Men’s Jr. Team USA Test Series Blog: 3

November 14, 2010

The coaches had decided the previous night to relax today’s training schedule from two practices to one, as you can imagine the team was extremely supportive of this decision.  After a much appreciated sleep-in the team went down to breakfast well rested and pumped at the prospect of the lighter schedule ahead of them.  As if that wasn’t enough, they were delightfully surprised by the presence of sausages at the breakfast buffet.   Sausages!  What a great day this was turning out to be!

Breakfast was followed by a team meeting which was slightly less exciting than the sausages… ONLY slightly.  We discussed the intricacies of the “half-court” – of which I am not at liberty to divulge.   The meeting was supplemented by fruit, waters and Gatorades (it’s important to stay hydrated) thanks to our first-class manager Big Alv.

From the meeting we went straight to the field for the day’s lone practice.  The air was filled with excitement as the team convoy drove to the field, laundry duty was on the line.   For the first half of practice the focus was on the “half-court”; how to play it, positioning, structure, etc.  It wasn’t until the latter part of practice that the big laundry game got under way; pinnies versus non-pinnies, the epic showdown.  Pinnies controlled the flow of play from the onset, but couldn’t maintain the pressure and surrendered the first two goals.  They made it interesting near the end, however they fell short as non-pinnies tallied a beautiful marker in the dying seconds on a scoop-into-the-D-deflection, executed to perfection by captain Taylor Curran and goalie-turned-forward Kevin Parreira netted the ball.

This blog writer would just like to take this opportunity to thank the pinny team for doing his laundry.  Thank you.

Post-practice contrast-baths were mandatory for everyone even Arif, who took it like a champ.

Quote of the day went to Kevin; as he sat in the ice bath he claimed he “felt like Rose from the Titanic.”  He now has a new nickname.

We closed the day with steaks and potatoes, cooked expertly by Big Alv and a few culinary whiz kids on the team.  It definitely was a good day: sleep-in, sausages, clean laundry, steaks, and Simi Valley sun.

Thank you for reading this, if you did, and thanks for supporting the team.  And one more shout out to team pinny! Thanks guys!

By: Nic Roggeveen  –  # 12

Men’s Junior National Touring Athlete