Today was our last day with our favorite dutch coach Roel! We had our last training session from 9-10:30 and then set off to explore the oldest city in Holland--Maastricht.
Upon our arrival in Maastricht, some of us separated on a tour of the history packed city, while others got a head start to the wonderful shopping in the area. Our first impression of Maastricht was that it was quite charming taken the friendly atmosphere and humble Cathedral "Basilica of Our Lady". Little did we know what was to come later that night...
Following our time in Maastricht we crossed the border into Belgium only to find ourselves in a mall quite similar to any mall you would see in the United States. As we were all exhausted from our three games and three training sessions in a row streak we would have simply gone back to rest if it weren't for our tour guide Hub insisting on us making it to our intended destination of the Maasmechlen Factory outlets. After browsing through outlet shops and having gellatto and/or "warm chocolate milk" we returned to the hotel to prepare for our second to last game of the trip.
Being that we had just been in Maastricht hours before our game, we had expected something a bit different than what we were exposed to. As we exited the bus to the Maastricht Club we noticed large tents filled with hundreds of intoxicated Dutch people and an uncountable amount of empty cups on the ground. Bombarded by people speaking to us in Dutch or telling us that we were "too late. the party is over", we fearfully trudged through the garbage to our field. As we walked many of us were reminded, by the wretched smell, of a familiar place at home called Riemert. Some parents are unlucky enough to have moved their children into this place and must understand the extent of this awful stench.
(man in background leaf-blowing empty cups and garbage off the field we played on)
We eventually excused this interesting welcome party with the fact that their summer had just begun, and refocused ourselves on the game. After the trash was literally blown off the field by what appeared to be a leaf blower, and our field was unexpectedly watered down during our pow-wow, we finally began the match. Though we were unable to score against this previously top ranked club team, we seemed to connect better than ever in the entire tournament. We fought long and hard for three 20 minute periods and learned a great deal. We then socialized with our opponents in their Club House and enjoyed the rest of our evening. It is now time for a nice break for our legs until our next and final game in Amsterdam on Tuesday night!
We eventually excused this interesting welcome party with the fact that their summer had just begun, and refocused ourselves on the game. After the trash was literally blown off the field by what appeared to be a leaf blower, and our field was unexpectedly watered down during our pow-wow, we finally began the match. Though we were unable to score against this previously top ranked club team, we seemed to connect better than ever in the entire tournament. We fought long and hard for three 20 minute periods and learned a great deal. We then socialized with our opponents in their Club House and enjoyed the rest of our evening. It is now time for a nice break for our legs until our next and final game in Amsterdam on Tuesday night!
-Bitts
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