Category: Sport

Wifey’s World Cup

/ Renae / Leave a comment

There aren’t many things that will get me up at 4am. The World Cup Finals is one of the exceptions. 4 years ago, I was living with friends, one of whom was soccer mad. So much so that he dragged his mattress out into the loungeroom for the month of matches, and tried to watch every single one, regardless of who was playing, all the while holding down a (high-responsibility) full-time job.

I’m not as crazy about soccer. In fact, I don’t really like watch the Premier League or whatever they have in Europe/England. That kind of soccer annoys me. All the theatrics get old very quickly. And even though that still goes on in the World Cup finals, 4 years ago I was impressed that Australia weren’t buying into that crap.

Last night, I was disappointed that this had changed somewhat. The theatrics I saw from both Germany (my favourite was the guy who grabbed at his leg with a non-existent injury before he even hit the ground!!) and Australia last night was terribly frustrating. That’s not what I got up at 4am to watch. Nor was the thrashing that Germany dealt us. I’m not being a sore loser – all credit to Germany. Apart from the first 7 minutes where we seemed to come out kicking (so to speak) they outplayed and outclassed us in every way. They were amazing, and the skill was impressive to watch. We can all admit to that and congratulate our German friends. (Well done boys).

Where was I going with this? I think I just wanted to vent a bit. I don’t like watching Aussie football players, whom I’m used to being tough and no-nonsense players (I’ve been watching Rugby League, Union and AFL too much, clearly) taking dives and crying foul to the referee, when clearly in the replay, there was nothing to it. Why is soccer like this?? It really spoils the game for me and frustrates me no end.

On a brighter note, I also watched the opening match of the World Cup finals on Friday night between South Africa and Mexico. So many people around college had been saying how Mexico were going to win, and convincingly, and I thought “well it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a good match.” And boy was it ever! And the best thing about it? That South Africa scored the opening goal for the whole World Cup. That was awesome. I think, unless you were born in Mexico, you were barracking for South Africa – I know I was! And not just because half of Hubs’ family are from there! Mexico equalised with a good goal, but not before the SA goal keeper had saved some absolute crackers. It really was an entertaining game, without too much theatrics, and with a near-goal to South Africa in the dying minutes that would have won them the game, and that so many people wish had gone in. They have already done their country proud.

I hope to feel that same pride – that my team has played a good, fair, competitive game, win, lose or draw, – when the Socceroos take on Ghana at midnight this Saturday. I’m proud that the Socceroos have done so well to get in to the finals, I just want them to show the world the skill and class that I know they have, and not have to play the silly sissy games that other teams feel the need to play.

This has been Wifey’s World Cup. I look forward to joining you again next week.

Kondalilla falls

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On the Monday after my birthday party, Hubs and I felt like doing something active for the day, so our family friend Lou suggested Kondalilla Falls. And the best thing was, Lou was free on the Monday as well so we invited him along to be our guide. Lou knows the area like the back of his hand, so we didn’t have to worry about such things as getting lost or eaten by giant eels 🙂

It was a hot day but the walk was mainly through rainforest so we kept quite cool. We started at Barroon Pocket Dam, and left the car there. The plan was for Lou’s wife Di to pick us up at the other end, just near the falls, and bring us back to the car on their way home. Lou had told us it was about 8km so off we went!

What a view!
After about 2 hours of walking, it was time for smoko and a swim
 
We then walked another hour or so and found somewhere to stop for lunch. Lou tried a bit of fishing but there were no bites that day. The track was all downhill for the first bit, then pretty flat for a while, and then we started walking back up again. Lou had promised us a swim at Kondalilla falls, and after a day of walking, it was exactly what was needed to cool off.
 

And boy was the water chilly! While we were swimming Lou said something along the lines of “You wouldn’t BELIEVE how big the eels can get in here.” Hmmm… I chose not to think about it…
Just before we headed back up to meet Di
 
It was exactly what we needed – a day out in the “wilderness”, with good company and lovely views. As we headed to the car, I turned around to see a sign that said:
Baroon Pocket Dam – 11.2km walk
No wonder I was so exhausted!! Thanks so much for a great day Lou!

Sport sport sport sport….

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I was watching our friend learn how to rollerblade the other day, and I was enjoying watching the learning process. I’ve tried so many sports in my life, and find it exciting to continue to try new things. Here are a few I’ve given a go:

Swimming – started young cos I had asthma and was pretty handy at the school swimming carnivals
Gymnastics – started when I was fairly young and learned at the PCYC
Judo – did this at the PCYC as well, with my bro
Ballet – started when I was 4 years old, finished when I was 13. I got to the stage where I actually had to be good to continue!
Tap dancing – Did this for about 4 years as a teenager and LOVED IT!
Jazz dancing – I think I did this for 2 years (as well as tap and ballet) and liked it but wasn’t that good
Athletics – at primary school. I was good at sprinting, long jump and high jump. Until puberty hit…
Hockey – played hockey (goal keeper) from 10-years-old til 16, then again when I was 21/22 years old.
Soccer – played in high school and then again when I was 26/27 y/o (in goals again)
Basketball – was on the inter-school team (mandatory sport on a Wednesday)
Netball (indoor) – first played when I was 17/18 or so, then on and off in my 20s
Skiing – first learnt when I was 10 years old, then again for year 11 ski trip. Can’t wait to go again some time and try my hand at snow boarding
Indoor hockey – played for a few years in my late teens and again in my 20s I think
Wind surfing and catamaraning – both just for fun with family
Touch footy – Played when I was 23/24 but didn’t like it that much, then played down here in Melbourne last year and LOVED IT!
Ultimate disc – played 1 season last year with Hubs and enjoyed it, but the game times weren’t that convenient and it’s TOO COLD in Melbourne to play sports at night!
Going to the gym – well……..
Rollerblading – just for fun
Personal training – did that in my mid 20s with a friend, then just before our wedding with Hubs(we were totally buff!), being trained by one of my bridesmaids who’s a personal trainer and who LOVED kicking our butts.

Stuff I’ve tried once or twice: Tennis, Rebound volleyball, squash, badminton, backyard cricket (more than once or twice, clearly), karate, ju-jitsu, indoor rock climbing, sky diving (once is enough), lawn bowls.

So it kind of looks like I play sport the same way I work, but I did actually participate in a lot of these sports for a long time, so it’s totally different. 🙂 That’s all that I can think of at the moment, though, there could very well be more! (And there’s probably a really obvious one that I’ve missed!)

The moral of the story? I’ll try anything once!

Pumping Iron

/ Renae / 1 Comment

I decided I needed a kick-start to my exercise regime (that is, I had no exercise regime and needed one) so I’ve signed up for a 1 month membership to all the classes at the uni gym. I’m no stranger to joining a gym, but I’m not so familiar with actually going regularly. I’ve probably joined half a dozen gyms in my life, but the novelty wears off in about the 2nd month and the rest of the year is wasted. I’ve sometimes gotten some of my money back, but more often than not, it’s been money down the drain.

I know that part of the reason that I didn’t go regularly was because I was always so busy and I didn’t put it as a priority. After the initial surge of motivation, I would put it at around 8th on my list of priorities so it never really got “done”. I have quite a bit of time on my hands at the moment, and I wanted to do something for myself and for my health. So this time, instead of committing myself to a whole year, I decided to just go for the month. Kind of a build-up before Christmas. And I went for the classes-only pass as that’s what I’m most interested in. Plus it includes use of the pool and I don’t mind doing laps from time to time.

So my month started last Thursday and I think I’ve already gotten my money’s worth, going 10 times in 8 days. Most of my muscles are screaming at me on a daily basis, but I’m already noticing an increase in my energy, plus I’m going to sleep easier at night. My dreams are a lot more crazy (as is per usual when I sleep heavier) but it’s worth it.

So I’m not saying I’m going to keep up this “10 trips in a week” thing, but I’m certainly going to give it a crack!

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

/ Renae / 6 Comments

I’ve been doing a bit of skipping lately – of the exercise variety, rather than as a way of getting from A to B – and really enjoy skipping to music. I have found, however, that most songs are too fast or too slow to skip in time to, and when I want to do 250 skips at a time, it’s hard to keep count if it’s not in time to the music.

The BEST song with the most suitable skipping-tempo that I have found is “Don’t Worry, Be Happy“. It’s perfect! Not too fast, not too slow, AND it’s easy to count the number of skips I do in groups of 8.

So can anyone find a song with the same tempo as this?

CHALLENGE!

The Stars shine again

/ Renae / 2 Comments

Last year I talked about how Hubs was playing Stars Footy. Well, he’s at it again! They have played 2 games so far. The first game was against Kendall College – these poor guys have to travel an hour to get here, they only have enough players to run on (no subs) and they get beaten (not as convincingly as you might expect) by a mob of Newman players who think it’s funny to do the “Braveheart Run” at the start of a play.

It was a fun and exciting match and the lead was shared by both teams before Newman came away with a win. There were a lot more kicks and marks (where you catch the ball on the full after it has been kicked at least 10 metres. I think that’s right) taken which made it a good spectacle. I won’t mention how freezing cold it was on the sideline, as I’m sure the players felt the chill in only their singlets and (short) shorts. Like last year, they had more players on the bench than on the field, so Hubs only got about 15 minutes of game time. He had a great time though!

The next game was a bit less thrilling for Newman unfortunately. We were up against a very strong Ormond team and even a goal off a Braveheart run couldn’t save it for us. There were fewer subs this game and Hubs had a really good run. I was so proud! A “brawl” at the end finished the game 1 minute and 34 seconds prematurely (I was timekeeper) but it may have been for the best!

I took some photos at the first game, but they pretty much looked the same as the ones I took last year! I’ll try and get some more at another game. There should be a couple more to come.

Go the Stars!!

Walkies

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(I’m still in America, but here’s another post I prepared earlier…)

About 10 years ago (what?… gosh that’s a long time…) Dad and I used to walk the hills of Red Hill and Kelvin Grove. I was on a health kick at the time, and I needed the extra push (sometimes literally) to get up those hills, and Dad was happy to help out – a little TOO happy sometimes! The worst of the worst was Broadhurst St, so we used to get that out of the way at the start, so the other hills didn’t seem as awful. It might not look too bad in the photo, but DAMN that hill was steep! When you were at the top, if you took about 10 steps back and looked down, you would pretty much just see a drop! The thing that made it a real killer though, was that it was SO long. Vale St is steeper, but it’s shorter as well, so the pain isn’t a lingering one! I just remember trudging up those hills, willing my mind elsewhere so it was more bearable.

I really can’t complain though, as Dad also used to (and does still I’m sure!) take a backpack loaded up with bits and bobs to simulate him being in New Zealand, tramping up and down the hills.

And now Dad is proud to have Mum along on his walks! Yeah Mum! We used to go around 6pm which was an absolute killer, as we could smell all the home-cooked meals, waiting to be eaten! But I guess it did get us home quicker!

Thanks Dad! No, really. Thanks a LOT! 🙂

QUEEEEEEEEENSLADER!!!!!!!

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Yeah, it’s good to be a Queenslander. Especially today!! For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, I’M TALKING ABOUT THIS!!! I watched the game with an indifferent Victorian and a dirty New South Wales supporter! (There’s your shout-out DT!! You’re famous!!)

What a mish-mash of a game, but what a great record-breaking victory! I could go on and on but I’ll save my rant for another day.

GO MAROOOOOOOOOOONS!!!

My week of footy

/ Renae / 3 Comments

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! What a great few days I’ve just had! As previously mentioned, my friend Ah-dele booked herself in to come down to Melbs for the State of Origin and the Broncos vs Melbourne Storm (“I hate those Melbourne players”) game.

Here we are geared up for the State of Origin: GO MAROONS!!!

The atmosphere was really great and there were over 50,000 people there which is only a couple thousand off a full-house for footy games! It was SO much fun.

We even ran into a few people we know who happened to come down from Qld for the game! It was quite a close game, though the score (28-18) doesn’t really reflect that. The last 10 minutes were particularly exciting, and even though I never thought we were going to lose (not really, anyway), I realised that I’m out of “footy match watching” practice. My heart was racing!! Subsequently, I lost my voice again, but was TOTALLY worth it!

So then Friday night came around, and we were very excited to be heading out to Melbourne Olympic Park for the match. It’s a very old-school stadium and only seats just over 10,000, as well as standing room for a few thousand more. I reckon there were about 14,000 people there and probably less than a thousand Broncos supporters. It occurred to me that I’d never been to a game where my team’s supporters were so vastly outnumbered, but there we were, Broncos scarves (thanks TM!) and beanies and gloves and lots of enthusiasm:

Unfortunately, we got completely annihilated. 48-4 was the final score and we were gutted. It was never going to go well, 2 days after the Origin, and missing Hodges and Lockyer, but we couldn’t prepare ourselves for such an onslaught. We were NOT happy Jan!!! But credit where credit is due. Melbourne had almost as many players in origin as we did, and they had a blinder of a match. They just couldn’t put a foot wrong. Luckily, Melbourne is my 2nd fave team, so I don’t hate them too much for humiliating us!!

We left the game and headed to the Turf bar to drown our sorrows in cheap champagne and cheesy 80s and 90s music. A great end to the night!!

Missing my footy

/ Renae / 11 Comments

I love my footy. What can I say? I’m a Queenslander and I started following the Broncos when I was about 12 years old and have loved them ever since. In fact, I love watching most sports; I’ve even been known to watch a round of golf or a game of lawn bowls on the telly. (But I must say that I draw the line at motor sports.) Back to the footy.

Living in an AFL-obsessed state, it’s not often that I get to watch rugby league, so when I found out that Game 1 of the 2009 State of Origin was being played in Melbourne, I jumped at the opportunity to go. The fact that the Queensland team is made up of mostly Broncos players, only confirmed the decision. My good friend Adele who’s also a mad-keen Broncos supporter is coming down to watch the game AND we found out that the Broncos are playing Melbourne 2 days later IN MELBOURNE!! So I’ve been starved of my addiction for months, and this week I’ll be going to 2 games within 3 days!!!!! PLEASURE OVERLOAD!!!!!!!!

GO QUEENSLAND!!!!! AND BRONCOS!!!!!!