After a few days of practice we prepared to go to Amsterdam. But along the way we were going to stop in Basel to workout with the Basel Gladiators. A sort of warmup for playing against the Germans.
The Gladiators had some pretty big guys (They were a “Senior” team in Switzerland) compared to our Juniors. Honestly, my biggest fear was keeping our guys healthy through the practice. But, the Gladiator players did a good job of allowing us to get a lot out of the practice.
Well, now for the beginnings of a true (mis)adventure begins. We finish with practice and the “new” bus we were to take to Amsterdam was not there. I’m still not clear on why we could not just take the busses we took from Zuchwil to Basel.
But, one way or another we were going to have to wait for our scheduled busses to arrive. Problem was – yes – get this – they were coming from Italy. No one was quite sure where they were either.
So, Christian Krattiger (GM) had a dinner set up in a local restaurant and the players and staff went to eat. Well, all of our luggage and playing gear was sitting there in the dirt parking lot. I stayed behind to guard it…by now it was getting dark.
Oh, to add to the situation it started to drizzle…something that fortunately ended pretty quickly. But now we were stranded in a dirt parking lot in the middle of nowhere basically. We waited for at least three more hours and the double decker bus showed up!
Well only another eight hours to go to Amsterdam. Tired and still a little wet we jammed onto the bus. With our timetable messed up we were hoping to make it to the Amsterdam suburbs and our hotel by six or seven the next morning.
Well, needless to say it was a long cramped night … I think I managed a few hours sleep. But, certainly not a lot.
The saga is not over yet…when we arrive at the hotel – the rooms aren’t ready. Come on – give me a break. So we decide to load back up into the bus and drive to a local park and have a short practice to get the kinks out.
By now I am wondering if this Swiss experiment was a good idea. But, too late now I am here.
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