His stay in Greece was for a much longer haul, so he spent his first several weeks getting accustomed to the culture and acclimated to his new home away from home: Piraeus, a port city of about 165,000, located seven miles southwest of Athens.
And there was a lot to take in, soak up and figure out.
Seifert, a 2011 Exeter grad and a four-year player and three-year captain for Penn State, traveled to Greece to play professional volleyball for Ethnikos Piraeus.
He returned home in May “humbled” by the experience and thankful for the one piece of advice that helped him make the most of it.
He was having brunch and a couple of American basketball players, who lived in the same building, happened to be at the table, one of whom had been playing overseas for six or seven years.
“We were talking about being in a completely new environment, about being homesick,” said Seifert, 25. “And he said that until you completely invest yourself in the area you’re in, you’re not going to make it. If you’re constantly telling yourself, ‘I’m not home; I’m not used to this; I’m out of my comfort zone; I can’t do this,’ you’re not going to make.”
Message received.
Seifert focused on where he was, not where he’d come from. He learned “a little bit of the language and how things worked.” He allowed himself to appreciate the people of Greece, his teammates especially, and took advantage of their welcoming hospitality.
“They made it really easy for a guy like me,” he said. “Getting acclimated definitely took awhile, and it was really hard, but a lot of fun.”
And well worth the effort.
“I still think I would’ve come to that realization (about going all-in), just a lot later maybe,” Seifert said. “But just having (that basketball player) there, saying that simple sentence helped.”
In addition to adjusting to the culture, he also had to adjust on the court, a process made easier because language wasn’t much of a barrier. He was the only American on the team, but his teammates and coaches spoke, at the very least, “very vanilla English.”
As for the game itself, it was faster, the style of play was different and the level of competition was more advanced than he was used to, but wanting to challenge himself was one of the main reasons he made the trip.
And those challenges were heightened, because last year, for the first time in 28 years, Ethnikos Piraeus moved up to the first division — A1 Tier — and finished seventh out of 11 teams.
“From where we started, and to make the playoffs, it was huge,” said Seifert, a 6-10 middle blocker. “That very rarely happens, for a team like my team, a small-budget team, making the playoffs. That was big news and rightfully so.”
Big news for Seifert was being named the league’s most valuable player for Week 17.
“That was a reaffirmation to me that if I just do my job, do what’s expected of me, then I can be successful and so can my team,” he said. “It wasn’t exactly like a light bulb going off, but it was a reminder to myself: Keep my head down and work, do what I’m expected to do, do it well and I’ll succeed, and my team will succeed.”
The next stop on Seifert’s world volleyball tour will be Buhl, Germany, located about 100 miles south of Frankfurt, where he’ll play for Volleyball Bisons Buhl.
The Buhl coach contacted Seifert while he was still in Greece; the contract was signed three weeks later; and he leaves in four days.
The league is more competitive; the city is “calmed down and quieter” than Athens, which suits him just fine; and the learning curve for his second trip overseas is minimal compared to the first.
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Seifert said. Better team, better league; definitely a steppingstone for me to where I want to get.”
If all goes well, Seifert plans to come back next summer and try out for the U.S. National Team, hoping to get a roster spot for a tournament in the summer of 2019.
“If that happens, great,” he said. “If not, I can say I (tried), and we’ll see what can happen the following season.”
Which happens to be an Olympic year. Of course, he’d love the chance to get a Tokyo stamp on his passport.
“If the opportunity (to try out) presents itself, if that’s something I’m lucky enough to be in a position for, it’s definitely something I’m going to take,” Seifert said. “But it’s not make-or-break for me.”
It’s not that he’s not driven and dedicated. Hardly. But there’s a sense of perspective involved here: He realizes how fortunate he’s been to get this far.
Seifert was supposed to go to Greece for the summer of 2016, but wrist surgery canceled his trip and put a question mark on his future. There were no guarantees he’d get a second chance to make a first impression.
“I was hopeful,” he said. “But, honestly, you have to be really, really lucky or be in the right place at the right time.
“I didn’t know if it would happen again, but to be able to do it in an awesome league, in a beautiful place like Greece and then coming home and having another opportunity to do it somewhere else (next year), that’s something I don’t take for granted.”