Saturday July 4th

Saturday July 4th.

There is a silent buzz around the team. Today is the first day of training and no one can sleep. We have a wake up call at 6:00 am but almost everyone is up before that. We all get changed for training and set out for breakfast. Breakfast consists of vegetables, salads, bread, eggs, cakes, cheese and the richest chocolate milk known to man. Some of us ate responsible and others not so much. But since we are athletes and know how our bodies respond to food we are all good. We take our time and have a nice breakfast and then we are quickly placed on our respective busses. No surprise to the Futsal team we are assigned to the wrong bus. Of course we correct the problem and get on the correct bus. We are heading to the Wingate which is one amazing sports facility. I was told that it is among the top sports education facilities in the world. I can see why as soon as we get there. The grounds are built for sports and the training of athletes. Statues line the grounds as we enter. They have facilities for gymnastics, swimming, wrestling, judo, cycling, along with a few very nice soccer fields and a really cool black top covered outdoor futsal court. Regulation size and everything. There are seats built into the side of a small hill so spectators can watch the games. We start to warm up and as soon as we stepped onto the court we were attracting people who were interested in watching. We could have had at most 8 people watching…except for the 30 little kids who were walking to the pool so it really wasn’t a large gathering. But it was nice to have fans.

By the way….the answer is YES…the team looks good and we do have a chance to upset some teams in this competition. Sergio ran a very nice training session and we got a chance to scrimmage at the end. We need a bit more time working together but we are starting to come together as a team and look good doing it.

We spend 2 hours training and the jump on the bus to head back to the hotel. We arrive and decide to go jump in the pool to cool off and hang out. The only problem is the water park wants 30 shekels (about $7.50) to enter. We laugh and head to the FREE beach. It takes about 15 minutes to walk there only because the path looks like something out of an Indiana Jones movie…you know the one when they are looking for the cup in the cave…the only difference is there is nothing to cut our heads off and we are not walking in a cave.

Now I’m sure you are asking…was the walk worth it? To be honest…NO. Yes it was the Mediterranean ocean but the beach looked like the ones we have in Cleveland. Rocky, dirty and at times scary. I can tell you that we will be spending the 30 shekels in the future.
We head back to the hotel for lunch. The food here so far has been very good and this lunch was no exception. There are so many options and no one goes hungry. Its good to be an
American.

At 1:00pm we are scheduled to get on the bus to start our first day of site seeing. They schedule us to go to Morasha National Park and walk in the footsteps of the Maccabees. (yes the guys from Hanukah) This park in an archeologists dream. Every step you take is a step into history. We follow our guide into a dark hole and now we are crawling on the ground and fitting threw small holes leading from room to room. Some places we can stand but others we can’t and have to get dirty. We follow the trail of candles and the person in front of us. Everyone went in and everyone came out...most of us wanted to stay because it was nice and cold compared to the desert heat waiting for us outside. They showed us a few other caves, these we didn’t have to crawl around in. We got a first hand lesson on what it took to make olive oil 3000 years ago. It is amazing how people survived without modern technology…it really makes us wonder if we could handle as well as they did.

We again get on the bus and head to the National Military Monument which is located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. We are told stories about how a Jordanian group occupied this building and made it impossible to get past them. Bombs, snipers and road blocks would cover the area and made it hard to pass. Many people died…until the Jews got smart and built a bypass. Smart right… Eventually the Jordanians left and it became a military outpost which turned into a police station and now a monument. Its covered with old tanks and remnants of a time past which we all know is not that far from where we are today. There is this wall with the names of every Israeli soldier who has died engraved into it. It really puts things into perspective since our guide showed us the name of one of her friends.

After that sad realization of our mortality we are driven to the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel and had a large BBQ with the entire US delegation. All 903 athletes and another 100 people or so who made this trip happen. Of course they have a band dresses up like cowboys playing country music since all Americans are country folk…they also feed us hot dogs and burgers. Kind of disappointing but they did have humus and pita bread so it wasn’t a total loss. (you can see they feed us well hear…its not to bad)

We get a chance to hang out with the open men’s and women’s soccer team. We are exposed to the other 88 teams from 27 different sports that the US has brought to Israel. It really is an amazing sight. Seeing all these Jewish Americans in Israel for the sole purpose competing in the games. This is unlike any other trip most of us have ever been on. I can honestly say….THIS IS AN AMAZING TRIP. And we are only on our first full day here.