The gym with 3 walls (Day 0)

We just got back from the Opening Ceremonies. What a treat! I guess the last ones I attended (Barcelona Olympics 1992) are too far away. I didn't remember. It is hard to describe the sensation you get when you enter the stadium and get the first glimpse of the 60,000 spectators cheering you on. What a feeling. This is the true hint that the Games are underway. In fact, we start playing tomorrow. 

We scrimmaged against Mexico this morning in a gym about 10 minutes away from the Village (another treat), on the very nice campus of a Jesuite University called Iteso. But for a strange reason, the gym we played in had only 3 real walls. 2 volleyball courts with a wooden floor, with one side of the court we played on totally open. There was a small bleacher a few feet way which was half full for our match. Very unusual. The match itself was nothing to write home about but served its purpose: get the girls a step closer to being ready to play tomorrow. Both coaches played everybody. Both teams made a lot of mistakes. In the end, Mexico prevailed 3-2 (17-25, 25-22, 27-25, 21-25, 15-10). 

We received all the other team rosters at the Technical meeting last night. Except for the USA, everyone has brought their A team to these Games. We did  as well, except we are missing 3 players from the Norceca Championship roster: Sarah Pavan (playing Pro in Italy), Marisa Filed (playing pro in Germany) and Kyla Richey (studying at UBC). 

Tomorrow night will be our first match and we'll jump right in and battle Cuba. You can see the tournament details on the Norceca website at the following link: http://www.norceca.org/2011%20Events/Guadalajara_2011/guadalajara2011men/Guadalajara%202011.htm

If you want to access the Pan Am Games website, just click on the logo at the top of this page.

À demain.

JB