Last Night Awards

The last night each boy was given a "Gag" award, chosen for some remarkable thing they did during the trip. Also, Tom managed to get the all "meat" meal for the boys. Mark was given, by your boys, a wonderful workout suit. I guess they know how much he gives them; I know that you know how much they appreciate him.

Dave not here but the hotel doesn't know it...

Hey, Dave, all the chaperones miss you being here. You offered a light heartedness that no other chaperone can offer. That is extremely remarkable since Parker's nose was broken at the beginning of the trip. As I've said before, and I will reiterate, Parker's injury probably brought the boys together in way that could not have been expected.

Every meal you have a place set for you. All of the chaperones say, "That's Dave's place." Honestly, we miss your presence and humor. We all know you have a weddingl

Parker's nose getting a little better

You Go Hunter

Hunter had the fortune, or misfortune, to practice eggbeater drills with that tire around his neck. Ow! As you can see from some of the photos, it wasn't necessarily a pleasant experience. Hunter has had to block some really incredible shots from the Hungarian, Croation, and South African players. He's gotten a lot of good practice. The goalies on the other teams which the boys have been playing against have either been parents or national team players. As a parent watching the scrimmages, I've noticed that the boys are talking to each other alot more.

Photo of Poker

Ken was amazing in his luck, and probably his mathematical skill, playing cards. He seemed to get the right cards at all times.

19 August 2008, Hotel Jadran

Lawrence is using the computer upstairs, so I must use the Croation computer which is really confusing. Have not posted on the blog for the past few days because our main focus has been trying to keep these boys reasonably healthy. I think the last post was about the historical tour of the palace. The boys were supposed to go to the beach later that day but opted out because of just being plain tired. They have been having two trainings a day for the whole trip. These boys win the award for hanging in there, training, keeping up good spirits and a sense of humor throughout having the European Crud. You really have to applaud Mark; although he has the Crud too, you could never tell. He jokes around with the boys, works different ways of keeping their spirits up and manages to engage them in games of poker, or whatever. Regardless of Lawrence and my last name, we are not gamblers and do not know how to gamble. A couple of the boys, Ken and Paul, did not want to buy into the poker game that night (a mere 4 kuna=1 $). I told Ken he owed me to play because I bought water for him that day. I owed Paul to play because I managed to lose his Visa Card to get him back in the US. Ken ended up winning 120K; Paul came in second winning 60K. Great investment. And I think the boys had a good time. I will upload images of the game when I have access to my computer.

Again, the boys are, naturally, homesick. There is already discussion about stopping at the Habit or In and Out on the way home.

Diocletian Palace

"Please check out the photos on photobucket regarding the Diocletian Palace. I'm sure that, as water polo players, they weren't expecting a two hour tour of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Besides touching Gregorius of Nin's big toe (auspicisiously giving luck to who ever touches the statues' toe, the boys learned of the history of Split, the Palace, from 280 A.D. until today. Ivo was a great tour master who tried to give the us an understanding of the art, political,religious, and economical history of Split.
"Split achieved famed when the Roman emperor,,Diocletian (AD 245-313), noted for his persecution of early Christians, has his retirement palace built here from 295-305 A.D." (Croatia, Lonely Planet)

Boys' Posting

Good to know from the Kerwin-McElroy's last response that Brendan is posting on FaceBook. I hope that the other boys are posting to others also. We, as all chaperones, have tried to get the boys to post on this blog. But, maybe the blog is only for the parents and the boys need to communicate to others in their own way.

So, the above photos are taken after the boys' practice. There is a cafe on the Adriatic outside of the pool. After the practices, the chaperones some times take time to watch the sunset a few moments before dinner.

Eastern European Crud

Although most of the time the photos of the boys have them smiling, each boy has had some version of Eastern European Crud. Chris was the first to admit to symptoms in Eger. Jeff followed closely, took antiobiotics on his own, and now everyone has exhibited some aspect of the crud. For some, it begins with a sore throat, then upper respiratory congestion. It quickly moves to being run down and a constant cough. I can't tell you how often I look up from whatever I'm doing to see who is coughing. Fever and chills are a popular symptom. I think that the boys have been keeping the illness under control as long as they have because of the excitement of being in Europe. Ken has come down with what he thinks is an inner ear infection. We are feeding him antibiotics. Lawrence has come down seriously with the "crud"; he considered not going to Brac with the boys, something that he has been planning to do for months. Lawrence's way of dealing with illness is to sleep. Dave even came up with some version of the "Crud". One night, he moved his bed out on his balcony because he thought the evening was really hot. Lawrence also thought that the night was untowardly warm. I slept like a baby.

Mark had a beautiful description of the crud; "It's like staying up 6 hours at a disco and knowing that you're being exposed to everything bad....", or something along those lines. It's much too exciting for these boys to miss out on any experience although they are experiencing weakness. The good news is that we have been pummelting them with vitamin C, water, fresh fruit, airborne, throat lozenges, cough medicine (herbal) for who ever wants it. We've been trying to feed them extra food. I'm sure that part of the "crud" is that they are homesick and miss their moms and dads. Somehow, not having your family around when you're sick makes it just a little bit harder to get well. Then, of course, part of that theory goes out the door because at this moment, at the end of the trip, Ian and Lawrence are both pretty sick. At least they waited until the end of the trip.

I


Spirits are high. Everyone still seems to be happy to be here. I have begun a new album on photobucket. It's called Brac. Click onto that album and check out the photos of Brac. I'm just beginning to learn how to use all these internet tools. By next year, or, hopefully, by the time the boys graduate, I'll have the photo snaps and blog much better organized.

Photos of Brac

I've loaded photos of activities in Brac on photobucket just so that you could see snaps of the trip to Brac. I'm a little tired tonight so I'm not offering any explanations of the trip until later. I wanted to post the photos as soon as possible so that you would have a visual of today.This part of the adventure was incredible; the beauty and the hospitality was remarkable. The boys started out a little tired after waking in the morning to watch USA beat Croatia. As the day continued, for some reason, or another, they became more animated, more energized. I listen to them needling each other, just like siblings. The chatter is so endearing. The boys are beginning to sound like they are a family.

Evening, August 15, Split

I know that all of you are homesick for your boys, just as they are homesick for you. I talked to Ian today and he said he knew that everyone was starting to get homesick because everyone was talking about what food they wanted to eat as soon as they got home. The meat which they have been eating here is primarily pork. I can imagine that some of these guys would begin salivating if I mentioned the Habit. Mexican food is also causing yearning in their tummies. One can only live on pizza and gelato alone for a few days. Chris said that he could eat 2 1/2 times the dinner he receives each night. Carter told me that he was hanging in there. 3 square meals, although tasty and filling, just doesn't seem like enough food for them. I thought what they really needed was a refridgerator filled with food which they could open and graze at any time of the day.

I wanted to load a couple of photos of the boys' rooms on the upper right corner of the post. It is somewhat frightening for the chaperones when we pass by their rooms but they seem to know where everything is located. Is this a preview of what it will be like for them in college?

More photos have been posted on photobucket. They include practice warm-ups, scrimmages with the South African team and general photos taken through the day. Again, they are snaps with the intention of letting you know what they guys may be experiencing through the day.

daves post

hi all you moms dads brothers sisters girlfriends etc... well i must say again what a delight it is to spend time with your boys/men...each one of them is so caring ,fun, and filled with life ..im sad because i leave this sunday and am really going to miss them..sports are so great they provide so much learning and life skills and your boys/men they are eating it up here in croatia.parker is on the mend and given the green light to get in h2o but no polo for a few more weeks so the beak can heal. anyways in just a few short weeks we will all be together cheering on the dons im sure you wiil be impressed with the teams incredible improvement.once again thanks for sharing the guys they miss you all and especially miss their own beds lets just say the rooms are no 4 seasons!! also a huge shout out for my chaperone teammates ..i must say its been a blast..finally mark walsh is fantastic how fortunate we are to have him coaching our MEN !!
ps parker just read this and said girlfriend line is a mistake since there are no girlfriends!!however not for lack of effort ..they are on 24 hour prowl in croatia and there are plenty of future wife opportunties in split .WOW

Feast of Assumption

15 August is the Feast of Assumption for the Virgin Mary. This is a day of Holy Obligation in the Roman Catholic Church. This day is the day when the Virgin Mary was transported into Heaven with her body and soul united (Wikipedia reference). Therefore, the boys have no practice with any other team this morning. The Croats take the holiday very seriously. There are no markets, retail stores or any activities taking place today. Some ferries will be running. Restaurants are open to serve tourists.

Dino has arranged to have one of his teams scrimmage with the boys tonight.

Tomorrow morning we leave by ferry for Brac. The boys will have the entire day there, scrimmaging with two teams, and, hopefully, they will have a chance to watch a game between two older teams. We'll keep you posted.

Gelato

As chaperones, we try not to interfere with the boys' independence. Tonight they went into town to buy gelato; we went into town to listen to opera and breathe in the culture of night time Split. Ironically, we kept running into each other. This is Dave's favorite gelato place; apparently he refuses dessert at dinner so that he can have his daily hit of gelato. As you can see, it has quickly become the boy's favorite place for gelato.

Relaxing before 2nd Scrimmage

Relaxing and playing backgammon before the next scrimmage.

The Jadran Pool is to the right of the photo which is separated by the awning. To the left is the Adriatic sea. The boys are relaxing, reading and just hanging before their next game.

August 14, 2008

The boys had breakfast this morning, usually consisting of hard boiled eggs, luncheon meats, sliced cheese, bread, an assortment of fruit and cereals. I truly appreciate the automatic cappucino maker which allows me to make unlimited amounts of cappucino.

The next team they would be playing was another local Croation team who wanted to play with the Santa Barbara "Juniors". As described in an earlier post, this team was extremely physical. After a foul was called on them, they would manage to push down one of our boys in the water and either knee them or punch them. A very physical game; but for some reason, or another, the guys liked the competition.

A Request from Julie

For some reason or another, Jeff hasn't been in some of the photos posted on the blog. I'm sure there are a few of him on photobucket. Some of the boys have been homesick. And I'm sure that you, as parents, have been homesick for your boys. I've loaded more photos on the photoblog without any explanations; I thought you might want to see the town and perhaps some snaps of different activities. So, for you, Julie, here are some photos of your boy's smiling face.

Scrimmage,14 August

Instead of weight belts, the Croats use a tire to help hold them down while working their legs. Do you think Del Pozzo Tire would donate tires for the boys?

Dear Parents: It is another beautiful, warm to hot day here on the Adriatic. I hope you have been enjoying the blog--Evelyn has been putting lots of time into writing entries and posting photographs. The boys are doing really well, by and large. Those with illnesses seem on the mend, but the upper respiratory crud seems to be circulating around the group. The parents, as you can imagine, are not immune and Dave and I are feeling a bit off around the throat/upper lungs.

The boys just finished a long scrimmage against a local team. After an hour of Walsh reffing, he was concerned that one of our boys might get hurt. One broken nose in the group is enough, don't you think? The local boys were very physical. There was lots of hold-downs, knees in the back, underwater kidney punches, etc., but the boys' main reaction was to laugh about it after they got out of the pool. One of them even asked Walsh if they could scrimmage these guys every day for the rest of their time here. The boys scored more goals even though we aren't really counting goals (well, Dave is, of course).

August 14, Split, Croatia

Ken hasn't been feeling too well so he sat out the scrimmage with South Africa.

Paul expressed his disappointment as to the how the South Africans were playing. The South Africans had a couple of really bigger, older guys but didn't have the passing skills that the Santa Barbara boys have.

A couple of things to clear any confusion about the blog and photos. As I've mentioned in the past, general photos are dumped into photobucket.com; there is a link on the blog site. The username is sbhseurope2008, the password is waterpolo. Also, if you want to see past posts, just click on the archived posts to the right on the blog site.

The photos which I am putting up on the actual blogsite are thumbnail photos. If you direct your mouse on those photos and click, you can enlarge the photos to your heart's desire. I have had requests to take photos of different boys so that the parents can seem them more clearly. I'm trying to be as discrete as possible about taking photos of the boys. Adolescent boys are somewhat self conscious and my camera is one of those snap and shoots so I don't want them to think that I'm always in their face.

Parker saw the doctor (who has had much experience with broken noses)at the Hotel Jadran yesterday. Dave and Parker can probably give you more details as to what Parker can or cannot do. I do know that he shouldn't be immersing his head in chlorinated water but the Adriatic sea will be good for him. So while the South Africans were scrimmaging with Santa Barbara, Parker was egg-beatering, doing lunges aroung the pool, doing crunches, trying different variations of push ups and working out in the gym before the scrimmage even began. I think this injury is actually going to make Parker a stronger water polo and, hopefully, he'll inspire the other players to become stronger themselves, a silver lining to a dark cloud.

Training

The boys practicing dry land training

Chris and Carter resting between swim sets


Brendan and Brandon ready to take off. Latauro and Paul ready to go.

Don't forget; you can click on the separate photos and get a larger image.

Views of the Pool from the Park

There is a park beside the Hotel Jadran. These are views of the Adriatic and the pool the boys practice in. The days are sunny and hot (around the mid-80's) with a wonderful cool breeze. The Adriatic is extremely salty so you can jump in the water and just float. A favorite past time is to jump off the rocks and swim.

You can walk along side the sea on a pathway to the north of the hotel. There is a sandy beach filled with swimmers and sunbathers and at night there is a lively disco.

Dino From Split

This is Dino from Split. He is the Head Coach of Club Jadran and is the person who arranges the training sessions for the boys. He's putting up umbrellas so that the coaches and parents who are watching the scrimmages won't get too burned. He has been a very graceful and helpful host as has everyone else at the Hotel Jadran. Dino's mother has been very helpful and encouraging with Parker and his broken nose.

When they are not playing polo....

Jason, Carter, Ian and Hunter enjoying a refreshing drink after exploring the retail possibilities of the town.

Opera at the Plaza Republica Tuesday night. As soon as the sun goes down, thousands of people come out to enjoy the music, street theatre, outdoor cafes and open market stalls.

Early Morning Split, 13 August 2008

A morning walk through Split........

Farmer's Market
Hanging laundry and the hillsides of Split

Lawrence and I walked into town from the Hotel Jadran this morning, as we do every morning. This is the view from the promenade. The days are warm, the sun is hot and there is an occasional whiff of cigarette smoke in the air along with the distinct smell of fish as fishermen are loading their fish for the fisherman's market. To the left of our promenade walk are buildings similar to the ones you see on the upper right corner. If you click on the image, the image becomes larger. Split has a wonderful farmer's market which sells cheese, peaches, fruits of every measure, tomatoes, and vegetables. And they sell local wine in the plastic water 1-1.5 liter plastic bottles along with home-pressed olive oil and grappa (aka as "white lightening", distilled alchohol made from the remains-stems, grape seeds-of the grapes pressed for wine). The town is very picturesque, laundry hangs everywhere and adds to the romantic quality of Split.

Watching the Olympics....

Before this morning's practice and scrimmage, the boys watched Croatia readily beat Serbia. They enthusiastically rooted for the Croatian National team. So if the boys aren't playing water polo; they are watching it. They scrimmaged against a Croation team again this morning. Some boys seemed slow in response. There are, at least, a couple of boys showing fatigue and hints of illness. David is trying to make them eat more fruits and vegetables; Tom and Lawrence went in search of high dosages of vitamin C and I sit, looking patient and wise, but concerned about any upper respiratory illness.