Today’s the day another exciting volleyball adventure starts!

As this post goes live on the blog I will be leaving for London to catch a flight to Stuttgart. I’ll spend a couple of nights there before taking a train to Bühl. That’s where I’ll meet up with the head coach of the men’s Bundesliga team TV Ingersoll Bühl, Ruben Wolochin. They start their pre-season on Tuesday.

As I mentioned a week ago in my The new annual volleyball cycle begins post, I’m going to spend the rest of the month in Germany hanging out with the pros. For me this is about gaining a better understanding of that part of the sport. I am specifically thinking in terms of operations, coaching, careers, etc. In the States there isn’t a lot of exposure to the professional game. It’s a rather insular environment beyond seeing what’s happening at the national team level.

What I’m really happy about is that Ruben has said he’ll put me to work in some fashion while I’m with him. I don’t know what that means yet. I’m sure he and I will hash that out once we get together. For sure it will be based on what he has in mind for his early trainings and where he sees the opportunity for me to be of most use. If nothing else, I can at least be an extra set of eyes with a different perspective. No matter what, it will be nice to take some kind of active part. Much better than just hanging around on the sideline watching.

I will definitely try to post on what I’m seeing and doing in the days and weeks ahead. Forgive me if the updates are spotty, though. I don’t know what my schedule will be like and I’ll be trying to keep working on my PhD along the way as well.

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John Forman
John Forman

John is currently the Talent Strategy Manager (oversees the national teams) and Indoor Performance Director for Volleyball England, as well as Global Director for Volleyball for Nation Academy. His volleyball coaching experience includes all three NCAA divisions, plus Junior College, in the US; university and club teams in the UK; professional coaching in Sweden; and both coaching and club management at the Juniors level. He's also been a visiting coach at national team, professional club, and juniors programs in several countries. Learn more on his bio page.

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