July 7th

This afternoon the boys were scheduled to have a scrimmage but it was called off at the last minute because of a 24-hour railroad strike...not that unusual an event here in Italy I'm told! It started last night at 9 and concluded tonight at 9. They were going to play a 15-under team but kids that age can't ride scooters so they had no way of getting to the pool. But as all of would expect Jason and Corey had a back-up plan and had your typical NHHS well-organized practice that lasted 2 1/2 hours where they were able to work on a lot of areas of the game that needed to be ironed out. Both coaches were extremely happy with the afternoon training and the overall intensity from everyone. The word for the day (and most of the trip so far!) when it comes to playing water polo at the high level that's expected of Newport is "FOCUS." Jason feels that if everyone can learn to focus more during games and training that the sky's the limit as to what this group can achieve.

Tomorrow afternoon the troops have a game in Recco and on Wednesday a game in Camogli. Jason is heading down to Pisa tomorrow between morning workout and the late afternoon game to see his brother and his brother's family who are on a Mediterranean cruise. Needless to say Coach is looking forward to seeing the other Lynches.

Annette and Tim Tauber are down in Portofino and are expected to roll into Camogli any day now. Evelyn and John Yeager are seeing every square kilometer of Italy before they arrive on the 10th. It will be great to see them and I'm sure that Tim and Jack will be happy to see mom and dad!

That's it for now, amiche (friends)!

Ciao,

Laird