Post Two

Friday April 2nd
No ice cream last night. Another day in paradise. Breakfast and then practice at 9-10.15, which probably turned out to be the hottest part of the day. Nothing like a swim in the Olympic size pool afterwards, this is being used by some NZ swimmers in preparation for international competition. Fairly quiet today as most things are closed for Good Friday. A PNG age group girls’ team checked in last night for a week’s camp before they go to New Zealand to play in an U17 competition. After that a number of the team who are U15 go on to play in another competition. For most if not all of these young women it’s the first time they have been out of PNG and certainly the first time they have been exposed to a large city. Our game at 2.30 was played against Robina State High School at Surfers Paradise Soccer Club’s field. The field was large in reasonably good condition. There was a slight wind in fine conditions and luckily not too warm. This game was certainly a lot more physical than yesterday’s and probably opened a few boys’ eyes to a different level of competition. Things were a little frustrating with the referee as he didn’t always pick up some fouls which seemed obvious from the sideline. For all that, the game was what we needed on this tour. At halftime we were down 1-0 and the final score was a loss 2-0. Jono made some great saves to keep the score at that level. We didn’t have a great number of chances ourselves and probably the best was a strike by Ed that went close. The way the boys were walking after the game certainly indicated they knew they had been in a game of football. A few too many times we gave the ball away easily which continued to put ourselves under pressure and led to their goals. Who will be the first to put the ball in the back of the net? Only time will tell. Another swim for some after the game, some testing of our chipping skills with the Japanese golfers’ clubs before tea and some beach volleyball again. The Japanese teenage golfers who are staying at our lodge pay about $10000 to be here for six months playing golf virtually every day, apparently this is a regular thing. A large group of Futsal players are staying from about 10 hours north of here. They have a three day tournament starting tomorrow for U17 and U10 teams, I think. Tomorrow is a chance for retail therapy at Harbour Town Outlet Centre and then a visit to Surfers paradise. Chelsea vs. Man United at 10pm local time tomorrow night. I found myself cheering for the Crusaders at the end of the game against the Hurricanes as I had picked them in my competition, Dan Carter how could you miss?