Journal Entry # 8 Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Because we got back late the night before, the coach allowed us to sleep in
a little so we only had to get up at ten o'clock.
We went down to eat breakfast, then went back up to shower, then
back down to meet in the lobby for the bus. When we got there we
suited up and got ready to train. We trained with the person we
had the day before, a guy named Melro who looked like he was
about thirty but was actually only nineteen years old. Practice was
similar to the day before in that we started with an intense warm up
then moved on to cone drills. The cone drills focused on technical ability
and quickness which are qualities both instrumental to improvement. With
the cone drills we practiced some jukes, dribbling, and creating space. After
the cone drills we moved onto one touch passing and progressed into one
touch shooting. After these drills, a small trampoline was brought out and
incorporated into the training. We then went to lunch and had a little extra time.
With this extra time we went back to the Falcao store as a group, which not
everyone was happy about because some of the prices in the store were ridiculous.
People bought jerseys, bags, and other futsal related accessories. As we were
getting ready to leave, Falcao's brother who was one of the Brazilian international
futsal goalkeeper and also on Malwee came in to talk and sign stuff for us. After
that
we went back to the hotel for a quick nap and then back to Malwee for another
set
of training. Training was like the practice earlier in the day with a heavy focus
on first touch
and control. After training our coach went over to one of the Malwee head coach's
house for dinner, which was fine except he forgot to tell the owner of Pavenello's
that we
were coming because they only do breakfast and lunch so they open up at night
just for us. So
we went there without the coach and a couple of the parents and Pavenello's was
closed. Not
really knowing what to do, we decided to go back to the hotel to figure out a
place to eat. We ended
up going to the Pizza place for dinner and paying out of pocket. After a nice
dinner we all went back to
the hotel to watch the important
Copa America game where
Brazil played Mexico.
One of the youth players from the Malwee team, Andre, came over to the hotel to
watch the game with us. It was an
exciting game to watch, especially because we watched it with a native Brazilian
soccer player and also because Mexico upset Brazil in a two-zero win. After the
game it was pretty late so some of us went to bedand others went to go hang out
with Andre
to make him a Facebook