Danielle Scott Weblog

It’s been a long time…boy time passes quickly. Back tracking a bit, Christmas has come and gone as well as my four days at home. The trip to Minsk, Byelorussia, where we won 3-0. The incredible disappointing let down losing to Bergamo 0-3 after leading the first and third sets….

Now, I am back in Italy business as usual. It is time for us to get on track! January will be a big month for us playing two Cup of Cev matches, two Italian Cup matches along with the regular season matches. I am up for it and I believe my teammates and staff are too.
Tomorrow we will play a club team from France. The morning of the New Year’s Eve we will train. I think we will only do weights. That is my understanding.

I plan to have a nice quiet evening at home to bring in the New Year. And of course on New Year’s Day prepare my family’s traditional meal (not sure if it is an American tradition) cabbage, cornbread, black eye peas, rice, pork chops and gravy.

That’s it for now.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
blessings,

Danielle

Hello All,

It’s been a few days but I am back with good news. We won our Italian Cup match against Arzano. Nancy nor Elisha played due to injuries. And on Sunday we beat Santeramo in four, who played pretty well. They defended a lot of balls but we were able to finish off the second set and go on to win the match.

Today we went to a type of juvenile detention center in Torino Italy. A volleyball tournament was put together with surrounding cities to play with the team from the center. We had a question and answer session and then my teammates divided into groups of two to coach the teams. The results were pretty close so no one team was named champion but all were applauded for their efforts.

This week we have a CEV match against a Russian team. Then on Sunday we will play Bergamo at Bergamo.

GO Chieri,

Danielle

Well, we seem to have given another match away. We were up 2-1 but very much like our match against Perugia the fourth and fifth sets didn’t go our way. A lot of things attributed to that… After the match we had a meeting to check ourselves. What motivates us? Communication in difficult times, and basically to never stop playing, fighting!

My ankle…let me tell you the good news. The day I sprained my ankle I said in full faith that I would play on Sunday. I prayed and fast, my mom prayed for me and everyone with whom I spoke I asked to pray for me. I injured my ankle on Thursday. Friday it hurt a lot more than the day the injury occurred. But on Saturday to my trainer’s surprise, I was able to do more exercises than he had anticipated. With my progress from Friday to Saturday I felt pretty confident that I would be able to play on Sunday. I prayed a prayer of thanks for the way in which God was using Marco and Giogia (the team trainers) in my recovery process. On Sunday morning my ankle was less swollen so I tested it out during the morning practice. I was a bit slower moving laterally but I could do it! Though, the coach chose not to start me I was taped and ready to go. Amen!

Today, I will continue with therapy and strengthening just to allow for another day of rest. Tomorrow I will start practicing again.

On another note, I had the MRI done for my left shoulder. Here in Italy when an MRI is taken for the shoulder, an injection of this liquid stuff is shot in the area. YIKE!. I hate needles. Just at the thought my eyes begin to water. And boy did I boohoo uncontrollably that day. The assistant gave me chocolate after the shot. And after the exam itself I was given a can of coke. For those of you who don’t know, I really like Coca-Cola. That brought a smile to my face. I know, I know, big baby. At any rate, the test showed that I have a small tear. BOO! But I won’t have to have surgery, at least not at this point. The doctor said that specific strengthening exercises will minimize the pain.

So all you believers say a special prayer for me and our team.

We will play again on Friday.

GO CHIERI!
Blessing to ya,
Danielle

Hello All,

Boy, so much as happened since I last wrote. But I am going to keep this as short as possible as it is late night before we will travel to Pesaro.

Let’s see. My mom, niece and nephew finally made it two days later than the originally planned itinerary. They arrived late to the airport and missed their flight. When I call anticipating that they were at a connecting city, I was told that they were at home looking for a flight. WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED? Long story shorten I had to call American Airlines to rebook their flight. I was on the phone with a supervisor for an hour! But I only had to pay $200 dollars per ticket instead of $3500. Everyone adores my nephew Stefan.

We lost to Perugia in five. We totally gave them a post Thanksgiving gift. Up two sets to one with plenty of opportunities to close the match in the fourth, instead they woke up and played well the fifth set beating us 8-15.

I received a new team car! Woohoo! It is a blue Peugeot fully equipped. That is, automatic everything including opening and closing the doors, a sun roof that I will perhaps get to enjoy a few days my last month in Chieri, and a navigator!

Finally, I am praying for a miracle. I sprained my right ankle pretty badly during Thursdays practice. I had an x-ray taken today so at least I know that their are no broken bones. But I am still unsure about ligaments and tendons. Those test have not been taken yet. Right after practice I was able to walk with a slightly uncomfortable limp but today it was quite stiff.

Yesterday, we had a late Thanksgiving dinner. The second annual celebration with my family and team. This time I actually did a bit more of the cooking. Although my mom did most of the preparation and cooking. This year’s menu was a bit different from last year in that we added a few dishes typical of Louisiana. So along with the turkey, ham, green bean casserole, roast beef and corn bread dressing (the latter two being my mom’s specialty), we had chicken and shrimp jambalaya, chicken and ground beef jambalaya, shrimp etouffee, red beans and rice, and corn bread. We had typical Italian desserts. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get around like I would have liked having to have my ankle elevated but everyone seemed to have a good time.

Well, that’s it for now. Say a special prayer for my team and me.

Blessings!
Danielle

OH, it’s snowing!