Nordic Championship

Nordic Club Championships 2008/2009
Nordic Club Championships, in this modern version, was formed in 2007.
First year, 7 men´s teams and 9 women´s competed. Loimu (men) and Salon Viesti (women) from Finland won the two championships.

This year 23 teams are playing.

Go to MEN competition 2008/2009
Go to WOMEN competition 2008/2009

Information about the rules/regulations
Organiser pay for hotel, three meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and local transports. Visiting team pay their own travel to competition city.

In case of 4 teams in a group, 2 matches should be played on Friday 2 matches should be played on Saturday 2 matches should be played on Sunday
The teams that travel the longest way should play the last match on Friday and the first match on Sunday to have the opportunity to travel on Friday and Sunday.

In case of 3 teams in a group, 1 match should be played on Friday 1 match should be played on Saturday 1 match should be played on Sunday
The teams that travel the longest way should play on Saturday and Sunday if no other information is exchanged.
MeetingsPreliminary inquiry and technical meeting will be held on the same day as the first matches.

Organisers
Teams who wish to organise the Final have to apply latest 1 week after the First Round.

Aims and purposes
- To promote the development of volleyball in Nordic countries- To promote the cooperation between the Volleyball Federations of NEVZA and other countries and clubs.
- To organize professional top volleyball tournament in Nordic Europe.
- To prepare club teams for participating in European Cup Competitions.


Committee:In the committe there are 4 members from SWE, FIN, DEN and NOR.SWE: Torbjörn Johansson, torbjorn.johansson@volleyboll.se FIN: Jouni Oksanen, oksanenjouni@hotmail.com DEN: Sven Brix, svb@volleyball.dk NOR: Geir Opseth, Geir@fvbk.no
Publicerad: 2008-09-10
Kontaktperson: Torbjörn Johansson
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Men 2008-2009
The group stage will be played on 31st of October - 2nd of November.
Group 1
Förde* organiser NOR
Middelfart, DEN
Nyborg, NOR

Group 2
Marienlyst* organiser DEN
Vingåker, SWE
Throttur, ICE
Aalborg, DEN

Group 3
Gentofte* organiser DEN
Kristiansund
Stjarnan
Falkenberg

Winner of groups together with the best runner-up advance to the final.
The final will be played 30th of January - 1st of February.The organiser will be selected one week after completing the group stage.
Publicerad: 2008-09-10
Kontaktperson: Torbjörn Johansson
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Some new pics

The New Bridge (6 lanes)

Beach Court on the waterfront (Don't hit a ball too long or it's in the water!)
Walking Street in Middelfart
The Only Disco in town!

Our playing gym- Hal A

Hal B- a training hall

Hal C- Another training gym (bouncy floor!)

Workout Gym

Cardio Area

First Training Match at Marinlyst

I've been getting pretty excited for our first match. Today wasn't really a match, but it was good practice. A lot of the time, we are short guys and it's tough to have competitive 6 on 6 at practice right now. Marinlyst is in Odensa which is about a 45 mins drive away down the highway. Odensa has about 130,000 people so it's quite a bit larger than Middelfart's 16,000!
So after the drive, we pull up to what looks to me like a barn! It is red, and it appears as though a flee market is going on; people are buying things and selling old things. Just to the right is the gym, we walk in and the first thing i notice is the concrete floor that apparently we're going to be playing on. As I walked in the gym, I could feel the pain in my knees start just in anticipation of how much I'm going to hurt. As you may know, concrete has very little give so landing on it really hurts your joints.
Anyways, I got over it and we did our warm up and started the game. Rhythm was there right away and we got out to a quick lead. I didn't actually know we were keeping score until halfway through the second game! Anyways we won, the first 3 sets, they were tight, especially the 3rd set i think it was 29-27. They ended up winning the next two sets so i'm sure it will be a battle all season. They have some good pieces and it's really a high level of volleyball that we're playing. Both teams missed more than their share of serves, and serve receive was a little shakey by both, but you can see how both sides can be pretty effective.
Memorable moments were my first career point as a professional athlete, first career set win and first career match win. Although it was only exhibition, it was a great display of where we are and where we can be. Mizuno said that he was pleased with how we performed. I should be able to post some more pictures soon

STATS:
12Kills 2 Errors 23Times Attacking

My New House

I'm living with Frank and Maria, who are very nice and welcoming. They both speak english fluently so it makes it easy to communicate. When I first

walked into the place I was pretty astounded by how nice it is. It is small and cozy, but decorated very modernly. I live in the basement with Bo, the libero on the team. My room is a good size and i've got pictures plastered all over the wall and my projector for tv on the wall.

The house is about a 10 mins walk or 3 mins bike ride from the gym. And its about the same from downtown, but the other way.

I've started coaching a U15 girls team here. They're going to be very good. It's funny as they are alot better than 15 year old Canadian girls at some skills, but some of the skills that are ingrained at a young age in Canada are missing in many of them. Either way they seem to be excited to learn. I've been showing them a lot of new drills and they're helping me learn Danish! Each practice they teach me a new word or phrase, such as how to count to two(en, toer) and see you later (vi ses). I can't wait for next practice! Last night after practice, the president of the club came up to me and commended me on how well i'm doing coaching them, and that they are responding well to me! Pretty good compliment from the Pres!

Finally, we had an American trying out for our team. He was on the Bring it USA tour, which means they fly over and travel around trying to get a team to sign them. He was a left side and pretty good. He trained with us Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and after the Tuesday night practice our coach just said that he was leaving. It seemed like nothing to them, but in an essence it ended his pro career with our team. What a difference from university, really if you don't have the exact skills that they are looking for then they are not going to sign you and pay you. Its really expensive for the clubs to get foreign players and they know exactly what they're looking for. Too bad, it would have been nice to have the American on our team, but such is the way.

Game Schedule for 2008

September
Sunday 7 - Training match at Marinlyst - 1430
Sunday 14 - Training match at Arhue - 1200
Thursday 18 - Cup Pokal in Copenhagen, Frederiksberg - 1830
Friday 19-----\
Saturday 20 Elitestaevne 2008- Middelfart Tourni (Schedule to follow)
Sunday 21----/
Saturday 27 - 1. at Marienlyst- 1515

October
Saturday 4 - 2. vs Skovbakken - 1400
Saturday 11 - 3. at Alborg - 1600
Sunday 26 - 4. vs Gentofte
Friday 31----\

November
Saturday 1 - Nordic Championship, Odense (Schedule to follow)
Sunday 2 -----/
Saturday 8 - 5. at Ikast SKF - 1430
Sunday 16 - 6. at Holte - 1600
Friday 21 - 7. vs Marienlyst - 1930
Friday 28 - 8. at Skovbakken Arhus - 2000

December
Thursday 4 - 9. vs Alborg - 1945
Wednesday 10- Cup Pokal week begins.

more to follow for 2009

Saturday, August 30, 2008 -10pm

I’m lying in bed on a Saturday night. Really this city comes alive on weekends-much more than during the week. Maybe it’s because the weather has been beautiful for the last couple of days, but the city really feels alive. I have practice in the morning so I guess I will miss some of the fun. I did go out lastnite though. My new coach Suichi Mizuno(from Japan, but was the Norway Jr National coach) and Brage (from Norway, he’s a setter and in one of the pictures) and I went out for a drink right on the water. Mizuno went home and we hit the town. It was pretty cool, almost every pub we went into the owner would greet us with free drinks for the Middelfart volleyball boys! Kinda felt like a rockstar! We ended the night around 430am and partied at the only disco in town called Buddy Holly’s. It was small, but Brage asked to play some reggae for me from the owner. I got 3 songs in a row… again rockstar! Ha
I’ve got to train two days now (today was our day off). A lot of the guys aren’t here yet so the first practice there were only 6 of us and the second there was only 3. Mizuno is a really great coach and pretty much every drill we’ve done so far I have never done. I feel really good and Brage and I seem to have a good connection. If Scott (our starting setter) and I can get the same kind of connection I will be fine!
So I’ll back track a little. As I said before my luggage was misplaced. It didn’t leave Washington but I finally got it yesterday. My room is now complete. I have pictures up and all my gadgets plugged in. I’ve shorted out 2 power plugs already and we lost the power in the whole house once because of me. SMART CANADIAN! The place I’m staying is gorgeous. I’m living in the basement of a house owned by Maria and Frank. In the basement there is myself and Bo ( libero from Denmark). I’ll have pictures up soon.
And I got to have my first Danish hospital visit! Apparently I am allergic to bee stings! Who knew! Hospital was clean and pretty much empty. Nothing too bad happened but Maria’s mom took care of me (she lives close to the gym) and took me to the hospital. They gave me some drugs and hooked me up to an IV and now I’m fine. My hand is a little swollen still but an interesting day none the less.
Ok that’s all for now

Wed. Aug 27th, 2008 --3pm

So I’m on my first day as a professional athlete! Today is travel day and it feels like I’ve been en route forever. Yesterday seems so long ago when Leah and I were doing last minute things to get ready and lunch with her and my sis. The flight from Pearson to Washington was empty and painless. I was searching everywhere for the White House, but I guess they don’t like planes flying overhead. . I was able to sleep almost entirely the flight from Washington to Frankfurt, thanks to my new travel pillow (anyone doing any travelling I suggest you invest in one, but don’t cheap out, get the nice soft one!). On my final flight, from Frankfurt to Hamburg I was beginning to feel the jet lag kicking in. Anyways, now in Hamburg, I’m feeling fantastic, it just hit me I’m sitting in Germany having a beer and a bagel, waiting for my luggage to arrive and I am not upset at all (with all the stopovers and late flights they mixed up my luggage, oh well an extra hour in the airport isn’t going to kill me). Possibly because I’ve been running from terminal to terminal or possibly because of all the emotions mixed up with leaving home, it has now hit that this is not like Canada. Everyone in the airport seems to understand me, but everyone walking past DOES NOT speak English first. But really who cares, I ordered a ‘beer’ and they seemed to understand. I think I’ll be just fine.