D5 for the win. #albavolley #champions

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From the 6th class all the way to the 3th class, the story of ‘Spam’ aka D5 by Eline: No, it’s not your email box going insane! It’s the Ladies 5 team from Albatros playing a game… And our app groups do go insane with all kinds of messages. Less or more relevant to volleybal and pretty much everything related or unrelated. Until someone comes in saying: stop this spamming! I can’t take it anymore… Like our ‘capitana’ Elena, bringing order in the chaos: Enough, enough! Stop the spam!

Journey
So, here we are again, after a long journey starting to play at Albatros in the 6th class, we have kept fighting to go up to 5th class, went to 4th class and now even 3rd class! Congrats, Spammers! Way to go! Hee, Spam! And let’s keep rocking… Who knows what we will accomplish further.

Pissed
Anne, Eline and Shandryenne came in at the beginning of the season. We had to make a lot of adjustments for the positions, get to know each other and figure out how everyone was playing and wanted to play. Quite a task, and off course not without hard conversations, becoming pissed (Ele: I’m getting really pissed right now!!), and different wishes for positions and playing as a team.

Wedding
So we are proud we pulled it off. We could already have done this in December, going to third class, but then Shandryenne decided to marry Hilliard on the evening of our promotion games. And the girls had to win without Eline, Shandryenne and Hilliard. It wasn’t in the cards yet, so we picked it up fast and defeated the nr. 1 in the second half of the season twice with 3-1. That was enough to win the whole poule two games before the end of the season.

Alexis
‘All I hear is Spam!’ is the first thing Alexis think about when we ask him about what he thinks of our team. But then he also names our strongest features:

Powerful serves from Paola
Big blocks from Eline
Motivation from Elena
Points with Attitude from Shandryenne
All Defence from Guillietta

Yes, Nikki… Guilietta in defence first half of the season.

Defence
What about Nikki… She went to Brussel and then came back after Christmas all of a sudden. She was adopted right back in the team and became our libero. Talking about defence! The strikers get more freedom to focus on attacking and that certainly paid off. Furhermore Nikki is just one of a kind. Certainly added to our craziness level with many funny spam messages and practical jokes with shirts, etc. etc.

Skills
Annie and Corina grew a lot in this season and became a lot better in technical skills. We love to see more of that next season and in trainings.
Barbara came back from Ladies 3 and brought in nice hard spikes on the outside, which is a new position for her.
And Anne, our beloved redhead, improved a lot as well and hits almost just as hard as Eline. We can see the hitting curve going more and more down and to the sides.

Gingerday! Dames 5 wint met 4-0! #albavolley #gingerday

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Redheads
Redheads certainly made a difference in the games, because we brought in Meike and Karlijn as well sometimes. Jet, also a redhead, was also there in the first half of the season and di dan excellent job as second setter. Shame she moved back to Alkmaar and left us again!

Als de trainer zijn assistent al het werk laat doen. #albavolley

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Thanks
Alexis, Quincy, Jayson, Sam and Hilliard trained and coached us during the whole journey and brought in the necessary technical and tactical skills to make it happen. So many thanks tot hem!
And for Albatros to allow this crazy expat team in theirs midst is something to be thankful for in the first place off course. I mean, look at us! Friendship brings you to great heights. We have proven that.
We are all fan of our own team. Spammers are cool! Goooo Spam!
Eline