Free day #2.
Post game day recovery and free time. Day started with breakfast and a pool session with Mel and a yoga session with Miller. The players then split into two groups for the rest of the day.
Group #1 was made up of players who were going to spend the afternoon and evening with family. This group spent the morning teaching Rookie Rugby at a United Way day camp. Around 3 pm they left to spend the afternoon and evening with family.
Grace Hovde - In the morning, half our team went to a United Way day camp called Fun in the Sun and spent time playing games and teaching the campers a little something about the wonderful game of rugby! We demonstrated line-outs, scrums, and tackles. The line-out with our new friend Benito was a crowd favorite. We ate lunch with the kids and got to learn a little about their activities and interest. This also gave the campers a chance to ask us some questions about ourselves and about rugby. After lunch, we went over to the field and spent some time passing, scrumming, drop-kicking, and lifting the kids in line-outs, which they particularly enjoyed. There are definitely some budding rugby stars among them! Then, Kurt handed out posters to the campers for us to autograph and we took some individual and group pictures. We all had a great time and agreed that it was an extremely rewarding and really fun experience! We were able to spend some free time that afternoon with our families, which was nice and relaxing. We had a great day!"
Group #2 had free time in the morning and used it to go shopping and get some lunch that was not cafeteria food. In the afternoon they attend a sports camp on the UCSB Campus and taught some basic rugby skills to eighty young children.
Alycia Washington. - About half of the team that did not have family in the area got a chance to teach rookie rugby to a camp in Santa Barbara. When we arrived at the camp, some of the campers looked bewildered at the look of the larger, oblong football. But, soon they were passing in small groups and getting a feel for the ball. We informally taught them how to catch and pass backwards; a few of them even learned how to stiff arm. Next, we had them get in lines behind an Eagle for relay races. These races taught them how to run and pass at the same time. The campers were also taught how to do a very enthusiastic “Try Dance” by Captain Jennifer Sandifer. Once the kids were warmed up, they were awed by a lineout jump. To give them a more hands on feel for the game, they were lifted by Eagles and had a chance to throw the ball into a lineout.. Every child was invited to the Nations Cup Championship and got a Nations Cup poster that was later signed by the
Eagles. We had a great time teaching the campers about rugby. All the girls felt good about having a chance to give back the sport that has given us all so much. The session was topped off by a few campers promising that they would play rugby when they were old enough.
This group spent the evening at the movies with Harry Potter 7.2 and Horrible Bosses being the choices. It was a 75/25 split in favor of the young wizard. Afterwards they ate dinner at Chili’s and this was chance for everyone to get some red meat (see note below about the cafeteria) and sing happy birthday to Katie Humphreys.
Cafeteria - The food in the cafeteria was fine for the first couple of days but it feels like it’s been the same menu every day for a week. The lack of meat that is not in a sauce has left the players needing a change. We’ve had to start making runs to the grocery store for things like cold cuts, cheese, peanut butter, etc, for lunch.
Back to practice tomorrow.
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