Mega-blog 2011

First Blog of 2011

Happy 2011 to everybody! I took a month off from my writing duties and I want to apologize to all our faithful readers who have had nothing to read. However, have no fear, I am back and in a big way, with more information and updates regarding the goings’ on in Jen and my's ever changing lives. So clear some time on your schedule and enjoy the first blog of 2011!

USA Vs. Canada

Let’s go back to where we left off last year. Last time I wrote we were preparing to head Stateside for the Pan Am qualifier camp and competition against Canada and than to spend some time with our families and celebrate the Holidays. Jen’s team ended the first round of play with two straight wins and Jen finally saw some significant playing time. SG Bruchkobel struggled to the end of the first round, losing its last two games in hotly contested matches. We had both been practicing intensely and had both been playing good minutes over the last month and were very excited to get together with other Americans on a handball court again. We arrived back in the States on the 13th of December, my birthday, and headed straight to Jen’s parent’s house in Bow, New Hampshire to enjoy a Birthday feast Jen’s mom had prepared in honor of our return. In a wondrous repeat of last year’s feast, we gorged ourselves on steamers, lobster, steak, potatoes, Budweiser and an incredibly tasty funfetti cake, made by Jen’s sister Bridget, for dessert. My USA and SGB teammate Hans Self joined us for dinner which made it all the better. The next two days we worked out, Christmas shopped and relaxed in preparation for the beginning of camp.

After six hours of driving in snowy conditions and one wavy ferry ride Jen, Hans and I arrived in Lake Placid the night of the 15th ready to get to work the next morning. The ladies must have drawn the short straw because they had early sessions all week which meant the men got to sleep in a little later everyday. The camp went very well, we had two sessions a day for six days. I think it was the most time spent together for either team in a few years and it was awesome. On the guy’s side, everybody continues to improve drastically, especially those overseas that have the opportunity to train daily and play weekly. Coach Heath and Sutton did a great job of implementing what they could in so little a time. I know that with ample time and training together we could be very, very good. The staff at Lake Placid was fantastic. The trainers, both from USATH and from LP, were incredible and did a great job of keeping everybody healthy throughout the week. The food was fulfilling and allowed our bodies to regenerate in between sessions. The cleaning ladies ended up being our biggest fans at the first leg and helped keep us in the line during the week. By the end of the week, I know both teams felt confident about their chances of beating Canada.

The first game did not go so well for the women. They played, in my opinion, a little tentative and not up to their capabilities and lost by five. On a positive note, they knew they could play a lot better and went into the second match with a huge chip on their shoulder, ready to prove they were better than their Canadian counterparts. In a complete turnaround, the second game went more like we thought the games would go. The women played much better and were clearly the better team. It was tight down the stretch on points but the women pulled it out and qualified for the Pan Am Games!! Needless to say, this was very exciting for Jen and myself. This is what Jen has been working towards since she started on this journey four years ago. The win has reinvigorated her and has her training and preparing harder than ever for the competitions next October.

Completely opposite of the women, the men played well enough the first game to win by five goals. I thought we played pretty well but not up to our potential. We gave away two goals in the last minute of the first game that would prove to be deadly. After battling back and forth in the first half, we were able to go on a run in the second half and open things up, once leading by eight goals. Canada fought back though and we held only a four goal advantage going into the second match. The second match saw Canada play a 5 plus 1 defense on Gary, which we expected to see but still did not handle well. Gary still managed to play like a machine, scoring nine goals. We lost Adam in the first half due to an ACL injury (we pray his surgery was successful and recovery is going well) and that set the stage for a very physical battle in the second half. As most of you know, we gave up 2 more goals in the last minute of this game and allowed Canada to win by the same score that we had won the first game. The first five minutes of overtime saw nobody claim a substantial lead and it wasn’t until the second five minutes that Canada pushed ahead for good. It was a heartbreaking loss, especially because everybody in our locker room knows we were the better team in the competition and we just didn’t play well enough to prove it. Needless to say, I am really looking forward to the 2nd chance tournament that I wish we didn’t have to go to but know that we do gives us the chance to prove that we can play against Pan Am competition and win. I trust that everybody will continue to work hard and be ready to go to battle wherever and whenever the second chance tourney is.

Christmas in New Hampshire

After the games, Jen and I returned to Bow to spend Christmas with Jen’s expansive family. This is never a bad time, considering the amount of food, joyous young kids, presents and general Christmas merriment shared by everybody. We were able to relax the 24th, me wallowing in self-pity, Jen attempting to contain her excitement so as not to rub it in. Christmas day rolled around and it became readily apparent that I was a very good boy during the year. My stocking was much fuller than Jen’s and it really brightened my mood, starting my day by opening more presents than my wife. We than headed over to Jen’s grandmothers house and joined in with the other 14 cousins attacking the heaping pile of presents. Two hours later we had finished stuffing our faces with pounds of sausage, dozens of eggs and loads of English muffins and cinnamon rolls and we were ready to move on to the next house, Tom’s sisters’. After eating more food and opening more presents and enjoying catching up with family, we finally headed back to Jen’s house for the final Christmas of the day. We arrived back home confronted with another mountain of presents (I never get tired of seeing mountains of presents under a tree that need to be opened). Santa (Jen’s parents) did a wonderful job of showering us all with presents once again but one present trumped them all. Bridget, Jen’s youngest sister, is attempting to find a job in law enforcement and Tom, Jen’s father, wants to make sure she is properly prepared when she finds a job, so Santa brought her a gun! A Ruger SR9 was under the tree and was by far the most exciting gift of the day.

We finally sat down for dinner after surviving three Christmases and enjoyed an exquisitely prepared feast. It was another wonderful Christmas day, spent with Jen’s family, full of presents and food and laughter. It was very refreshing after everything we have been through last fall and was a nice way to start our small break from handball and Germany. We spent the next three days relaxing, hanging out in front of the fire, enjoying amenities that one only can in the great U.S. and A. The highlight having to be the day Bridge and I and Pokey went to the firing range and got our James Bond on. I was the only one of the group who had fired a hand gun before and therefore scored better than both the others on our targets. We really enjoyed the terrorist and hostage targets, even managing to keep the hostage alive through quite a few rounds before I flinched and put one through her collarbone. Oops. All in all we had a really good time and Bridget showed some real potential with the Ruger in her hand. We spent some time to gather all the things we can’t buy in Germany that we find necessary to enjoy life, but otherwise we just relaxed and enjoyed some family time.

On the morning of the 29th we packed our bags and headed to the airport. We had another Christmas to attend with my family and a new year to celebrate in Kansas City.

Christmas in Kansas

Nick and Caleb Holmes, old twin ball player buddies of mine who would be fantastic handball players if I could convince them to make the switch, picked us up at the airport in Kansas City. Of course, everything had been going so well that something bad was bound to happen and it did. Nick wrecked Caleb’s relatively new car on the way to their house from their airport. A dump truck had pulled over and was stationary, so Nick went for the pass and as he did, the dump truck pulled out and tried to make a left turn over the top of Caleb’s hood. Nobody was hurt but we had to spend a half hour in the cold talking to a cop and I’m pretty sure the dump truck driver will be in some big trouble. I’m actually not sure if Caleb’s car has been fixed yet or what has happened since (Nick or Caleb, let me know) but I hope all is well. We spent the afternoon cleaning out the Holmes’ kitchen and than headed down to Wichita to watch the twins’ brother Denver play against Wichita State. Denver plays for Evansville in the Missouri Valley and was nice enough to get Jen and I and my parents tickets for the game. Denver played well but Evansville was overmatched by a very good Wichita State team. The game was entertaining, especially since we don’t get to watch much basketball in the D-Land and we had court side seats. We left the game with my parents and returned back to McPherson to get some sleep before celebrating Christmas with my family.

Christmas with the Fithian’s was fantastic. We woke up and enjoyed some wonderful egg soufflé with cinnamon rolls and some other good grub. Than, with permission from my mother, we trooped up to the Round House, my old High School gym and I participated in an alumni game against the high school team, who is currently ranked #1 in Class 5A in the state of Kansas. I joined five other former McPherson High State Champs in a dismantling of the young’uns. I am afraid many of the high school age players became frustrated at my handball like physical defense and in their defense, I would have fouled out in the first quarter of a typical basketball game. Regardless, it felt good to go out and beat up on some young punks and play some good ball with people I looked up to growing up. Following the game, coach asked me to speak to the guys and I managed to plug Team Handball quite a bit, so I’m hoping some will look further into it. After the festivities, we headed back home to the last mountain of presents under any tree that I knew of. We spent the afternoon opening endless amounts of presents and enjoying time with my family, including my sister Jamie and my Grandma Sally. After devouring one of my favorite meals, ham roll-ups, Jen and I hit the road again, heading back to Kansas City to catch up with some friends from college for the New Years celebration.

The last day of the year 2010 started off forgettable. I woke up early because I wanted to meet up with the aforementioned twins for a pick up run of basketball in downtown KC. The run was good, the twins were the best players in the gym, which normally is surprising, but this run included a few former big time Division 1 players and even 1 former NBA guy. I managed not to embarrass myself and get some good exercise. The rest of the day was boring, I was stuck with four females, all of which had to shower, do make up and hair, pick what to wear, etc., so, needless to say, I was able to sit around and watch the debacle all afternoon. Fun fun. New Year’s was celebrated in a bar in downtown KC. Being older, we arrived plenty early to snatch a table and even managed one near enough to the restrooms to poke fun at the highly intoxicated but not near enough to get caught in the stink. I’m married and poor, so yes, this is my entertainment at bars. I did meet up with Caleb Tegtmeier, an old high school and college buddy of mine and we enjoyed catching up. The bar ended up getting relatively full but not uncomfortably packed and we rather enjoyed our evening celebrating the coming of 2011. There were plenty of inebriated young folk to keep us entertained throughout the evening. My first New Year’s as a married man and I must say, not much different from all the others except that I don’t make my own decisions anymore. Other than that, pretty much the same.

The next day we staggered outta bed and trooped to the most wonderful breakfast oasis West of the Mississippi. I don’t even remember the name of the place but I do remember the $1 Bloodies and the ALL YOU CAN EAT $3.50, 3 DIFFERENT GRAVIES, BISCUITS AND GRAVY BAR! I am talking unbelievable. I love b&g’s and these were some of the tastier ones I had ever enjoyed. Quite possibly the highlight of the Kansas trip, which was full of good times. After they pried me from my stool and made me leave, we went and watched movies at an apartment complex on a big screen in its video room. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the main attraction of Toy Story 3 but I did catch another forgettable movie about a present aged Scarlett Letter, blah.

I was off to Emporia, my fifth city in four days to watch my alma-mater, the stinging Hornets of Emporia State University battle in a conference game. My good buddy Wes Book is now the assistant coach at ESU and helped lead the Hornets to a close win. My handball fame finally paid off as I was honored in the first half of the game as a former Emporia State Hornet basketball player and a current member of the USA National Team Handball pool. Pretty embarrassing but also pretty cool. It was good to see some old friends and people from the University and answer some questions about handball. Educating people about the sport seems to consume most of Jen and my's time when we come back and visit the States and it’s something we enjoy doing. Being an ambassador is something everybody who is involved with this sport should embrace and become comfortable doing. My parents had also driven over to catch the game and were great enough to drive three hours out of their way to take me back to Kansas City, where Jen and I were flying out the next morning. Our whirlwind tour of Kansas was almost over, but we had enjoyed every minute of it and got the chance to spend some high quality time with family and friends.

Back to the D-Land

We arrived back in New Hampshire on the 2nd of January and had a little less than a day to get unpacked, do some laundry and repack two bags for Jen’s return trip to Germany which started early on the 3rd. Jen came back to Germany two days before I did because her coach insisted upon it. When Jen arrived back on the morning of the 4th, she immediately took a train from Frankfurt to Friedberg and in the most exciting occurrence for either of us ever in Germany, she took control of our first set of keys to an apartment all our own! For the first time since we got married in July, we would be living alone in an apartment bigger than one bedroom. Exciting stuff for us. She toughed out two days of sleeping on a blow up mattress with no furniture and no amenities, going to practice both nights and bringing car loads of our clothes and other stuff from our friends apartment up North. I joined her two days later on the 6th and the next day we went back up North, borrowed our friends van and loaded all of our furniture (bed, dresser, Euro closet) into the van to bring it home. After making the trip up the five flights of stairs (that’s right, apparently Germans don’t believe in elevators) multiple times we finally had our bed, closet, dressers and other worldly belongings in our apartment. It felt great to finally have a place to call our own with all of our stuff inside of it.

We have slowly but surely been buying what we need to turn the apartment into a home. We started with kitchen utensils and the like and have moved onto trash cans, bath mats, a old TV gifted from Jen’s coworker and finally a few days ago, a set of table and chairs so we didn’t have to eat sitting on the floor anymore. We are still working on a table and chairs for the dining room, a desk and a couch, but we know these things will come with time. On a side note, if you come visit us, please no IKEA jokes, it’s good stuff and affordable, thank you. Again, we are indebted grossly to the Self’s, who have been kind enough to let us do our laundry at their place while we try and find a washing machine we can afford. Every Monday I take Jen to work with a car load and than head over to the Self’s and hang out with Ken all day and perform my stay at home husband duties. Without the Self’s, we would be hand-washing all of our clothes in the shower and hanging them on the back of doors, so we are very thankful for them.

The most frustrating thing about our new set-up has been our bed. It is the same bed that was bought for us by my team last year, when we lived in Grenzach. An old teammate of Jen’s was nice enough to bring it up here for us in November and we were able to put it back together in the new apartment once we moved in. However, Euro beds are very unlike American beds in that they do not have typical box springs, instead they have slats or bars, that when laid across the bed form a cushion for the mattress to be laid on. Well, this piece of the bed got lost in one of the moves so Jen and I were forced to buy a new one. After doing some research, we found out that our bed is a very unique size and that the German box spring actually doesn’t come in this size. So, we bought two, half sized box springs instead. Now, these “box springs” lay on wooden poles that are screwed into the bed solely for the purpose of supporting everything. Apparently, Jen and I ate very well over Christmas, or and we choose to believe this alternative, the wooden poles were not meant to support two separate “box springs” as it doesn’t distribute the weight properly, because we have broken 4 different poles in the last two weeks. Alternatively sleeping on a mattress on the floor and unsteady poles, we finally, yesterday, borrowed a screw gun and screwed in reinforcements all around the interior of our bed frame and enjoyed a good night’s sleep without smashing any boards.

Third League

Back to important things, like handball. The first day I was back, Thursday the 6th, I received a call from my coach telling me that a 3rd league team in the area was looking for a circle and would love for me to come to practice that night and try out for them. I practiced with TV Gelnhausen on Thursday and Friday night and did enough; at least I thought so, to impress the coach. The weekend rolled around and Bruchkobel played host to a one-day handball tournament extravaganza. The tournament included, Bruchkobel, two 3rd league teams, one of them being Gelnhausen and three 5th league teams. The games were 30 minutes long and our Sunday was filled with good handball. I played with Bruchkobel, going 2-2 on the day, losing to both 3rd league teams but beating two of the 5th league teams, which was good enough for 3rd. I played rather well in our games, netting maybe 10 goals and playing very good defense. On Monday, I heard from the coach from Gelnhausen who told me that they wanted me and that he had to speak to the board/management of the club and see if they would agree to sign me on. They agreed, but we spent a very long week figuring out that for me to transfer I had to become a contract player; otherwise I would have to sit out two months according to DHB (German Handball Federation) rules. To become a contract player, I had to have a valid work permit, which I still hadn’t received from the German authorities. In a stroke of luck and answered players, I received my work permit that Thursday, which was too late for Gelnhausen to make me eligible for that weekend but was good news none the less.

I played my last game for SG Bruchkobel last Sunday at home. We won easily by ten goals and I had one of my better games of the year, netting five goals, despite having little energy because of a sickness I had contracted from my loving wife. I spent this last week training with Gelnhausen, officially signing my first contract as a Handball player on Tuesday. Earlier, when I stated that my Christmas in Kansas was the last to celebrate, I was wrong, because on Friday, I was met at practice with a new bag full of gear, a new ball and a new pair of shoes. I finally felt like some of the hard work of the last few years had come to fruition. I was getting paid and being treated like a professional athlete; a member of the club even went to the Apoteke and picked up drugs for me, as I was and still am battling this sickness. Saturday was my first chance to prove to my new teammates, management and fans that I was worth everything they had done for me. I played almost the entire game on defense and about a quarter on offense. I only netted one goal, but also garnered two 7-meters and played well enough on defense to help my new club win, 30-28. I am very excited about the opportunity to play in a higher league, with glue finally. We train five days a week and the coach has shown willingness to work with me individually. I think this move will help improve my game immensely. And it will set up what might be the first showdown between two Americans in a German league for quite some time, as Gelnhausen faces off against Gary Hines and HSC Bad Neustadt on April 9th.

The one bad thing about switching teams is that you must leave your old team behind. Bruchkobel has been pretty good to me, especially the coach and my old teammates, they accepted me and helped me along this journey and I will miss them. Building trust on and off the court takes time and I felt that we finally had that in Bruchkobel. The worst thing is parting ways with Hans, who helped find Bruchkobel and was the only reason/connection Jen and I had to come back to Germany this year. Without him, we wouldn’t have had the opportunities we have had this year, so that made the decision very tough. But alas, Jen and I both decided this was the best move for my handball career and me.

Whistle Blower


Continuing on with the string of recent good news, I have been given the substitute gym teacher position at Jen’s kindergarten while the usual teacher is out having an operation. These means that I have steady work on Wednesdays and Fridays for the next few weeks and that I have taken over the after school programs the gym teacher was running. The after school programs are Tuesday and Thursday for an hour and is a great way to earn some extra income for Jen and I. I have found I really enjoy working with the little kids and that being a gym teacher really isn’t all that tough when you have a loud whistle, a stern look and a big frame. The extra work has really helped Jen and I out and lead to another piece of very exciting news. We found out last week that I have been given a job as a teacher at Jen’s school, replacing another assistant who is leaving March 1st!!!!!!!!!!! Deal with the exclamation marks, that last sentence means both Jen and I will be earning a steady income for the first time, not only since we’ve been in Germany, but since we’ve been together. Although I am becoming very good at playing stay at home husband (I am really good in the kitchen, I can clean anything and I even do laundry) this means I will finally be leaving the house and be an income earner for this family. I’m pretty sure Jen is even more excited than I am. Knock on wood, we will both be working full time in a little over month. Hooray!

Striking Panthers

As I’m sure many of you guessed, the good news could not go on forever. Jen’s club continues to fail to pay their players what they are owed and in response, many of Jen’s teammates have left or are in the process of leaving the club. Those who have stayed decided last week to go on strike and have not gone to any practices since, only showing up for the games on the weekend. Not surprisingly, the team has not played well since coming back after the break. Jen has seen much increased playing time in the three games since the break, but can only do so much to help the team as she is only one player. In her first game back, Mainzlar faced off against a 1st Division team in a Pokal game. Mainzlar actually played very well throughout the game, Jen provided stellar defense and notched a goal (see picture). They played to a tie in the first 60 minutes and since it was a Pokal game, meaning a winner had to be decided, they went into extra time. In the extra time, the 1st Division club scored a couple of timely goals and ended leaving Mainzlar with 2-goal win.

In the two league games since that battle, a completely different Mainzlar team has shown up. They have been beaten handily in both games. Jen has played both of the entire games on defense and put away another goal in the first game on a fast break. She is very upset about the way the management and coaches is handling the situation that has quickly developed into something ugly. They are not being up front or open about the financial problems facing the club and are forcing the girls to take drastic measures. They were supposed to decide on the future of the club of Friday but we have not been informed of any decisions, leaving the girls in limbo. Jen is currently looking to improve her situation.

On a lighter note, Jen did get booted from practice for the first time in her life a few weeks ago. She made it through 12 seasons of high school sports and 4 years of Division 1 college basketball without getting the hook from a practice but made it only 1.5 years in German handball. The reason she got booted is ridiculous but none the less, she now knows what it feels like. Her coach forcibly excused her from the middle of training because, wait for it, she was coughing too much! Apparently gutting through a training while sick is looked down upon here in Europe. He had finished explaining a drill and had left Jen out of it and when she questioned him about where she should go, he simply said, “Duschen!” which means shower in German. Jen was so upset that she left the gym immediately without showering and without even changing her shoes, a big taboo in the Haubrich/Fithian families. I found the story rather funny when Jen related it to me, however she, apparently didn’t because she struck me when I laughed. I can only hope we can laugh about it in the future.

I have now spent entirely too much time writing this eight page behemoth blog and promise our readers the next won’t be so long and it will not take so long to hear from us again.