Anyways, a while back Cassie (american exchange student who also plays rugby) found a local club not too far from here so we went along to give it a try.
I managed to get hopelessly lost the first time I went to training as I had looked at a map before I left and noted a landmark (hospital) that I could use to get off the bus. Unfortunately it turned out there are two hospitals along the pereferico, and I of course got off at the wrong one with no idea where I was and turned out was really quite far from where I was trying to go! Anyways, several phone calls, running in circles and helpful people on the bus later, I finally made it to the training ground. Have to say at times like that really miss GPS on my phone. So easy at home when I get lost and can just pull up a map with a little flashing dot that tells me where I am / where I need to go.
Was a little disheartned when I first arrived and they announced, now we are going to do passing......
Just turns out there were a few people who hadn't really ever played before, but there are also a few who are pretty good so makes for a mixed bunch. The pitch where we were training didn't have floodlights for the first session so made for interesting times trying to catch in half-light! Luckily ever since then the lights have always been on when we're there.
Unfortunately cause I have classes on mondays until 10, I can only make training on Weds, and even then I have to go straight from class cause finish at 7!
First torneo was a few weeks back. O also forgot to mention they don't play 15's here, just 7's. Was a little worried going into it as like I said, quite a few of the girls hadn't played before / really ever tackled!
The whole thing was quite a different experience - we arrived at the place and they were still painting the pitch, which was more of a square than a rectangle. Not to mention the posts were just large sticks that had been duck-taped onto football goals, and the try zone was 1m and came before the posts!
However was a really fun day, even though we only won one out of 4 games. I got to play scrum-half and dropkick at one point, which made for interesting viewing! Excited for the next torneo in a few weeks, there was supposed to be one this weekend just gone but it got cancelled :(
As you may know, it's somewhat of a miracle that i've gone this long wihtout mentioning what i ate....
After the game we went to this awesome restaurant where you can eat all you want for 98pesos (less than £5), the only condition being that you finish everything you ask for. It was like 10 different flavours of chicken wings, ribs and fries, that came in little baskets of like 6-8 pieces. I thought it was great, although Cassie being a vegetarian didn't enjoy it quite as much!
Everyone on the team is super friendly and we got invited to one of the girls halloween / birthday party that was really fun.
Training's going well although for some reason I can't quite fathom, the others seem to be afraid of me in tackling drills?! Maybe cause I've won me versus everyone bulldog twice now :)
Last week we went along to the 'trials' for the 'estado de mexico' team, kinda like county. But wasn't a great turnout as for girls was basically our team plus 2 other people from other teams! Not sure how it works and I think there are two teams, under 21 and over. But everyone in our team is over 21 so not sure who's in this under 21 team! Anyways, I think it was the start of the selection process, so hopefully if I'm part of that then I'll get a few more games in!
