Everyone now seems to be settling into tournament life.......finding out which shower works best, which pillow is just right to rest weary heads on and the finer tactical points of the card game Kings and Assholes (or Scum as some people know it). All the essentials seem to be falling into place!
After a rather tasty batch of poached free-range eggs for breakfast cooked by Rosa Cooper, our captain both on court and in gastronomic satisfaction, we jumped on the bus to our morning training session and first look at our playing venue the Distinctive Homes Dome - home of the Adelaide 36ers basketball team.
As with all Korfball tournaments, morning trainings are the norm and today we were joined by the Aussie's on our bus ride to the stadium. After welcoming the green and golds on to the bus with an 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi' chant we continued with tradition as Koru the Kiwi was passed on. Natasha Van Vuuren deservedly awarded him to Sarah Bateup for her stand out performance against Australia the previous evening. DJ Spencer Te Pou was on top form again with supporting tunes as the team cranked out stunning versions of Tutira Mai and Ten Guitars. We also introduced the Aussie crew our favourite 'Arrow' game. For those who haven't seen this before, the way it works is that you say someone's name and if they turn around without saying anything you can shoot them with a pretend blow dart. Once shot, the person must sit down in that exact spot and not move until someone else removes the arrow! However, if the person who's name has been said, verbally responds to the person who shoots the arrow, the arrow rebounds back and the shooter must sit until the arrow is removed. More stories on this later in this post!
We arrived at the venue and walked in to our team song Rise Up by Six60! Stepping in to this vast stadium was a little different from the school gyms we have been used to training in till this point. We had a solid 90 minute training session where the team showed real progress from the lessons learned the previous evening and our structure really seems to be gelling well. Everyone is hanging out to test ourselves tomorrow against one of the best teams in the world.The bus ride back provided one of the hilarious highlights of the day when Mikey 'RJ' Graham, the arrow games keenest exponent got hit in the isle of the bus by our head coach Mark Garrett and had a uncomfortable trip back! Karma eh Mikey!
With the free afternoon we caught a tram out to Glenelg, a seaside suburb of Adelaide. This was a great chance for the team to unwind and enjoy some of the benefits of playing international sport and seeing new sights. After arriving in Glenelg we took a stroll along the jetty, one which was typically interrupted by more arrow shooting! If you are a fan of gelato make your way here! We have never seen so many places selling the drool-inducing stuff in such a small area........sweet-tooth paradise! Pretty cool sunset to end the trip with too.
The evening was rounded off with confirmation of the new draw, meetings to prepare the players for tomorrow's first game and some inspirational posters with key phrases from our mentors Grahame and Doreen Felton.
NZ U23's tomorrow we RISE UP!
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