A First Season

Today marks the fourth month since our arrival in Christchurch, somehow a season but to be honest, I’m not sure which one.

We arrived in Christchurch in February, technically the end of summer, but all we heard was what a crap summer it had been.  Having said that, coming as a follow up to February in Ohio, it was more than pleasant.  Autumn started and there didn’t seem to be much change.  There’s nothing like the change of colors in the leaves but nature let’s you know winter is coming in other ways.  The days get shorter, the nights get colder and most noticeably, you feel the winds.

My first season coaching has provided me with ample exposure to the winds as well as an intimate view of sport in Christchurch.  First, allow me to continue on the joys of our new weather.  The adage of don’t like the weather, just wait an hour, is more than an adage, it is Christchurch.  People talk about the weather in terms of layers of clothing, I’ve come to be a three layer man.  

Most of our training sessions are in the evening, typically between 7-9pm.  As soon as the sun sets, the temperature starts dropping.  On a good night, that means we go from 12 to 8c (mid 50s to mid 40s for you farenheiters).  On a not so good, we go from 5 to -2c (40 to 25f) with the wind and rain element being unpopular features.  So you  start in one layer and if you’re standing around like me most of the night, you keep your layers handy.  This concept of hockey as a winter sport is a new wrinkle, but when in Rome…

As to the actual coaching part, I can’t say enough how fortunate I’ve been to have the opportunities I’ve found here.  Sport is different here.  Coming from America and a Big Ten collegiate environment you take so much for granted, starting with the fact that what I did in the States was a full time job.  You have your own facility, prime practice times, equipment, resources, etc…   Here, we have our game on Saturday and a one hour training session Monday and Wednesdays.  Our Monday slot is on a half pitch at a high school and we share a full field with our Men’s team on Wednesday.  There are only three full field pitches in all of Christchurch and more than 4,000 players.  Training slots are hard to find and we’re fortunate to have two, regardless of time and weather.

I came to the Selwyn club via a string of e-mails and persistence, mostly on their part.  When we arrived in February I was particularly keen to play, not necessarily coach.  The trouble is, the season starts in February and most clubs have their trials for their teams in January so I missed that boat and having said that, most clubs have their coach well in place.  On that front, my ship came in with Selwyn.

I had been warned we would be young and inexperienced and naively thought, I’m old and experienced, we’ll be fine.  We had our first couple of trainings and I thought we were a bit rough around the edges, but we’ll be ok.  I took stock of our strengths, hashed out a game plan, had my game board and pre-game notes ready and we went out and lost our first game 9-0; so much for old and experienced.

First, I need to say I love my team.  They were selected before I came on board so I have nothing to do with that.   I had this glorious plan of goal setting, positive reinforcement, you know the story.  We have one player with previous Premier league experience, everyone else is completely new to this level.  Most of our players are students in Christchurch at university or just recently out of school teams in the area.  Our first three games we had 13 players and struggled to get more than ten players to training as many had commitments with school, work and family.  Life gets in the way of my master plan yet again.

The master plan for our season has had many revisions.  As a competitive person, I like to win.  This season has not been about the result, but the process.  We are now twelve weeks into our season and we still have yet to win a game.  There are five other clubs in the Premier competition and the league consists of playing each teams three times.  After our first five games, we had scored four goals and conceded 29, losing all five.  In our second round of games, we scored five goals, conceded 18 and tied one and lost four.  In our first two games of this last round, we’ve scored one goal, allowed two and lost one and tied one.  Our hardest games are still to come but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

One of the greatest parts of this experience has been getting to know the players.  While my master plan was all about success on the field, that life obstacle has provided me a window as to so many things New Zealand beyond hockey.  What it means to be a student, a young person, a part of a family, a part of a club, a part of a team, these things are somewhat different here and I’ve learned to appreciate and respect what our players bring to our team.  We do the best we can and that’s the only thing we can control.  One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned this season is that you never stop learning.  Things that may have worked in one place, don’t always work in another.

With three games to go, we won’t be playing for a championship.  We’ll be playing.  This season will end and another will come.  The good news, after winter comes spring.

Cheers,

Jon

Winter

Last week I learned that it was winter in New Zealand. Normally, I can tell that it's winter by the freezing temperatures and snowbanks by the side of the road. But it was sunny, there was no snow, and it was 55F. Not really like my past winters, but one that I certainly don't mind getting used to.

Classes ended last week for winter break so Jon and I decided to get out of town to celebrate our anniversary (11th, for those who are counting). After hearing about the wonderful time that Andy and Adam had had visiting the west coast, we decided that that's where we'd go. We looked forward to driving across the plains, over the Alps and into the sub-tropical forest -- all in a little over 3 hours! It wasn't meant to be, however (this time at least!). The weather forecast was calling for heavy rain so we decided that we'd go to Hanmer Springs instead. This is Christchurch's resort town, located about 2 hours northwest of the city. The town was built up around hot springs that the Europeans re-discovered in the 1800s, after the Maori had discovered them centuries before. 

We arrived Tuesday afternoon and spent a couple of hours exploring the hot pools. There are about ten of them, some 35C - 37C and then the sulphur pools at 40C. Finding the hotter pool became kind of a quest. At first 35C felt wonderfully warm. Until we tried the 37C one. After we'd been in the 40C pool, the 35C one felt almost frigid! Our favourite though was the one with the large faucets spraying water from the sides of the pool with various intensities. If you'd like a gentle massage, try the one over there. A stronger massage? Try that one.  This was all totally up my alley. Massage, hot pools, pampering. Yes, please!!!!

Jon, not so much. Generally, that is. The pools may have done the trick though. I think I even heard him say that it was good. (It really was. :)

When we arrived at our hotel earlier in the day, the desk clerk mentioned that they were expecting snow. Cool, no big deal. Wrong. It snowed and snowed and snowed. So much so that the town lost power and the roads were closed. Now this is the kind of winter I'm familiar with! It brought back fond memories of being at the cottage in Thornbury two years ago and being snowed in for three days.

The snow was magnificent. It draped the trees and mountains, and glistened in the sun. Being snowbound in Hanmer for an extra day, we decided to go for a walk up the hill along the snow-covered roads. A man in an SUV stopped along side us to ask if we needed a ride into town. We let him know that we were just out walking and then reflected on how nice it was to have been offered a ride. A few people further up the road eagerly accepted the offer and hopped into the truck.

We ended up heading back to Christchurch the next day. It had apparently been a record snowfall. The university was closed for a day and a half to allow maintenance workers to clear the snow and clean up the many tree branches that had sadly broken from the weight of the snow.  People were out clearing sidewalks and driveways -- with rakes and brooms. Love it, love it, love it. A very good sign that snow is not a common occurrence.

55F today. Back to the winter I'm looking forward to getting used to.

******

p.s. A few shots of a trail at Governor's Bay, just a short drive from where we live. We took the dogs for a walk/run the week before the snow arrived. In the one shot, Jon is drying Tatum off before she gets into the car. The pictures don't do justice to the beauty of the area. Will try to get better shots another time.