MEN’S UK TOUR – DAY 1 REPORT
With everyone having arrived on time and in good form, the Canadian based contingent boarded an overnight flight to London, and after an uneventful flight all arrived safely with both Philip Wright and Matt Guest arriving from France and Australia, respectively, exactly as scripted. The only casualty was Philip Wright’s Stick Bag not arriving. However, after a vigorous number of telephones the bag was located and arrived late this evening.
The players were clearly very delighted with arriving in clear blue skies and 19 above temperatures. The venue that we are situated and playing at is absolutely superb. The playing grounds were newly resurfaced with the exact same surface that will be laid for the 2012 Olympic Games. Better yet was the location Robin held our first team meeting, It was held just after dinner in the Bisham Abbey grand room, which just happen to be built in the early 13th century. Robin reinforced the significance of this tour and how it related to the teams objective of winning the Pan American Games in Mexico this fall, which will qualify the team for the 2012 Olympic games. He also reinforced that winning a still a very clear objective, however the tour does allow the entire squad to get together and be able to work on the necessary tasks and strategies that are necessary to achieving our ultimate goal of a Pan American Gold Medal.
After the meeting the team took a leisurely stroll to the small and very old town of Marlow. To enter the town you have to cross a very narrow chain linked suspension bridge which crosses the Tames River. It was fun or interesting to note the only sign posted prior to crossing was a warning, “Weak Bridge.” Keegan Pereira was delighted by the fact that the entrance doors to all the houses and businesses were not more 5’ 8” tall and therefore had to tuck to enter many of the stores and shops. After the stroll the players spent the balance of the evening taking advantage of the excellent tennis facilities. Both Toni and David squared off in a Wimbledon epic type battle with David proving to the younger Toni it takes more than just good looks to win at tennis. Philip Wright and Elliot Marsh confronted each other with most of the other players watching Philip’s Andre Agassi type moves and Elliot’s ballet type footwork amazing everyone. The other match was a classis double’s match featuring Keegan Pereira and Ian Symthe pairing off against Hudson Stewart and Dave Jameson. It was hard to tell if tennis was actually being played, but based on the amount of running around chasing the ball occurred, but it proved most entertaining.
Tomorrow the business starts with two training session and pre match meeting planned. Gubbar Singh noted that the field hockey surface was going to be fantastic to play on and is looking forward to getting things started tomorrow. Matches are set against the English team for Wednesday and Thursday with full reports to follow.
