The First 2 Days

Wednesday was my 1st full day here. We spent the majority of the day sitting in the classroom going over Tournament Information as well as specifics of the Laws. We had presentations from all of the Referee Instructors/Fitness Personnel and our Mental Preparation Specialist...how cool is that! We had a break for lunch and then, back into the classroom for some more education. We played a game where Sonia threw a ball at us, and asked us a question. Things like....where are we? What other cities are going to be used for the games? What is your job?, etc....my question....How many countries are there in FIFA? Are you kidding me? So I say...209 (I think that's the number of bones in the human body!) and guess what....I was almost right! There are actually 208 (I'm sure that one dropped out recently :) hehehe. In the evening I went for a massage, and then off to bed. I have to say, I am sleeping like a log! It's amazing.

Thursday morning we got up and boarded the bus for training. We spent about 2.5 hours doing a variety of warmup, agility, and technical exercises. It was a fairly light session as we were going to be running the fitness test the next morning. For the technical part, we had a team of boys (~14-15 years old), who came out to basically foul each other over and over again. It was amazing how creative they could be in the different ways they came up with to take each other out and they didn't stop there, they would even start pushing matches afterward to ensure that we continued to deal with the situation even after the fact...impressive! After training we headed back to the hotel for lunch and then our accreditation appointment. Mine didn't go so well. I could not seem to get a picture with my eyes open...hahha...it was so funny (probably not to man who had to keep trying to take my picture), eventually we got one! Afterward we had another meeting to deal strictly with the fitness test. We were told....if you fail, you are going home. Something I already knew, but to hear it again, it definately makes your heart beat a little faster. Merere, one of our fitness instructors, showed us a video of the test so we would know what to expect the next day. We were also told that we would all be using the Polar Heartrate Monitor belt so that they could track our heart and how hard it is working. It's all so high-tech. Speaking of high-tech, I found out today that we are going to be using the communication systems (headsets) when we referee....I am so excited! Now I will have someone to talk to while I am out there...how perfect! But first, before I think about all that....I have a job to do...pass the fitness test. Off to bed to get a good night sleep. Think happy thoughts for me! Cross your fingers and your toes and anything else you can cross!