Study Abroad 2009:Calcio Update,

Calcio Update,
Last night I had my first practice with an Italian club team. The club is called Polisportiva. I met Andrea, one of the players, at a train station 10 minutes from my apartment and then he drove me to the field. This was the first time I had been in a car since arriving in Italy. Andrea mentioned that for people living in Milan, it doesn’t make sense to drive because of all the traffic and the public transportation is really good. The players on the team are all 18 and 19 years old and go to a school near the training facility. When we arrived, Andrea introduced me to everyone including the coach, whom they call “Mister” (roll the ‘r’). Mister did not speak much English, phrases he knew included “It’s OK” and “Very good.” Mister and the guys were asking me questions before training, such as where I was from, who my favorite player is, how many times I can juggle, and so on. When Mister asked me a question in Italian and I could not understand he would laugh and then one of the players would try and translate it for me. They were all laughing at the situation, but were having fun testing their English on me. After the Q&A session, I was led into the locker room and we suited up. The field was something that I was not used to. The corners had patches of grass or what used to be grass. The center of the field was bumpy dirt speckled with rocks. Luckily it had rained a few days prior so the ground was not rock hard. During the training session I was partnered with Mister and we demonstrated the variations of the shooting drills. He would take me aside and explain what we were going to do in Italian, simple Italian, and then we demonstrated for the group. I got a few “wows” from the guys with a few of my shots. Then we scrimmaged, 7 on 7, using half of the field. I had a lot of trouble communicating with them because I don’t know the little phrases like “time”, “man on”, etc… I quickly found out that many of my teammates did not want to play defense, so I had to get back and play some center defender (I started as left midfield). There were 2 players that caught my eye, while the rest were consistent. I was impressed with their ability to play one touch keep away. Relating the Italian players to the equivalent in the US I would have to say that the Italians all have a better first touch. I had 2 of our teams 3 goals. After one of the goals in which I beat two players one of my teammates said, “Amore Chicago” or something along those lines. The team is currently 15 games into the season and sits in second to last place in the league. If I am allowed to play in the games I hope to help turn their season around. We shall see. Our next practice is Tomorrow. It is going to be an awesome adventure…

KR