January 24: All good things come to an end...

Jan 24


Well it;s our last day of training with the teams. We have the girls team early, from 7-8:30, the boys team 8:30-10 and beach 12-1. The girls practice went very well and we worked a lot on serving technique again and then focused on some serve receive games and defense before wrapping up and starting with the guys. The girls have made a LOT of strides the l;st few days and we are excited to see how they do at the national tournament. The guys practice went very well and was really spirited for an early practice after a tough practice the night before. We focused hard on serve receive and some of the new play sets we installed in the evning practice the night prior. We are continually amazed at how quickly the guys learn and adapt to the new concepts we introduce. After the guys practice we hung around for a bit chatting with the players before starting the beach workouts. We just let them play a lot and did a King of the Court work up, switching the top players between courts in terms of points after someone got to 10. After three rounds we took 6 of the best players and let them play against Mark and I. Everything was going well until Mark ran a ball down and tripped on a cement barrier in the sand behind the court cutting a deep gash in his right leg. No stitches were needed but it looks pretty gnarly. Needless to say that ended the playing session and after some on the spot impromptu medical care, we signed the certificates for the playes and had a nice closing cremony with the players, staff and some other volleyball higher ups. Included in thi was a uniform ceremony where we handed out the uniforms to the players and honored them. It is very big deal to represent the state and most players live upwards of 6-8 hours away. After the ceremony we had lunch with the entire camp and got to know the players away fm thre court a bit. They are all very nice individuals and it was great getting to know them. We found out we were the first Americans they had met and quite possibly the only ones they ever will meet. That is hard to fathom but very humbling.

After lunch we cleaned up and went and relaxed and got a massage. Mark and I weren't really sure what was in store for us but we soon found out. After a quick meeting with the owner we were both taken to rooms for our massges and, well, let's just say a rubdown by some Indian guy with a mustache and waxy massage oils while we were wearing paper diapers ain't what we were expecting. I kept laughing because all I could remember was George Costanza freaking out bevause he thought it moved. Trust me, it didn't move. As much as I showered at the place, the inch think bhild up of masssge oil on me wasn't going anywhere. I must have showered for 20 minutes and it still wasn't gone. Ugh.

After another shower at the hotel we went to the coast for dinner at Fishermans Cove, a resort about an hour from the city. The view was beautiful and the sound of the water and waves really helped recharge my batteries. Dinner was outstanding,Mark and I both had lobster that cost about US$12 with some shrimp and calamari for appetizers. It was nice to relax and eat right on the beach and a great way to end a long week.

After the drive back, it was time for bed as we had another early morning to catch a flight to Coimbatore, a city about an hour flight west for some quick R and R. So, from Chennai, good night.