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Jake Gibb Blog - Guten tag!

by Jake Gibb / June 23, 2008

Guten tag!  Berlin.  What a week!  Julius, my shuttle driver for the week here told me of his experience when the Berlin Wall was coming down.  He said he didn't realize how important or how big of a deal it was at the time in 1989.  He was 12 years old and said the best part to him was that he would be able to see his Aunt and Uncle who lived in West Berlin for the first time since he was a kid.  He drove us past "Check Point Charlie" and told us some crazy stories of what went on there.  What struck me was listening to Julius tell these stories of his family and how they dealt with the fall of Communism and how personal it was.  Things I had only read about up until now.

It kinda puts frolicking in the sand into perspective real quick.

Random thought here but how is it that every single German I have run into has spoken perfect English?  Seriously, I'd like to know what they are feeding these people in the school system here. 

We took a ninth this week after losing 18-16 in the third to Spain.  It was a stinger, but we're still playing well and having fun.  I guess that's kind of important.  Beach volleyball comes down to one or two plays so often.  It's fun to watch players in those situations and see their mental strength, cause it is grueling how often it comes down to one block, one dig, or one... 

We happened to get aced down the middle on a rocket jump serve from Herrera for the match, but I was thinking more of the other players I got to watch this weekend like Todd Rodgers.  He was super solid with some key sideouts in the final.  They fell just short to the Brazilians, but what a great volleyball match!  An incredibly high level of volleyball was played by both teams.

Anyways, we are now in Paris practicing for this week's Grand Slam.  We are staying with Ed Ratledge's family.  Great people and there's nothing like a home cooked meal.  By the way the courts are set at the base of the Eiffel Tower.  That doesn't suck.

How fortunate I feel to be a professional volleyball player: to travel around the world, to have all these experiences and to get paid for it!??  It doesn't seem fair, but I'll take it.

~ Jake Gibb

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  1. On June 24, 2008 michael chang wrote

    Greetings from China! This is michael from Beijing. you are professional my friend. Great to see your story here. very interesting. I used to be travelling around for stories, but now have to stay put for the olympics. Busy. Maybe I will meet you in person this August.

  2. On June 24, 2008 michael chang wrote

    Greetings from China! this is michael from Beijing, saying Hi. intereting story out there. you are professional my friend. I will cover the olympics in August, hope to see you by then.

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