Vinnitsa, Kharkov, No Money, No Power, and Politics

I had a great trip back to California, where I got to see my family, catch up with friends, and enjoy some sunshine. I missed the first week of training after the new year, so I was a little rusty to begin with, but I'm happy to say that I'm setting better than when I left and getting more consistency into my sets. After another week of practice we had a home match against Vinnitsa, who were number six in the table. We beat them without much problem, 3-0 and 3-0, and opened up a solid nine point lead ahead of Law Academy Kharkov, our competition for the fourth position.

We had the following weekend off, then a trip to Kharkov to play Law Academy, and a chance to all but guarantee fourth place (and a playoff spot) if we could take the maximum six points from the weekend. However, we went out and played really poorly Saturday, not even breaking 20 points in any of the sets, and lost 3-0. We got out-blocked 10-3, outhit .540 to .450, and generally outplayed. The service and reception was especially bad, and the entire match took only an hour.

The second match on Sunday started off well with a 21-25 win, but went downhill from there. We lost the next three without much of a fight, except for the fourth set, where we led until about 19-19. My contribution to the weekend was a missed serve in the third set of the first match.

It's really not surprising that we lost so badly against Law Academy considering the bad practices that we had leading up to the match. Also, for whatever reason our reception has gone to hell. It started with one guy passing badly, but spread to others as well, almost like a virus. We have a lack of focus on the team, but I think I know why: No one has been paid for December or January, and most not even for November.

The club basically has no money, a fact that was highlighted when I had the power cut at my apartment. The doorwoman/building manager downstairs told my housemate several times that money was due, and he told the club, but it still was never paid. I had no idea any of this was coming (I found out about the warnings after the fact), so it came as quite a shock to me. So my housemate and I had to pay 900UAH ($110) out of pocket for the power, and we won't be reimbursed.

I've been told there's two main reasons for the lack of money in the club: the financial crisis and the Ukrainian presidential election. The financial crisis is self-explanatory; Ukraine has been especially hard hit by it, with the economy shrinking by 15% (mostly due to the fall in the price of steel, one of Ukraine's biggest exports), and the value of the hryvna taking a huge fall against the dollar (which most Ukrainians keep their savings in). The country was set to receive over $16 billion in aid from the IMF, but the last $4 billion was withheld because outgoing president Yushchenko authorized a 20% increase in public sector salaries and pensions, which went against IMF conditions.

The presidential election has only complicated matters further. Current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich (villian of the Orange Revolution) had a runoff last Sunday, after neither failed to secure a majority in the first poll. On Sunday Yanukovich won by around 3.5%, and exit polls and Western monitors confirmed this result, but Tymoshenko failed to issue a statement until today, seemingly wanting to keep her options open should she wish to challenge the result and attempt an Orange Revolution II. She finally said today that she will refuse to step down as PM, which will certainly lead to Yanukovich dismissing her and a snap parlimentary election. And the likely forthcoming challenge of results from Tymoshenko will probably prolong the instability in the government and prevent Ukraine from moving forward to solve its financial problems.

From what I've been told, our sponsor was a supporter of Yanukovich, and he spent a great deal of money on the election, which was a big factor in our club's empty purse. Now that Yanukovich has won, it remains to be seen if he will be rewarded in any way by Yanukovich; cronyism is huge in Ukraine, as is outright bribery. A friend of mine was voting this weekend and near the polling station was told that if she voted for Yanukovich, and if her oblast (like a county) went to him, she would get 100UAH ($12). It didn't, so who knows if it was true, or empty promises.

Most Ukrainians aren't that interested in politics, because there's often bigger, more immediate problems on hand, like putting food on the table and paying the bills. There was also a lot of disillusionment with the choice of candidates because of the major flaws in their past. Yanukovich was twice convicted of violent crimes, and Tymoshenko has been accused of corruption and making millions selling stolen gas. Despite that fact though, there was a nearly 70% voter turnout for the runoff, though 4% chose neither of the two candidates.

As for my team, everyone is still showing up to work hard every day, and we have matches again this weekend against bottom the the table Fakel. Hopefully we can take the opportunity afforded us to get some stability and make some positive strides forward, though the chances of that also happening with the government in Kiev are slim.