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Third Place.

Not exactly the placing we had hoped for, but thank you to everyone for the congratulations. And considering all we had to put up with, I suppose things could have gone worse. But there is no use dwelling on what could have gone better, or been organized more smoothly. Instead, let's take a page from my anonymous little brother's blog (annuxdossitt.wordpress.com), and focus on the positives that came out of our trip to Guatemala. Positive thinking is way more fun than the reverse anyhow.

For our first tournament, both outdoors, and as a team in general, with only one loss to a solid team, third isn't so bad. Sure it's not what we intended to accomplish, but first is a lofty goal in any tournament. We experienced our first loss as a team, and it sucks, but it happens. Even Phil and Todd lose matches here and there, no matter how few and far between those losses are. The most important part was how we bounced back from that loss, with a decisive win over Puerto Rico, who had come off a second place finish at the previous NORCECA.

Aside from how we played, the Guatemalan teams consist of a truly awesome group of people. They spent the entire week shuttling us around too and from the airport, our hotel, practices, to meals, tourist locations, etc. Plus made sure to warn us of any and all dangers we may happen upon while visiting their country. There are three players in particular who really made our stay in Guatemala memorable, and we made sure to snap some pictures with them so that I can show them off to the world. This blog will serve as a very public thank you to our friends, chauffeurs, translators, tour guides, training partners, competitors, and so on, all embodied in the following three athletes: Erick Garrido, Julio Recinos Ocana, and MaJo Orellana. We would not have had nearly the same experience at this tournament without you guys. If any of you are come near us in Canada, we'll have our Whatsapp ready.

Julio is on the right

Erick is in the white t-shirt, and MaJo in the middle.

Cheers,
Ben Jammin