China Trip Blog Day 8: On the Road to Xi'an

May 25, 2010- on to Xi'an, China
Whatever progress your intrepid reporter had made adjusting to China time was sadly lost this morning, thanks to a 5 a.m. wake-up knock from assistant coach Lizzy Stemke.  Being on time means you're late on this team.  We were all ready to go by 5:30 a,m, and waving goodbye to our new Zhejiang University chums as the bus rolled out at 5:40 a.m.  Consequently, some of us are again on Guam time.

We left from a new airport in Hangzhou and were greeted by a new one in Xi'an.  We were told later at lunch that China pays cash for its massive infrastructure projects, forgoing the inconvenient process of borrowing to finance them.  Municipal bonds are apparently non-existent in China.

All right, let's talk volleyball.  No action today, but tomorrow brings a morning practice and then an afternoon match with Xian's Jiaotong University.  We had a luncheon and later a dinner feast with our Jiaotong University hosts today.  The dumpling dinner included twenty different types of dumplings: pumpkin, mutton, monkey face, fish, celery, four seasons, and fourteen other plates filled with different dumpling fillings.  If there is reason to celebrate in December, the Coach is already thinking about a dumpling feast at a Kansas City Chinese restaurant.

Xi'an is known as the cradle or center of China.  Thirteen Dynasties made this central Chinese city their capital. We spent the afternoon visiting the Terracotta soldiers, considered one of the great archeological discoveries of the twentieth century.  This 2,200-year-old tomb of China's first emperor houses 8,000 soldiers and horses, carved ceramic statues.  Archeologists found them broken into pieces after peasants, digging a well in 1974, discovered the tomb.  Over 1000 figures have been reassembled in 34 years.  The process of reassembling and discovering continues.

Time to respond to some of your emails.
Many of you have asked for stats from matches.  We'll try to get those to you for the Zhejiang Pro A Team match and all other matches the rest of the trip.

Our matches versus paid pro teams are played in their training facilities with no fans.  Over 500 enthusiastic fans watched our Zhejiang University match Monday; we hope to have some at our match versus Jiaotong University tomorrow.  All these matches are intense competitions- coaches are not able to stop the action from time to time for 'teaching moments.'

This team has unlimited potential this year.  The setters and right side hitters already seem to be in December form.  Allison McNeal gives Coach Cook three very strong options in the middle.  The Huskers have three outsides capable of terminating out-of-system versus top-five competition.  I wouldn't trade Kayla Banwarth for any libero in the country.  Managing fan expectations, finding the right personnel combinations, and preserving this promising chemistry will be prominent goals for this coaching staff - happy goals to have in May.  Further, Penn State and Texas no longer enjoy overwhelming talent after graduations; the race to the top is wide open.

Tomorrow begins with breakfast, then practice, another luncheon feast, a match, and finally a bullet train trip to Beijing- paid for with cash.

I'm John Baylor in China with Nebraska Volleyball - describing what I see.

Feel free to email us feedback on these reports or ask questions of the Husker coaches and players in China at John@JohnBaylorTestPrep.com