This year’s January Tour will start in Maribor, Slovenia in a gorgeous hotel on the bottom of a World Cup ski mountain, and make its way through Italy to end in Milan 10 nights later…

This tour has proved year after year to be the best way to find a team in Europe for the 2nd half of the season: January to March/April/May. We typically find teams for most players on the tour that come to stay, and also help players learn about Europe and European volleyball so that they’re ready to come back and have a team in August/September of the following season if that is their intent.

We will place players all over Europe; not just in the cities and countries that we visit! Please keep in mind that we also have coaches and managers coming from various countries to watch and hire players starting on the first day, so its important to show up in good shape and ready to go. As an example, in 2015 we sent players to France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Finland, as well as placing players in countries that we did visit.

It is important to note that we also send players directly from this tour to the shorter duration Pro Leagues in places like Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines (Dates TBA; they change annually), Argentina & Chile (~January to ~March), Puerto Rico (~January to April/May), and sometimes the “Arab Countries” like UAE (Dubai & Abu Dhabi) as well.

Cost and paymentsCost of the tour is USD$1750 + airfare and includes breakfast and dinner daily, and all hotels, ground transportation costs, and volleyball activities. Players really only need spending money for daily lunches, phone calls, souvenirs, and “going out” if they so choose. A $350 non-refundable deposit is due to reserve a spot for this tour.

Interested players should contact Tim Kelly at: bringitusa@aol.com …and send the following information:

Payments can be made by check or money order to “Bring It Promotions” and mailed by regular mail (please, no FedEx, UPS, or DHL) to:

Bring It Promotions

Attn: Kelly, JEET ’17

7055 Scripps Crescent

Goleta, CA 93117

Please do NOT send money in CAN$. We only accept USD$.

You are buying your own tickets to Europe, and as long as you’re at the DRAS Center in Maribor, Slovenia on January 6th, and ready for practice that night at 7:00pm, it doesn’t matter what time you arrive or depart. As stated above, you want to arrive to LJU (Ljubljana, Slovenia; a ~2 hour train ride from Maribor), GRZ (Graz, Austria; a < 1 hour train ride but with less connections), ZAG (Zagreb, Croatia; ~2 hours by bus or train), or VIE (Vienna, Austria; a 3+ hour train ride). Venice (and Italy in general) is a nightmare to connect on public transportation, so while you may want to visit Italy pre or post-tour, be very careful if you choose to do this. There just aren’t that many connecting trains to get into Slovenia from Italy. Check out Go Opti online (http://www.goopti.com/) for new shuttle options from most airports (including Venice) to Maribor. As for airfare, usually a round trip ticket to Europe is the same price (or cheaper) than a one-way, and due to visa restrictions and immigration issues in Europe, it often causes problems to try and come with a one-way ticket (or a ticket that has a return for more than 90 after arrival). Suggestion: Either come on a mileage ticket (if you have a parent or friend with tons of airline miles) because its free to change and usable for a full year, or come on the cheapest possible round trip with your return January 16 (or later) as planned, knowing that you might “eat” the return if you’re coming to “stay and play” and find a team. Of course in this case the team will have to fly you home on a new ticket at the end of the season, but having a “mileage ticket” (if possible) makes everything easiest.

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Coaches! As per the NCAA rule interpretation below, you are permitted to go coach a group of student-athletes who have all exhausted eligibility during a dead period provided the event is not held on your campus. Any event in a similar scenario (coaching student-athletes who have exhausted eligibility) would still be permissible even if coaching against prospective student-athletes, provided the event does not take place on campus. Please remember, all recruiting rules would still apply and you would not be permitted to approach or communicate with any prospects outside any permissible general/electronic correspondence during the dead period. But you can come coach on tour.Actual NCAA Interpretation:

Request: Head women’s volleyball coach has requested to coach a volleyball team of post eligibility student-athletes during a dead period. Further, all student-athletes will have exhausted eligibility and would be playing against professional international teams in exhibition contests.

Interpretation: Since all participants have exhausted eligibility it can be viewed as a local sports club for adults. Provided the contests do not take place on the institution’s campus there are no restrictions on your coach being involved with these individuals, even in a contest against PSAs during a dead period.