Friday - Training at Wingate/Coaches Learning Experience

This morning we had our first training session at Wingate. As expected it started out rather slow since it had been a couple of days since we've been able to train. Jessica took Gaby and Alexa and did some technical training with the keepers. I worked on re-establishing the tempo of possession that we had developed prior. By the time the keepers joined us for a intra-squad scrimmage we were firing on all cylinders again. In fact, I had orginally planned on a 90 min session but the level of play was so good and we seemed to be in such a good zone that I allowed the play to continue an additional 20 min. We played the final 10 min golden goal but both keepers were playing extremely well so I ended it a draw and we went to penalty kicks.
After training the girls hung out around the hotel. Some of them working on their tans. (here's a picture of Hannah sporting her #3)

I attended the soccer technical meetings with other coaches back at Wingate.

After the soccer technical meetings, all the soccer coaches went to the parking lot to return and there were 4 buses sitting and none of the drivers could take us anywhere without authorization. At one point they were all standing in a circle talking on cell phones at the same time. (loudly I might add) Finally all the coaches were told to get on a bus but I got a call from Harold(our delegation manager) who said they were sending a car for us. We stood around for about 10 mins when another bus pulled up and said "are you going to Shefayim"? We got on and drove up the hill to leave when we came upon the other bus of soccer coaches. We pulled along side and the drivers spoke for a min. We were then all then told to get out and switch buses. It was then like a chinese firedrill with soccer coaches switching buses in the middle of the road and cars behind us honking. After we got on the other bus the driver said he was taking us to Shefayim. BUT, instead of going out the gate he did another lap of Wingate and picked up a group of Australians who were supposed to be staying with us but had changed to another hotel. Fortunately at that point I negotiated with the driver to drop us off first before then going on the figure out how to get the Aussies to their place. We've been spoiled by having the US Delegation handling logistics but now we are at the mercy of the greater Maccabiah bureaucratic system. Truely a learning experience for our coaches. I've been telling the girls to be prepared "hurry up and wait" and now I have a first hand experience.

We had Shabbat dinner together and then the players all hung out and mingled with the other athletes in the courtyard the rest of the evening.
Shabbat Shalom, Ya'll