2006 & 2007

Well its time to reflect on what has happened in 2006. It's been a big year with as per normal a lot of ups and downs.
At the start of the year I was in Denmark and playing the Slutspil. We were able to come through and win the championship. It was great to win a Danish Championship to go with my Aussie one from 2003. Even though Denmark is not the strongest league going around it was real nice to have some metal to bring back from a league in Europe. Many playerrs go through careers of over a decade and don't manage to win a medal!
So then a had a month of in Adelaide which i enjoyed a lot. I find that having an extended break like that gives you real hunger to play again. Even though I love the game a great deal, sometimes after many months of playing without a break it can be very hard to train a lot of hours every day.
I got back to National Team duties in Canberra and it was great. I loved seeing the guys again and going on the 2 tours and having a blast playing some good volleyball (and sometimes some not so good) This year was also especially good because I met a lot of new people outside of volleyball for the first team since I had been in Canberra. (you know who you are) Having a life away from volleyball was great, I felt much happier in general and I think in turn that will always help your performance on the Volleyball court.
So then it was of to Germany. I was in Germany for 2 months and the team was doing well, i was playing in a much higher level league than last year and it was certainly helping with my game. After getting selected for Worlds I went back to Australia after only 2 months.
Now World Championships is thus far the highlight of my sporting career. It was a great tournament, clearly im dissapointed with the result, but I got to see the best players in the world play. To be honest I really feel as if we are very close and can be amongst those top teams in the near future. It will take a lot of hard work, but I think it can happen!
The last month and a half in Germany has been the hardest part of the year. I went through a down time (as happens when you live this lifestyle) where I missed a lot of people and just Australia in general. I didn't really have much of a life outside of volleyball and it was effecting me. I was able to go and see friends and talk to them and other people and I'm starting to feel a little better about it all now. But it certainly isn't always happy times as a proffessional athlete, and as I continue to do this for longer I get to understand a lot of the decisions that I have seen athletes make in the past, like retiring at the top of their game etc etc. It is a very tough life at times. I don't think there would be too many athletes in my situation that would disagree with that.
So onto 2007, This year I've decided that I just want to keep it simple. I want to strive to keep myself happy, and enjoy the roller coaster ride that I'm on at the moment. I think if I enjoy life Volleyball will take care of itself in alot of ways. For sure i'm still gonna be training my arse off! I guess in terms on specific Volleyball goals I really wanna win Asian Championships. Because and I quote 'We definitelly have the team to do it.'-Luke. I know it's the first step into really stepping up into theat volleyball elite level that we want to be in.
So thats about it. Hope everyone has a year to remember.