Monday night

OK, it's 10:40 pm. The coaches and chaperones have just finished hydrating after a long exhausting day. So please bear with any typos.

The boys had a great breakfast then went to the local (turf) soccer field to meet their infamous trainer, Leo. Turns out, the kids REALLY like him. He's blunt AND he's funny. They trained with him from 10 am - noon. Then came back to the hostel for lunch. Then they went back and had their second training from 2 - 4 pm. Leo apparently went easy on them in the afternoon.

Mostly Leo worked on passing. For those of you who care (OK, mabe its just Joe and Mary...) Leo did alot of 5 v 2 and 7 v 3 drills in small areas. It made the boys work on making good passes in a confined area. He is quick to note when a kid messes up, but he is even quicker to praise a kid. I chatted with Leo at lunch (yes, he ate lunch with us) and he told me he was a phys ed teacher here for 38 years. He quit because the Dutch kids didn't want to work hard or even try. He LOVES the American kids. I tried to tell Leo that not all American kids are like our kids. But apparently he likes Far Post kids. And he told Phil nd Chris that REALLY likes this group.

The kids had grilled cheese for a snack at 4 pm. Then at 5 pm we were back on the bus for our away game. We went a whole 4 miles., to play against Jekerdal. I'l try to get the correct spelling tomorrow when I become "unhydrated". Well, the game started at 6 pm. Christopher volunteerd for goalie frst, so he played goal the 1st half. Five minutes into the game, they scored. But a few minutes later Jack W. made an amazing header to tie the game up 1 - 1.

It stayed that score for while, then slowly the Dutch team outpowered us. I think the final score was 7 or 8 to 1. But our kids played their hearts out. The Dutch kids have clearly been on fields much more than us lately. (Well, they've been on since November.) They had great passing. Our passing and defense was a bit rusty. But we played with all our might. After the game all of the players (even our oppnent's goalie...who is a tall Dutch girl) got together for drinks. Most of the kids had soda, but we allowed Jack W to have anything he wanted, since he scored our only goal. Jack ordered a Bolldy Mary, which stunned most of us. ALL the rest of the kids shared soda and laughed A LOT! I espeacioally noted Peter Rinkema roaring with laughter while passing time with the Dutch kids. I heard him later say on the bus, "Well, you know I'm part Dutch!" He certainly was relaxed and having a blast after the game. And so were the Dutch kids. I believe Chad has a date with their goalie. But Eric says he's taller and he wants her.

It should be noted that this tem we played were all kids born in 1993. So they were a little bit older than some of our boys. Tomorrow we have another game and (I think) we play against a team of kids born in 1994.

I do want to say thank you to Henk, the chairman of the Jekerdal soccer club who hosted us today. His players were true gentlemen (and gentlewoman) and their refreshments after the match really hit the spot! Thank you Henk!

Tonight, at 8 pm, the kids had dinner. They had homemade pizza or pasta. There was also Minnestrone soup, salad, rice, barbeque chicken.... Lots of choices.

I have a small admission. Dr. Charlie and I skipped practice this afternoon in order to scout out the city of Maastricht. It's a beautiful city. The river flow thru the center of the city. The city has 120,000 people, and a large University (which recently signed a contract with the University of Vt to share facilities and teachers). Charlie took about 200 pictures today. We discovered lots of placed that the kids might want to visit.

OK, tomorrow's itineary: We wake up at 7:30 am. Have breakfast at 8 am. Have our first soccer training wth Leo at 10 am. Have lunch at noon. Have our 2nd soccer training at 2 pm. (But it's a short one.) Then at 3 pm we go to the nearby caves. These are caves the locals used 2,000 years ago to defend against opposing armies. The kids are excited. Then we have another match tomorrow at 6 pm. Then diner at 8 pm, followed by bed. As you can expect, the boys are pretty tired by the end of the day, but no one has fallen asleep in his dinner yet.

I know I promised you that Charlie and I would try to upload photos of the boys for you today. And I know that Dr. Susan and Dr. Harriott want to perform emergency surgery on me if I don't upload photos soon. the reaso I haven't doen it yet is..., er... Dr. Charlie hasn't helped n yet. (See how easily I pinned this on someone else?!!!) So I will try to get Dr. Charlie to upload his photos tomorrow am.

Well, it's almost 11 pm. Gotta get to bed.

I hope all of you are having fun. And for Mary and Joe, I have already purchased the clogs to wear to the games this spring.

Bye,

Jim