 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Favourite Links:
| |
|
RHIAN'S SOCCER JOURNALS: AT THE CYPRUS CUP IN LARNARCA 1st March 2008 On this second day in Cyprus, I did not sleep well. I headed to bed at 9:00 pm, totally exhausted and slept deeply for the first four hours. Unfortunately, that only brought me to just after midnight and I tossed and turned. Finally, I climbed out of bed and read for a little while, before heading back to bed and succumbing to sleep for a few more hours. Even these few hours only took me to 3:30am., and then I woke-up for the day.
I was a rather unhappy camper at this point, but I have done well in my reading. At this rate, I shall have to buy some new books while I am out here. The rest of the morning was spent doing nothing more than eating, getting treatment and having a stretching session by the pool.
We had our first training session at 2:30pm, at a field about 20 minutes from the hotel and in the middle of nowhere. The field is amazing. It is so flat and well maintained that it could easily be mistaken for an artificial field turf pitch. I don’t want to think about how many pesticides may have been used on it, after my experience with the ants yesterday.
The field is part of a sports complex and the whole thing seems to have been situated in a deserted area. The only sounds we hear out here are the barking of dogs. I guess there may be a kennel or something in the vicinity, but it is really windy out here, and because we are on a plain, it is hard to pinpoint the location. It was a quiet day all in all. The defenders ands goalies had a video session, but other than that, we were on your own. We haven't had a chance to see much of Larnaca yet, let alone Cyprus. My father and his family worked in Pergamos, quite close to Larnaca in the South East of the island, and then my father used to pass through Akrotiri, in the South west of the island, when he was flying from the UK to Singapore. We are here for a serious purpose: To win the Cyprus Cup Tournament and continue our Olympic Qualifier preparations, but I would like to come back here someday to look around. 2nd March 2008 I slept much better last night, and managed to put in at least seven solid hours of sleep. However, I feel as though I need about 13 or 14 hours of sleep to catch back up. I get through the days here well enough, even though I am tired, but what really sucks is that by 8:00 pm I am exhausted again, and I have to get to bed and the cycle starts all over again.
Today was an action packed one, and we had two sessions. The morning one was a tactical one, while the afternoon outing was technical. And. I should mention that although these sessions are lighter in terms of physical output, we do have two, and they are more mentally tiring. After the second practice I am pretty well spent.
Today was bright and sunny, so our morning session was a hot one. I had the SPF 25 on in layers, to try to limit the ever increasing numbers of freckles that I can potentially get. Everyone else was soaking in the sunshine - it's not fair!! The afternoon session was fun, and we were split into three teams: Team BC; Team Hamilton, to appease Mel B; and Team Canada. These three teams had been tried berfore, and last time, my team, Team Canada had not done well. This time - thankfully - we did much better. We took part in a shooting at goal game, and Team Canada came out victorious on a last minute strike by Kiss and a winner by Kyle. It was a very proud moment Tonight, Sophie and Diana arrive in camp, and once they are here, the whole squad will be together. "A Demain." RhianWilkinsonSoccer.com is the Official Website of Rhian Wilkinson.
|
