20.08.05
Football - Vancouver Style
Thursday I was looking for something to do, so i decided that I would make the hour trek by public transport out to Burnaby to training at the Vancouver Cougars Football Club. For those in Canberra it would be like being in Belconnen and having to travel out to Tuggeranong to Train. But it was really simple to get there.
I think Triathlon and Umpiring had insulated me from what football clubs were all about. It had been a long time since i was involved in a football club and that was when i was a junior. Pretty much as soon as guys started arriving talk centred around who got the drunkest the previous Saturday night and who had managed to get inside a Canadians pants. Interesting conversation boys!! Very typical of a football club i guess. The stereotype follows all around the world.
That aside it was fun to have a run around with a group of guys and have a kick of the footy. It was a formal structured training, so it wasn’t all standing at two ends and trying to take big pack marks Ashley Sampi style. Also different was the artifical turf field that we were practising on. Basically we were training on a Canadian Football Field (which is longer and wider than an American Football Field), make of artifical turf supported by 3 inches of granulised rubber underneath. It actually felt pretty firm and sure under foot. I thought i’d be able to put down a pretty good bounce out there but resisted the urge to try at the risk of being stereotyped as an umpire. Might save that surprise for when i actually umpire a game.
After training i had a quick beer with some of the guys at the Rugby Club over the road from the fields, where they are currently playing the National Championships, before the Coach gave me a lift back into Town. He attempted to get me to travel to Calgary with them on the Weekend for a game. However, the thought of 12 hours in a bus each way, and the fact i didn’t really have the time at the moment while i am still sorting myself out had me thinking maybe another time. I beleive that they are travelling to the US National Champs in Wisconsin in October so I might think about heading to that and doing some umpiring. Mainly as i heard that they have Coopers beers at the Champs.
It had been a while since i had done so much kicking and football style running, which is very different to umpiring and Triathlon so i was quite sore the next day and even worse today. I felt like i did after i raced the Australian Long Course Champs in Port Macquarie back in February. Maybe even worse!