry. I knew immediately that it was a concussion because this is my third time and I had all of the same symptoms. Despite my better judgement, I continued to play because I knew my team needed me. Looking back, I guess we weren't going to win anyway, so I should have sat out, but my ego got the better of me.

From there, it was totally safe and I was doing alright. I just needed to keep drinking water to avoid light headedness. It just solidified for me even more that this accident never would have happened if the other team wasn't so reckless.

After the games were all over, there was a large tournament-wide dinner at an Italian restaurant. We all went back to shower and change and then arrived at different times. I went along with Valentina and Sue again. It was really nice to be able to drive there. It was even some player's birthday and we all sang happy birthday to them!

After we finished dinner, there was another party hosted by the tournament, but I knew I had to rest my head. I went back to the hostel with Johanna and Aish so I could just crash. I usually get pretty bad FOMO and I had to use all of my self restraint to not go.

When we got back to our room, I wanted to go on my phone so badly but knew it was not a good idea. Like previous times, I set my phone to permanent night mode and adjusted the color filter to remove blue light.

Day 2 of Tourney

We didn't have a game until 6 PM, so we pretty much had the whole day to ourselves. We all got ready together so that we could leave right from whatever we were doing. I tried out these French bubble braids and I'm really happy with how they turned out! I also got to braid a lot of other girls hair. I really missed doing this :')

After breakfast, some girls went to the Chocolate Museum and then I explored the city with Valentina and Sue. We had already been there, and they wanted to do some shopping, so we walked around and went into random stores. Valentina wanted to get a new set of knee pads, so we were also looking out for sports stores. It ended up being really hard to find them!

We got to the sports complex early to watch the men's games. They all had really big teams and it was nice to see the girls teams from their schools cheering them on. The men's final ended up being two Czech teams against each other. I really missed playing in tournaments and the vibe of athletes surrounding you. It's so fun to be in a room full of people who love playing the same sport as you.

One of our players got injured the day before and decided to sit out. That meant I would not be libero anymore and I would get to hit! I was soooo excited and I got to play middle, even though that really didn't make sense. I would have loved to get a quick set, but our setter was playing it safe.

I think we had at least several points per game, but we lost every one. I'm sure our coach wasn't happy, and our captains definitely weren't, but I still had fun. I knew with our size (members, and physical height) that we wouldn't make it very far, so I didn't have huge expectations. I still understand the disappointment of not doing as well as we wanted to.

I took the train home with Johanna and I slept most of the way back. The others were going to stay longer or had driven so they could leave right from the sports complex. At the station, we both got waffles. It was suuuuch a nice treat. We talked for about 45 minutes and then I started to get sleepy. She was nice and would wake me up when the ticket collector came. We talked a bit more on the train from the Gare Centrale back to our respective stations and then we said goodbye until next practice!

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Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures of the tournament, but I have some video clips here!