Rio 07 Journal: Rhian At The PanAm Games

Rhian Wilkinson’s Journal
Pan American Games
Rio 2007

DAY TWO
Wake up came too early, all I wanted to do was sleep. Even though our room is lit up like a lantern, our window backs a park where they insist on keeping the lights on throughout the night, it hardly mattered as I was so tired.

Our first training session was a bit of a disaster, a funny one though. It took less time getting to the field than we had thought, only about 25 minutes, but we were then left with no way in. We assumed that our driver knew what he was doing, he seemed confident, but on the second circle of the extremely large soccer facility we realized that he probably knew even less than we did. Every now and then he would stop at one entrance or another and stare at the guards, nothing was said, the guards didn’t move. Finally, after at least a half hour of this Jaime, our equipment manager, and Jen, our nutritionist, made a move. They both got out at the main gate to have a little chat with the guards and the Rio workers who had been standing watching our progress this entire time. Back on the bus we found ourselves really enjoying the spectacle of Jaime trying to get across to them that we were meant to be out on the field by this point. I believe we counted a total of four running man movements and much gesticulating, unfortunate that we couldn’t hear everything he was saying. Jen decided to use her knowledge of French and Italian to try and piece together something… don’t know which of them did it but we were finally let in.

It turns out that Uruguay had been there waiting as well, they had arrived a half hour before we had but they hadn’t been industrious enough to send out their energetic equipment manager or frightening tiny blond nutritionist to put things in order. Because they had been waiting for so long we split the field with them for the hour we were allotted, we tried to ignore the fact they were in spandex.

Even though we had made it into the stadium this did not mean we were in the clear, no one had informed the field manager that anyone was going to be using his field. He was not a happy man and was annoyed as all hell that we were stomping around on his pristine pitch. Again our sweet talking convinced him, but not without much muttering under his breath and lots of Portuguese gesticulating. I am sure it was all polite though.

Training itself went well, although not all that long, so we were soon heading home for lunch. After eating we only had about two hours to kill before boarding the bus again for training session number two. By this time it had started to rain here in Rio, no complaints from me, it was insanely hot here for the first day. This session was a lot more focused, since we weren’t splitting the field with a team we will be facing in the first round, it was also a wet one as the rain never let up. After supper we all just did our own thing, I think most of the team played a board game, I headed to bed like the party animal that I am.

DAY THREE
We got to sleep in a little this morning, very much appreciated, the fact it was still raining though. I said yesterday that I was fine with the rain that I didn’t like it being too hot, even though this still holds true, too much rain will also quickly become a nuisance.

Heck I have been living in B.C. with rain for the past 6 months. The rain is also not at all conducive to the Bermuda beachwear team Canada has been issued these games. The gear is nice enough but when you are the team wearing flip-flops, surfing shorts, and a light T-shirt in the pouring rain the catcalls and whistles soon become annoying.

We ate breakfast at 9 this morning and then had some free time to get a little more settled in, we have been keeping pretty busy since arrival. Just after 10 the defenders and the goalies had a meeting with coaching staff, followed by the forwards some time around 11- I like these nice quiet mornings.

We ate lunch at 12, I went with the usual South American fare, at least my experience of it, and had some rice and beans. After living in Knoxville Tennessee for five years during college this simple meal has been my favorite for a long time. My only problem is that they only serve it for lunch, and I want it every meal. I’m sure my roommate is pleased they don’t. After eating we headed straight to the buses and it was off to training once again.

We train at a field about a half hour away. At least I think it is a half hour away, hard to tell when there is heavy traffic, some times it is a little shorter and sometimes much MUCH longer. We train on a field located… well I have no idea really, you drive through what looks like a pretty poor area for a long time, then you hit what appears a more wealthy area, go past a huge swamp, and then you find our field located behind something that might or might not be a school, the name of which I believe is UniverCidade!

The poorer section just mentioned above seems to be the norm in Brazil as far as I can see. I admit readily that my experiences here are obviously limited and that we are only getting to see the very tip, if that, of Brazilian culture, but I want to try and get across what I am fortunate enough to see during my time here- apologies to anyone who is offended by my naïve, ignorant ramblings.

After training we rushed back to our rooms to shower quickly, throw on our skirts, yes that was written correctly, and head to the flag raising ceremony. All female members of the team Canada crew wore skirts, none looked overly pleased about it. I had definite issues with mine, as only a size 12 made it over my gigantic quads, leaving me with a waistline that just did not fit. The team had a good laugh about the fact I was able to tuck the waistline of it into my sports bra and that with my jacket on no one could tell- not the most comfortable of situations.

The ceremony itself was a short one, not a bad thing as we were all pretty hungry. The mayor of the Pan American Village- we were all fairly bemused by this title but that is what they said- gave a good speech and then our governor General Michelle Jean went up to the podium to speak. She spoke very well in both English and French and wished us all the best in the games. I thought it was very cool that she came all the way out here to give us support and wish us luck.

The ceremony closed with the national anthem being played as our flag was raised. It now flies right in the middle of all the participating countries flags in the international section of the village. This section has a burger joint, stores, banks, and even a disco…you name it they might just have it there, I have yet to fully explore.

It is now 9:45 and I am going to be heading to bed. It gets dark really early here, it is black before 6 o’clock, so you fatigue early. We are used to home where it is still light outside at 9 in the evening, quite a shock to the system when you go from the middle of the summer to the middle of the winter.
A demain (salute, see you tomorrow).

DAY FOUR
Basically a quiet day seeing as tomorrow will be our first game. We were up early, 7:20, before having a quick team meeting and heading to breakfast. We had to eat early as we had an earlier than usual training time, 10, this was in preparation for our game tomorrow to be played at 11.

The training session was a lighter than usual one, just worked on formations and tactics in anticipation for Uruguay in the morning. We were at a new facility today, it looked a lot like a Navy base of some sort, but then again it could have been anything really- There were a lot of uniformed men with very big guns though.

After practice we had lunch and then decided to watch the Godfather part one, more than one of us had never seen it before. I know there are a lot of big fans of the film out there so I won’t say too much but geez what a loooooooooooooong movie. We ended up having to watch it in spurts as both supper and a pre-game meeting got in the way. I didn’t mind the interruption though, as both my sore bottom and me needed little walkabouts.

Tonight will be an early night; we start up again at 7 tomorrow. Time for the games to begin.

DAY FIVE
July 15 – We got to sleep in a little bit this morning; wake-up was at 8:40 – exciting stuff. We ate breakfast at 9 and then got the exciting news that our training had been cancelled for the day. I think this decision came for two reasons A) they had been changing training times and field locations around constantly yesterday and I think management got the distinct feeling that we might be driving around for hours without finding a field, and B) because we play a game every second day there wont be much opportunity to have a free day again, why not give us one right at the start of the tournament. Whatever the reasons were we were very pleased and grateful, bikinis were soon sported by almost all.

The next few hours were free to do with whatever we pleased, within reason, I went to the pool. The water in the pool is frigid but on a hot Brazilian day I have to say that it is also incredibly refreshing. After a quick dip a few of us lay out while a few headed back inside for some cover. It was an amazing way to spend the morning, sorry to those back home in rainy Canada.

We ate lunch at 1230 and then had a recovery session with our TWIST trainer Andrew. Even though we might have gotten the day off from training this does not mean we were totally off the hook. We went into the basement of our building and did a dynamic warm-up before heading outside for a 20 minute run around the village. The run was not for fitness or for us to work overly hard; instead it was for us to get our muscles working a bit in order to be loose for tomorrow’s game. We then did a few drills on the ladders, fast footwork, before a stretching session done in the pool.

Tonight will be a quiet one with supper followed by meetings. In between these things a few of us are going to try and watch the Godfather part 2, I just don’t know if I can make it through it though- the first one nearly did me in.

Night to all…