Postcards From Argentina - Day 7
September 23, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
Journal Day #7 – by Connor Hughes
Hey everybody it's Connor Hughes checking in for the daily update. Today we had no matches so we had the opportunity to relax and enjoy some of what Argentina has to offer. Kniff gave us the option to wake up early for breakfast or catch up on some sleep. It's safe to say that the majority of the team took the choice for a rare sleep in. After we all had plenty of sleep we loaded into the bus to head out to practice. Once we arrived we decided to take a different approach to warming up for practice. We headed out to the field and split into two teams for a soccer match. As regulation time expired the game was tied, so we decided to take it to penalty kicks. Lucky for my team we had the sleeper (assistant coach Kevin Burch) who rocketed a shot, temporarily disabling goalie Colin Merhing, to seal the victory. From there we continued onto a light practice for about 45 minutes before loading onto the bus again to head back to the hotel.
After enjoying some free time to ourselves we met up again for a short video session and a snack. Then we headed back to the arena two watch the Torray Arrows from Japan play the powerhouse home Argentina team Bolivar. The Arrows jumped out fast taking a 2-0 lead over Bolivar before the local team started to show some life, taking back the 3rd game. In the 4th, Bolivar was in control till the end when the Arrows went on a late game run to take the match 29-27. We then headed down to the cafe for a quick coffee, but little did we know we were about to go through an experience none of us were ready for...
Coming down from the match to cafe we were bombarded by hoards of screaming 13 and 14 years old Argentina fans. The majority of which were girls volleyball players. Trainer Jim told us it was a similar experience as the Beatles coming to America. The more modern quote from some of the teammates were comparing us to Justin Bieber after his concerts. Nevertheless, we destroyed the mellow vibe the cafe had before we arrived. We posed for many photos but crowd favorites included Ian, Dan McDonnell, Colin Merhing and Travis Woloson. We all had a little taste of what it felt like to be a celebrity. As the bus drove away to dinner the fans continued to chase us down the street taking pictures. We continued on to a very traditional meal from a local restaurant. The meal included all sorts of different types of meat served on a sort of hot plate that was brought to the table. We made the mistake of asking what a few things on the plate were and after we learned what Stork thought was chewy shrimp was actually animal intestine we decided not to ask anymore. Following dinner we had a brisk walk to the hotel were we turned in early to prepare for our friendly match against Canada the next day.
Connor
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