Football started up again last week which was a blast. On the Senior team, we were low on O-Linemen, so we weren't able to get much scrimmage time in. We also do not have any film on the Jets, so it's hard to prepare for them. We know the 81-7 loss to the Cougars is a blip on their season, and hopefully they will move on and be prepared to play us. The Jets are apparently a young team, so the loss may linger on, however, they are quite the opponent at their home field! Our team is fully aware of what winning this game means, so we are preparing like fools to get the job done! This week will be important for us getting some good work in and continuing to improve!
The U19 team had a bit of an abbreviated practice week due to their National Team game which was Saturday (I will touch more on that later)! On Tuesday we had about 18 guys in pads and went through most of our practice and then played some flag football. Thursday we had about 9 guys and had a pretty fun practice. Basically, we taught them everything about special teams, from kicking to snapping and returning. It was fun watching 3 of the DL waving for fair catches! After some time of that fun stuff, we did some individual time where we had the 5 other guys, who were DBs/WRs and a QB work with me and the OL coach to learn some stuff about the line and have fun, while the DL went with our Head Coach/ Receivers/ DBs coach. As a d-lineman, I always loved my time showing that I am athletic, no matter how funny I look running a fade. The biggest thing I was looking forward to was seeing the skill guys getting into a 3-point stance. Usually first timers look so awkward and goofy, but unfortunately for me, they all looked athletic. I went through about 5 minutes of quick prep, the OL coach took about 5 seconds of prep, and then we did some 1 on 1 pass rush with them. It was fun to watch, and they all had pretty good get-offs, them stupid fast guys. We ended Thursday's practice with some more flag football.
Friday, the d-line had a get together at one of the player's house. He recently moved in, and it is a beautiful home and had a nice porch area for some BBQing, which is exactly what we did. I brought and ate about 5 bratwurstlike sausages I guess, and then about 15 chicken wings, of which I only ate about 8. I ate the sausages slowly throughout the night as I drank more. We hung out outside during the amazing evening and enjoyed the great food. The later part of our evening was a Whiskey tasting led by our own Whiskey connoisseur, Lady. We got a quick prep talk about the types of whiskey and how they are distilled and how certain batches and bottles come to be. It was a pretty neat thing to learn, but hard for me to recall everything. We tasted about 6 different types I would say. One of the bottles was 1 of 350 to be ever made, so I feel pretty special. It was great tasting them, sharing thoughts and stories, and then drinking some more. The team's Mermaid Bowl rings from last year arrived, so they all got them that evening and were all so pumped. Just seeing those and seeing the player's faces and reactions when they put them on makes me want to do anything and everything possible to help them get another one!
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| Coach Carlos' ring, his most prized possession! |
I woke up Saturday morning at 9:30 for my day in Vejle to watch the U19 National Team play. We have 5 Gold Diggers coaches on that staff, so it was supporting my coaches, as well as the 14 Gold Digger players representing their country. The players on the team all went through a 5 day camp to tryout for the team. My favorite part of it is that the National Team kept 8 DL, 5 of them are Gold Diggers, so I have some great players to work with. The team played Finland in Jutland, which is the big part of Denmark that is connected to Germany. I met Mille, Carlos (our U19 defensive coordinator and Senior defensive man), Nicholas (U19 Head Coach) and Patrick (the Senior team RB coach). We all shoved into the car and made the roughly 2 hour drive to Vejle. It was funny because the drive was like the longest thing possible for these guys as it is basically a cross country journey! The coolest part of the ride was passing into Funen from Zealand on this huge, long bridge. It was neat because you could see it approaching in the distance. Also it was like higher than anything I've seen since I've been here. We drove through the Danish countryside which smelled extremely awful. It was like someone stepping in cow poop and left their shoe outside in the sun, then wore it. I had no idea what the smell was until someone said something. Either that, or someone farted and played a joke on the American and blamed it on the Danish countryside. When we got there, we met the coaches briefly at the hotel and left Patrick and Nicholas because they were filming the game, and Mille, Carlos, and I explored Veijle. It's completely different than where I am living. Copenhagen is this huge city with absolutely zero elevation. I haven't seen one street that goes up a hill, or really any hills for that matter. In Vejle, driving to the field, we were going up a huge hill and it was wild for everyone to see a hill. They were joking that the car isn't made for hills. We also walked around for a while, and it was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, but there weren't that many people around. I guess I'm just used to seeing a ton of people everywhere I go. It was a nice town and a different pace than here in Copenhagen, and I'm glad I got to see Jutland.
The game was held at the Razorbacks home field, which is the team we have played in the Mermaid Bowl the last three years. Side note, I met a few of their players through Kim, and they are some good guys, I look forward to playing against, especially since we have them at home. Also, the weird thing is that the field was only 90 yards because it was on a soccer field that isn't long enough I guess. We were sitting at the 50 yard line and I was looking at it like, wow, the 40 is close to the 50, then it just hit me. I think it was kind of weird to host a game of that magnitude on a 90 yard field. The winner of the game has the opportunity to travel to Spain and play in the European championship. The game started off all in Denmark's favor, and it seemed that Finland just wouldn't be able to keep up. The offense was moving and the defense was solid. The score was 17-0 at half, with some big plays by our Gold Digger defensive lineman. The second half was a little rockier for the Red and White as Finland made it close by having a couple big plays and scoring a touchdown to make it 17-7. Later in the second half, some unlucky play calling led to a fumble and a TD for Finland to cut the lead to 17-14. The fans were on edge, but not out of hope for the team, as we still had the lead. In the 4th quarter, Denmark kicked a field goal to make it 20-14 with about 1:30 left. Great kickoff coverage led to Finland on about their 30, with 50 yards to the endzone. An early holding penalty moved them back, and some great pressure by the defense had the QB running for his life as he took a sack on about the 2 yard line. It was 3rd and forever with one play left. Finland was ready to go, but the relentless maniacs on the Danish defense clamped down on the QB and ended with game with a big play. That's they way I remember it and its possible things didn't go down that way. I was standing up enjoying every moment of the game. I have very minimal connection to the Danish National Team, but it was great to see the guys I know and coach play so well and lead their team to Victory. Everyone of them had some kind of role for the team, and all preformed fantastically. Hopefully they are ready to come back to practice and play some Danish League games and not look into the future too far.
I got home around 1 I guess, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep. Today has been a pretty typical lazy Sunday for me. I did some laundry, ate some food, and that's about it. I'm excited to get this week started and get the opportunity to go to play in England. If we win again, we will advance to play the London Blitz, who have already won their group!
Lastly, shout out to my old carpool buddy! Josh Welch proposed to his much, much better half Kristin Buck on Saturday. Much congratulations to both of them!
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