Going Crazy at MYPA House

February 22:

It was my first day meeting the new team, and they’re a good bunch.  Today was just a recovery day so all we did was some dynamic stretches and easy movement exercises to help the players’ bodies feel better.  Nothing out of the usual except that a) the coach wasn’t there and b) everything was done at the clubhouse.

I should note that MYPA’s clubhouse is quite unique.  First, it is a three story building plus a basement and it houses a (very old) gym, club offices, the locker room and a sauna.  In addition it also houses a bowling alley and the awful apartment I’m staying in.  You may or may not have noticed a problem there…allow me to clarify: THERE IS A BOWLING ALLEY ABOVE MY APARTMENT!  I didn’t notice it last night because I was picked up so late that I arrived after it closed.  For the past 7 1/2 hours, (it’s 8pm now) I have been hearing bowling ball after bowling ball crash into pins and be returned to the top of the lane.  Now I must admit that the bowling balls sound an awful lot like thunder, so in a way it’s kind of soothing.  Something like a thunderstorm going on outside while you’re comfortably indoors.  But in another, more real way, it is incredibly annoying.  If a writer were trying to create a terrible apartment for a novel, he or she wouldn’t even dream of putting a bowling alley upstairs.  It’s just too ridiculous of a thought.  Surely, the author would think, no one would put a dwelling underneath a bowling alley.  Or better yet, surely no one would think to put a bowling alley on the third floor of the building!

Oh and remember when I said I was working in the kitchen?  Well the outlet that the freezer was hooked up to stopped working.  When I got back from training there was a huge pool of water coming from it.  It smells great.

Tomorrow I get to actually play soccer, which should help me to be more comfortable here.  There are actually going to be two sessions, and one of them is an all-or-nothing, make-or-break session with myself, another trialist and the two goalkeepers.  I’m pretty sure I will be judged for better or for worse based on that 60 minutes tomorrow afternoon.  But why shouldn’t that be the case?  It goes with the theme of this trip.  I’m confident though in my ability and one of the trialists here is someone I’ve actually played with long ago when my future was much brighter.  You’ll never guess who it is so don’t even try.  I’ll ask him if he minds me mentioning his name in this blog and if he says yes then I’ll mention him and tell a bit of his story.

Wish me luck!  I sure could use some right about now.