Anne and I are nearing the end of the season here in Copenhagen with our Club, Holte. After a victory in the cup final in January and just having secured our spot in first place at the top of the elite division after our last win, we have 2 games left until the semi playoffs. Personally coming back for my 2nd year here with Holte, I was so pleased to beat our rivals from last years’ final in the cup this year, and to play in front of 2’000 spectators, TV crews and to have my family over for the occasion was very special.
As for life here for Anne and myself, the club have arranged a great apartment in the centre of Copenhgen for us to share with a Canadian player. Our team is pretty diverse with 5 foreigners; 2 Scottish, 1 Canadian and 2 Americans. The Danish national team libero, setter and centre player are also in the team, making us a very tough side to beat this year, as our record goes to prove – we have lost only 2 games this season.
Having settled into our jobs, we manage well to balance them with training 5 times a week, receiving a personal sponsor through the club has also been very beneficial for myself. I also coach kids volley twice a week, the club has so many levels of players, from kids from 7-12 years, a youth level of 13-17, boys and girls, two 2nd division teams, men’s and women’s, both men’s and women’s elite division teams and an older recreational men’s team. Our club has been very well established in the past, the women’s team going the last 22 years in the elite division winning a medal, and the men’s elite team, in the late 90’s having a streak of 350 games won in a row.
Our coach is probably the best part of the club, the attention each player receives concerning their personal development, well being, individual physical programmes, roles within the team and goal setting is invaluable and the standards he and the rest of the team set for each other at practice makes for a very competitive intensive environment. The club principles are based on holding all players up to a professional standard.
I can say we have both enjoyed this season immensely and would definitely recommend playing elite level in Denmark, it provides a high level of volleyball while still having the social side that we’ve missed from back home. Its also been great to have someone from home here to share the experience with. Our season with Holte has been great, we’ve been looked after really well and all that is left to do now is continue working hard to continue our development as players and win the gold in April