The season has started

Things are starting to get settled here and I am starting to feel more and more comfortable everyday. I think I am finally over my jet lag and on a local sleeping schedule. The area here is absolutely beautiful. It is very much like I imagined. I can look out my kitchen window and see the Austrian Alps to the east and the Swiss Alps to the west. Suffice it to say, the scenery isn't bad.

The weather here has been kind of miserable to be honest. The temperature has been around 25-40 degress so it hasn't been too cold. We have had snow/rain for the last 3 days and it is the wet sloppy kind. I don't think I have seen the sun since I have been here either. It is supposed to warm up this week, which will make things even sloppier, but also should allow the snow to melt as well.

On Saturday we had our first official practice and team meeting. We spent the better part of the day doing football related activities at the Olympic Center in Dornbirn. During the morning we did physical testing and then in the afternoon we had meetings. To cap it off we were able to use the turf field there and get in our first practice. It was great to be out coaching again and starting a new season. Plus the fact that I could look up and see the Alps was pretty amazing. That is something that you don't see everyday. Since the snow has yet to melt, we are fairly limited in what we are able to do practice wise. It is either that we are able to secure the turf field at the Olympic Center or we have to practice inside in one of the gyms in town. The turf field isn't the easiest thing to get either since the American football team isn't exactly the highest team on the priority list. Which brings me to my other point.

In case you were wondering, football isn't the #1 game in town around here. It is more like #10 behind soccer, soccer, soccer, basketball, soccer, volleyball, soccer, soccer, and team handball of all things. Suffice it to say, that is kind of strange and frustrating. It is tough going from being the big dog and the premier sport to not even being a secondary sport. It makes everything more difficult because we must wait our turn in line for things. Things are very fluid because of this and if there is one thing that I have learned it is that nothing is set in stone. I am pretty flexible, but it is hard not knowing what to expect at times.

Many have asked me what the level of play is like over here. After our first practice, here is what I can tell you.
#1 There is a wide range of abilities and knowledge base. Some guys are playing football for the very first time. Others have been playing for 15-20 years now. In some ways, it makes it very similar to high school football.
#2 Some guys are very good and easily scholarship athletes. I would say that there are half a dozen Europeans on the team who would be anywhere from low level D2 to 1AA kids.
#3 The guys who have been playing for a while understand everything that you are telling them and are quite well versed in schemes and technique.
#4 In any language and any country, the game doesn't change. The same skills are techniques are required to play well.

It is time for practice. I should go now. Don't be afraid to email and let me know how things are going. j_kuenzel@hotmail.com. We still don't have internet at the apartment, but I will be checking here at the office. Hope all is well back home. Take care

--Josh