In Their Own Words
The Boys' Reflections on the Tour
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..and a word from the Manager
The SACS first team water polo tour to Hungary, which took place from 29 December 2011 to 10 January 2012, was a great success. According to the tour manager, Dave Mackinnon, the sixteen boys who were privileged enough to go on the tour bonded well over the ten days and came home with substantially improved fitness levels and water polo skills, having played against some very committed and experienced teams in Hungary, where water polo is taken very seriously. And results in the pool since their return bear witness to this view.
“The tour was very good as a team building exercise and the boys bonded well,” he said. “The boys learnt a lot in the pool and their fitness levels for the start of the season back home were very good,” he said. But perhaps, just as important as the skills honed in the pool, was the life experience acquired by being exposed to a foreign culture: “They also experienced a different culture and were able to make themselves understood in a country where very little English is spoken,” Dave added.
A highlight of the tour for the boys was a New Year’s Eve street party in Budapest. A fine time was had by all – say no more!
The boys flew to Budapest on Turkish Airlines via Istanbul. The tour party spent six days in Budapest and four in Eger, a nearby town. The weather was extremely cold. Sub-zero temperatures were experienced almost every day, with snow falls on two days, which, of course were celebrated by the boys with snow ball fights in the streets and two of the boys stripping to their costumes and making ‘angels’ in the snow – it took some time in the sauna to thaw them out!
According to Dave the accommodation at the two hotels in Budapest and Eger was good and it was a good idea to have lunch and supper at restaurants right next to the pools and not as the itinerary stated, at the hotels. The food was good and plentiful at both venues. In such cold weather and with so much exercise this was clearly very important and several of the boys and their coach Devon managing to put down huge burgers after supper as a ‘bed time snack’.
The two hour training sessions were held twice a day and consisted mainly of training matches against increasingly stiff opposition, ranging from U/16 to U/18 teams. These matches typically consisted of four 30-minute chukkas, so they served as both match training and fitness sessions. In addition, some skills and fitness sessions were held.
In conclusion, Dave felt that the boys did themselves and SACS proud on tour. “They can all be proud of themselves and were good ambassadors for their school and country. And, as parents you can also be proud of them as they are fine young men,” he said.
“The tour was very good as a team building exercise and the boys bonded well,” he said. “The boys learnt a lot in the pool and their fitness levels for the start of the season back home were very good,” he said. But perhaps, just as important as the skills honed in the pool, was the life experience acquired by being exposed to a foreign culture: “They also experienced a different culture and were able to make themselves understood in a country where very little English is spoken,” Dave added.
A highlight of the tour for the boys was a New Year’s Eve street party in Budapest. A fine time was had by all – say no more!
The boys flew to Budapest on Turkish Airlines via Istanbul. The tour party spent six days in Budapest and four in Eger, a nearby town. The weather was extremely cold. Sub-zero temperatures were experienced almost every day, with snow falls on two days, which, of course were celebrated by the boys with snow ball fights in the streets and two of the boys stripping to their costumes and making ‘angels’ in the snow – it took some time in the sauna to thaw them out!
According to Dave the accommodation at the two hotels in Budapest and Eger was good and it was a good idea to have lunch and supper at restaurants right next to the pools and not as the itinerary stated, at the hotels. The food was good and plentiful at both venues. In such cold weather and with so much exercise this was clearly very important and several of the boys and their coach Devon managing to put down huge burgers after supper as a ‘bed time snack’.
The two hour training sessions were held twice a day and consisted mainly of training matches against increasingly stiff opposition, ranging from U/16 to U/18 teams. These matches typically consisted of four 30-minute chukkas, so they served as both match training and fitness sessions. In addition, some skills and fitness sessions were held.
In conclusion, Dave felt that the boys did themselves and SACS proud on tour. “They can all be proud of themselves and were good ambassadors for their school and country. And, as parents you can also be proud of them as they are fine young men,” he said.
