Ok I know it's a little late but Leah came to visit me from November 14th til the 20th. It was really a fantastic trip (well for me- she had to do all the traveling)! It was a very short trip for her as she had to finish her soccer season, and has school and ringette. But for anyone who has spent months apart from their loved one they know how much a short visit means! Anyways, she was able to see one match against Holte, which we unfortunately lost. But got to take some exciting game shots!!
We also caught a handball match. Handball is Denmark's national sport and its kinda equivalent to Canadian in hockey -although they haven't won 5 jr championships in a row ;). However they make a big deal out of it! Our gym was packed wall to wall with fans and the place was going crazy. I'd been wanting to catch a match since i'd gotten here. Basically, it's like soccer that you try and score on nets but you can use your hands and its full contact!!! Leah is also a fully certified climbing instructor so we planned before that she would take my girls teams climbing. The girls were pretty excited, but when we got to the facilities they were lets just say not as safety conscience as Canadian climbing gyms. They supplied harnesses but not much else- good thing Leah knew how to tie some special knot so the girls were able to climb. All in all it was tonnes of fun! In all the trip was waay to short, but good to have her over for a little bit. She says she'll come back again so i couldn't have treated her too badly!
This is an old article I found written by Ashley Dier for Sheriden Journalism
When Parrish Offer was twelve, no one could have predicted that in a mere nine years, he would grow up to become one of Canada’s top volleyball players.
Parrish’s love for the game began before he even reached his teens.His high school coach Pat Ferrell reflects, “The first time Parrish walked into the gym at Regiopolis-Notre Dame, I saw a kid who was only as tall as his feet were long.”
Much has changed since those days of clumsy adolescence; the well-poised and articulate Parrish spends his time on the starting lineup for the McMaster Marauders, just as he has done every university level game he has ever played.
Studying Political Science at the Hamilton university Parrish is known around campus for his exceptional personality and demeanor.“He’s energetic, charismatic, and is a great character to be around on and off the court,” notes Parrish’s teammate, Josh Nederveen.
Originating from Kingston, Ontario, Parrish began his athletic career in grade seven, where he quickly grew to become a member of the area’s volleyball elite, the regional team.It was here Parrish made his mark and became, while only in his teens, a volleyball hopeful to watch.
Life for Parrish has not always been victories.During his OAC year Parrish tried out for the Jr Nationals, the top level of playing for his age category, but did not make the team.Instead of letting this dampen his spirits Parrish used it as an eye opening experience.
“This was a real learning experience. I learned my place in the Ontario scene.I’m a very good volleyball player but there are many others better then me.The whole experience opened up my eyes to a new side of volleyball.These were men, and at 180lbs and six foot three, I was a little boy.”
It’s this optimistic attitude that has allowed for Parrish to succeed as far as he has.Graduating high school with an 87%, he carried this need for success right through to university.Where he still maintains top marks.
While playing for the McMaster Marauders, Parrish became known around the league to opponents as “someone not to serve; someone that always got results.” The volleyball season ended at 15-5, the best finish in three years.With Parrish playing libero, left side, and on every starting lineup in his university career, all eyes are on him.Gaining attention across the country on volleyball message boards and countless newspaper appearances, he is known as one of Canada’s top volleyball players and hopefuls.
Throughout his life Parrish has found support from his family, whether it’s driving him to games or just offering advice.Coach Pat Farrell says, “There were not too many games, tournaments, etc., without ‘Ma and Pa Offer’ being there.”
Looking for inspiration from his coaches, friends, and teammates, Parrish noted that his older sister Paige Offer is perhaps the most constant source of inspiration.He described her, at the age of 26 as “his best friend and biggest supporter.”
“My pride stems right from birth and as Parrish grew I could see how I influenced many of his decisions,” says Paige. “My parents were excellent in treating us as unique individuals though always as equals.While we grew up we were encouraged to work as a team and not against each other.Looking at Parrish now I see how he takes this philosophy and follows it with others.He manages successfully school, work, and volleyball, social and lets not forget his family.He never ceases to amaze me with all he can take on and complete.I’m a proud sister, and his number one fan.”
Teammates Josh Nederveen, Paul Hrkal, Sean Panchal, and coach Pat Farrell describe Parrish as, inspirational, energetic, genuine, consistent, and motivated.
With future aspirations of playing professional volleyball in Europe and achieving his “life goal” Parrish seems to be on the right path.It’s the combination of his exuberant personality, charming, wit and sense of humor that has both males and females admiring all that this young man is.
“Regardless of all his successes, Parrish is a quality person with generosity that goes far,” said Paige.“His selflessness will be maintained through life and I’m confident this will set him above others and aid in the development of all future wealth coming his way.”
What’s the one thing Parrish would want the public to know about him, he lets his personality and charm shine through with an answer of “I’m single” followed by a big welcoming smile.
On Thursday, December 18th we played in the Pokal Cup semi final. As I've said there are 3 things we are trying to win, the league, the playoffs and the cup. The league and playoffs are pretty standard but the cup is a tournament that is played over the course of 4 months, so that the pre-quarters were in September, the quarters in October, semis in December and the finals will be the end of January. It is single elimination. So our semi final match was in Alborg. The team we had beat two weeks prior at home in 5 sets. We took a fan bus with us and headed out towards Alborg which is usually about a 2 and a half hour drive. However, we did not count on two traffic jams to slow us up! Our match was scheduled for 730 and we arrived at the gym at 710. They pushed back the match to 745! gee thanks! Anyways we had a quick warm up and before the beginning of the game both teams left the gym and lined up in a tunnel. We had little kids lined up with us (like in soccer games) and they had a smoke machine when we ran out of the tunnel to flashing lights and an announcer. It was pretty cool, with so many fans there as well! And that's about where the fun ended!!! It was definitely not our day to play well. The first set was a pretty tight battle going back and forth, We were up 23-22 and then 3 hitting errors gave them the set 25-23. After that we lost a lot of momentum and lost the next two sets 25-19 and 25-16. Something was just missing from our offence. Mind you, they are a very big team that blocks well, but we seemed to be a little bit out of rhythm. So we have been eliminated from the Pokal Cup championship which is kinda disappointing as I believe it's on national TV. Having to end the first half of the season on that note is kind of disappointing however especially over the past month we have improved greatly as a team. We knocked off the first and second place team in league and seem to be playing more in rhythm. Coming from playing with the same guys for 4 or 5 years you forget how long it has taken to grow comfortable until you're put in a situation where you need to get comfortable playing very quickly. I have only been playing with these players for 3 months now and we are definitely starting to play better. Hopefully in the second half of the season we can see the same kind of improvement. We still have two more goals to win in Denmark (league and playoffs) and one in Sweden (Nordic Championship) so we have lots of opportunities to play well.
The semifinals in a the men's national cup will be played on Thursday and on Saturday and involve the country's four clearly best team just now. Aalborg HIK and Middelfart will meet each other on Thursday, and on Saturday Gentofte and Marienlyst will fight about the other place in the finale on January 25th. It's the same four teams, who collided at last season's DM-semifinals, even in the same showdowns, thus there also are things and cases, which are to be avenged. Since then the four have established themselves solidly on the top 4 in this season's league for picked teams. Aalborg HIK and Middelfart met each other only two weeks ago in an exciting five-compositor, who will well promise for still a dramatic fight on Thursday. Middelfart won the showdown, but it was at own track and in a fight, where Aalborg HIK didn't hit the day. Thus the north Jutlanders will be intent on avenging the effort and going at their first cup final since 2003. Finales there have been lots of for Marienlyst in recent years, and the Odense-aners are defending masters of a both cup and league. But in defiance of this and the immediate first place in Elitedivisionen goes Marienlyst only in to the semifinal towards Gentofte with a narrow favourite dignity. That is due to not least Gentofte's home arena advantage and more years' tradition for dense and unpredictable fights between specifically these two teams who have delivered some memorable dramas. As late as last Saturday Gentofte and Marienlyst met, and it stayed in Odense to a rather safe victory for the home team, thus there is no doubt that Gentofte has to find some tactical tricks in order to get acrid on Marienlyst. But that also uses to be one of the specialties with coach Peter Borglund's crew. The cup final will be played on Sunday January 25th in connection with Pokalfestival in Odense. The men's cup semifinals Aalborg HIK - Middelfart VK Thursday December 18th 19:00.30 in Aalborg Stadionhal Gentofte Volley-Marienlyst Saturday December 20th 15:00.30 in Kildeskovshallen
Well we've had this week off to prepare for our big semi final Pokal cup match on thursday against Alborg so I thought i'd write about something else. Everytime I speak in public about volleyball, one of the questions i get is when did you start playing volleyball: I first remember learning to play volleyball when I was only 7 years old. At Linklater Public School, Mr. White, my gym teacher, taught me how to properly hold my hands when passing the ball. He told me to make a fist and cover it with the other one! To this day that is how I pass the ball. Thanks Mr. White! I was into a lot of different sports at a young age including bowling, basketball, soccer and cub scouts!
I didn't really play much volleyball until I was about 12 years old where for two years I played on the senior elementary school.
I went to Regiopolis-Notre Dame for highschool and really learned how to play volleyball. Before going to Regi my sister informed me that Regi wasn't really a volleyball school and maybe I might be able to help them win a game or two! In my first year, I was a setter. By my second year I had grown a little bit and got to be a power hitter. For atleast the first half of highschool, I focussed much more on basketball then volleyball. Usually heading to the YMCA to shoot more after practice. Basketball taught me the hardwork, dedication and stamina that has gotten me through a lot of volleyball matches. All throughout highschool we had a very strong volleyball team and even won the provincial championship. My coach for all of highschool was Pat Farrell. He started a club for all of us to play on so that we could get extra practice and even drove us about two hours so that we could try out for a regional team in Ottawa. I sincerely do not think I would be where I am today without the dedication of Pat! So many players from my highschool have gone on to keep playing and it really is a volleyball factory now. He is one of the reasons I want to be a coach!
I was recruited to a few different universities and chose McMaster based on my campus visit and the brand new volleyball program it was starting. The year before I got there the team had a dismal 2-16 record but got a new coach. I still remember a conversation with Steve Murray, a former teammate, while i was still in highshool who was thinking about going to mac as well. And I asked him "Do you want to start something here? Let's do it"
We weren't the only ones that were thinking about making a difference. 8 recruits decided to come to McMaster that year. Although we didn't make an immediate impact on paper, after 5 years of hard work we went 20-0 in the regular season and won the OUA championship. I'm a big beleiver that you can only be as successful as the people you surround yourself with. I've been very blessed to be surrounded by such great people who have pushed me to get to where I am today. My family, friends, teammates and coaches all have gotten me to where I am. I just keep playing the sport I love!
In front of about 150 spectators, Herre Eliteholdet won on Thursday evening with 3-2 via Ålborg.
Lady 1. the team had taken care of drums etc. of "The Blue" so that it were added up to a good evening for Middelfart.
The fight was sometimes well played, but with big swings be in the pipeline, and marked on both pages by personal mistakes.
But at 5. sets it was this time Middelfart who had the will to win, and after 3 defeats in the other 5 setters the team had played, losing was not an option.
The set figures turned 25-21,23-25,26-24,21-25 and 15-10.
Especially Parrish Offer was the well-games and celebrated many of his winner smashes with a small dance, to puplikum's great pleasure.
George Filho also showed class, and was Middelfart's best in large parts of the fight.
Leah is also a fully certified climbing instructor so we planned before that she would take my girls teams climbing. The girls were pretty excited, but when we got to the facilities they were lets just say not as safety conscience as Canadian climbing gyms. They supplied harnesses but not much else- good thing Leah knew how to tie some special knot so the girls were able to climb. All in all it was tonnes of fun!
