Submitted by Anonymous on May 5, 2010 - 8:59pm
Hi All,
So Dale told me that I should send you all some ramblings as an update to my goings on in the land of Oz. So here it goes...
I will spare the details of 5 million hours of flight. But suffice it to say, I was very relieved when I landed in Perth to get a chance to walk around and meet with Dale and Tony at Subiaco Oval. A former footy player for Esperance named Aaron was kind enough to take me around town and deliver me as scheduled to Dale's doorstep. There was definitely an impact to walk into one of the temples to footy. Going from seeing and playing on nothing but lumpy, patchy ground, to seeing where it all happens for the Eagles and Dockers was definitely inspiring.
Once Dale and Tony imparted their wisdom and encouragement onto me, I was off to my country footy team in Esperance. My coach, Colin McArthur, and his family have been kind enough to take me in and help indoctrinate me into the local team and culture. I just want to say here that the generosity of the community, especially that of the MacArthur’s, has just been overwhelming. Everyone has made an effort to contribute to my experience in some way and I have only been here a few days.
I could write a novel about my first few days but I'll limit it to footy for speedy reading. My first practice was on Friday for the Newtown/Condingup Lions. There were about 40 plus guys in attendance and all of them immediately treated me as a teammate. Then we had a good hard training session. The speed and accuracy of skill is certainly something above what I am used to and some of these guys are just amazing. I learned more in those two hours than I thought possible. No one tried to overwhelm me with sagely advice, so they focused their criticisms on some basics and decided to continue building from there.
With only one training under my belt I faced off against Gibson with the Lions B grade for their annual ANZAC day match. Let’s just forget the score and say it didn’t end well for us unfortunately. But I did manage to utilize much of what I had learned on Friday and am excited for the opportunity to get better and exact revenge on Gibson. I played most of the game at ruck, and managed to win most contests. Apparently did well enough to win fourth best on ground which might just be a little nudge of encouragement rather than actual fact. Watching the A grade teams play was just good ole' fashioned schooling on how things should go. They too lost, but it was a much cleaner and more exciting game.
Anyways, if you are still awake by this point, that's all I got. I'm excited to explore more of Esperance and other parts of SW Australia. For those of you who were wondering about Esperance....it has to most beautiful beaches you will ever see, hands down. But pink lake is no longer pink.
For those of you who helped get me here: Thanks!
Cheers,
James
