3rd day of training

Today was the lightest training day of the tour so far. We started off the day with the usual 8am breakfast, but this particular start to the day had an unexpected twist to it. As we walked into breakfast we were given two sleeves of blank paper and a pen. It was a pop quiz. We had to write down and diagram all our a plays in the playbook and the ones we created over the last few days. Each player was expected to have at least 15 of the plays named and drawn by the time breakfast was over so we could get to training on time. It was a pretty challenging task given that I had only been able to glance at the playbook a few times, but I managed to complete the assignment and head to practice with the rest of the team.

Training was also different that what we had been used to. Today we were able to start our practice inside the stadium. We took a few light laps around the field, studying every corner of the pitch to ensure that there were no surprises on game day. We wanted to be conscious to things like where the ground was harder or softer, if the grass was longer in any area, if there were an uneven areas to the field, etc. We also used this to get used to the feel of the stadium. Its such a large venue looking around, a stadium seating more than 40,000 fans is just intimidating to be in, but what we learned as a team is the field is exactly the same dimensions as any field we have been playing on our whole lives. it is nothing different to what we are used to playing back home. We cant be fixated on what goes on around the stadium, only what we can control, which is on the pitch, and having that light run through on the pitch really imbedded the fact that despite the intimidating presence of the stadium, there really was nothing to be nervous or afraid of. We are just playing the game we love playing and know how to play. We ended the session by going over a few more plays and some sprints as usual. We then headed to lunch, and you guessed it, kenny rogers for the 3rd day in a row.

after lunch it was time for our final training session. At this point the soreness and fatigue of training camp was finally settling in on some people as the start of training was a bit sluggish. Simple 3 vs 2 drills and defensive alignment drills were giving us trouble. Balls were being dropped and people were missing assignments. As you probably could have guessed, this didnt sit well with the coaching staff. A few sprints seemed to be there medicine to fix the problem. This actually work though. After the sprints, the entire team came together and actually started to play like a team. Passes were spot on, gaps were being formed to perfection and communication has at an all time high on defense. It really lightened up the mood that we were finally making these plays look good, and despite the heavy rainfall and lightning that we were playing through, we were finally seeing daylight in our gameplay. We ended training with a fun game called Rugby Baseball, in honor of the World Series thats going on back in the states.

Dinner was called for 7pm in our team polos, so I knew we were going somewhere nicer than pizza hut thank God. They surprised us with dinner at a local steak restaurant called "pirates of borneo". Steaks and ribs hit the spot and they even allowed some of the boys to take a night off from the "no alcohol" rule and have a few beers with the coaches. I decided to stick with the "100+" which is their version of gatorade, but it was nice to take some stress off and finally relax. The owner of the restaurant even came out to personally thank us for coming to his restaurant and agreed to arrange a lamb and pig roast for us at his restaurant after our games on sunday. In return he wanted us to sign a Philippine Flag which he will hang from his ceiling. The day overall was a great day, and I am really looking forward to keeping this momentum going tomorrow and rolling into the games on saturday.