Whew...what a day...

Well, hello to all!!  I finally made it to Toulon, FR along with the majority of the players and coaching staff.  Some of the team will still be arriving over the next few days due to their individual team schedules, etc....  What a long day traveling!  I flew from SRQ to JFK on Wednesday afternoon with Tim Mulqueen, the goalkeepers coach for the US Olympic Soccer Team.  After a bumpy ride as we approached NYC (I'm not exaggerating, but we had a VERY bumpy 4-5 minutes--many people were crossing themselves, etc... :), we met up with about 8-10 players and staff for the next leg of the trip (NYC to Munich).  We had about a 7 or 8 hour flight to Munich which was very uneventful (hats off to the Lufthansa flight crew who took care of us well).  Lots of movies to watch on your own private screens, etc...  After a 2-3 hour layover in Munich, we completed the final leg of the trip to Marseille, ultimately making it there by 2:30 or 3:00. 

Traveling with a team such as this is no easy task.  Besides each player having his own piece of luggage, we must travel with 25-30 additional pieces of luggage (travel trunks, large duffel bags, etc..) that hold various practice gear, uniforms, medical equipment, etc... As I said, it is no easy task to  get loaded up and get out of the airport in our charter bus, but we did.

The afternoon consisted of getting people settled into their rooms, eating a quick lunch (late lunch) and then getting ready to go for a light workout at a local health club.  Check out the US Youth National Team blog and you can see some pics of some of the guys breaking a sweat! 

Tomorrow we will begin a two-practice-per-day routine which will allow the coaching staff to evaluate players and help the players get to know one another on the field.  Our first game is not until the 21st, so we have a few days to get some practices under our belt. We are still awaiting the arrival of a few more players into camp, as well.

Hopefully tomorrow's blog will be a little more entertaining.

Au voir. (did I spell that right??)