The Journey is coming to an end…

(Feb 21, 2007) St Ambrose assistant coach Janelle Hester is on sabbatical this season, taking advantage of an opportunity to play professional volleyball in Europe. Below is her most recent letter home to the SAU team, parents and fans:

"Dobre Dan" St. Ambrose fans!! Hello, this is Janelle Hester, writing to you from Maribor, Slovenia.

I have been playing professional volleyball over in Europe for the last seven months and it has been a life changing experience. I play for NOVA KBM Branik Maribor, which is the top volleyball club in Maribor. This season we traveled to Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany. We have been very busy.

Our longest trip was to Belgium. We traveled by van for 12 hours to play in a highly competitive tournament and played some of the best teams in the Europe. Italy’s number one team was there and they were unbelievable. If you are not familiar with European volleyball, then Italy probably means nothing to you. Italian volleyball is well known for its outstanding volleyball players and teams. We played the Italian team pretty hard, however their experience and level of play was out of our element and we lost. The league we play in is not as high as those in Italy, but our competitors are still very good. We are currently in 4th place and looking to move up in the rankings in the next couple of weeks. We play each team twice and then have a tournament in April.

Last year our team took second in the league, so expectations are very high and there is pressure on every match. We are still practicing twice a day for 2 hours and we lift weights three times each week. The practices are still very intense and productive, but it’s been hard on all of our bodies. People told me that playing professional volleyball would be easier than college…well it may be less demanding as far as the number of matches per week, but after going nine months playing volleyball on an upper level team, I would have to disagree.

As my career in volleyball comes to an end, again, I am thankful that I was blessed with the opportunity to play volleyball in Europe. Being here has challenged me both as a player and as a person. I had to adjust roles and go back to listening to the coach. I have had to step out of my comfort zone and adjust to a culture that I was not familiar with. I have learned a new language, traveled all over Europe, and met amazing people by playing volleyball. Yes it was a challenge and at times it could be very frustrating but it has changed my life. I am very thankful for my family, boyfriend, friends, and of course for all of you St. Ambrose fans for your support and love. I wouldn’t have made it here if you didn’t believe in me. THANK YOU!!!

I am thrilled to be back in time for our season next fall. I am looking forward to getting back into the coaching side of volleyball. After talking to coach Bruce and some of the other players, I am very excited about the upcoming season and looking forward to taking the Queen Bees volleyball team to the next level.

PS: That's me, number 2 in the back row.

Life as a volleyball player in Europe

(September 19, 2006) St Ambrose assistant coach Janelle Hester is on sabbatical this season, taking advantage of an opportunity to play professional volleyball in Europe. Below is her first letter home to the SAU team, parents and fans:

“Dobre Yutro” (Good Morning) St. Ambrose Volleyball Fans, greetings from Janelle Hester in Maribor, Slovenia. Yes, I am in Europe playing volleyball. I have dreamed of this opportunity to play volleyball in Europe for a long time and finally the hard work and determination has paid off.

I am starting a new journey in volleyball that is going to take me all over the world, plus allow me to play the game of volleyball that I love… I couldn’t ask for any better profession. The next 9 months of my life I am going to learn a new way of life and grow as an individual. I will do my best to keep you updated about my journey, so keep reading here to come along for the ride….

I am currently playing for a Club called NOVA KBM Bronik. The club is sponsored by KBM, one of the largest banks in Slovenia. Our coach, Mitja, is in his first year as the head coach. He has been an assistant coach for five years for the program. This year is going to be a rebuilding year for us but with our talent and athletic ability we are going to surprise many teams in our league. We have four national team players on our team. They are amazingly gifted and they are the mold that is going to keep our team together this season.

The majority of our team is Slovenian. However, we do have three Americans on the team. It is very rare for three Americans to be on the same team and we are all from the Midwest. Let me introduce you to my newfound teammates and friends: Rachel Refenes is a 6-3 middle blocker from Milwaukee, Wisc. She attended the University of Mississippi for two years and then transferred to Ball State University in Muncie, Ind, to finish up her career. Rachel graduated in June 2006 and moved to Milwaukee with her dog Mickey and began to train for European volleyball. Rachel is the youngest of us three however her maturity on and off the floor and her sense of humor keeps us entertained and helps Shannon and I feel young again. My other roommate Shannon Mulder is 6-0 outside hitter from Holland, Mich. She attended the University of Cornerstone (Yes Cornerstone, who we play every year — can you believe it!!!) and graduated in 2005. Shannon is married and her husband will be moving to Slovenia in a couple of weeks. Shannon, Rachel and I have adjusted to the European lifestyle together, from the language barrier to the stares, we have all learned to deal with the obstacles of a new culture together.

The past two weeks we have been practicing twice a day, plus lifting and running every other day. For preseason, we had to climb a mountain in one hour. It may sound easy but it was the hardest thing I have ever done. We all made it, but I never thought I would ever climb a mountain, and especially for a workout. We practice up to eight times a week. When our season starts, we are going to play on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We only get one day off each week.

The style of play is different here. We don’t really have set defense or offense, the play is definitely more relaxed. The league we play in is said to be a pretty bad league that is why we are traveling outside of Slovenia to play teams from other countries. This next weekend we go the Czech Republic and play against top clubs in the countries. I will fill you in on how the weekend goes.

Well, I must go to practice. I miss all of you Bees, don’t worry I will be back sooner than you know it. Thanks for your support and prayers.

Ciao,

Janelle