First half of the season

I have to apologize again for the radio silence over here as I was feeling quite unmotivated to write about anything going on. The truth is that before the days leading up to Christmas, not much was happening. It was a pretty tough time to be away from home and I was feeling quite tired and spent both physically and mentally so the short break at home really came at the perfect time for me. After the holidays and a short but intensive time with the national team, I'm back in Switzerland to finish off my first pro season. I think at this point it would make sense to sum up the past months and reflect on what i've learned about myself as a player and a person.

First off we've been on a bit of roller coaster ride as a team but are standing in a decent position in the table in spite of that, which I find quite impressive. We've won most of the matches against teams that we are expected to win and had a few suprises in the mix too. However we have also lost points in five-setters due to inconsistent performances within single matches and so far we have yet to beat one or two of the top three teams. Long story short, we've done okay but in the end just okay will never get you where you want to go so we are definitely hungry for more.

For me personally, playing pro has been extremely eye-opening. I feel like i've already learned so much so I thought it would be kind of fun to make a list of 10 things that i've learned so far and come back to it in another post once my season is finished to see if anything has changed. So, here goes.

1) I always thought I was a very vocal and loud player, turns out i'm not.

2) Nothing ever starts on time,

3) Yelling isn't always the best way to go about what you want.

4) Sometimes its better to shut up and smile (for anyone who knows me, they'll know this one is pure agony for me)

5) I now know I want to start studying while playing, not after I finish.

6) Being professional about things is not always easy.

7) I never, ever want to become someone incapable of compromise.

8) Not everyone will like me and I don't have to try and change their minds.

9) I have a better idea of how a professional player should act (and how one shouldn't)

10) I get much more out of myself as a player when i'm thinking positive and putting my energy into the things that I can change.

Lets see where we land at in 3-4 months. I will certainly be also doing a post about my time with the

national team so stay tuned!

x Jess