We’re still a bit sad on what happened to Italian club team, Spes Conegliano. But after reading a blog post by one of the team’s former players American outside hitter, Kristin Richards, we’re more AMAZED on what the players did days before the team officially withdrew from the Italian League due to financial problems.
Kristin shares the details of how much they wanted to keep going as a team.
Prepare to be blown away with her honest confessions.
First of all, we’d like to thank Kristin for giving us permission to post the full text of her blog post she wrote 3 days ago.
Here you go…
“un esempio di professionality ed amore per lo sport”
a lot of you have written me about what’s going on with my team here in Italy… and i’ve been meaning to respond but i just don’t have the time (mostly the emotional energy) to walk you all through it so i’m posting here for sanity’s sake.
I’ve spent the last three months playing for a team up north in Veneto named Conegliano. to be brief, i fell instantly in love with my team. young but with a ton of heart we competed as hard as we could every time we stepped onto the court. our coach somehow created a very unique atmosphere for us to train and compete in where we felt like, whether we won or lost, we were a part of something special. meanwhile we weren’t getting paid. and without going into descriptive detail, our president was always promising money and new sponsors but nothing ever materialized. finally we went public with the fact that we had 1/3 of the salaries we should’ve had by playing a match mid december where we wrote “SENZA SOLDI, MA SQUADRA” in sharpee down all of our arms… which in english means “without money, but a team”…it made newspapers all over Italy and both the public and volleyball community stepped in trying to help which was encouraging…
But unfortunately it was just too late.
There wasn’t enough time. we kept practicing for a few more days until we finally said we were done and not stepping on the court until we were paid. then christmas was around the corner and we had a scheduled league match the 26th against Pesaro which is a team much more talented than ours. after not practicing that entire week and debating on whether or not to buy flights home for christmas but deciding to stay, and hours and hours of exhausting meetings with each other trying to decide what to do, we stepped on the court for what turned out to be the last time in front of our home crowd at Zoppas arena. but we didn’t know that at the time. we were still holding on to a little hope that we’d sign with the sponsor, they’d be able to pay us, and we’d be able to finish the season together.
it was the fullest the arena had been all season, and it felt even fuller from the amount of overflowing emotion coming from both our fans and ourselves. everybody’s hearts that night were erupting with a mix of energy and fear. the feelings felt more intimately between our team are hard to describe – whatever they were, they were raw. a mix between anger, frustration, and a desire to prove our professionalism despite our circumstance ….imagine stepping on the court to compete not knowing if the next day you’d have a job or if you’d ever play side by side with the girls you’d created connections with. anyway, we won. we won despite everything and everyone fighting against us. the crowd was on their feet during the tie-break and instantly rushed the court when the last ball dropped. it was a match full of many moments that i will never forget. following the win, we had a press conference where the whole team (as opposed to just the captain) was asked to attend.
the press room was packed over capacity with masses of reporters, fans, and different members of the opposing team….. and when me and my teammates walked in, the entire room got on their feet and gave us a standing ovation. after the match different people on various italian volleyball blogs and websites called the match, “un esempio di professionality ed amore per lo sport” which translates to “an example of professionalism and love for the sport”…..
the match, for me (for many reasons) was one of the proudest moments of my volleyball career. it’s hard to articulate justly, but to have been a part of those 2 1/2 hours experiencing those moments with those people after what we’d been through was something very special.
after the match followed three of the longest days of absolute hell, where we were fighting for our team to stay alive but in the end no one could find a solution and, sparing you the drawn out and dismal details, the club was forced to fold.
the aftermath included of a lot of packing, bear hugging, and teary goodbyes. i’ve always been really bad at goodbyes…. i think it’s an inevitable result of the way i unabashedly open my heart up to new people/experiences….. but goodbyes were eventually said and off we all went to find new jobs and celebrate the new year all over different pockets of europe. i got to spend new years in milan with some of my closest friends, and it was suuuuuch a perfect weekend….
anyway, almost immediately after the club disbanded, i was offered and signed a contract on another team in A1 which i’m so happy about because it allows me to be able to finish out the season and continue my career here in italy. SO, now i’m on a new team in Piacenza which is a city about 45 minutes south of Milan….. the team is currently kicking butt and in 4th place in the standings, and as fate would have it (i love you, fate) my very good friend and USA volleyball teammate Nicole Davis is on this team so i’m really happy to have a buddy as i make this transition. i’ve had a few trainings with the team so far and the girls are really kind and the club has taken great care of me.
here’s the press release on the new team’s website: click here (you’re gonna need google translate if you don’t parli italiano)
in retrospect, these last couple of weeks have been super challenging. i’ve lost money, been lied to, and lost a (and had to find a new) job. but luckily i’m the kind of person that has optimism swirling through my veins (sometimes to a fault) and i’m able to see the good that came out of this too.
a preview of that good includes the people i met and the friendships i made, the lessons i learned both on and off the volleyball court about being a professional and (regardless of circumstance) doing a job with integrity, and the fact that our team (regardless of the outcome) fought for something we believed in.
thank you, con mi cuore, to the fans of Conegliano, my teammates and my coaches. here’s to the memories made and the new ones ahead……
WoW!
We were having goosebumps reading her blog post. A lot of emotions were involved. We’ve said it before and we’d say it again, we wish Kristin, her teammates and staff the best. It was a tough path for everyone and we know that something brighter and bigger awaits for all of them.
Side Dish: Click HERE to check out Kristin’s blog site.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
(Images: Riccardo Giuliani)
3 Comments
Leave a Reply