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Guest Blog: What to do in your downtime while playing pro?

Hello Everyone!

I hope the last few weeks have found you all well, and keeping busy. That may be one of the more difficult tasks to do when you are living in a foreign country. Well, I mean after all of the sights have been seen, and you settle out of being a tourist and into being a resident. It may also be one of the only ways to help the time pass between practices, trainings, and travel trips though. So I am here to give you some advice on how to find/create fun things to do when you are in a foreign country.

The best way to have fun things to do is to make friends. Teammates are a great resource seeing as many times they are natural born locals in a place that is new to you. With your teammates you can go on awesome excursions on days off. My teammates and I recently spent a weekend off at a cabin here in Ruka (the ski town about 30km from Kuusamo). It was a great experience and a nice way to see another part of the town. You may also know players in other cities, and finding some time to travel and get together is a great way to change your scenery.

Of course there are many, many days in which you must find ways of passing time before or after practices. Luckily, there are avenues of fun even when the time you have may not be a lot. Taking the time to learn something you have always wanted to, such as guitar, a language, or perhaps some sort of crafting is a great way to enjoy your time without expending energy you may be trying to conserve. I have recently started crocheting again, and am in the process of making Christmas presents for family back home. I also had the privilege of teaching my teammate, and she has begun her own project! We are still working on learning the language but you can’t do it all in a day!

If you have the time and energy, you can also go and experience local types of recreation. My American teammates and I recently played Floorball with a group of local Finns. It is essentially indoor hockey, with some different rules, and it was a great experience for all of us. Go sightseeing, hiking, running, biking, or (if you have the snow like we do) try something completely new like cross country skiing. All of these are ways to experience a new city in addition to being fun and easy ways to fill time during the weeks and months in a foreign city.

Until next time! Peace, Love, and Volley from Kuusamo

Paige [Note: This is a guest post by Elite Volleyball Agency’s exclusive player, Paige Weber. Paige’s collegiate career was spent at U of Arizona & now she is in her first pro season in Kuusamo, Finland. Find more about Paige here: Facebook & Blog ]

#elite #eva #europe #arizona #paige #weber #professional #pro #pro volleyball #pro volley

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Ha Ha Ha ~~

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Thailand's beast pro volley team!

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Carolina Costagrande

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Italia! :))

S.M.A.R.T Goal Setting for Volleyball Pros

:::: Exclusive Player Guest Post :::: Paige WEBER :::

Hello Again!

I hope the last 2 weeks have found you well! I have spent the last 2 weeks just getting used to life in Finland and settling into the routine I will have while I am here. Within this new schedule I am finding when and how I can spend my free time (when I am not practicing or training with the team). Part of assimilating to a new lifestyle is maintaining some of the practices you had prior to it. For me that means setting personal goals to work toward in my free time. I am sure most of you have goals, and I did (and do) to. Goals like playing college volleyball turned into playing Professionally, and now that I am here, it is time for me to set some different goals, outside of those I have for the team.

With being on a team we have certain obligations, such as conditioning with a specific workout, or going to practice at specified times. But what do you have to do to not only get the most out of the time you put in, but also get better in the process? PERSONAL GOALS! These tiny little visuals in the back of your mind can very often be the difference between stagnant time, and growth, and I have several tips and tricks to help you when setting goals and preparing to achieve them (which is the ULTIMATE goal ;) )

The first step in setting goals that you want to achieve is to make them S.M.A.R.T. No I don’t mean intellectually “smart” HAHA, I mean Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

Specific: Locate one area of your training or playing that you want to improve and focus solely on that (nothing vague like “I want to play better”)

Measurable: Make sure you choose a means of measuring this skill that can show you definitive proof of improvement.

Attainable: Make sure this goal is something you have the means to work at, otherwise you are setting yourself up for failure.

Realistic: Being honest with yourself is the key to attaining your goals.

Timely: Setting goals without giving yourself a timeframe to focus on achieving them puts them on the backburner, when we want them to be front and center

Okay I know you might be thinking slow down now, how do I set personal goals when I am at the mercy of someone else’s practice, conditioning, and training schedules. Well, here are some suggestions:

When you are training, focus on improving a specific skill. Let’s say you want to improve your passing.. more SPECIFICALLY keeping your platform away from your body. When you are in passing drills let this be your sole focus. You can MEASURE your progress by how much your passing improves (let’s say on a 0-3 scale). As long as you are someone who passes regularly in practice and matches this goal should be ATTAINABLE and REALISTIC. Finally, give yourself a TIMEFRAME in which you would like to improve your overall passing, such as a month. With all of these things you now have a goal to help guide the hours you will put into training.

Let’s look at another example:

Personal goals should be your driving force, especially when you are in the gym either weightlifting or conditioning. On my team we are given a specific workout we are required to do twice a week, however, I know for myself that I need more physical training than that in order to be the player I want to be. So on conditioning days I am always recording and looking to improve my weights and times during the team mandated workouts. On days outside of these mandatory days, I allow myself the chance to train however I deem necessary (keeping in mind that my performance as a volleyball player cannot diminish) This may consist of doing different lifting workouts, running on my own, or making up my own rehabilitation and stretching routines to ensure that I stay in peak physical condition for myself.

The key to constant growth as and athlete (or as a person in general) is to always have goals you are looking to achieve, and to always be comparing yourself to YOU! Set goals that will bring you to the best level you can be, and you will notice larger goals becoming closer and closer to being fulfilled. I am working everyday to keep my goals in front of me and I hope I have helped some of you in the process!

Until next time: Peace, Love, and Volley from Kuusamo

Paige:)

[Note: This is a guest post by Elite Volleyball Agency's exclusive player, Paige Weber. Paige's collegiate career was spent at U of Arizona & now she is in her first pro season in Kuusamo, Finland. Find more about Paige here: Facebook & Blog ]

#pro #volley #volleyball #EVA #EVPC #elite #professional #goal #goals #setting #S.M.A.R.T #smart #paige #weber #elitevolley

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Mur Island, Graz, Austria (by -Ray)

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Went on this once in Graz.. pretty cool.

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Smoking Kills! (Habbit = Habit ;)

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A Rookie Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable (PW)

(Paige WEBER: Guest Blogger & an Exclusive Player of Elite Volleyball Agency)

Hello Everyone!

My Name is Paige Weber, I am in my first season playing professional volleyball in Finland, and as such I am learning the ropes (kind of a trial by fire) on the fly in my first trip to Europe. Yes, that’s right, my first trip to Europe and I decide to dive right in by choosing to live here for 6.5 months on top of experiencing my first season as a Professional volleyball player. That’s 6 and a half months in a country where I have never been, and even more so where I do not speak the local language, which in case you were wondering is Finnish J With that said, there is a certain adjusting period that comes with moving to, living in and playing in all of these conditions.. and luckily for you, you can choose to live vicariously through me for the next half a year (if you feel like reading this blog!) I am going to talk about all the adjustments I am making to life in Finland, how to eat healthy in an unfamiliar environment, how to train outside of just practices in the gym, and most of all how to not just survive, but how to actually live and experience a culture outside of your own.

Okay enough about me… lets talk about all the challenges you can expect to face and all of the simple adjustments you can expect to make when you choose to play and live in a foreign country.

Tip #1: LANGUAGE BARRIERS

The largest challenge that jumps to mind is probably the language barrier. This was my biggest concern too, and luckily for me it has been the smallest adjustment to make so far. In Finland almost everyone I encounter speaks English, and many of their signs and even food labels have some English on them. With that being said, I know it is not like this everywhere is Europe… so instead of going into a situation expecting this, be prepared. Bring a book about the local language with conversational phrases you can practice and implement. It may not be perfect, but it shows a lot of respect when you attempt to appreciate the culture you have moved into. Books aren’t your style? Phones and computers have great apps you can get which not only help you with the written words, they will also help with pronunciations… which can be crucial if you enter into a completely unfamiliar territory.

The number one rule to living in a new place and being on a new schedule is that you have to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Things will not always be the way you want or think they should be, but the more you learn to take them in stride, adjust to the situation and enjoy the ride, the greater the experience and the more fun you will have.

Well that is all for now, I will be bringing you more tips as I navigate my way through this season!

Peace, Love and Volley…. From Kuusamo

-Paige Weber Sept 09, 2012 Notes about Author: ::::::::::::::::::: Paige WEBER

DOB (DD/MM/YYYY): 10-10-1988 Citizenship: USA Height: 5'11" (180.3 cm) | Weight: 150lbs (68.2 kg) Standing reach: 7'6" (228.6 cm) | Block Reach: 8'10" (269.2 cm) | Attack reach: 9'5" (287 cm) Position played: Setter | Video: http://vimeo.com/42276027 (Shirt Number 34 in WHITE Shirt, FULL MATCH)