Pictures form Holland!

This is the Swedish harbor that our first ferry left from- the one from Sweden to Denmark.

The Senior team in a huddle

Ankan and I- Annakarin is Johanna's younger sister, and caught and acted as captain for the senior team

Me and the other two Americans, Ashley and Annele

Me and two of the four other coaches- Pernilla (l) and Helena (r)

The Senior National team

'Honk' is dutch for 'base' apparantly- all I know is this poster always made me giggle a bit.

The Junior national team

Me on the ferry to Germany

The bus (aka our second home)- cool decals, no?

Holland!

Pictures from this post coming soon- it takes awhile to load them and I have to go to practice!

Hey everyone!
So I’m back from Holland, exhausted but otherwise great! It was a really fun week both from a softball perspective and a social one- both the junior and senior National Teams have great kids on them, little to no drama occurred, and the dynamics on the coaching staff were good. We were participating in an international tournament in Appeldoorn, Holland, which is outside Amsterdam. The junior team came in first and the senior team came in second, both to Netherlands national teams. There were also teams from Czech, the USA, and Italy there.
I was on the coaching staff as the pitching coach, but ended up being more of a general assistant coach, which I preferred anyway; basically that meant that I worked with the pitchers and called the pitches for the semifinal and final, but also worked on hitting, baserunning, and some infield with the girls during practices and warm-ups- all the coaching staff worked together on a lot of things, with each of us specializing in whatever area we knew best (Lina, the assistant coach, used to be a catcher and infielder, the head coach knows more about outfield, etc). It ended up working out very well; Mattias (the head coach) is not that experienced in softball yet, he’s a baseball guy, but Lina knows what she’s talking about and they both really want to improve softball in Sweden. They both told me how much they enjoyed working with me and how good the dynamic was between the three of us, so that was nice to hear.
The Blue team (the junior team), had three of our best players from Enköping on it, and had all Swedish pitchers. The senior team had two American pitchers (which is pretty standard for these European countries), both of whom are very good. I wasn’t too crazy about not having a Swede pitch at all for the senior team, but after taking to the senior team and the Swedish pitchers it seems like this arrangement was what hey preferred- this way they got experience pitching at an international level, but at a level more suited to their current abilities. The biggest weakness in Swedish softball is pitching, no question, so the senior team was happy to play behind an American pitcher, especially since Ashley and Annele (who are from Maryland and Seattle) are really good people and non-pretentious players. It was really fun to coach two such experienced pitchers as well- Ashley pitched DI and Annele DII. They both graduated already, Ashley this year and Annele a year ago.
Most of the players were girls I had faced in games here, with the addition of two Swedes who play in Holland right now year-round. Emelie, who played short for us and is a very powerful hitter, was the coach last year and was the oldest player on both teams at 26 years old. She had a rough time coaching and has gone back to just playing- she was great about listening to me and respecting my coaching even though I’m younger and she knew nothing about me, which I really appreciated. Annakarin, the catcher, is actually the younger sister of Johanna, who plays with me in Enköping. Before I left for Holland I had several people, including Johanna, Ingrid and the Leksand coach, tell me how well the two of us were going to get along, which made me a bit nervous- after the 5th person told me that all I could think was “what am I going to do if I end up really not liking this girl? What am I going to say to these people?” Turns out they were all right, she’s great, and I would give an arm to have even one player like her on my future teams. So having those two on the team was a big boost- they’re also older than most of the other girls so they were great leaders.
This is why I’ve gotten so into developing softball here, why this summer’s been so exciting for me as a coach- we did that well in the tournament, and there were only two girls on the team above 22 years old! And with Swedish pitchers, the junior team won it- is says a lot about the potential for great softball in this country, but they need help in getting younger kids going on the sport, and in winter training programs. Anyway, so the tournament was good. The best Netherlands players were not there, they’re training for Beijing with the Olympic squad (which Sweden does not have right now- they need two to five years of concentrated softball development in the country before they’ll be able to pull it off, and more money than they have access to right now), but the national teams, the feed teams for the Olympic squad, were there and are coached by a Dutch man who is basically single-handedly responsible for softball in Russia (he build it up from literally nothing), and who’s very very good. The US teams weren’t bad, either, they were two of those pay-to-play groups that end up being kind of hit or miss. One of the teams wasn’t anything special, the other was pretty good and well-coached- she also happened to get six girls who are great hitters and faster than anything- we beat them in the semifinal after a tight game on Friday. We beat Czech in the quarterfinal in a great game Saturday, which I called the pitching for- Annakarin had been calling the games very well, but wanted me to call it for that game, and man, was it fun! It worked well and gave me a huge rush watching batters strike out exactly like I plan- it’s like… I don’t know, a composition or something- it’s all planned in my head, then just falls into place, pitch after pitch.
Anyway, so then the senior team was in the finals on Sunday against the Dutch National team, and the Juniors were playing Sunday against the Dutch Juniors. I wasn’t calling any of the Junior games because Amanda How, my catcher in Enköping, was the catcher for that team. Not only is it necessary experience for her to call the games at that level, she’s also been working with me all summer and has been doing a terrific job calling pitches- she’s 16 and I’m already recruiting her to wherever I am in a year or two, she’s a great player. The Junior team played first and won it relatively easily, then the senior team played- they came out flat for the first time all tournament and unfortunately that was all it took, one flat inning. Part of that was because of how close together the games were- the coaching staff was split and there wasn’t time for a full warm-up before the senior games, they had to do part of it with only one coach on a different field before the junior championship game was finished. Not very well organized by the tournament directors. So it was a disappointing finish, but it really showed the girls as well as everyone else at the tournament that softball in Sweden is definitely on the upswing. The junior national baseball team from Sweden was there as well (they were on the same bus as us), they also came in first. Baseball here is pretty good, always competitive within Europe and on the rise with help from a year-round baseball school in Leksand where players meet weekly to practice and work with coaches from all over Europe and the US.
We stayed in a youth hostel within easy walking distance of the fields; it had a full kitchen and served meals dining-hall style, which was convenient. I stayed in a room with the other three females on the coaching staff- Lina, the assistant, Helena, the manager in charge of food, lodgings, getting us everywhere on time, etc., and Pernilla, team psychologist and personal coach. It was a bit awkward the first night as they adjusted to having to speak English at least some of the time in order for me to be able to participate in the conversation, but then it was great. The four of us got along really well and had a good time hanging out together.
Apparently the Dutch traditionally have huge parties at their tournaments, and this is an expected part of the whole week- there was a dance on Wednesday night, karaoke on Friday, and a BBQ Saturday. We didn’t go to the dance Wednesday (much to the dismay of the baseball teams- they’re BIG fans of the Swedes) but we went to karaoke directly from a double header, and got lots of applause. We sang Mamma Mia (of course) first off, and somehow I got stuck holding the microphone- I felt like a bit of a fraud in my Sverige shirt, but what the heck. Then Lina, the assistant coach, sang “I’m Too Sexy”, with three players as backup dancers, and I laughed harder than I have in a LONG time- she just went for it all out. Some of the girls sang “Summer of ‘69” then I sang “The Time of My Life” (from Dirty Dancing) with Annakarin, which was pretty funny as well. There was a lot of twirling each other around and trying not to step on the mic cord (it produced a huge screech if you did).
Yesterday’s trip back was not so fun- 16 hours on buses and ferries followed by a four hour wait in the train station before finally getting back to Enköping. The long bus ride actually wasn’t too bad, because it was broken up by the ferries- one from Denmark to Germany, another from Denmark to Sweden. The train ride was the worst just because it was HOT. It was hot the whole week, actually, and in Holland it was super-muggy as well, I felt like I was melting most of the time- but that was better than the weather our first day there, which was cold and rainy.
Well, so that’s all I can think of right now. It was a fun week! I had a great time coaching, and went to Holland, what more could you want? Hope all is well where you guys are, I’m practicing a bunch this week before my last games here this Sunday (against Sundsvall). Then I have a couple weeks before heading home. Time’s flying!
Love to all,
jen

surprise!

Okay. So- you are now reading the blog of the official interim Swedish National Team Pitching Coach- which happened kind of by accident, but hey, who's complaining?!
Basically it went like this- I've worked with several of the girls on the National team while I've been here, including that tryout up in Norrkoping a month and a half ago. So I was supposed to go with the team to Holland and help out with coaching, which I wasn't too sure about, since I didn't want to step on the toes of the actual pitching coach, especially since this year was her first year and she seemed to not really want any help. So I didn't even think I was GOING to Holland at the beginning of this week, then I called Paulina, the pitching coach, and she told me she couldn't go. Turns out she has a serious skin condition on her hands that's taken a turn for the worse- nothing life- threatening, but she needs to stay at home, inside, and take her meds and not pick anything up. Which really is awful for her, but she was glad I'd called, since she wanted to make sure I was going to Holland so the team would have a pitching coach. Then I got a call from Mattias asking me to officially take the position for this tournament. So here I am!
Anyway, conclusion: you probably won't hear from me for a week or more (not that that's anything too unusual!), unless the hotel we're staying at has internet access that isn't too expensive. So! Have a lovely week!!

Hey- back safe from Sundsvall and above- I'll post pictures soon from some pretty fun adventures. I had a great time traveling by myself, it was a lot of fun! Don't know if I want to travel alone all the time, but it was great for a few days.

Hej!

    I'm posting from Sundsvall, a town about 4 hours north of Enköping. We played two games here yesterday and won them both, though the second game was one of the ugliest wins in which I've ever participated. When the team headed back home I stayed here, I'm in a hostel now and am checking out in a minute before catching the bus to towndown Sundsvall. Hostels here are actually moe like budget hotels. The prices are like high-end hostels (20-30 USD a night), and there's kitchens, shared bathrooms, etc, but you can also get rooms with bathroom in them, and there aren't really dorms like in most hostels, instead it's divided into doubles or quads. Interesting. Makes it harder to meet people but it was nice last night, I was wiped after the games and had a double room to myself, so I was able to shower, relax, and go to bed early. And despite the bathrooms being ouside my door it was still quieter here in the morning than it is at Ingrids!

     So now I'm going downtown to figure out where I'm going next. Originally I was going to take a bus to Umeå, a university town another 4 hours north, but the regional buses are on strike so that's out. I'm thinking of renting a car and heading north a few hours- this is actually a more interesting prospect anyway, since some of the most beautiful coastline in Sweden is just north of here, but isn't on any bus routes even if they weren't on strike. So it depends how much a one-day rental will cost me- I'm planning on trying to be back here on Monday afternoon to catch the train to Uppsala, where Ingrid says she can pick me up.  

    So I'll try to post after I get back to Enköping, hope everything's going well back in the US!

Jen

Mom and Dad's visit, plus more

WARNING- MASSIVE UPDATE AHEAD.
So I lot has happened since I updated last! Mom and Dad visited, we won some games, had some fun, and I turned a year older! So yes, many things to report!
Saturday the 28th (29th? I don’t remember the exact date) is when Mom and Dad were supposed to get here, and was also a game day for us- we were playing Söder, a team based just outside of Stockholm. We won both games, and it was a lot of fun because they were both good softball, though in both we pulled ahead by at least 4 runs by the end of the 7th inning. Unfortunately, due to a cracked windshield on the plane and US Airways inability to get anything done in a time-effective manner, Mom and Dad didn’t get in until 3am Sunday (only 18 hours after they were supposed to). Sunday we were playing Norrköping at home, we won both games easily and I actually didn’t play in the second game, in order to give some of the younger girls some playing time. Jonna, one of the girls I’ve been working with pitching on, did very well, which was pretty exciting to see- and on Saturday Ingrid pitched the best she has since I arrived- she’s really starting to pick up speed and accuracy.

A couple pictures form Sunday's game:
So Sunday night we had a barbeque here at Ingrid and Micke’s with Maria, Emil and Agnes- it was a lot of fun, good food and then we played Kubb, the traditional Swedish game we played on Midsummer as well. Mom and dad both did well, I stunk (it was sad). I drove mom and dad back to the super-cute bed and breakfast they were staying at, which is pretty close to the center of Enköping.
Monday I met mom and dad and we drove to a ceramics store where they bought me some early birthday presents, and then we drove back to Enköping and walked around downtown so they could get more familiar with the area. We grabbed sandwiches and fika treats (to have later that day with Ingrid and the kids), then walked through the botanical gardens (picture at top) and by the harbor. We went back to Ingrid’s in the early afternoon, when dad was supposed to pitch with one of the girls I’ve been working with, but she blew us off (not unlike her), so we just hung around Ingrid’s and played with the kids, which was kind of nice. That afternoon we tried to have a fika out by the lake but got chased out by a massive thunderstorm, so we had it in the kitchen instead.
Tuesday we left for Leksand (Mom, Dad and I), which is about 2 ½ hours north of here. Leksand is in a beautiful area shaped by an ancient meteor impact, and is on the shore of Lake Silijan. The surrounding country is a lot like Wisconsin (minus the cornfields) in some parts and Vermont in others, very very pretty all around! We arrived in Leksand and found our hotel, which turned out to be a lovely inn that overlooks the huge athletics complex in Leksand, including the softball field.

Funny story: When booking the rooms for this excursion to Leksand, Ingrid suggested the hotel we stayed at, and showed me pictures of a cute little cottage that’s part of the available rooms. I thought it looked great, and like a lot of fun, so I told her to book it (it was also cheaper than two regular rooms, which should have tipped me off right away). We got to the inn and mom and dad were oohing and ahhing over how pretty it was, and I announced that we were in fact staying in this place:
After a small stunned silence dad said “the one with the grass on the roof?” and then we pulled up in front of it and I realized, UNLIKE what I thought I saw in the picture online, the door is about 4 ½ feet tall. The inside of the building matches this- dad couldn’t stand up in either of the two tiny rooms inside. I just about died laughing at all this, because I had NO idea it would be so small, and mom and dad’s reactions were priceless (they thought I was joking at first, then were horrified when they realized I wasn’t, and hesitant to show their horror for fear of hurting my feelings). The lady at the front desk thought I was completely crazy because I was crying I was laughing so hard when we came in to ask to be switched to different rooms.
Anyway, I got control over myself and the hotel turned out to be very nice, with lots of outdoor seating and a tea cart left out at night. We got dinner at an excellent restaurant in town and headed back to the hotel. We ran into a reporter from Leksand who I’d met in Söder on Saturday- he’s affiliated with the Leksand softball team and knows the coach, and he helped arrange for dad and me to go to their practice Wednesday evening and run a clinic.
Wednesday we traveled around Lake Silijan by car, stopping in several really cool towns along the way, including Tällberg (a tiny town with great pottery shops, a bizarre gallery, and eight super-swanky hotels all sprawled among the rocks and trees in the middle of nowhere), Rättvik, Nusnäs, Mora, and Sollerön.

This is a strawberry stand outside a grocery store in Leksand- I just thought it was fun :)We got lunch in Rättvik, home to the longest pier in Sweden, as well as a neat market and several great craft shops.
After Rättvik we went to Nusnäs, home to two Dalahast factories, or collections of buildings wherein the famous Swedish Dalahast is carved and painted.

We stopped briefly in Mora, the largest town around Lake Silijan, and then headed back to Leksand, stopping once for about half an hour to detour to a random historical sight marked on the side of the road, which turned out to be an old mill complex.
Dad and I helped out at the practice (mostly working on hitting, and dad working with a couple of the pitchers), then made arrangements to meet with two of their younger pitchers the next morning before we headed out. We ate at an excellent pizza place in town. Thursday morning we worked with the pitchers for 1 ½ hours, then went into town and wandered around an open-air market for a bit before heading off home.
Of note: on the way to Leksand we stopped at a huge Swedish supply and tool store called Clas Olsen, which has everything from lawn chairs to lightbulbs to digital camera to chainsaws. Mom and Dad flipped over a pair of branch cutters that aren’t available inside the US without special mail-order and were apparently really cheap- Ingrid and Micke both gave them really strange looks when they triumphantly placed them on the duffel bag being packed for them to take back to the US.
Thursday night we had practice and then afterwards we took Maria, Emil, and Ingrid’s family out to dinner at a Thai buffet place in the middle of town- it was very fun and relaxed. Friday morning mom and dad and I walked around town a little more, and saw the church as well as a couple ancient runestones that are placed around the city and date back to 1000 AD or so.
Friday mom dad and I went to Stockholm to explore Skasen, a preserved village with old buildings from all over Sweden, and a village with shops such as a potters, glassblowers, goldsmith, woodcarver, etc. There’s also a huge zoo in this park, and a bunch of other attractions. It was cool, but a little daunting, we got tired after a few hours and took the ferry back into Stockholm to look around the Old City a little before we caught our train back to Enköping. We ate a relaxed meal at Ingrid’s again, then I drove mom and dad to a hotel just outside the airport so they could take a shuttle in to catch their 6am flight (ew). Bears in the zoo- this mom had three cubs running around, crawling al over her- I told Ingrid it reminded me a bit of her. Skansen street

So, you’d think after all that the excitement would be over but NO! On Thursday night Emil and Maria invited me to go with them Saturday on a surprise adventure, they wouldn’t tell me what. It turned out to be a boat trip to Åland, which was wicked fun- the boat was pretty big, and had a large duty-free shop in it. Turns out this shop is a large part of the reason people take this trip- the boat tickets are pretty cheap, so then you enjoy the two hours out to Åland, the half hour on shore, the two hours back, and stocking up on perfume, makeup, candy and, most significantly, copious amounts of alcohol. Maria and Emil wanted to take me just for fun and to see a little of Åland- it was a great day trip and excellent birthday present. Finnish scouts!! Like our girl and boy scouts, apparantly. They're standing under the Åland flag.
Sunday I recovered from the week’s adventures, and then Monday was my birthday. I got sung to by the whole family in the morning (they were supposed to come sing to me in bed and wake me up, but I spoiled that by getting up too early, to they surprised me in the kitchen). I got a beautiful pair of silver earrings and a ring from the family, which was incredibly nice of them. We had cake around 11am because Ingrid had to go to the airport to fly to Amsterdam for a business seminar until Wednesday evening. So the rest of the day was very quiet, and I wasn’t expecting any more celebrations (especially since we had to cancel practice due to rain).
But I stopped over at the house of one of the girls, whose mom is American, to drop off some books I’d borrowed, and found a surprise party awaiting! All the team was there, and they sang and had cake and decorations and flowers- it was one of the sweetest and best things that’s happened to me in a long time. It continues to get harder and harder to imagine leaving, the people here are so wonderful. It feels like I’ve been here two years rather than two months. Me being surprised:
So since then things have been tame (I’ve been trying to catch up on sleep)- Tuesday evening I went to Söder to work with five pitchers on their team- I worked with three less experienced girls for an hour then with two older girls for 1 ½ hours. I stayed overnight in Söder, with the family of one of the younger pitchers, whose older sister is a catcher and is on the National team. They were also very nice and really welcoming, as was the Söder coach, who I chatted with for a couple hours before I started practice with the girls. Wednesday morning I worked with one of the more experienced girls a second time- Minna, who’s 21 and has huge potential. She already throws well enough now to be a DIII level pitcher easily- and that’s without any kind of formal coaching, EVER. I’m still trying to get over that, because she’s got a great motion and incredible snap. She was throwing beautiful curveballs five minutes after I showed her how, without ever having thrown them before. It was a lot of fun working with her- we’re probably meeting next week as well.
And that leads me to today, which has been pretty average- pitching with Ingrid in the morning, playing with the kids a lot, practice and a couple pitching lessons in the afternoon. The weather was beautiful today, tomorrow I might go to the beach with Maria in the morning before going to Eskilstuna in the afternoon to work with Amanda (our catcher) and Jonna- they both live about 45 minutes away and can’t make it to all the practices, so I’ve been going there and working with them individually.
We make the long haul up to Sundsvall this weekend- it’s about 5 hours north. We play Saturday, and then I’m planning to stay up there a few days and poke around on my own some- not sure exactly where I’ll go yet but probably not too far out of Sundsvall, as the Northern bus lines just went on strike today- looks like I’ll be taking the train back to Enköping!

Okay, that’s the end- HUGE update I know, sorry for those of you who got bored, congrats if you made it through the whole thing!


Jen

Mom and Dad were here and have left! Their visit was really fun, and now I'm exhausted and need to sleep. So no long post, I'll update with pictures soon. We hung around here (Enköping) from Sunday to Tuesday (after they went though the trip from hell on the way here), then drove up to Leksand, which is about 2 1/2 hours north of here. Leksand is in a huge valley on a lake, all created by a meteor impact thousands of years ago. It's a beautiful region, so we spent a few days exploring around there, relaxing in our wonderful inn (funny story behind the inn to come), and running a clinic and pitching lesson for the Leksand softball team. It was really fun coaching with dad, and mom was a terrific sport about us spending so much time on the field.
Thursday we came back to Enköping, and Friday we went into Stockholm, into a tourist area called Skansen. More on that later.
So it was really fun, nad I miss you guys already! They made it home safe and trouble-free, thank goodness.

Good night!