It has been quite sometime since my last entry and I would like to apologize. After the clutter of Carnaval, our stay has been very monotonous and has consisted solely of beach and gym training. I can honestly say this has been the most serious trip of my life and our focused efforts are yielding excellent results. We have sacrificed many nights with friendlies for all you can eat buffets and 8 hour sleeps. Now we will be toning down our repetitions and moving into game situations. We have two games lined up next week in preparation for our upcoming Brazilian National Tour event in Sao Paulo. Our training games will be against a top ranked Brazilian team and the other against the top Suisse team ranked 19th in the World. I will post thoughts and hopefully a highlight video for each game this coming week and will throw up reports of our progress in the Brazilian event.
My mother found a favorite quote of mine and I would like to share it with you.
"You must dream no other dream. You must come to love the taste of pain, the wounding defeats that force you forward. You must learn from others, but work alone, driving for the goals that only you can set. You must do it all knowing that glory may alude you - that the dream itself has to be enough.”
I unfortunately don’t know the author of the quote but it sums up my sentiments towards striving to achieve your best. It reminds me of the importance dreams play in motivation and to constantly push myself past my comfort zones. It also reminds me that it is how one deals with and recovers from failure that determines the champion, not the actual loss itself.
This week was super heavy and we are bashed from countless hours of tough work. We will be getting massage treatments all weekend to recover for our important Brazilian event next week. We are super excited to get into tournament play since we haven’t played in a serious game for a long time!
I am going to sign off and get some treatment from our therapist before we all head out to Pedro Solberg’s 23rd birthday party. His family cook will be preparing a classic Brazilian meal called a “Fejoida” which is a combination of stewed meat in beans, rice and a brazilian side dish called “Faroffa” which is a flower textured filler with spices, garlic and the odd banana!
All the best from the heat of Rio and I look forward to updating you with details of tournaments and game play
