It wasn't how Max Vriend pictured his first year as a professional volleyball player going.
The Barrhead native is currently in Germany playing for Bitterfeld-Wolfen's volleyball team in the 2nd North Bundesliga after a five-year university career with the MacEwan Griffins Volleyball.
At least that wasn't the plan. Germany is currently in a lockdown with restrictions similar to Alberta, and while he is still playing, Vriend's team is following some very strict rules.
Vriend began playing volleyball playing for the Neerlandia Public Christian School Eagles before moving on to Barrhead Composite High School and the Gryphons, following the example of his older sister and several of his cousins.
He was recruited to play for the MacEwan University, where he received a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Coach Brad Polawski asked him to come play for the Griffins after seeing him play at a tryout camp for Alberta’s U17 team.
While playing with the Griffins, Vriend was named to the Interuniversity Sport (CIS) and the Canada West All-Rookie Teams and became the 24th player to record over 1,000 kills in his final season that saw him named as the school's Top Male Athlete.
In addition to his distinguished university athletic career, Vriend has represented Canada as part of the Junior National U21 Team.
During his time with the squad, they competed in continental championships in Gatineau, Quebec, in 2016, placing third. They also competed in the NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Continental Championship) where they placed third again, qualifying them for the Junior World Championships in Brno, Czech Republic) finishing in eighth place.
"I have been working with an agent [Guillaume Samica, a former player with the French national team] since last year and we kept having contracts fall through," Vriend said in an e-mail interview, adding they attribute this mainly due to the pandemic.
By the end of the summer, Vriend still did not have a contract so he reached out to a former MacEwan teammate, Kornel Kowalewski, for advice. It turned out his team in Germany was looking for a middle blocker. A week later, he was on a plane headed for Bitterfeld-Wolfen.
Like Alberta, Germany entered a lockdown in early December.
Schools and daycares are largely closed, non-essential businesses are shut down, employers are encouraged to allow workers to work from home and residents in areas with more than 200 active COVID cases can be restricted from travelling more than 15 kilometres away from their home. The restrictions will be in place until at least Jan. 31.
"For the most part, we have been able to continue our play among the restrictions," Vriend said. "We have testing protocols before every match and restricted measures during the matches. No fans, balls are wiped clean in between rallies, benches are disinfected when we switch sides, we do not shake the opposing team's hands before or after the match."
Because of the restrictions, there is a lot of downtime. Players days are spent mostly in making sure they are physically and mentally ready to play whether that is making sure they are eating properly and getting enough rest between training sessions and watching videos.
On the weekends they play one or two matches. In his free time, Vriend said he does a lot of reading or doing other things in an attempt to keep his mind occupied.
As for the team itself, he said it has a lot of potential.
"We have a very solid team, lots of skill, and a variety of volleyball backgrounds, but we have eight new players so it is difficult to find cohesion. Lots of the top teams in this league have had guys who have played together for a few years," Vriend said, adding the team has also been hampered by injuries.
"That give other guys an opportunity to step up, but it is difficult to find a rhythm. The club has seen a lot of improvement compared to last year, and plan to build off that.”
