Aug. 22, 2009

Today we woke up at AIA (Athletes In Action) for a breakfast at 7:15 a.m., which we were all excited about because an hour more of sleep was well appreciated. After a breakfast of cereal and Pop-Tarts we ran to the high-ropes course.

Before the actual course we participated in a game called tank. In this game you were paired up with a partner and given a blindfold. Balls were strewn around an area marked by cones. One partner was to be the `shield' and was allowed to see. The other was blindfolded and was the only one who could throw the balls. The object of the game was to hit the blindfolded players with the balls. The blindfolded players had to trust the `shield' to protect and guide them around the area.

After the game we had a group discussion to talk about what we could learn from the game. Some players defined faith as believing in something you cannot see. Others talked about how you can use the skills we used in tanks to help in the actually soccer game, like trust, communication, and team work.

We then proceeded to receive instruction on how to put on the harnesses and hook up using the belays. We were then released to test ourselves and push ourselves outside our comfort zones on the high ropes course. Some struggled while others excelled, but all encouraged each other and after blood, sweat, and tears we made it through the course and down either the zip line or the swing to solid ground again.

This was the ultimate test of faith and trust because in order to traverse the course we had to put our lives in the hands of the instructors and our equipment. During our discussion afterward we talked about how we can use that trust and faith in our instructors to trust and have faith in not only our coaching staff, but in each other and ourselves on and off the field.

After returning to UD campus we had an hour of rest before our next training session at NCR. While we were gearing up in the locker room we were informed we only had one training session left and not two. Shouts of joy and excitement erupted. That night after a classic Kiki Lara warm up, we played a 6v6 tournament for points. Lastly we showered and headed to VWK for dinner.