Firstly, sorry for not updating my blog sooner, but Maccabi GB have had us running round Israel like you wouldn't believe... here's a round up of the first three days. I will upload some more pictures tomorrow.
So there we were at Heathrow Airport, Terminal 1, some 200 or so excited Maccabi competitors all dressed in our unmissable blue tracksuits and bright blue polo shirts.
However, the anticipation subsided a little as we sat in the plane on the tarmac as a heavy rain shower passed overheard, halting take-offs for an hour and delaying our plane by two and a half hours. But a dodgy meal and a viewing of He’s Just Not That Into You later and Tel Aviv was on the horizon and we were finally in Israel.
It was 10pm by the time we got to Kibbutz Hotel Ramat Rachel in Jerusalem, which was packed full of already-arrived GB participants and buzzing. We decided to take a look at the gardens before we hit the sack and en route, a member of the men’s squad decided to pull his room-mate’s underpants down in front of us as we walked down the corridor where their rooms were. Some got a better view than others... and with all that hulabaloo, we were soon ready to retreat to our rooms!
The following morning we headed to a high school where we trained on an astro turf pitch. The heat of Jerusalem is not quite as intense as the coastal heat, so the weather did not come as too much of a shock. We only had an hour and then it was back to the hotel where we had three hours or so of free time before we did a fun session of flicks and tricks to music in the grounds of the hotel.
In the evening, the entire British delegation headed off to the Maccabiah HQ in Ramat Gan for a ‘Gala Dinner’. Not being much of a Gala Dinner person myself, I can’t say I was enthralled at the idea, but thanks to some amusing comments from the rugby team, an insane bottle-blonde dancing troupe and an impromptu jamming session with a group of bongo players who had been hired for the evening, we left the event with smiles on our faces. The bongo group were brilliant, and we played rhythms with them until the staff at Kfar Maccabiah ushered us out of the garden and back on to our coach.
A Day In Jerusalem
Thursday morning was an early start for the Team GB throng, who went en masse to Yad Vashem. I had only been once before, many years ago, and it has changed alot since then. Some of our group were there for the first time and were very affected by the visit. Even one or two who had been before were overwhelmed. While Yad Vashem has little to do with Israel, it has everything to do with being Jewish and for me, one of the saddest things about it is that the world has not learned enough lessons from it (Darfur, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, I could go on and on and on...) and there is still far too much anti-semitism and it made me think quite alot about the Iranian President.
After lunch the Open men and women’s football teams headed off to Sde Dov, known best as Tel Aviv’s domestic airport but also a small air force base. We visited the control tower and a plane but learnt very little about the air force and its culture really, but we seemed to cause a bit of excitement at the base and were asked for our photos and stuff by some of the staff there which was nice!
In the evening women’s Team GB football organised its own extra-curricular trip to the Kotel, and for us, this was the most enjoyable part of our trip to Jerusalem. Again, it was a first visit for a couple of the group and it was really nice to be with people experiencing the Wailing Wall for the first time. We spent a long time there taking photos, chatting to people who came up to us to wish us good luck and did a spot of praying too. Then we headed up towards Jaffa Gate stopping off for felafel and shwarma on the way. How many boxes can you tick in one evening??
Pre-camp has finished and we all can’t wait to go to Haifa and get serious about football.
