Andrew's Diary from Macquarie Uni Continues

Journal Week 5
February 26 – March 4

The sun rose brightly on Monday to signal the first day of classes for the semester and thus the opening of O-week. I had my first class around lunchtime that day and I got to the campus early to check out the scene. Outside the SAM building there were around 100 tents set up, all filled by various clubs and organizations from the Uni. I strolled around a little and had a chat with the bushwalking club but had to leave to get to my lecture on time. As I had expected the lecture was in an absolutely humongous amphitheater and there are probably 300 other people in the class. I did not come from a large school back home and this is something very new to me. It didn’t really bother me during the class and the teacher kept us involved enough to overcome the feeling of getting lost in the numbers.

Tuesday was much the same with lots of things happening as I walked down to class. That day the Sydney Swans had set up a booth on campus and they had a loudspeaker announcing all sorts of promotions they were having. Just as I stepped in into my classroom I heard them announce that Barry Hall would be on campus in 30 min to sign autographs. I stayed in class for 20 min and took an extended bathroom break to sprint home, get my football and get Mr. Hall to sign it. Most of the people at the event didn’t know too much about footy and he had a chuckle because I was the only one to bring a football. I was very content and returned to class to the questioning looks of the students around me.

At footy practice it was another wet, humid night and with our first practice game coming in less than two weeks, it was very intense. The numbers are still growing and we have picked up about seven or eight new blokes over the last week. Every day any new guys are asked to introduce themselves to the club, state where they have played before and give their nickname. Most usually have some sort of nickname and those that don’t have one given to them off first impressions (i.e. – mumbles).

The nickname habit of Aussies is a true original and I find it quite funny. The most common are the ones where an “o” is added to the end of a common name: Jonno, Robbo, Steve-o, etc. Other reasons nicknames are given include last names, physical attributes, drunken antics, and some that defy explanation.  Our team has quite a selection of all of the above, here are some of them: Sticks, Kinky, G-stud, Funky, Slug, Astro, Claw, Phar Lap, Smooth, Grim, Miserables, Doc, Rooster, Shagger, Banger, Razzle, Sloth, and Slime. At practice we only refer to each other by the nicknames and no one offers their real name instead. This came to a head on Wednesday night when I ran into a few of my teammates at the local pub. I was there with a large group of girls from the village and they were very keen for me to introduce them. I was happy to but realized that I had no idea what! there name was and I don’t think I helped them out very much by saying “hey Laura this is my friend Funky”.

The next day at practice the coach told us that we would be having a practice game of 3 quarters length instead of regular practice. I was excited to finally play a full size game with all the boys and I was happy they had chosen today. The coach counted off 2 equal sides told me that I would be playing ruck. The game started off well, I was playing against a tall opponent but I was winning most of the taps and jumping well. Back home in the States, my roll on the field was a ruckman/tall ruck rover. This allows me to attack the ball hard and I am frequently on the bottom of a pile trying to get the ball. During the practice game I played in the same manner and I was very tired during halftime. The coach pulled me aside and told me that while he liked my energy I was going to have to change my ways if I were to be playing ruck. I should not try and get the ball as that was the job of the smaller on-ballers. This will be a change for me but it is how I can play my position to the best of my ability

- Andrew Lamont
(857)