Another amazing day!!

Saturday 9th April
6.30am alarm call for all!And after a good breakfast, we set off for the National Stadium and our match against Jamaica Under 16's. 
Although a 10.00am start, it was still quite hot, and the venue had changed from inside to out. 
The announcements began and names called to run on court, Birmingham first and then Jamaica.  Teams walked towards each other and exchanged gifts, as we are only one team playing 3 of their teams we are now in possession of lots of gifts [so if your children tell you they have bought you a gift from Jamaica...beware!]
This was a hard match and we lost! A crushing defeat the radio said as it reported on Birmingham's visit to play Jamaica U16's.  We lost by a lot [and I'll let you have the result tomorrow - it's been a busy day...].  Why did we lose?  Heat for one, but mainly because the Jamaicans were pretty stunning!  Fast, exciting, sharp and they fought for everything.  At 3/4 time Jill [who was lead coach on this match] told the everyone to go out and play hard, give everything and make the most of this amazing opportunity.  Sophie [Captain] really rallied the girls around 'just 12 minutes more to give what we've got', but in the end not enough.
The players went back to the hotel for a cold bath and review, Colette assisted by Donna delivered an excellent coaching workshop to Jamaican coaches and teachers [and infront of the famous former Australian Coach and now Technical Director for 4 months to Jamaica Senior Squad, Jill McIntosh!].  This trip is also about knowledge exchange between Birmingham and Jamaica and within Birmingham itself.  Donna said the workshop had been fanastic and she had learnt such a lot.
We all ate lunch by the pool, the team had a review meeting, and we met again to leave for the Welcome Reception at the Sunshine Chalet at no.17 Welcome Drive  [think all of that sums up the Jamaican people].
The Sunshine Chalet is owned by the Jamaican Prime Minister and has been leased to the Sunshine Girls, who stay there when they have a test series.  It means they can all be together/work together etc at an important time.  It's set further up the mountain, surrounded by palm trees and has lots of grounds. 
The Welcome reception was wonderful - great food, lots of cold drinks, ice cream, cakes [so much for the healthy eating!], music, dancing and more gifts.  There was a formal welcome and address and speeches from both Dorothy Hobson and Marva Bernard and myself.  Then..............................the sun cooled down, a breeze started up and the music got louder!!!
Dance offs began, dancing together continued and then the coaches on both sides joined in, thankfully that didn't last for long!
Two hours later, still dancing, teaching each other and lots of laughing and photos. We had to leave to go and watch the league games, our bus pulled up, email address were swopped, more last photos, tears, lots of hugs between them all and we got on the bus, only to be followed by the Jamaican U14's and a few U16's who were also going to watch the matches and were hitching a ride! 
The Stadium and league netball on a Saturday night is pretty exciting!  We piled into the seats, our girls and their new friends up in the corner, us coaches out the way below. 
Four courts in use with league games from 9.00am through till 10.00pm, the seating for 1000 [?] filled with friends and family, lots of food and drinks stalls, and .....music...  It's a pretty amazing atmosphere and totally different to our central venues [although don't think our weather helps!].  The second game we watched was between 2 prem league teams, the greens had the most Internationals and the purples had one in the dev squad and two girls who played in the U16's match.  The Purples were leading when we left.  It was a pretty exciting match, not for the score, but for the play..
Our girls were having their hair done by their new friends when we called them to go, more cuddles and lots more tears [on our side].  Evening meal, team briefing and off to bed, but not before the girls said they'd had  an amazing day, had really enjoyed it all and had had so much fun [there were more tears - but all good ones!].
Its not allowing me to upload photos, will try again tomorrow.