Abbey Szlanfucht and Lisa Newell on their European trip |
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Pair of Former Players Hoping for Pro Careers in Europe
Feb. 6, 2006
Charlotte, N.C. - Niner seniors Lisa Newell and Abbey Szlanfucht recently returned from a trip to Europe, where they auditioned for professional volleyball teams with the hope of landing contract offers for 2006.
Newell and Szlanfucht traveled to Prague, Austria, Germany and Slovenia, along with 36 other prospective candidates brought in by their management agency, Bring It USA. The pair finished their final seasons as members of the 49ers volleyball team this fall.
Professional women's volleyball leagues are prevalent in Europe, where there are up to seven different divisions and teams travel all around the continent playing matches. The professional season begins in August and lasts a lot longer than the college schedule - stretching until the springtime.
While on their European tour, the 49ers standouts, who each rank high on multiple career statistical lists at Charlotte, played try-out matches against teams that they could potentially be joining next year. The pair said they played against mostly top-level Division 1 or 2 teams.
The agency also gave them the experience of letting them find their way around these foreign cities on their own.
"They just brought you to different countries and kind of put you out on your own as an experiment," said Szlanfucht. "To see how you would do on your own for a day, if you can get around the city and make your appointments. It kind of gave us a taste of how it would be on our own over there, and we got used to it."
The duo, who played on the same club team in their native Indiana, have been linked together since coming to Charlotte four years ago. They hope to continue to be mentioned together by each earning professional contract offers, and from what they were hearing at the end of their European tour, their chances of success are very good.
"At the end of the tryouts, when we were leaving, they talked to us one-on-one and told everyone if they were going to make it or not," said Szlanfucht. "Some left right away, and some got picked up by teams right away.
"At the end, they said that they can definitely place us. The level of volleyball was really high. We were thinking, 'It's not going to happen, our chances aren't good'. But the agency said they would definitely be able to place us. They asked for our preferences, and I would prefer to play in warm weather, and maybe Spain because I can speak a little Spanish."
Newell echoed that sentiment, preferring to play somewhere like Spain where she is at least a familiar with the language.
Teams generally make contract offers between April and August, right up until the season is about to begin. Both Lisa and Abbey will have some decisions to make when they receive phone calls from their agency.
"I'm getting married the following year," said Newell, "so I have a while. But my fiancée plays golf and may also try to play in Europe if possible. That's one thing I'm looking at. Or, they could call you in August, two weeks before the season, and then you have to decide if you want to pack up everything and just get on a plane to Europe. There are a lot of factors that go into the decision."
Said Szlanfucht: "I'm definitely going to do it. But my limits would be I don't want to be just 'scraping by' with money. And they said they wouldn't do that to me. I want to be competitive as well, so I told them I wouldn't go somewhere with a low level of volleyball."
Both players said that even if the contract offers don't pan out the way they hope, the experience of going through the process was well worth it.
"It was awesome, great," said Newell. "It's a different world being in all these cities. I thought it was a good experience."
"I recommend trying it for anyone who played in college that wants to keep playing," said Szlanfucht. "A lot of the girls that went over there decided they didn't want to keep playing, but it was still a good experience for them to get out, see new places and figure things out."
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