Princeton University Athletics
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Men's Lacrosse Team Arrives In Spain
June 05, 2008 | Men's Lacrosse
It turns out the toughest part of the Princeton men's lacrosse team's journey from campus to Spain was getting across town in Manhattan.
The Tigers left Jadwin at noon Wednesday afternoon to begin their nine-day stay in Europe. Aside from some traffic in midtown Manhattan during the trip between the Lincoln Tunnel and the Queens Midtown Tunnel on the way to Kennedy Airport, the trip was very smooth. And very, very long.
Princeton's travel party of 47 players (Jack McBride will join the team later in the tour after he is done practicing with the U.S. Under-19 team), three coaches (Associate Head Coach David Metzbower did not make the trip to concentrate on preparing for summer camp), several support staff members and a host of parents flew from Kennedy to Dublin, Ireland, on a 5:40 flight. The Tigers did not leave until 55 minutes later as there were about 20 planes ahead of their Aer Lingus flight,. but once airborne, there was about two minutes of turbulence on a six-hour trip.
The stay in Dublin lasted about 20 minutes, just long enough to clear customs and get onto the next Aer Lingus flight, from Dublin to Alicante, Spain. This flight was even less bumpy than the first.
Once in Spain, Princeton was met by its tour guides, Jeremy Meccage and local contact Pedro Martinez (who calls the New York Mets pitcher of the same name his "long-lost son"), for a bus ride to La Manga and the La Manga Club resort. The trip from Alicante took a little more than an hour, making the total elapsed time from Jadwin Gym to the resort a little more than 18 hours.
La Manga will be Princeton's home for four days before a return to Dublin. The Tigers practiced in the afternoon in preparation for their two games against the English national team Friday morning and Saturday morning.
La Manga is a coastal town in Southeast Spain, near Cartagena on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a six-hour time difference with the Eastern Time Zone of the United States. The drive from Alicante took the team through an agricultural region struggling with near drought conditions, yet able to successfully harness water from a river 500 miles away to yield acres and acres of citrus fruit. That cause is helped by 300 days a year of sunshine and temperatures that never reach the freezing mark. The high temperature today in La Manga was 81 degrees Fahrenheit.
The players will be staying in apartments at the resort, which features its own beach, two pools, several restaurants, a Hyatt Regency hotel and a golf course. It is primarily a vacation spot for British tourists. The facility also features several soccer fields, which English Premiere League teams have used for preseason training and which will host the games between Princeton and the English team.
Note - Check back here for updates throughout the trip, including tour guide Pedro Martinez' thoughts after his first look at the sport of lacrosse.