Moscow-Part 5 and headin' home!

            We have just arrived back from our game against Uruguay.  We lost, 13-11 to a penalty kick with no time left on the clock.  It was a heart breaker of a game with the Canadians leading the majority of the game.  The boys played well and played hard, but came up short in the end in the dying minutes with a botched call by the officials that should've awarded us a try late in the game.  Video analysis later showed that we in fact did score, but at this level you can't count on the officials to decide your fate.  I am a proud person right now even though the results of this tour were not in our favour.  We lost 2 games by a total of 4 points and one by 17 with 3 of the tries (against Japan) being fairly soft. Our boys were the biggest and fittest team in this event, but it boils down to experience.  We are the only team in this tournament with no big games or previous tournament experience.  You can take this as excuse making, but I work with enough of our National teams to know, this is the case for most of our team sports.  Generally, your training should outweigh your competition immensely.  You need ample time to work together, build cohesion and bond as a unit.  Getting together 6 weekends out of a year with no games leading up to a world class event is just not enough.

 We are lucky enough to have financial support from many donors, but I think it is important to note the hard work put in by Matthuw Ronald Jones and the Canadian Rugby Foundation.  They have helped us year in and year out with funding for these events, and without their support we would have a tough time doing anything.  If you are interested in helping support rugby in Canada, please feel free to email me and I will be happy to put you in touch with him.

            Onto Russia.  I may have been a little harsh on Moscow and Russia over the past 2 weeks.  I have to tell you though, the last couple days, I have met some people that have been more than pleasant and have seen some sights that will top anywhere in the world.  The fact is (and my facts are usually fairly wrong) is there are over 110 million people in Russian and over 10 million in Moscow.  You are bound to meet some "Debbie Downers" based off sheer numbers so it is unfair of me to generalize how much I have hated this place.  Billy, our bus driver (Konstantine) risked our lives every day to save 45 seconds off of each trip and I commend him for it.  After the game today, the guys gave him a standing ovation and chanted "Billy" for a good 2 minutes.  Sue our interpreter has been unreal as well.  Although she is not a gymnast, she has bent over backwards for us and has become (at least in my mind) and honorary Canadian.  I think a lot of my hate has just come from the hotel we are staying in.  The food tastes like hot garbage, the people are unhappy that work here and the water out of the taps smells like an outhouse.  But that is not enough to generalize the largest land mass in the world.  There are great people here, that give, that smile, that are happy, you just have to venture outside of this hotel complex to find them.  Our trip to the Red Square (although short) was unreal; people were friendly and laughing!  We even saw what looked to be Lady Gaga, and I have to say, she is one handsome fella. 

            As my last post, I feel it important to note that we have one of the most dedicated and unbelievable

            If you ever get a chance to come to Moscow, stay near the Red Square and you will see some culture that will blow your mind.  This has been a great experience for us all and has given us all a better understanding of Russia in general.  Keep in mind, this is coming from strength and conditioning coach.  My role is simple, help the guys get bigger, stronger and faster, then help them recover and eat right for the tour.  At the end of the day, as coaches-we the reason we coach is because we can't play anymore and we actually miss the highs and lows of sport.  As just strength and conditioning coach, my heart rate is elevated and my anxiety level is through the roof! 

            I am about ten beers down and we have a banquet for all the teams now. I can't wait to come home and I miss everyone other than Allan greatly.  We are leaving the hotel in about 4 hours and our journey is going to suck!  See you all soon!

Yours in Strength,

Joe