Princeton University Athletics
Men's Squash Team Blogs During Fall Training Trip To Italy
November 06, 2015 | Men's Squash
Last week, the Princeton men's squash team was in the middle of both mid-terms and preseason training. Right now, the Tigers are in the middle of Italy, and they're keep a blog of their adventures (and, yes, their training too!).
Day 1 – Departure and Travel to Rome:
It was 4:15 pm and we had gathered at the bus rink outside Jadwin Gymnasium. An air of zest was about as we had just finished midterms and were about to spend a week in Italy bonding together as a team and getting some quality training in preparation for the soon-approaching squash season.
We had to tearfully part ways with two of our teammates—Komron and Cody—they couldn't join us on the trip for various reasons. It was then that Coach Sean delivered us the good news—Coach Neil would be coming with us instead! Our tears turned to jubilation and we cheered as though we'd won the decider against Harvard.
Our optimistic spirits didn't last long, however. The bus ride was not the most pleasant experience as we were stuck in a jam for 3 hours on the way to JFK and frustration was building. We are all seasoned athletes though and were able to channel our growing irritation into a heated debate about the causes of global warming and the environmental impact of eating burgers.
We did eventually reach the airport with some time to spare; kudos to Coach Sean for deciding to leave Princeton super early. We managed to get through the hectic check-in process and infinitely long security check line with relative ease, though Oon nearly ruptured his bladder as he hadn't used the toilet all day.
The plane trip was eight hours long and the team was evenly split between watching “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Inside Out." In a stroke of horrendous luck, Coach Sean was assigned the seat next to the bathroom and was kept awake by the sounds of the toilet for the entire duration of the flight.
At about 1pm local time, we reached Rome. We wasted no time settling in as we met by our friendly tour guide for the trip, Enrica, loaded the bus, and headed straight for Vatican City. On our way there we stopped at a rest stop for lunch. No one who worked there knew how to speak English so we channeled our inner Italian tongue and pointed to what we wanted. The food was delicious, and helped settle our stomach from the airplane.
We first visited the Vatican Museum, which was filled with ancient Roman statues, incredible tapestries that we couldn't believe were woven and not painted, and hand drawn maps that were shockingly accurate. The tour guide even had to tell us that the paintings on the ceiling weren't 3D. These classical artists were unbelievably talented. Next we headed to the Sistine Chapel, where we were graced with the masterpieces of great Italian painters – everyone was especially impressed with Michelangelo's frescos on the ceiling. After, we headed to St. Peter's Cathedral, where the immense size of the church dwarfed us. We also got to see the embalmed bodies of some popes, which definitely freaked out some of the guys. After spending 30 minutes exploring the biggest Chapel in the world, we took a couple of fantastic team photos. Following our holy expedition, we arrived at the hotel and went to bed after a full day of travel.
Day 2: Roma
Day number two began with an early start. We were out of the hotel by 8:45 and headed into the city. When we arrived we met up with Flavia for our tour of Rome. It began by the Arch of Constatine where we learned it is one of the few ancient Roman ruins still completely intact. We then proceeded to head to the Coliseum. We did not go inside but were informed a lot about the history of this magnificent structure. Even though a significant portion of the building has been removed or damaged it was really interesting to see the restoration efforts to clean up the building while preserving its history. It was fascinating to learn about the variety of events that occurred inside the Coliseum including: mock naval fights and gladiator battles. Following the Coliseum we saw the Capital building, the Pantheon, and the Fontana di Trevi during our free time in the afternoon. During this time we also had time to grab some pizza and gelato from where our tour guide claimed was “The best place in the area.” After our free afternoon we headed back to the hotel for a quick dinner before the much-awaited soccer match between AC Milan and Lazio. The match was pretty lopsided with the away team, AC Milan, controlling the game from the start and taking a 1-0 lead by halftime. By the 85th minute they had tacked on two more and we headed for the gates early to avoid the traffic rush at the end of the match. After the match everyone was pretty drained and wanted to get a good nights sleep for the early wake up the following morning.
Italy Day 3: Rome to Riccione, Monday 11/2/15
After an early breakfast in the hotel, we checked out and started our journey to Riccione. It was a going to be a long 6-hour bus ride (although Google Maps said 3 hours 15 minutes…), but the scenic views and the company of our beloved teammates more than made up for it. En route we stopped at a local restaurant for a quick sandwich and reached the Italian National Training Center around 4 pm. We'd like to take a moment to thank Coach for scheduling a tough training session immediately after a long bus ride. However, our energy levels picked up as we got on court with some of the top Italian players and met Marcus Berrett, the Italian National Coach.
Sweaty and ready for showers, we checked into our beachside hotel and settled in. We were pleased to see that our balconies faced the ocean, the juniors were in a double (we owe you one, Komron), and Tyler had to sleep in a kid's bed in Sean and Neil's triple.
Dinner at the hotel was an unforeseen test of endurance. At our previous hotel in Rome, we'd been served a set menu. We all thought that the Pasta Carbonara at the Riccione hotel was the main entrée and stuffed ourselves with it, only to find out that a nice half chicken awaited us in the following course. But with a “When in Riccione” attitude, we disregarded our overstuffed bellies and finished the chicken and ensuing dessert. The guys then headed up to Spencer, Clay, and East's room for some bonding time.
- Written by Ben and Vivek