|
|
Hi All,
For you guys who remember me…I'M BACK!!!! I'm happy to say Carole Anne had absolutely lost her mind on the day of tryouts and gave me my place back in the squad!!! For you guys who don't know me I’m Hazel, smallest and loudest Rockette EVER haha. Anyway back to the important stuff. I'm out shopping, not a care in the world, you know singing away to myself, totally oblivious to what’s going on when Carole Anne phones me and drops the bombshell (very exciting bombshell, might I add) that I’m going to Switzerland and then Italy to dance at the WVBF Pro-Series World Beach Volleyball Tour. Initially I was screaming with excitement until I heard her say 'its next week and you need to learn about 10 routines'!!!!!!!!!!! (That was the bombshell bit haha!) That was when my nice calm day turned into blind panic. The next week was all a bit of a blur of routines, routines and more routines and then we were off.
Week 1 – Lugano, Switzerland
I’m so excited, I’ve already looked Lugano up on the internet and it looks gorgeous so I’m really looking forward to this weekend. My partners in crime are Carole Anne, Pauline, Lynne and Deone. I picked the girls up and we travel through to Edinburgh Airport to meet Carole Anne who quite sensibly made her own way there (I’m not the best driver). We're all kitted out and tanned to the max, need to look good in these beach volleyball uniforms next to the tanned players!!
Nice short flight to Milan Malpensa and we're met at the other end by our driver. Lugano is just over the Swiss border so it’s easiest to fly into Italy and cross-over; and on the drive we passed Lake Como. Oh my God, it is truly stunning and George Clooney was blowing me kisses from the balcony of his lakeside villa (OK, maybe that part was just in my head). We arrived in Lugano around dinner time on the Thursday and I can honestly say I have never been anywhere so beautiful in my life, it is perfect, and somewhere everyone should visit once in their life. The buildings are various pastel shades and everything is so clean and perfect, it is out of this world. It oozes class and sophistication, its high street is made up of shops like Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Missoni, Gucci, need I go on, and in the evening during summer the roads in the town centre are closed to cars and they have an open-air cinema. You could not possibly be unhappy if you lived there.
We were met in Lugano by one of the local organisers, Viero, he became our tour guide, bodyguard, PA and water boy for the weekend, very sweet guy, and we wouldn't have had such a good time without him looking after us – thanks Viero. On the first evening he took us on a guided tour of Lugano, showed us all the best bits and took us to his friend’s bar where we also met some 'very famous footballer' called Maximus Otto, apparently he plays for Milan, of course us being girls didn't have a clue who he was much to his annoyance haha.
Then home to bed, we had a big day ahead of us and wanted to be well rested. I was sharing with Carole Anne and Pauline, our hotel was lovely, looked like something out of Romeo and Juliet but the bathrooms!!!! Well let’s just say I’ve never came across anything so small in my life.
The event was being held at the lakeside next to the harbour area. It was beautiful, had a little beach area just next to it and the views were out of this world. As this was my first day dancing at an event since learning the many thousand routines I was an absolute nervous wreck, I don't think I really took anything in on the first day of the tournament as I was so busy thinking about what step came next and trying to keep myself upright in the sand. In hindsight it was probably the best crash course I could have had; the routines are now ingrained in my brain forever. The second day was much better; I relaxed and was able to enjoy myself. The crowd were really appreciative towards us and DJ Gianchey got everyone going. The tournament was amazing, the sun was shining, the players throw themselves about like mad men in that sand and what about the height these players can jump – oh my God, girls I think we could benefit with some training sessions with these guys!
It was a long day, dancing from 4pm until midnight was hard work and we needed a energy boost so we get ourselves some bottles of Coca Cola..........maybe a bad idea??? This indeed provided us with the much needed sugar rush to get us through but in the process made us a tad hyperactive – I can honestly say I have never laughed so much in my life especially when Lynne finished one of our routines with a mouth full of sand – it was still stuck her teeth hours later!
Before we knew it the competition was finished for the day and it was time to head home, as we were leaving we met a really tall guy, when I say tall think 7ft 5!!! Of course when I stood next to him with my 5ft 0 frame I looked like one of the seven dwarfs – the girls found this hysterical! Needless to say Carole Anne had to get some photographs so she could show you (see the attached gallery) haha
Next day Viero had arranged for some of the VIPs to go on a boat trip around the lake and over to the new Casino on the opposite side, and being the sweetie he was he invited us girls along. It was amazing; we got to see all the little villages and exclusive restaurants dotted around the lake, some of which were only accessible by boat! We stopped at the casino and were given the grand tour and lunch out on the rooftop – the view was amazing, it’s like another world. Then it was back on the boat and off to the Finals.
As the crowds gathered we couldn’t wait for the Finals to begin. We were all ready in our uniforms and waited courtside sipping a glass of Coca Cola to stay cool. After yesterday Carole Anne had decided to monitor our intake of Coca Cola – I think she thought we were becoming addicted! The atmosphere was amazing and crowd were on the edge of their seats! The competition was fierce and the USA girls won the female competition and Mr Cuba and his partner won the mens’.
After the crowds had left we got some coaching from one of the players Siad and had our own game!!! Well not sure you'd call it a game, it was just a bit of a fun, Pauline is ace actually, Carole Anne was good at diving, unfortunately never quite made contact with the ball but I’ll give her 10/10 for trying, Lynne and myself were a bit hit or miss (mainly miss if I’d to be honest) and poor Deone was terrified of the ball hahahaha. And that was Lugano, we were made to feel so very welcome by all the organisers and locals, it is an amazing place. We said goodbye to our bodyguard Viero, he will miss us terribly I’m sure, and headed back to sunny Glasgow. Can't wait for next week!!
Week 2 – Catania, Sicily
This weekend the lovely Pauline couldn't join us so it was just the four of us, Carole Anne, Lynne, Deone and myself. We had an early start and a long days travel ahead of us, 8:30 check-in at Edinburgh, flight to London, some duty-free shopping (oh it’s a hard life) and onwards to Sicily AND another 3 hour drive to our hotel. We had the sweetest driver in the world though (who looked like Carole Anne’s dad), he couldn't speak a word of English but still made the effort to communicate and even stopped half way through our journey to buy us girls chocolate, crisps and crackers galore, yum yum.
Sicily was very different to Lugano, still beautiful but very old and traditional and it’s got its very own volcano, Mount Etna, which scared the life out of poor Deone (probably caused by me telling her it might erupt haha). We arrived at the hotel close to midnight so it had been a long day – now I know how pop stars feel when they travel across the world on tour. I was bunking up with Deone for the weekend, well what an experience that was, that sweet girl does some very strange things in her sleep (I won't go into it haha) and she is up and looking gorgeous in the morning by the time I had even open my eyes, I’m not a morning person!!!
Up early the following morning and time to start the beauty regime: tan, make-up, hair, bit more make-up (hey I’m getting old I need it!) then we're ready. Our sweet little driver was there waiting to chauffeur us to the event -the event was being held in the town’s main square, bit strange really, like having a beach in George Square!!!! The first night was exhibition games and would give the crowd a taste of things to come. The highlight of my night happened on our way back to the hotel when we saw Mount Etna was smouldering at the top, it was glowing bright red!!!! It was really an amazing sight but of course this nearly tipped poor Deone over the edge haha. We were assured that it was perfectly normal and in the morning I could see a little trail of smoke coming from it.
Next day the events kicked off, it was hot, hot, hot, and there were no air conditioned tents for us VIPs but we are troopers. The event gathered a good crowd and we got a great reception. As usual we were cheering throughout the games and enjoying the atmosphere. The sand at this event was fairly damp so a bit harder underfoot so we didn't have to worry about our balance and nailed all our routines with ease, we were on top form. On the downside, the sand was causing a fair amount of injuries, Carole Anne and a few of the players suffered injuries which meant a couple of the favourites were out of the competition…but our coach, ever the soldier, kept grinning and got on with the job at hand.
Finals day was here and again the crowd was amazing, DJ Gianchey had them all singing and dancing and Sky Sports were there filming the event so the atmosphere was great. Oh and we found out DJ Gianchey had a big hit in the UK with that song "you are a crazy man", think you might have to be a certain age to remember it, unfortunately I did!!!!! We had a great day, and by this time we had gotten to know all the players so we were really cheering them on. Carole Anne also taught every one of them her and Kelly's unique dance move which they would randomly burst into! haha. Be warned it’s like a bad contagious disease you'll all be doing it at games soon!!! Anyway to the results, well done to the Brazilian girls who won the female competition and Siad (USA) and Gregor (Slovenia) won the mens’.
It was all over!!!!! Can't believe it, we have had such an amazing time over the past two weekends and met some great people, could do it all again next weekend. We said our goodbyes that night and were up at 5am to begin the long travel home. Oh as with everything the Rockettes do this was not without its drama!!! We hit a major traffic jam on the way to the airport! And it wasn’t for our diver doing a sneaky (and somewhat scary) manoeuvre up the hard shoulder we would have definitely missed our flights! The journey home was a long and quiet one as by now we were exhausted and depressed that our trip was over. It was a great event, I had an absolute ball and the girls were great company. I hope I get an opportunity to work at it again in the future.
PS: Our hot manager Carole Anne certainly made a lasting impression in Sicily, she only goes and gets herself a marriage proposal by e-mail when she gets home! hahahaha. Don't worry boys she very politely turned it down – you go girl!!!!
Hazel xxxxx
     
Photo Gallery #1 (click to open)
     
Photo Gallery #2 (click to open)
|
|
