The last couple of days we have spent training at the venue and adjusting to the heat! Temperatures have been in the mid to high 30's everyday!
The pitches are set on a fish farm so there have been numerous shrieks from certain unnamed players...
We have had some good training against the Australian and Italian ladies and are looking forward to the competition tomorrow.
We went out for dinner and had some authentic Italian pasta which was delicious followed by scrummy gelato. We are now looking forward to our pizza evening out.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Bologna Italy
Monday 23rd August
We arose early this morning to head south to Charleroi airport in Belgium. It was pouring with rain and quite cool, so we were glad to be heading to a warmer climate. In a very kind gesture from our coach and manager they decided they would drive the 13 hour trip to Bologna with all our gear and boats and let us seven players fly so that we could get to the apartment early and chill out. For a very cheap total of just over NZ$200 we managed to fly all seven of us with Ryan air. Arriving in Italy we were greeted with a beautiful day. The temperature was well into the thirties so we were all finding it very hot. We had rented a car to use for the day, but as it was just a little “panda” seating only 4 people we had to do two trips to get everyone to the apartment. The directions would prove a little hard to interpret and the first group ended up hiring a taxi to finally get them to the apartment. Ali and Ju made their way back to the airport and we did take two of trying to find the airport. After asking a few people where the “stazione central” was we eventually, in a loop-di-loop kind of fashion made it to the apartment. In the mean time Tania and Freya had been off to the supermarket getting us a delicious lunch, which we all gobbled up and then chilled out for the afternoon watching a movie…and sweating a lot! At about 8pm Alison and Nick finally arrived after traveling through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Not a bad effort for knocking off a bunch of country’s in one day! Bed was a sticky issue with the temperature still in the high twenties.
Tuesday 24th August
This morning we were able to wake up when we wanted which was a nice treat. Ali Nick and Alison dropped off the little “Panda” rental car and once they returned we headed off for a light run. It was nice and hot and allowed for a lot of sweating!! We filled the rest of the morning with some more chilling out, reading books, playing knucklebones and showers. After lunch we headed into town to check out the sights for some and shops for others. The architecture is incredible, lots of old old buildings. There was a water fountain in the middle of town that was 450 years old! It made us appreciate just how young NZ is! The water fountain featured Neptune along with women squeezing their breasts as water flowed out of the nipples! It was a sign that the Pope of the time must have liked lactating women! After strolling around town for a couple of hours our taxi driver Tans took us all home. We are now just chilling out watching a movie as Freya cooks us a yummy roast chicken dinner. Bed soon then up early to get back into the training to prepare us for our next tournament this weekend.
NZ PADDLE FERNS
We arose early this morning to head south to Charleroi airport in Belgium. It was pouring with rain and quite cool, so we were glad to be heading to a warmer climate. In a very kind gesture from our coach and manager they decided they would drive the 13 hour trip to Bologna with all our gear and boats and let us seven players fly so that we could get to the apartment early and chill out. For a very cheap total of just over NZ$200 we managed to fly all seven of us with Ryan air. Arriving in Italy we were greeted with a beautiful day. The temperature was well into the thirties so we were all finding it very hot. We had rented a car to use for the day, but as it was just a little “panda” seating only 4 people we had to do two trips to get everyone to the apartment. The directions would prove a little hard to interpret and the first group ended up hiring a taxi to finally get them to the apartment. Ali and Ju made their way back to the airport and we did take two of trying to find the airport. After asking a few people where the “stazione central” was we eventually, in a loop-di-loop kind of fashion made it to the apartment. In the mean time Tania and Freya had been off to the supermarket getting us a delicious lunch, which we all gobbled up and then chilled out for the afternoon watching a movie…and sweating a lot! At about 8pm Alison and Nick finally arrived after traveling through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Not a bad effort for knocking off a bunch of country’s in one day! Bed was a sticky issue with the temperature still in the high twenties.
Tuesday 24th August
This morning we were able to wake up when we wanted which was a nice treat. Ali Nick and Alison dropped off the little “Panda” rental car and once they returned we headed off for a light run. It was nice and hot and allowed for a lot of sweating!! We filled the rest of the morning with some more chilling out, reading books, playing knucklebones and showers. After lunch we headed into town to check out the sights for some and shops for others. The architecture is incredible, lots of old old buildings. There was a water fountain in the middle of town that was 450 years old! It made us appreciate just how young NZ is! The water fountain featured Neptune along with women squeezing their breasts as water flowed out of the nipples! It was a sign that the Pope of the time must have liked lactating women! After strolling around town for a couple of hours our taxi driver Tans took us all home. We are now just chilling out watching a movie as Freya cooks us a yummy roast chicken dinner. Bed soon then up early to get back into the training to prepare us for our next tournament this weekend.
NZ PADDLE FERNS
De Paddel Tournament Belgium
Sat and Sun
Started the day against Italy with a slow start to the day as we came together as a team for the first time in a competition. In the second half we picked up the pace and ended up winning convincingly 4-1. Our second game was against the French U-21 team, after disposing of them 9-1 we moved on to the Dutch team, winning easily 7-2. For our 4th and final game for the day we had a picnic putting Avon ladies into their place with a convincing 10-0 win. Unfortunately we didn’t start the Sunday with the same pace as the previous day and with a draw at full time to Australia we went on to lose the game in a penalty shoot out. This meant we took the long road to the finals; so instead of having a total of 3 games that day we ended up having 4 on the road to the final and all up 5 games in the 27⁰ Celsius heat. After the game against Australia we played and lost against Italy 1-0. After a weak defensive start against the British club team Game On, we came from 4-0 down to draw the game 6 all at full time and annihilating them on the penalty shoot out. We went on to beat Italy 4-0 and this put us into the final with Australia. Even with the support of the boys and their amazing haka, we couldn’t manage any goals in our error ridden final and went down 2-0. We had a steep learning curve but one we were glad to have taken and those Australians had better watch their backs!
Started the day against Italy with a slow start to the day as we came together as a team for the first time in a competition. In the second half we picked up the pace and ended up winning convincingly 4-1. Our second game was against the French U-21 team, after disposing of them 9-1 we moved on to the Dutch team, winning easily 7-2. For our 4th and final game for the day we had a picnic putting Avon ladies into their place with a convincing 10-0 win. Unfortunately we didn’t start the Sunday with the same pace as the previous day and with a draw at full time to Australia we went on to lose the game in a penalty shoot out. This meant we took the long road to the finals; so instead of having a total of 3 games that day we ended up having 4 on the road to the final and all up 5 games in the 27⁰ Celsius heat. After the game against Australia we played and lost against Italy 1-0. After a weak defensive start against the British club team Game On, we came from 4-0 down to draw the game 6 all at full time and annihilating them on the penalty shoot out. We went on to beat Italy 4-0 and this put us into the final with Australia. Even with the support of the boys and their amazing haka, we couldn’t manage any goals in our error ridden final and went down 2-0. We had a steep learning curve but one we were glad to have taken and those Australians had better watch their backs!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Wednesday 18th
Our trip from Singapore to Paris was long but uneventful. We were on a massive double decker airbus. Boy are they a big plane. The trip was full of lots of movie watching along with lots of eating interesting airplane food! Upon arriving in Paris we collected a nice wee stamp in our passports and ventured out to get our luggage. Venturing out into a gloomy drizzly Paris day Nick was there to meet us. We were all a but disappointed to have finally arrived in Europe and be welcomed with weather that we had thought we had left in NZ! Next on the to do list was sorting out the van and roof racks. After a bit of a wait Nick, Alison, Freya and Liv headed off with the rental car people to get that sorted while the others stayed at the airport and had breakfast.
The roof racks turned out to be a bit of an adventure. Kindly loaned to us from Thule New Zealand, one of the screws that went into the roof hadn't been finished off at the factory properly and had no grooves! A little kiwi ingenuity was brought to the fore and we managed to, with the help the rental places limited toolbox, create a new screw by cutting off the head of a screw and adding some fillers in to it! The new screw worked a treat and on went the roof racks perfectly. Thanks Thule NZ for the racks, very much appreciated.
The roof rack team piled into the vehicle and headed back to the airport to pick up the rest of the crew. After loading all the boats and paddles on the roof and the bags in the back we all piled in and headed towards Belgium. It was about a 2 hour drive which for all of us suffering a little jet lag felt a lot longer than it was. We eventually arrived at Dikkebus Vivjer and made our selves at home. We are staying in big Belgium Army tents on stretches which felt amazing to sleep on after trying to sleep in an upright chair on a plane!
Thursday 19th
Today we woke up early and headed out for a team run and stretch session around the lake to get our bodies moving. The weather wasn't that flash today and we were starting to wonder where summer was. We did two water sessions which were very much a flushing out of the jet lag that everyone was still feeling. In the evening we headed into Ieper and attended the Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate. It is a tribute that they do to the fallen soldiers of World War 1 every night. It was very moving!
Friday 20th
Two more water sessions were of order today. We played against the Canadian women and a couple of their U21 men which was really good to have our first game time together as a team. In the afternoon we visited the Tyne Cot Cemetery where thousands of soldiers both known and unknown are buried. Amongst them are a number of NZ soldiers.
Tomorrow the DePaddel competition begins! Paris will debut with her first international which is exciting. The team is feeling really amped for getting some game time and looking forward to showing off what we can do.
Stay tuned for some photos of our trip and results from this weekends tournament.
NZ Paddle Ferns
Our trip from Singapore to Paris was long but uneventful. We were on a massive double decker airbus. Boy are they a big plane. The trip was full of lots of movie watching along with lots of eating interesting airplane food! Upon arriving in Paris we collected a nice wee stamp in our passports and ventured out to get our luggage. Venturing out into a gloomy drizzly Paris day Nick was there to meet us. We were all a but disappointed to have finally arrived in Europe and be welcomed with weather that we had thought we had left in NZ! Next on the to do list was sorting out the van and roof racks. After a bit of a wait Nick, Alison, Freya and Liv headed off with the rental car people to get that sorted while the others stayed at the airport and had breakfast.
The roof racks turned out to be a bit of an adventure. Kindly loaned to us from Thule New Zealand, one of the screws that went into the roof hadn't been finished off at the factory properly and had no grooves! A little kiwi ingenuity was brought to the fore and we managed to, with the help the rental places limited toolbox, create a new screw by cutting off the head of a screw and adding some fillers in to it! The new screw worked a treat and on went the roof racks perfectly. Thanks Thule NZ for the racks, very much appreciated.
The roof rack team piled into the vehicle and headed back to the airport to pick up the rest of the crew. After loading all the boats and paddles on the roof and the bags in the back we all piled in and headed towards Belgium. It was about a 2 hour drive which for all of us suffering a little jet lag felt a lot longer than it was. We eventually arrived at Dikkebus Vivjer and made our selves at home. We are staying in big Belgium Army tents on stretches which felt amazing to sleep on after trying to sleep in an upright chair on a plane!
Thursday 19th
Today we woke up early and headed out for a team run and stretch session around the lake to get our bodies moving. The weather wasn't that flash today and we were starting to wonder where summer was. We did two water sessions which were very much a flushing out of the jet lag that everyone was still feeling. In the evening we headed into Ieper and attended the Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate. It is a tribute that they do to the fallen soldiers of World War 1 every night. It was very moving!
Friday 20th
Two more water sessions were of order today. We played against the Canadian women and a couple of their U21 men which was really good to have our first game time together as a team. In the afternoon we visited the Tyne Cot Cemetery where thousands of soldiers both known and unknown are buried. Amongst them are a number of NZ soldiers.
Tomorrow the DePaddel competition begins! Paris will debut with her first international which is exciting. The team is feeling really amped for getting some game time and looking forward to showing off what we can do.
Stay tuned for some photos of our trip and results from this weekends tournament.
NZ Paddle Ferns
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Paddle Ferns Make It Half Way Around The World
Just a short note to say that the Paddle Ferns have arrived in Singapore. After a 10 hour flight from Christchurch the team arrived in Singapore ready to stretch their legs. A swim at the airport pool was on order followed by a bit of retail browsing. Boarding starts in ten minutes and then we'll be off on the next part of our journey to Paris.
"See you in Paris, Paris ;-)"
"See you in Paris, Paris ;-)"
Saturday, May 29, 2010
2010 New Zealand Senior Teams Announced - PRESS RELEASE
The New Zealand Canoe Polo Association is proud to announce the 2010 New Zealand Men’s and Women’s Canoe Polo Teams (the New Zealand Paddle Blacks and Paddle Ferns respectively). The New Zealand Paddle Blacks and Paddle Ferns will compete at the World Canoe Polo Championships from the 1st to the 5th of September in Milan Italy.
In what could be described as one of the tightest selection events in New Zealand Canoe Polo history the teams were officially announced on the 25th of April following the finals of the Christchurch National League Tournament. Selector for the Men’s team Kirsten Demanser-Wilson commented that, “it was exciting to see the tough competition between the men’s teams over the first of three national league weekends. The selection process was very intense as we had many exciting players competing for the 8 places in the New Zealand Men’s team. All players selected displayed outstanding skills, fire power, speed and that special ‘X factor’ which will help them take on the rest of the world later this year.“
After a very successful 2009 season culminating in winning the Oceania Championships the Paddle Blacks have set their sights high and are aiming to be the first New Zealand Men’s team to medal at a World Championship event. In the past few years the Paddle Blacks have undergone a vast amount of development and this is beginning to show in the team’s results as they quickly slide up the international rankings. The Paddle Ferns have proven themselves to be a formidable force having consistently placed in the top four over the past four years. After a disappointing fourth place at the 2009 World Games the team is stronger than ever and is ready to show the world that Kiwis really can fly.
PADDLE FERNS
Erin Bolton - Palmerston North
Julie Bolton - Palmerston North
Alison McCrae (c) - Christchurch
Tania Perrett (vc) - Christchurch
Paris Pidduck - Otaki
Freya Sonneland - Nelson
Olivia Spencer-Bower - Christchurch
Coach: Nick Burnett
Manager: Alison Perrett
PADDLE BLACKS
Anthony Barendsen - Palmerston North
Hamish Dugdale - Christchurch
Carl Duncan (vc) - Palmerston North
Jed Graham - Christchurch
James Mitchell - Palmerston North
Tom Neilson (c) - Christchurch
Jimmy Sewell - Adelaide/Christchurch
Mike Taylor - Wellington
Coach: Steve Hunt
Manager: Carol Taylor
In what could be described as one of the tightest selection events in New Zealand Canoe Polo history the teams were officially announced on the 25th of April following the finals of the Christchurch National League Tournament. Selector for the Men’s team Kirsten Demanser-Wilson commented that, “it was exciting to see the tough competition between the men’s teams over the first of three national league weekends. The selection process was very intense as we had many exciting players competing for the 8 places in the New Zealand Men’s team. All players selected displayed outstanding skills, fire power, speed and that special ‘X factor’ which will help them take on the rest of the world later this year.“
After a very successful 2009 season culminating in winning the Oceania Championships the Paddle Blacks have set their sights high and are aiming to be the first New Zealand Men’s team to medal at a World Championship event. In the past few years the Paddle Blacks have undergone a vast amount of development and this is beginning to show in the team’s results as they quickly slide up the international rankings. The Paddle Ferns have proven themselves to be a formidable force having consistently placed in the top four over the past four years. After a disappointing fourth place at the 2009 World Games the team is stronger than ever and is ready to show the world that Kiwis really can fly.
PADDLE FERNS
Erin Bolton - Palmerston North
Julie Bolton - Palmerston North
Alison McCrae (c) - Christchurch
Tania Perrett (vc) - Christchurch
Paris Pidduck - Otaki
Freya Sonneland - Nelson
Olivia Spencer-Bower - Christchurch
Coach: Nick Burnett
Manager: Alison Perrett
PADDLE BLACKS
Anthony Barendsen - Palmerston North
Hamish Dugdale - Christchurch
Carl Duncan (vc) - Palmerston North
Jed Graham - Christchurch
James Mitchell - Palmerston North
Tom Neilson (c) - Christchurch
Jimmy Sewell - Adelaide/Christchurch
Mike Taylor - Wellington
Coach: Steve Hunt
Manager: Carol Taylor
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