USA in Florence, Italy

We arrived in Florence Tuesday evening from Holland. Yesterday morning the team had a good practice at the site of Friday's match, Nelson Mandela Forum. The only hiccup thus far in the trip is that Alfee Reft suffered a minor ankle sprain yesterday in practice. He was going to set a ball that Kevin Hansen had just gotten up when he stepped on Kevin and rolled his left ankle. He's done that ankle before so it isn't as traumatic as it could have been. Alfee is walking on it and thinks he will be back very soon, but I think team trainer Aaron Brock will have something to say about that...

Speaking of AB, I've got a little video on YouTube showing how Brock can use Jedi mind tricks to get players, in this case Brook Billings, to give HIM a shoulder massage. View the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArDk-6M2lUw.  

The local federation treated the team to a nice dinner outside the hotel last night. We went to a very old ristorante in downtown Florence called Antico Fattore. There were photos on the wall showing customers from the 1930's. They treated us right with Bistecca Fiorentino, or Florentine Steak-a little rare for some tastes, but very tasty. Of course there was a pasta dish, and chicken liver pate and mushrooms over fried polenta as an appetizer. Authentic Tuscan food! View a video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dkqc9qsYcY.

There was time to see some of the sights in Florence. Everyone except for poor Alfee got to walk around the city center. Florence is known for its amazing art and as being the cradle and heart of the Renaissance.

Check out a video of the U.S. players standing around Florence's city center at www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-mCQ8bf59A.  

The volleyball community has its own card game called Finniente (spelling, origin, and meaning of the name are a mystery). In Italian "finniente" would mean "never ending" which would be appropriate on this trip. If there are a few minutes to spare and enough space for 4 guys and a deck of cards then there will be a game of "finny". Marv Dunphy holds all the cards when it comes to Finniente, but legend goes back to the beaches of Southern California with stories of Wilt the Stilt playing Finny and taking it very seriously. You will find a clip of the boys playing in Rome's Fiumicino airport at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiUthX62Oqc.

5 hours later...

Ok, we practiced and Alfee played the entire time. Not totally comfortable, but you wouldn't know it...he's tough.

A piu tardi amici!