June 27th 2010
First morning at the university, we’ve officially met the whole team and we’ve also had our first training session as a team. Apparently it was a ‘light’ training session, which in other words to Aussies would be a normal Canadian training session. After training we had to do a 3.2km (2mile) time trial which was a bundle of fun. After a dinner of spaghetti and meat sauce we went to the common room of the college and did a team bonding session with a team bonding leader named Alea. It’s officially the beginning of the World XVIII coming together as one team.
June 28th 2010
Today we had a 7:00 o’clock wake-up, breakfast was at 7:30, good old cereal and toasts with some hard boiled eggs. At nine we had a team meeting, coach Michael O’Loughlin took us through our team rules; beat your opponent, use the ball, play for the team, and most importantly, Compete. Training started after the meeting, we played on the artificial hockey fields because the footy field was recovering from the rain. Coach took us through some drills, basic lanework, mad ball, a drill where you are covering a man and trying to prevent him from getting the ball while they are running around to different stations trying to get the ball, it was tiring. Greg Everett, our team runner, took us to the pool for a recovery session, it was more than helpful. We ate lunch and then went to the National Sports Museum, which was in the MCG stadium. There was an interactive part to the museum, and for sure the best part, where there was a place to simulate goal kicking, hand-balling, and other random sports. We then got an inside tour of MCG, we saw the changing rooms, the box seats, the newspaper and radio rooms. After that, was dinner and then a small team meeting and then sleep.
June 29th 2010
Today we had our first practice match against South Pacific. Not many people were very optimistic about how the game would go, but when it was underway we realized we could compete. We were competing and fighting for the ball and it was just a real team effort. Our team wanted to give em a run for their money. We lost only by a couple goals, but if the team just comes together some more we can tune our skills and actually have a good crack at beating the boys.
Afterwards we went and had dinner, and met Shae McNamara of the Collingwood F.C, who is an American who chased his dream and sent the club a video of himself doing skill work. His playing with the VFL side at the moment. He told us his story of how he came about into footy, and now he’s playing some good footy. He had a choice between a basketball career, and a footy one, and he chose the footy. He’s been watching games all the time and just trying to do what the big players are doing and such. Pretty inspiring story alright since he’d never touched a footy till seven months ago.
June 30th 2010
Today, as per usual, we went to breakfast at 7:30am however, it was with an ominous feeling, as fitness testing was right after breakfast. Approximately 45 minutes after breakfast all four Canadian boys left for the fitness center with Yuta who works for the AFL and is one of the assistant team mangers. As both the World and Pacific team were doing fitness testing the bus was full so having Yuta mean’t we didn’t have to catch a taxi. Once there we got dressed in our training gear, supposedly in our World Team training shirts but only half the team had them. The tests consisted of a 20 meter sprint, which Riyad had the best time of 3.04, an agility test, which Riyad won again, with 8.28. There was also a vertical jump, that measured how high one can jump (not the actual top height) and then a running jump, which measured straight height. There was also professional weight and height measurements, the max height was 200cm, and a whole new measurement had to be set up for our ruckman. We also had to do the beep test, Coach Michael O’Loughlin and Greg Everett ran with us they both got an 11 which is pretty good considering the aren’t in prime shape. Our lone Irishman had the best time with 14.13 (peak AFL players get 15).
We had a warm down in the pool and then we returned to the College for lunch. After lunch we went for two hours to a large local mall to do some shopping. Clayton was the only Canadian who bought anything which was a footy. Riyad and Clayton won small prizes from the arcade. At the end of our shopping one of our Argentinean players juggled a soccer ball majestically, to our general enjoyment and awe. On the way back Riyad and Jono sat next to our charming, intelligent, athletic little australian rover, who told us they celebrate Christmas on the beach. We ended the day by watching the movie Invictus.
July 1st 2010
After breakfast this morning we went out to the campus ground for a warm up and short training before our second practice match against the South Pacific side. We went down by a few goals early in the match due to some miscommunication and lacking man to man coverage, but play was more even in the second half and we even managed to score the last goal. Even though the score board was quite one sided, there were many improvements and positives to take from the game and we are all confident that we can compete when it comes to the important matches in Sydney.
We had a cool down walk around princess park with a stop off at Carlton’s training ground to check out the gift shop and grab some food. We then had free time followed by an early dinner before we jumped in the bus headed to Etihad stadium for the Carlton vs.Brisbane game. Representing our colors for Canada day (Andrew was even wearing a flag as a cape) we watched the game from the 2nd tier with a great view of the whole field. In the end it was a solid blow-out for Carlton but everyone enjoyed the footy and the atmosphere of the crowd. When we got back to the university it was time to pack up and get to sleep before our trip to Sydney tomorrow.
July 2nd 2010
So an early wakeup this morning, precisely 5am to be exact where we got downstairs for 5.30am to get on the bus to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. We got a nice little packed breakfast which included a muffin, a power bar, some fruit and a bottle of orange juice. The drive to Sydney took 10 hours for the first bus, but the second bus took about 11 hours due to an unfortunate, but eventful detour route. First of all we stopped around 10am just outside of Melbourne in order to stop for a breather where there fortunately was Free Wi-Fi at McDonalds to check our e-mails and facebooks. Second stop was around 1230pm for lunch where we all got either KFC, Subway or something at the local burger shop (All the Canadians but Jono got KFC). Third stop was at a gas station about 3 hours away from Sydney in order to just get gas for the bus and have another stretch for the last few hours of driving.
While the first bus arrived at St. Ignatius’s College right on schedule at 5.15pm, the second and smaller bus did a slightly longer, unexpected detour route. First of all we were supposed to take an exit called Pacific Hwy, but instead we took an exit about 15km down the road which took us to downtown Sydney instead of the outside of Sydney where we needed to go. So after we figured that out, thanks to Kevin our trusty assistant from the AFL, we got back on track, or so we thought. We eventually started searching through the right neighborhood but missed the entrance by about 3 blocks and ended up down by the river. Our bus had a trailer on the back and the parking lot is about only 3 times the size of the bus. So in other words we had to get the whole team out of the bus, take off the trailer, hold the trailer up and wait until the bus driver to turn the bus around slowly but surely and hook it back on and go to dinner. Eventually at about 7pm we did get there and we went into dinner where we had steak, potatoes, salad and cake for desert. After that we got our rooms and we put all our luggage in the rooms and came back down to the common room to watch the Hawthorn vs. Western AFL game on the big screen. Fortunately Hawthorn won and now we’re going to have our first sleep in St. Ignatius College. Part 2 of 2 of the the journey begins, The Tournament.
July 3rd 2010
So today, everyone woke up as cold as ice. There is no heating at all in this place we are staying at. We all went to sleep in our skins and extra layers with 3 or 4 blankets. So then we all headed up to breakfast where we quickly ate and then got ready for some training.
Training was focusing on main areas needed to improve in. We covered handballing, but when we had numbers to the ball so we could dispose of it. Then we covered shepherding after handballs and just protecting your teammate. As well with when getting tackled getting your arms out so you can handball if the option comes. We also covered what our plan was to do from our kickouts. Just a simple walkthrough to get it covered so everyone understood where they needed to be.
Afterwards we headed down to the Blacktown to watch the Division 1 games of the U16’s. The teams were really strong and our team really enjoys watching the footy.
We headed then to a superstore to get heaters for our rooms! We really needed them and they were only $10! They sure as hell saved us. We headed back and prepared slowly to get ready for our first big game. Hopefully all goes well and our team pulls through.
July 4th 2010
Up and ready to go early this morning for our first big match vs. the South Pacific at the Blacktown Olympic park oval. We got to the field and prepared ourselves before an inspiring pep talk by Mickey O’Laughlin and Johno (Chris Johnson). We came out hard and took the first goal early but after that we had trouble converting leaving us with a score of 1.0.6 for the world team and 1.5.11 for the South Pacific.
In the second quarter we stood our ground with more possessions than the south pacific but unfortunately we still had issues getting the ball through the goals when we had it in their 50. Half time score left the world team trailing by six points, 24 - 18. The third quarter was by far our best even though we fell back by another goal. We dominated possessions and controlled the game taking away the vast majority of the pacific’s opportunities at goal with our stellar defense. Down by two goals going into the last quarter we lost control of the game and let in a few quick goals. It was a disappointing loss in the end, with a final score of 54 to 21, but we were all proud of our effort none the less.
After our cool down we stuck around the pitch to scope out our next opponent, Tasmania as they played Northern Territory and we were all very impressed. Once back at the college and all fed we sat down in the common room to review the tape of the game and discuss our strengths and weaknesses before bed. Watching ourselves on the screen is very helpful for analyzing how we play, very effective for seeing what we can do better next time.
July 5th 2010
Today we were at breakfast by 7.30am, eating a variety of delicious morsels; cornflakes, raisin bran toast and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After breakfast we went for a walk down to the harbour, as they call it, but it seemed like it was just a river, and we had a stretch to help heal our overworked muscles. After the walk we had showers, a maximum length of three minutes due to the regulations of the school, and then the team hopped onto our personal coach to go to an information session for all the athletes in this Under 16 tournament.
This information session involved the rules surrounding the AFL, such as drug use, alcohol use, sexual crimes, respect towards women and gambling. It specified the length of time a suspension could last for different indecencies and indiscretions, such as a two year suspension for being caught positive on a drug test. We were provided with lunch, consisting of various different sandwiches, chicken with lettuce and tomato wraps with green leaves and egg rolls. After lunch came a version of “The Panel” with former players: Michael O’Laughlin – Sydney Swans, Chris Johnson – Brisbane Lions, Scott Lucas – Essendon Bombers and Gary Lyon – Melbourne Demons. They told us about their careers and how they got started and were asked questions about their careers from players from the state teams. In all there are 10 teams consisting of over 300 players.
After the session we went to a wildlife park, where there were several native Australian animals. We saw dingoes, kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, stilts, eagles and a four meter long crocodile. It was enjoyable. After the park we returned to our cold home in Riverview, ate dinner and then enjoyed a jolly good sleep
Last Modified on 07/07/2010 03:04