"Adventure Capitalists - playing overseas is a life-changing experience"
by Jim Wojciechowski
It’s not every day you get an invitation to Siberia.
Reid Priddy received one by e-mail from his agent, Luca Novi, the preeminent dealmaker in men’s volleyball.
When Priddy, a Southern California surfer, golfer and beach lover, says “it was so far out from anywhere we wanted to be,” he’s not just speaking geographically.
“So I just hollered to my wife in the other room. I said, ‘Hey, Lindsay, what would it take to get us to Russia − Siberia?’ She paused and then she said a number and then I started typing it,” Priddy said. “And then she increased it to, like, craziness. I was like, all right, and I just wrote it.
“Three days later they accepted and we were signing. We were just blown away. They knew what it was going to take to get foreigners to start believing in their league. Now, everybody wants to be in Russia.”
Priddy is about to begin his third season after signing a two-year extension with Lokomotiv Novosibirsk of the Russian Volleyball Super League. In one of the coldest places on Earth, the charismatic 32-year-old (as of October 1) outside hitter has warmed to the notion of stability after playing in Italy, Austria, Greece, and South Korea.
“As opposed to feeling like you’re the hired hand, kind of a mercenary, now it feels like they’ve made a significant commitment to us for the long term,” Priddy says. “That’s a different feeling.”
Russia’s stupendous six- and seven-figure salaries and high caliber of competition also attracted U.S. national-team players Lloy Ball, Gabe Gardner, Kevin Hansen, Rich Lambourne, Sean Rooney, and Clay Stanley, as well as Brazilian superstars Gilberto Godoy Filho (Giba) and Dante Guimarães Santos do Amaral (who recently announced he will play in Brazil this year for personal reasons).
The 37-year-old Ball is beginning his 13th season of professional volleyball overseas and fourth with Zenit Kazan in Kazan, one of the country’s largest cities. Ball also played in Japan, Italy, and Greece, and said Russian volleyball has ascended since its native players returned to play at home following the 2004 Olympics.
“Russia has just become the juggernaut of club volleyball,” Ball says. “For one, they have about 200 of their own players who are unbelievable. And then you throw two of the best players in the world on every team, which makes for not only great teams but great competition.”
Zenit Kazan had the highest payroll in the 12-team league last year: $10 million for a 12-player roster, according to Ball. For a player making $1,000,000, that’s more than $45,000 a match for a 22-date regular-season schedule.
Ball, a four-time Olympian and 10-year national captain, planned to retire after the 2004 Olympics, but the financial rewards kept him in the game.
“It’s just been an awesome volleyball experience,” Ball says. “Obviously, living in Italy and Greece is easier than living in Russia − I’m not going to lie and say it’s not. But, financially and being on probably the best club team I’ve ever been on makes volleyball at my age still real fun to play.”
Zenit Kazan, which has won the past two Russian championships and a European title, sweetened Ball’s deal this year by including a $40,000 stipend for an American teacher to accompany his family to Russia and provide schooling for 8-year-old Dyer Ball. The teacher also received an apartment, car, and airfare to and from the U.S. Additionally, the club will pay for the family and teacher to accompany Ball to France for a four-day trip.
Top players typically receive free housing, transportation, airfare, and performance bonuses.
Intense fan interest, widespread media coverage, and wealthy sponsors make volleyball a premier sport in many countries. “It’s a very, very, very good time to be an indoor volleyball player,” Priddy says. “I would be surprised if there’s anybody on the 12-man indoor roster not making six figures.”
Today’s players owe a debt of gratitude to Hall-of-Famers Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons, who made U.S. men’s volleyball credible with Olympic gold medals in 1984 and ’88 and who then signed big contracts with Il Messaggero in Italy.
“I’m fortunate to be part of this era of volleyball,” says Sean Rooney, who is playing his third year in Russia and second with Fakel Novy Urengoy in the Arctic Circle region. “We’re hoping it lasts but we don’t know that it’s going to. So right now we’re trying to make the most of it and trying to make the sport grow and trying to do anything we can to keep it going so that we can have these new experiences and this great lifestyle.”
Rooney, a 6’10” outside hitter, was prepared to take a corporate job after graduating from Pepperdine in 2005 because he wasn’t impressed with his volleyball options. However, an “amazing job offer” surprisingly came from South Korea’s Hyundai Capital Skywalkers in the first year of eligibility for foreign players in the V-League.
Rooney led the club to two championships, was the league’s most valuable player twice, and became a celebrity in South Korea. “My dad came out both years and I’d take him out to dinner in Seoul and—non-stop—people would be coming to the table for autographs, or pictures, or anything,” Rooney sayd. “The look on his face is what was incredible to me.”
The money doesn’t appear to be flowing as freely in the women’s game. As of mid-August, only three members of the U.S. national team had signed contracts, according to Lindsey Berg. The two-time Olympic setter is returning to Italy following a year off after microfracture surgery on her left knee. She will be playing with Carnaghi Villa Cortese, in northwest Italy, which features star hitter Taismary Agüero of the Italian national team.
“I am pretty picky of the location where I want to be, what country,” Berg says. “I’m not playing for money. I don’t choose my team because of the money. I won’t play in Russia, which is a personal decision I’ve made. It’s definitely where I could get more money. I’m more in front with the experience and being happy where I am.”
Berg expected many of her U.S. teammates to play in Puerto Rico.
Stacy Sykora might not be so fortunate. The three-time Olympian didn’t expect to return to Europe for an eighth season because of budget cuts.
“I was one of the only foreign liberos to play abroad in the past and now there is only one or two,” Sykora wrote in an e-mail while traveling with the national team in Asia for the FIVB World Grand Prix. “… I am honestly not worried about it. I had my time; I enjoyed it. I am fine staying in America and just training with the national team, and if something comes up I will go from there.”