Team USA came of age this morning.
Coach Surran had promised a tough practice and a demanding day for that matter with a second session at the Kawasaki Stadium from 3pm to 5pm following the morning drills. This was the squad’s last chance to hit in full pads before lighter sessions on Thursday and Friday.
The general feeling among the players and coaches was that the team is on the right tracks with the game against Japan only three days away. “It was a tough practice, but we did some good things and it seemed to go well,” said running back Troy Smith.
Along with team mates and fellow Arizona representatives Alex McGillivray and Michael DiGangi (whose bags finally showed up today), Smith met the Mayor of Kawasaki Mr. Abe in his offices at lunch time. A quick burst along the busy Kawasaki streets got the players there in time to join head coach Jeff Scurran, organizers Shinzo Yamada and Patrick Steenberge and members of the Japanese squad at the formal reception.
Mr. Abe told them: “We are very pleased that we had so many local families eager to host your players and we could have accommodated a squad twice as large in size, the response was so great. I could see at the welcome banquet that the players and families were already having a great time together.
“I wish you all a great game and I hope that one day we see players from both teams playing at the highest level of the sport.”
The Team USA players had an opportunity to address Mr. Abe. DiGangi said: “We are delighted to be here and feel very relaxed when we are with our host families.” McGillivray added: “You have a very beautiful city and I am having the time of my life. I would also like to say good luck to our opponents this Saturday.”
There was no time to waste before a return to the field where practice was eventually halted by a torrential downpour and the rain showed no sign of relenting when the players headed home to be with their host families. The poor weather seems to be following Team USA around, first in San Diego and now in Kawasaki.
After the hectic past few days, Thursday evening was one for rest and relaxation. Whether or not the players did that is a question for tomorrow’s blog, but the players and staff certainly did at their Sunroute Hotel in the city.
A few brief observations about the hotel to end: the bathroom mirror has a texture in an area at the perfect level for shaving or applying make up, which causes it to remain clear while the rest of the mirror is steamed up after showering. Genius! The hotel has metallic ‘do not disturb’ signs and presumably a metallic substance in the doors so that those signs can be easily applied and do not fall off door handles as if so often the case, or become lost or worn.
Talking of ‘do not disturb’ it is late enough in Kawasaki to put up the magnet and bid you sayonara for now.
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