Men’s Pan Am Youth Team Blog – Day 2

January 29, 2010

Excited About Checking Out the Field

We were confused this morning when we woke up, but when we realized that usually we’d be waking up for school we were pretty excited.  We started off with our first meal at the hotel and then had to go get ready fro our first practice. 

Everyone was pretty excited to check out the field but it wore off a bit since the buses were 45 minutes late. 

Once we got there, we were a little bit worried about the close resemblance between the field and sandpaper.  Other than the new turf, the facility is great.  It’s in a great new sports complex with lots of other sports been practiced all around.  Despite the new appearance, it is a little odd to look up from a pass and see palm trees in the background. 

There are tons of people here for the Sonora games, (similar to the B.C. Summer Games) that were happening in and around Hermosillo and the field we going to start practising on.

Then, we did A LOT of running.  It was really pretty hot but not a too bad, around 25-28 degrees.  We practiced on the new field in front of an audience of curious locals.  It was a bit of a sedate practice after all that running.  We then got back in our giant vans and drove back to the hotel. 

Our lunch was familiar sandwiches also provided by the hotel. 

We then returned to the field and had another practice; we worked on short corners and did some more running. 

Upon returning to the hotel we had our third meal at La Fonda (hotel’s restaurant) and a quick meeting.

We finished the night with some games of poker and the distribution of the food. 

Tomorrow will hopefully bring more strange and unfamiliar experiences to remember.

Louie Plottel – # 27

Canadian National Men’s U-17 Field Hockey Team Member