By Ciara Michel

My Top 5 Ways to Waste Time as a Pro Athlete by Ciara Michel from Team Great Britain

As ‘pro’ athletes, living overseas specifically to play sports (volleyball in this case), we focus a lot of time and energy working on the physical and tactical skills important for success on the court. An average day for my team (Alemannia Aachen in Germany) comprises of at least one volleyball practice, and usually an additional running session or strength training. But compared to your typical nine to five, we have an inordinate amount of free time. So much so, that if you are not careful, you will find yourself watching endless episodes of ‘How I Met Your Mother’, wasting hours stalking on Facebook, or just sleeping (which I will admit is a favourite of mine). In an effort to remain productive post-University, here are my top 5 ways to avoid simply passing the time…

1. Learn the language

Having spent the best part of two years now in Germany, I would like to think I can, at the very least, hold a conversation in German. We have had tutors on and off, but the majority of learning comes down to self-study. Luckily there is a great local library, lots of time on 8-hour bus trips, and teammates are always willing to help. I have found that watching TV helps the most (yes Mum, it now counts as doing my homework!), and I try to watch most movies in German. It certainly makes for a more interesting cinematic adventure, hearing famous voices like Morgan Freeman or SpongeBob Square Pants (which here translates directly to SpongeBob Sponge Head!) speaking German.

2. Find a hobby

In younger years I was much more creative. I made my own jeans and trousers for school (ok mostly because I was too tall and skinny to buy off the rack, but also because I enjoyed sewing with Mum). I was keen on ceramics, sculpture and wheel pottery, as well as drawing and painting. The simplest of those arts, sketching, is the only thing that has carried over into my recent years living overseas, as it requires the least amount of equipment, simply a matter of putting pencil to paper. Sometimes I also try to strum a few chords on the guitar, but those days are few and far between! Over the summer I spent a bit of free time making videos for friends, family, and fans to follow the GB team (which should still be up on YouTube for anyone interested). I am by no means a professional at any of these endeavours, but its surprising therapeutic.

3. Make friends

It may sound simple, but being so far from family and friends at home (parents in Miami, sister in Ecuador), it’s really important to make yourself a home away from home. Skype and email make it easy to stay in touch, but a little bit of a social life in the real world goes a long way! Most of my close friends here are also players, but there are also a few people uninvolved with volleyball, that I can meet up with for a coffee now and then, if only to talk about things other than the sport.

4. Travel

If you are living in a new place, especially Europe where everything is quite close and easily accessible by train, plane and automobile, I say get out there and see it! You may not get a second chance. Aachen in right on the border of three countries, so we are lucky that we can sometimes take day trips to close-by cities; Köln (Germany), Maastricht (Netherlands), Maseeik (Belgium). Last season we also made it out to Paris (France) and Gran Canaria (Spain).

5. Reflect and recover

On top of the time invested in physical training, its important to train mental muscles too. That means watching a lot of video on not only opponents but also of myself, watching motivational clips, Googling great middle blockers, and reading up on how to sharpen the mental game. Everyone on the GB team keeps a notebook for scouting, noting personal records, scribbling quotes, doodling visualizations; anything vball really! And being a. a bit of a geek at heart, and be completely scatterbrained, I’ve found this to be the best way for me to refocus at the beginning or end of the day. I have recently become a huge fan of the yoga and any form of stretching, the painful yet necessary foam roller, and protein shakes, because the older I get, the more my body reminds me; to be a pro athlete, its not just all play and no work! Although it IS the best job I’ve ever had.

Good quote for the day: Appreciate where you’ve been, enjoy where you are, and work toward where you want to be…