U20 Nations Cup. Day 5

This was the first free day for the players. The players got an extra hour and a half before wake up call and then it was off to breakfast. The morning activity was a pool recovery session with Mel and a yoga session with Miller. Players from last years Bahamas tour warned the new players about Millers “gentle workouts” so they were prepared for the yoga session only a boot camp drill sergeant would enjoy. All reports were that Miller is getting soft in her old age as the session was very enjoyable.

Afternoon was spent in different ways. Miller took a small group to the beach while all the other players caught the bus into Santa Barbara. Jeff, Austin, Mel and myself all chaperoned small groups of players and player’s families as we wandered around downtown Santa Barbara. Here are some reports from the players.

Jacie Vonada – “Day after our victorious game against South Africa we got to venture out and explore Santa Barbara, CA. Jen, Alycia, Kiana, Monica, Dot, Amee and I led by Jeff Noe decided to go to the Ty Warner Sea Center. We took the bus to State Street and walked up the board walk to the Sea Center where we were able to pet small sharks, rays, starfish and sea cucumbers. Watching Jeff puppeteer a shark puppet and eating some great frozen yogurt at Pinkberry topped off our excellent day”.

Xanni Brown – “Today a group of us went with Coach Bryn and Mel to downtown Santa Barbara to explore and check out Stearns Wharf. After a long wait at the bus stop, we finally got on the 24x bus. It was a little crowded because the whole England team was on there too, but we all fit without incident. When we got downtown we walked along State Street for a few blocks, window shopping at all the cool stores until we got to the wharf. We saw a couple seals and some pelicans and even got ice cream, so it was a really fun day!”

Quote of the day came from Dot Mitow. “I was tasered once. They really shouldn’t do that to 6th graders”.

This evening the South African women were dancing and singing in one of their rooms and some of the U20’s joined in around the edge. Was an interesting sight to see Grace Hovde, our big Scandinavian lock from Wisconsin, in a group of much smaller South African women. The evening ended with a video session where we watched the first half of yesterday’s game. All agred that there is a lot we need to tighten up before the game against England on Sunday.

Back to practice tomorrow.