Denmark’s First Moments

Matthew Denmark, played for VfB Friedrichshafen for the very first time & finished the season by winning 2010/2011 edition of the German League. The 6 ft 7 middle blocker has played in Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Cyprus, Greece and Spain.

Matt ,who was born in Petrolia, Ontario, took time to share his “first moments” in Germany.

Read below to find out what he did first, where he went first, the first person who visited him, his first match, his first night and many more!

Matthew’s First Moments:

The first person I met was my German teammate Lukas Bauer, he picked me up at the airport. He is the injured middle blocker that I was hired to replace for the second half of the season. It was a little awkward to meet him first because I felt bad that he was hurt but I was happy to get the contract.

On my first night in Friedrichshafen I had dinner with my teammate Fred Winters. We played against each other in the final four in 2002 but had not met since. He told me all about the team and the season so far, it was nice to know that I would have a good friend on the team. I spent that night in a hotel, I was really tired from the two days of travel but I couldn’t sleep because of the 9 hour time change. I read a little and listened to some podcasts, finally around 5 am I was able to get some sleep.

On my first weekend in Germany I traveled with the team to an away match in Moers. I was not yet eligible to play, my transfer was not complete, but I wanted to go anyway to start to get to know the guys on the team. The trip was cool, we won the match, and I was excited to see the level of the team.

The first spot I visited in Germany was the harbor in the center of Friedrichshafen. After taking a few days to get settled in I went for a walk with our press secretary, Conny Kurth, to check out the city and do a small interview for the paper. The city is really cool, there are lots of cafes and restaurants on the water. Now that the weather is better it is even nicer.

(First Impression) I was very impressed with Germany from the moment I arrived. Friedrichshafen sits on a lake at the border of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the scenery is beautiful. Also, the club is very efficient and organized and the people are smart and friendly, they really helped me get settled.

My first visitors were my parents. I was very excited to have them visit the city, see a few matches, and meet my coaches and teammates. They loved their vacation, it was the first time they visited me since they came to Greece in 2009.

I did not expect to play much this season, I was brought here to help out in practice after one of the middles suffered a stress fracture. After only two weeks our second middle sprained his ankle and I ended up playing for the next month. The first match I played in was in Berlin against Netzhoppers, it was nice to play instead of watch!

The first word I learned in German was Danke or thank you. You always have a bunch of different people helping you out when you first arrive, the least I could do was thank them in their own language. I have learned a little more German since then but we have 10 foreign players and the most common language on the team is English.

The last thing I wanted to do in Germany was to win a championship and we did it!

Watch THIS.

Awwww how awesome!

Well thank you so much Matt for sharing your German experience!

We wish you the best BB!

(images: VfB Friedrichshafen/ Matthew Denmark/sc10n)