After eight months of adjusting to a new culture on and off the court, Amiyah Jones is back in the United States.
Jones is a former volleyball player from Iowa who just completed her first professional season with the Finnish club team Polki Kuusamo.
The Indianapolis native led the Finnish Volleyball League in batting average and helped his new team win three consecutive championships. Jones has never experienced such great accomplishments during his time with the Hawkeyes, as they haven't had a winning season since 2016.
Jones' team had to win 12 playoff games in one month to win the title. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be the “best of 5” match, and the championship will be the “best of 7”.
“There were only a few moments of domination on the court,” Jones said. “In the last three games, I served the winning ace. So that's the only thing that makes me think, 'Damn, this is so much fun.' It's nice to be a part of a winning team and see everything it takes to be a winning team. ”
However, Jones' move to Finland was not easy. The seven-hour time difference was her first challenge.
“I was so jet-lagged because I'm practicing at 10 a.m. here and it's 3 a.m. at home,” Jones said. “So. It's like waking up every day and basically training at 3 a.m. It's hard to get used to.”
Jones said the intense Finnish sun in the summer made it even more difficult to catch up on sleep. According to Lapland's tourism website, about a third of Finland is located below the Arctic Circle, so in summer the sun stays out for two to four months, depending on how far north you are. yeah.
Because of the time difference, Jones only spoke to his family every few weeks. She said her family struggled to keep track of the team's performance throughout the season because the apps needed to update scores were “very difficult to access.”
The language barrier between Jones, his teammates and coaches made for an interesting dynamic, but also a unique opportunity for the former Hawkeye to expand his dialect. Her coach is Greek, and most of her teammates, other than the three American players Jones lived with, are from Finland.
Jones said he hopes to be “pretty fluent” in Finnish by the time he returns to the team in mid-August.
“It's hard to speak English…so we're kind of teaching everyone English in a way. And they're teaching us Finnish,” Jones said.
Batters also had to learn how to meet their needs within the minimalist lifestyle that Finland promotes. Jones says she spends about 600 euros a month on groceries because she can't buy items in bulk there. And if the store didn't have what he needed, ordering it on Amazon Prime meant expensive shipping and a two-week delivery time.
However, she added that the quality of life is better in Finland than in the United States.
“There are about five restaurants here, four of which are pizzerias. Like other ethnic groups, we don't have access to Mexican food or Asian food,” Jones said. “But the water here tastes so good. Oh my gosh. You can drink it from any tap.”
Jones plans to rest in the United States for about a week, then immediately return to the gym to prepare for his return to Finland. But in the meantime, Jones plans to spend some quality time with her mother and friends, travel to Las Vegas and eat some much-needed American fast food.
“Qdoba, Culver's, Taco Bell, hair dryers, my hair products, literally everything,” Jones said of what she looks forward to in her hometown. “I can't wait to go somewhere warm. I can't wait to go home.”