By Diamond Leung
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
In the wake of last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks, people
across America have been flying the American flag and singing
“God Bless America.” People are proud to be Americans
and showing it.
Right now, the UCLA men’s volleyball team is hesitant to
do things like that. That’s because they’re 6,000 miles
away from home in Freiburg, Germany. Reports that some of the
terrorists operated out of Germany have the team anxious to finish
up its 17-day European tour.
“We haven’t been walking around advertising that
we’re Americans,” head coach Al Scates said in a phone
interview from Freiburg. “We’ve stayed in safe places.
The most people we see is when we go in a
McDonald’s.”
Because of security concerns, Scates has asked that his matches
no longer be publicized.
“We didn’t want any crowds,” he said.
“Consequently, we’re playing in front of the
opposition’s girlfriends and wives.”
Scates informed his team about the attacks immediately after a
match last Tuesday, when he heard the news.
“It was just disbelief. We were stunned,” he said.
“After that, we were just glued to CNN.”
The tragedy has directly affected at least one member of the
team. Statistician Eric Daly, a student enrolled in the Anderson
Graduate School of Management, has classmates who are still
unaccounted for in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Suddenly, the troubles that the team was having on the trip
didn’t seem as important anymore. Junior outside hitter Matt
Komer had a back injury flare up. Two of his teammates were out
with sprained ankles. The team bus broke down in the Alps. Right
now, the team just wants to get home.
When asked if the flight back would be a nerve-wracking one,
Scates replied, “I would imagine so.”