Imperia

Monday morning was hell. 6:00am. I wanted to throw my alarm clock as it alerted me to start my day. I would rather hear nails scraping a chalkboard for 10 minutes then hear that initial “bleep” of the clock in the morning. Following my initial loathing of my alarm clock was the realization that my whole body was in tremendous pain. The two year break from snowboarding was paying its toll now. Everything from the arches in my feet, up through my back and to the top of my neck was screaming at me that anything but staying in bed for the next 2 days was ill-advised. As much as I wanted to comply I had to get ready and meet the team as we were taking a road trip to Imperia for a day of training against their squad. Somehow I got myself to the rendezvous spot and instantly fell asleep on the bus. While I was far away and safe from my alarm clock I ended up snoring so loud that I woke myself up…I just couldn’t win.
Imperia which is located at one of the farthest west regions of the country is right near the border of France. It is a town that starts up in the hills and flows down through the valleys till it hits the sea and a very nice little harbor. The indoor pool was amazing and located right at the edge of the docks. After our morning training we walked all around the harbor and coastal part of the town until we hit the beach. While most of the guys were not that impressed by the town, I thought it was beautiful and made a mental note to return when I had the time.
I was excited to scrimmage with this squad because they have one of the few Americans that is playing over here, Jeff Powers. While I don’t really know him, I’ve been playing against him since I was 16 and was looking forward to finally speaking some normal English with someone. Powers is a stud, a very talented center who was a huge contributor on the USA silver medal Olympic Team. I haven’t played against him since I converted to a defender and was curious to see how I’d stack up. Unfortunately for me returned to the US for the holidays and wasn’t there.
They were a strong team and gave us a pretty good beating in our session. I don’t think it helped that Cano (or goalie) and I couldn’t move our legs from the day of boarding before. I thought I could swim through it and loosen out but it never happened. I was exhausted and sore the whole time. There were some moments of nice play and even a little fight between me and their other center stopped play for a while as we had to be separated. I was happy to see that Andrea (Captain) stepped in for me right away and had my back. You never really know where you team stands with you until something like that happens.
After our second training session of the day we left the Imperia and stopped in Savona for a very nice dinner. We have two players from Savona and it was really nice to see a little of their town. Andrea and Alessio ordered the food and it seemed like the dishes kept coming. The full and happy stomach put me right to sleep as I didn’t wake up until we were all the way back in Bergamo regardless of my snoring.

-Bus #10