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Trevor's Last Days Before Germany! PDF Print E-mail
Written by Team JOOLA USA   
Monday, 30 July 2007
Trevor Runyan
Trevor Runyan
Four days until I leave for Germany!  Thursday at 10:20am I'll be embarking upon a nine month stay in Germany with JOOLA teammate John Leach.  In Germany, John and I will be playing for the Grenzau club in the third division.  As a reference, Gao Yan Jun who frequently plays in the US occupies the fourth spot on a third division team with a rating of 2665.  So I think we will have some excellent competition.  The Grenzau's Bundesliga team (the top division with professional players like Timo Boll, Ma Wenge, Lucjan Blaszczyk, and formerly Stefan Feth) is one of the power houses in the league with the most league championshps and this years runner up.  The club is located about fifteen kilometers from Koblenz in the Westerwald area along the Rhein River.  The playing hall itself is located in the Hotel Zugbrucke, a four star hotel that owns the Grenzau club.  The club hosts table tennis clinics for players of all ages and levels.  You can learn more about their table tennis school at www.tt-school.com.  The first month will be spent preparing for the league which starts in September.  During the season, the week days will comprise of two sessions and physical training in the evenings.  On the weekends we compete with the other clubs.  John and I will be staying in an apartment near the hotel, but will be eating our meals at the buffet there.   I am extremely greatful to the people who made this possible for me. Earlier in the year, Stefan started making arrangements for us to play at his former club, Grenzau.  After a couple months Stefan solidified our contracts with the club. Many thanks are due to him for this great oppurtunity and for putting his credability on the line.  JOOLA is also supporting me with the equipment needed in Germany.  JOOLA is the the chief sponsor of Grenzau and sponsors all of Grenzau's teams.

My preparation for Germany hasn't been ideal.  Prior to the US Open I was playing almost everyday and training hard.  At the Open I placed second in Under 2400, but I tore my tricep.  I could feel my tricep tightening at the end of matches in the week preceeding the Open, but it would have time to heal the next day before practice.  I would only strain it during matches when I was out of position or I lifted my arm too much vertically when looping against backspin.  This is because I wasn't closing my forearm enough at the end of the stroke, but instead I was moving my arm like it was one stationary unit.  I also needed to rotate with my waist forward more so that I woudn't need to lift the ball as much.  My last match in the final was against a chopper, puting the ending touch on my arm, making it so I couldn't even straighten my arm.  At home, a sports doctor gave me some exercises to do with an elastic band exercises and with a 2.5 lb weight.  After two and a half weeks of resting the arm I played for the first time and it felt pretty good but not a 100%.  Hopefully it will heal before I go to Germany or I might be coming home a little earlier than expected.

So until Thursday I'll be packing and trying not to forget anything.  Thanks again to Stefan for his time and effort to make this great oppurtunity possible and to JOOLA for supplying us with the equipment we need and for being the Grenzau sponsor.


P.S. If you ever put icy hot on your tricept, be careful that you don't get it too near your armpit!  It hurts.


Trevor
 
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