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Croatia! Wow, it’s just how I remember it — cold and rainy. Rosie and I played our very first FIVB World Tour event here in Croatia two years ago and took a 25th. That’s right, a 25th. Our worst finish ever together, and it happened to be our first FIVB event together. It was brutal really, because that 25th kicked us into the country quota and put the team of Dax Holdren and Sean Scott in the main draw as the third U.S. team. I remember leaving this place maybe the most disappointed I had ever been in my volleyball career. I had worked so hard the year before with Stein to get solid into the main draw, and Sean and I threw it away in one tournament. Just ask my wife, Jane, and she’ll vouch for me that I did not come out of my house for three days wondering what happened.For those that don’t know, the FIVB allows four U.S. teams in any event — three are in the main draw, and the other team has to come through the qualifier, even if they are a top-24 team in the world. If there are more than four teams that come over for an event, then the USA teams have to play in a country-quota match where the winner gets rewarded with a spot in a gnarly qualifier with some really good international teams. For example, Sean Scott and Nick Lucena flew over to Italy last week just to play Casey and Furby in a country-quota match and then had to go home without a paycheck and, even worse than that, not playing another international team. The system is brutal and, in my opinion, flawed. Why not play that country-quota match at home in the USA and save the losing team time and money. Anywho, you can now see why I was so bummed to have taken a 25th two years ago, because I had all that country-quota fun ahead of me.

Well, it’s been two long years since then, and a lot has happened. The next FIVB event was the Gstaad Open, which we got a wild card into and finished fifth. That put us back in the main draw, and we haven’t relinquished that spot since. We are now trying to secure a spot for the 2008 Olympics. Phil and Todd have locked up the first spot, and we are in a battle with Stein/Mike and Casey/Furby for that second spot. We might not find out until July who will get to go to Beijing.

A quick note on what we’ve been doing the last three weeks. We left right after the AVP Crocs Tour Cuervo Gold Crown Huntington Beach Open and went straight to the airport to fly to Prague. Prague was unbelievably beautiful and is one of my favorite cities in Europe. It helps that we won the event, but I think I would feel that way regardless. We had a great dinner on Sunday night on the river overlooking Charles Bridge. It was a moment.

Then, we were off to Abruzzi, Italy, which is a great, low-key, little beach town. We loved it there and ate some of the best food I’ve ever had. Why can’t anyone in the U.S. make a pizza like that??? I guess it’s the same reason hamburgers suck outside the U.S. We finished ninth, which was hard to swallow after our first-place finish in Prague. After spending a few days in Rome, we came to Croatia late last night, and I’ll let you know if this place grows on me by the end of the week. I doubt it.

Can’t wait to get to Hot-Lanta for the AVP Atlanta Open!