Yesterday I was one lucky cat...I got to travel to Managua with Yelba to train with the Nicaraguan National Team. It definitely isn't every day that you get the opportunity to train with another Country's National Team. All I can say is RAD! Yelba is one of the youth coaches for Futbol Sin Fronteras and has been a part of the program for a year or so. She loves the program and has such great stuff to say about the previous coaches here, that I felt a lot of pressure for us to get along. After a few minutes, a few laughs at me trying to say "dale pues" (the cool way here to say "ok, cool then"), and a few shared crackers we were like sisters. My much faster, fitter younger sister I'd like to add.
By 1 pm, we were on the bus to Managua. The bus was pretty packed and the music was jamming to an awesome mix of Latino hits and old school American songs. After a 45 min trip, we changed buses at a crazy busy bus station. Managua is busy and loud and was a major change from Granada, which is mas tranquilo. By 2pm we were at the stadium which is still in construction, but so far has a great field turf pitch and an impressive set of permanent stands set into a huge hill. We started training with a light warm up and stretching followed by a great deal of running and pliometrics. And when I say a great deal, I mean A LOT! These chicas are fit! After the running we broke up into two teams and played full field 10 v 10: first team (Yelba's) and second team (mine). I played center mid and Yelba played up top. Because Yelba's name is similar to another girl on the team, they call her Granada. Granada rocked training yesterday and hit the bar with an awesome shot that would have put her team up a goal. It was great to see her play well and playing for the first team given she is the second youngest player on the team. I played ok enough to get an invite back, but my legs truly felt like the old I Gringa that I am! But I'm definitely hoping to get a few more sessions in with her team. After training we snagged some of the fresh fruit from one of the coaches and hopped back on the bus.
Unfortunately the traffic is insane in the city and we didn't get back to Granada until 7:30 pm or so. A long day. Especially for Yelba who had class earlier in the day and does it four times a week. Quite a huge commitment for a teenager and it was very cool to see it first hand. She was very excited to show me the ropes and the pride she had for her National Team as well as Futbol Sin Fronteras was apparent throughout. The smile on her face when she introduced me to her coaches was almost as big as her smile when I said I was going to post about her shot. Salbaje! (cool)
This Thursday Boston is set to join her and I hope he has to run as much as I did! :)
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