It is a weird thing to be the volunteer medic for an amateur sports team.. especially gridiron. There are times it makes me feel old. There are times it makes me feel under qualified. There are times it scares the crap out of me! Mostly, it reminds me that I love the game. That watching the boys play, from the sideline is thousand times better than watching the NFL on TV. Sure, I'd still love to get to an NFL game one day.. especially to see the Pack play.. but, unless there was some weird something that happened that would put me on the sideline of an NFL game (*snort* tell her she's dreaming!), being on the sideline and at the games for the Buccs and the Gridiron Victoria league (?!), I'd take it any day. Being the medic is a bizarre position to be in. I want the boys to play safe. I want them to play hard.. but I really, really hate it when I hear them call "medic"! I suspect that next season will be betterer. I am still a rookie at this point - trying to work out my role without a playbook, of sorts :)
I am looking forward to getting some training done in the off season to get things up to par - at least in my eyes :-)
The boys themselves, are a rag-tag bunch, who are a team, a family. They love their football code and are masters at it. They are a pleasure to watch. They observe, adjust, make calls and plays like pros... Well.. we all have our off days. It merely reinforces my belief that American football is like chess - I love the strategy and watching it play out.
The point of this post is not just to wax lyrical about my team - who I did fall in love with after attending the my first training session and saw how hard they played and was totally impressed :P - but to acknowledge (acknowledge? not sure that is the right word) that I have never really been a part of anything like this. Sure, I competed in gymnastics hmm.. let's see I seem to recall getting to level 5, but then, boobs just bugger up bars and beam :P And really, while you are in a team, it really isn't a team sport. Not like this! And although they might beg to differ, being around the Buccs keeps me sane. They are an insane bunch of mofos, but they have honour, pride and respect. Yay for blokey blokes! They're getting used to the fact that they do not have to warn me or apologise for being boys in the locker room.. seriously, if you have to be PC in the locker room, then the world is truly lost! Besides, half the time I am concentrating on taping them together to be too bothered ;-) I do the mum listen.. shhh.. ;-)
In their uniforms, they look as good as any professional team. They are (mostly..) a cohesive unit on the field. They are a family, who have welcomed me into their fold. And I am most grateful, and have found that I have a definite piratical streak that runs deep. It was always there, but now, it has team support ;-) Speaking of support.. one can not blab on about the boys on the team without having admiration and love for their families and friends who do the big travel to the games and do all sorts of visible and invisible things to make sure the boys get to games (and training), have a canteen at home games, have video footage of their gameplay, merchandise, fabulous photos of games and team events (I will probably reproduce some of Kim's photos here - always with credit, because she takes great photos!).
This post was started pre game... to update - I made it safely to the field in Croydon (Buccs won 45-0 in a mud bath).. if you ever, EVER want to get lost in the road maze of Melbourne, do it at about 7.30 am on a Sunday morning! The roads are yours and you have time to sort out that you actually know where you are, but not having driven around Melbourne much before, it is always scary! So to add another things I will give props to the Buccs for.. without having to work out how to get to the away games, I would never have been bothered to work this stuff out.. at least until I really had to! :-P Because of the away games, I have linked a majority of my experiences of Melbourne, previously all separated by the events themselves, into a geographic whole! :-D I certainly would not have worked out that all roads lead to Sunshine West.. and that whilst everyone focuses on those famous streets of the CBD.. the most important road in Melbourne is Ballarat Rd.. because, if I can find myself there, I can get anywhere!! :P
PS: Ever spruiking - Bay City Buccaneers. The Gridiron Victoria VIC BOWL XXVII is August 28 at L E Cotchin Reserve, Reservoir (Div 2 game @1030am, Div 1 @2pm)
PPS Here is one of Kim Piggot's photos... one of the "arty" ones...
No comments:
Post a Comment