Bonjour,
Another week and another fantastic Canadian Men’s Field Hockey Team blog. This entry is brought to you by me; John “François” Smythe.
Before I give you any insight to the field hockey that has been played, I’ll give the reader a little background of where I am in the world and who I am playing with.
I have landed myself a spot in the prestigious French Elite Ligue for a club called Cercle Athlétique de Montrouge or CAM for short. CAM is located in the heart of Montrouge; a little suburb just south of the surreal city of Paris.
You may say, John, I’ve heard of this place before but I can’t remember where. And I may answer, “ohh it’s probably because three other Canadians have played here before”.
Two of which would be the infamous Wright Brother’s (Monsieur Anthony and Monsieur Phil) and the other, former Women’s National team player, Mademoiselle Robyn Pendelton.
Unfortunately for myself, the three before me casted a mountainous shadow, as two of them led the team to a French Championship and the other (Robyn) scored about a million goals for the team (so I’ve been told). But this shadow took all ……… of maybe ……. 5 minutes to break.
Once they saw my Herculean stature, they knew that I could bring something to the team. It just so happened to be a bag of chocolate M&M’s that I purchased at the airport.
I didn’t need an olympic ring, a hundred caps or any prestigious University awards to win over the trust of these French men, all I needed were some “bonbons” and their respect was mine.
Moving on.
This weekend was a special one, as we had two games scheduled. Both games were against two of the best teams in our pool. For our first game on Saturday, we travelled two hours by train through the French countryside to Lyon. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that a couple of us were to meet at the club at 8:30am but for some odd reason my alarm didn’t go off and I pulled a Benny “The Newly Wed” Martin.
I was feeling more than a little chagrined (see I can make up words too) due to the fact that my teammates had to wake me up by banging on my door at 8:45am. Fortunately, I had packed my bag the night before, so I grabbed my stuff and raced out the door in whatever I was sleeping in….
The game was back and forth, while neither team could capitalize on their several chances.
At halftime the score was a exhilarating 0-0. However, it was about 15 minutes into the second half that we were awarded a short corner due to the undisciplined tackle of their defender. The crowd of about 20 people were all on their feet, as “master flicker” John “Gasteau” Smythe stood ready at the top of the D. Silence filled the air.
The ball was injected and John Smythe (Me) … dummied a flick and the ball was bumped to his teammate on the left. Christoph swept the ball right into the defenders foot and we were awarded another corner. Anticipation once again steamed across the field, the crowd was still on their feet.
The ball was injected once again, where John Smythe (actually this time) picked up the ball and flicked it bottom left corner to put CAM up 1-0.
Ten minutes later CAM was awarded another penalty corner, where they were to capitalize on a hit which ricochetted off the goalies pads and in the back of the net. At the end of the match, Lyon was given a penalty corner, capitalizing on a low bouncing flick to make the final score 2-1.
Sunday was a big game against the defending Champions of the French Elite Ligue: St Germaine.
The game was once again back and forth, and once again characterized with no goals in the first half. In the 45th minute, CAM defender Joost Jansen found his forward unmarked in the opponents D, where the forward made no mistake and placed the ball short side to go up 1-0.
St. Germaine, now hungry, came on strong scoring two back to back goals due to CAM’s sloppy marking. In the last minute of the game, CAM pushed for one more chance to even the score.
Defender Chistoph perfectly placed a ball to myself on the baseline, who was conveniently unmarked. From there, it was an easy two vs one against the goalie. We made no mistake, tying the game 2-2 in the last 40 seconds of the game.
There are still some game tactics we need to sharpen up in these next couple of weeks but it was good to obtain four points on a double header weekend. We will continue to prepare in the next couple of weeks and hopefully continue to fight every weekend to come.
If you want to support the Canadian Men’s Field Hockey program, I have set up a CHIMP account in order to help fund my Olympic dreams. If you want CHIMP me to see something bazar regarding life in Paris, I am more than willing to engage in various stereotypical French customs. For example, a picture on top of the Eiffel Tower, a Paris postcard, myself hitting James in the face with a baguette at the Louvre, etc.
You be the creative genius.
Thanks for reading three pages of me glorifying myself!!
-John
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To support the Men’s National Team with a tax-receipted donation, visit their Chimp page here. Support John Smythe directly here.
