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By Newport Harbor Water Polo

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Day 09 - Eger

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The boys gathered in the lobby at 7:50 so they could all go to breakfast together as a group.  All were dressed in their Tour 2010 t-shirts and stripped shorts.  The morning routine includes parents checking in with each boy (how are they feeling, did they sleep well, etc.) and offering of Emergen-C or the "sting stick" if they suffered a mosquito bite. 

After 30 minutes, the boy headed up to the conference room for film review.  Coach has the video projected on a screen, pausing frequently to point out positioning, game flow, etc. with a laser pointer.

The first scrimmage of the day started at 10:00 am against the Eger 16 & unders.  Coach mixed up the lines and both controlled the games in convincing fashion.

Now, when we arrived at the pool, we were greeted with the most delicious aroma.  Behind the bleachers, Linda's father Imre was starting a fresh pot of goulash.  Bacon was sizzling in the large pot over the wood fire.  


Onions were chopped (and added to the pot) and Imre was busy peeling potatoes, getting some assistance from the Newport parents.  The pot will simmer all day and be ready for the post game meal around 6:00 pm tonight.


After the scrimmage, the boys wanted to take the first of many team pictures.  Today's would be underwater in the old Eger pool.  The team gathered together and prepared to take the plunge while Coach took the picture with Luke's camera.  I can't wait to see that shot!


Lunch was at our usual restaurant.  We sat outside under a collection of large, square umbrellas.


The meal started with a cold fruit soup containing pineapple, pears, grapes and coconut milk.  This was followed by a plate of rice and fried cheese patties.  Parents shared their plates with the team so the boys could get their fill of hot food.

After lunch, we headed to the main park in Eger.  


At the center of the park is a large fountain that originally stood at the Eger pool.  When the communists took control of the country, the fountain was knocked down (to be replaced by bleachers years later).  Once the communists fell from power, the fountain was rebuilt in the park.  This was the perfect setting for a team picture.


The park is beautiful and on a sunny Saturday in July, we found multiple brides taking pictures before their weddings - we counted about 10 different brides.  Now, the water polo team stands out amongst the students of Newport Harbor High School.  You can imagine how much they stand out in a town like Eger.  Sure enough, one of the brides approached us and asked for a picture with the boys.  They were more than willing to comply.


The Eger Candy Museum was our next stop of the day.  The museum featured the work of Gyorgy Kepes, a world famous artist and ten-time gold medal winner at the Culinary Olympics in Berlin.  The museum featured a wide variety of pieces, all made with different forms of confectionery.  


While this might not have captured the interests of all the boys, the candy shop next door certainly did.  Our tour ended at 2:00 pm and the boys had 90 minutes to rest before the next games. 

The boys returned to the pool at 3:30 for warm up.  At 4:00 pm, it was time for the final match in Eger.  City and National pride was on the line for the Newport Harbor v. Eger Water Polo Club match.  Both team came out with guns blazing.  It was a very physical match with aggressive (and clean) play.  When time ran out, the scoreboard read 14-14.  The teams played to a well-fought draw.

After a cool down, the boys changed and it was time for another team picture (at the request of Imre).  This was immediately followed by the special treat of the day - a delicious bowl of Imre's goulash.  Many of the boys went back for seconds of the flavorful, somewhat spicy pork soup.


The parents were also in for a treat with a wine tasting in a cave in the hills of Eger.  Our host and her family owned and operated a winery, so we had a wonderful experience.  


While the parents were away, Coach Cory was watching over the boys for their last full night in Eger.  Another beautiful day in Eger.

By Newport Harbor Water Polo

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Day 08 - Eger

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Today, we started with the usual plan of breakfast at 8:00 in the Park Hotel.  The boys are finding their favorite items and eating their fill.  The cereals are popular (they have Coco Puffs and Golden Grahams), as are the breads, pastries and scrambled eggs.  At 8:45, the boys assembled to watch the film from the prior evening's games.  Coach Cory filmed the games from the top of the bleachers (providing an excellent view) and provided detailed commentary.  The team would be training all morning with film, weights and then a scrimmage at noon.

The parents took this opportunity to explore the city (a farmer's market was one of the discoveries), relax in the wellness center at the hotel, or simply catch up on work.

The noon scrimmage featured the same 16 & under group from the Eger Water Polo Club, but it seemed as if they had a couple of bigger boys with them as well.  The coach kept both lines of boys busy - while one scrimmages, the other did training drills with Coach Cory (the heavy balls were put to good use).  The weather here is perfect.  Mid 70's, light breeze and plenty of sunshine. 

The design of the Eger pool provides great views of the games.  On one side, there are benches approximately 4 feet from the edge of the pool and about 3 feet above the water.  The bleachers on the opposite side sit close to the pool and are fairly steep.  From the top row, you get an almost top down view of the action.  Here are a couple of views of Newport Harbor in defensive formation, and then countering:


Lunch was at the restaurant by the pool.  Today's offering was a vegitable noodle soup followed by spaghetti with meat sauce.  Needless to say, the plates were licked clean.  A couple of the moms offered their plates to the boys, and the team shared the extra at each table.

After lunch, it was time for some sightseeing.  Just up the hill from the pool stood the Eger Castle.  The medevial structure played an important role in Hungary's history as the location of a major battle between the Hungarians and the Turks (the Hungarians prevailed).  Before we started the tour, Linda gave us a great overview of Hungarian history (though our AP students may have learned a different version of a couple of the accounts).


Our tour included a number of interesting elements in the castle's design and history.

 
The castle tour lasted just over an hour, so the boys had a good hour back at the hotel for rest. 

 
The evening scrimmage again featured the mighty Eger 18 & under club (no 19 & 20 year old national team players for this match).  This would be Newport's first official game in Hungary.  The teams stayed within one point of each other well into the fourth quarter.  With only a couple minutes left, Newport was able to add a few more goals for a 15-11 final.

After the game, we headed to dinner at the White Stag - a famous game (as in hunting) restaurant located right next to the hotel.  We enjoyed a delicious meal of goulash, stuffed chicken with pomme frites (french fries) and a light, ice cream cake dessert.  A piano player performed a collection of familiar tunes and melodies (with a brief guest appearance by Dan Stevens).  With dinner over at 9:30 (relatively early for our European travels), the team decided to head out on the town for an ice cream.  What could be a better team bonding experience than a quest for ice cream in a foreign country?  It was a wonderful, educational and productive day for the team.

By Newport Harbor Water Polo

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Day 07 - Eger

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Our schedule today follows the same pattern as yesterday.  Team breakfast was scheduled for 8:00 am in the Hotel Park (the hotel connected to the Hotel Eger).  The buffet had most of the same items, but it was fun to discover any new or different items.  One of the best finds was the selection of fruit jams & marmalades.  If you bypassed this collection, you would have missed the one pot that contained Nutella.

After breakfast, the boys watched film with the coaches for about an hour.  At 9:30, the team met in the hotel lobby for the day's first adventure.  Instead of a morning workout, our destination was the Spekula Observatory located in the middle of the city - a short walk away. 


Once we arrived at the building, we climbed many stairs up to a tower on the roof.  Most of the was up the tower was an observation deck which provided incredible views of the city.



Further up the tower was a unique feature of the observatory - a 'camera obscura' - one of only two in the world and the oldest of its kind (built in 1779).  The best way to describe how this worked is by illustration.


The boys enjoyed a tour of this device as the guide rotated the mirror around giving us a nearly 360 degree view of the city.  Quite an interesting device and quite remarkable considering how long ago it was designed and constructed.  Here is what it looked like viewing the city on the screen:


After the tour, we headed back to the pool.  As with the day before, the team's first scrimmage was against the local club's younger players (let's say 16 & unders).  And as the day before, the game went Newport's way quite decisively.


After the scrimmage, we returned to the restaurant from yesterday for lunch.  The boys were somewhat skeptical of what they might be eating, so back-up plans were made involving a local pizzeria.  Lunch started with our first taste of goulash (a meat soup) followed by a heaping plate of spaghetti.  Now you might this spaghetti would be the perfect meal, and in most cases it is.  Today, however, we did not find a typical red sauce covering the noodles.  Instead, the spaghetti was covered with sour cream and grated cheese.  Hunger, however, ruled over the lack of familiarity and the boys polished off large portions of meal.  The immediate need for pizza was adverted.

Our next stop was the Eger Sports Museum.  This museum is dedicated to the Olympic athletes of Eger and boy are there a lot of them.  We were greeted at the door by our tour guide, who with Linda translating Hungarian to English, would explain all we would see.


The top floor of the museum is dedicated to swimming and water polo and was filled with trophies and medals.  We learned about the establishment of the modern Olympic games and the role played by Dr. Ferenc Kemény from Eger, the significance of the 1956 Melbourne games (which took place during the Hungarian uprising against the communists), and how Hungary has dominated in the sport of water polo.  The museum had all the boys sign a book recording their visit to the museum, which will include a team photo.


With a couple hours rest, we regrouped in the lobby of the hotel with the team before heading out for the next scrimmage.  Again, we were playing the big boys from the Eger Club Team (four of the players were 19 or 20).  The scrimmage was structured the same as yesterday, with both clubs split into two groups, alternating for the first four quarters, then each line playing 2 consecutive quarters each (for a total of 8 quarters).  And as the night before, the scrimmage demanded everything our boys had to offer.  With the new found perspective of the deep history of water polo here in Hungary (from the Eger Sports Museum), the team knew it was facing an incredibly talented, conditioned and disciplined foe.  This is why the team is training in Hungary.  The level of play is higher than anything the team has faced before and they are improving physically, mentally, emotionally and drawing together as a team. 

Back at the hotel for dinner, the boys found another array of meats, vegetables, salads and desserts.  After a brief recap of the games with Coach, the boys were off to bed (and for some, catching up on-line with the internet kiosks in the lobby of the hotel).

By Newport Harbor Water Polo

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Hotel Eger Park

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Just to give you an idea of our accommodations here in Eger, I present the Hotel Eger Park.

Is this the indoor training facility??

By Newport Harbor Water Polo

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Day 06 - Eger

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Our first full day in Eger started with the sound of light rain outside.  After three days in Croatia with temperatures reaching up in to the 90's, the rain provided a much welcome cooling.  As usual, we met in the hotel's restaurant for 8:00 am breakfast.  As before, a buffet always offers plenty of choices and most of them are familiar.  Slowly but surely we all learned important things like which yogurt was sweet and which was sour.  Many of the parents were disappointed by the lack of a good push-button espresso machine (in a pinch, you could order one off the menu).

After breakfast, the boys watched some game footage at the hotel before heading off to the gym.  So far, while in Eger we have been hosted by Linda's father who is well connected in the water polo community.  He led the boys to the gym and then escorted some of the parents to a grocery store so we could stock up on water.

Around 11:30, we went to the local basilica for an organ concert. The boys were given special seats upstairs where they could see the organist in action.  The basilica was beautiful with many frescoes and other ornate decorations.  The concert ended at noon and the boys headed back to the pool for the first scrimmage of the day.



It was quite a site to see the boys play in the old Eger pool.  The pool is much smaller than the one in Sibenik.  Their opponent was a Hungarian youth team that toured the US earlier this year.  The boys came out clicking on all cylinders and routed the Hungarian boys in the scrimmage.  The Hungarian goalie was probably dizzy by the end of the scrimmage given the number of ball that wizzed by his head at near supersonic speed.


After the scrimmage, we headed to lunch at a restaurant right across from the pool.  This was the first time we did not have a buffet meal and likely the first meal where the boys (and parents) saw something they didn't eat at home.  We started with cauliflower soup with a main course of veal cutlet on a bed of rich topped with strips of ham, onion and pickles in a semi-clear sauce.  Nevertheless, when you put food in front of hungry water polo players, it gets eaten very quickly.

The group was then led to a local bank to get some Hungarian money (forints - we never were quite sure of the exchange rate).  


This was followed by a walking tour of downtown Eger.  The team soaked up the sights and had fun simply acting like teammates loving on each other.


After some rest back at the hotel, the boys gathered for the evening scrimmage.  This time, the boys would face Egri Vizilabda Klub (Waterpolo Club of Eger).  The scrimmage lasted about 2 hours as the boys played something like 8 or 10 quarters - and it was 2 hours of intense water polo.  The boys were challenged at the highest level with a very physical, fast and skillful game.  The Hungarians used moves rarely seen in California pools and could move the ball from every angle in every direction.  The team met this challenge with flying colors, giving 110% for the entire 2 hours.



Dinner was back at the hotel and the boys relished hot food from the buffet.  The evening was topped off with some congratulatory words from Coach before the boys headed off to bed.

By Newport Harbor Water Polo

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Day 05 Summary

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The day was a challenge for everyone due to the length of the international bus ride.  What looks like an eight hour trip on Google maps in reality was around 12 hours.  Quite a long time cooped up in a bus with only 3 extra seats.  Fortunately, the weather was cooler and the AC on the bus was working at its best (not a constant for earlier parts of the trip).

The boys have really done well with the travel and today was no exception.  Even though the hours are long and everything is new or outside the regular comfort zone, the boys are pulling together and learning to rely on each other.  Music, games and food are shared and there are plenty of laughs along the way.

We made four short stops during our journey to Eger.  The boys enjoyed their adventures into the gas station mini marts as they stocked up on snacks, some familiar (Coke & Pringles) and others not (various brands of chips and cookies).  A major find of the days was the Nutella to Go pack, which features a small serving of Nutella with a dozen small cookie sticks.


Our second stop of the days was the Hungarian border.  The driver pulled into a special lane for buses and shut off the engine.  We had to sit in the bus with no AC for a few minutes (I'm sure it will be remembered as a much longer time) while we waited for the border police to check our passports.  Once checked, a second border agent collected the passports for processing and stamping.  During this time, we were allowed off the bus to stretch our legs and get fresh air.  The boys found various ways to entertain themselves for about 10 minutes. Soon, the passports were returned, we re-boarded the bus and we entered Hungary.



Our route took us through the middle of Budapest, giving all of us a fascinating glimpse of our destination later in the trip.  We pushed on past the city and about 2 hours later entered Eger.  Everyone was happy to finally arrive and exit the bus.


This being a water polo trip, we went directly to the pool for a quick practice.  Now, if you pulled up outside this building, you would not realize it was an aquatics center.  From the outside, it appeared small given the viewing stands rising up from both sides of the pool. 


Once inside, it was clear that this was a very old facility, but one that was the center of the Eger water polo world.  There was plenty of space for spectators with bleachers on one side and an elevated viewing deck on the other.  The pool is fed by natural spring waters, so there is no chlorine.  Also, the bottom of the pool is lined with small rocks and pebbles.


While the boys practiced, the team mom checked everyone in to the hotel.  Luggage was removed from the bus and placed in a secure room while he boys were at the pool.  After about 30 minutes, the boys returned to the hotel for dinner.  As with our stay in Croatia, the hotel had a large buffet for the boys with meats, pastas, salads, vegetables and other tasty treats.

By Newport Harbor Water Polo

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Arrival in Eger

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Just a quick note to let you know we have arrived in Eger

By Newport Harbor Water Polo

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Day 05 - Sibenik to Eger

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Good Morning all - there has been a small change in plans (remember, in water polo, change is the only constant).  The drive to Eger has been recalculated to be 12+ hours.  Instead of spending the morning in Sibenik for practice, followed by a long drive, we are getting up early and hitting the road after breakfast.

The long journey to Eger, Hungary
Distance - 825Km, Estimated travel time - 7 hours, 57 minutes

The Google estimate must not incorporate the realities of Eastern Europe bus travel (top speed = 100 Km per hour, rest stops every three hours).  I'll report back in after we reach our destination.

By Newport Harbor Water Polo

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Day 04 - Sibenik

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The day began at 8:00 am with breakfast at the hotel.  Other than some minor changes on the menu, there was plenty of hot, delicious and familiar foods available for the boys.  There might have been a minor panic among the parents when one of the two espresso machines broke down (there is, however, universal agreement that we want one of these machines at home - press a button and get a cappuccino, a machiato, or other espresso-based drink).

Now, as you saw in the prior post, today is Dave Harper's birthday and he was committed to celebrate by bungee jumping off a local bridge.  The jump was captured by multiple still and video cameras and Paul Fink was the first to upload his recording of the event.  Watch it on YouTube here.

We raced from the bridge to the Sibenik pool for our second scrimmage with the local club team.  After besting the Croatians last night, the club sent a couple more players to play against their out-of-town guests.  The games was another good test for the team and they prevailed again.


There are some differences between games at home and games in Croatia.  The local club team did not gather to shake hands after the game (leaving our boys oddly lined up on the side of the pool).  Instead, the local team simply changed and left.  Our boys (after realizing no handshake would occur) picked up their goggles and did a warm-down swim set.  It was clear that the boys could keep it going for quite a while.


Lunch was back at the hotel with roughly the same buffet as the day before.  The boys ate their fill then returned to their rooms for half an hour.  Linda then led the group on a short tour of downtown Vodice.  The area is a small harbor town with plenty of shops and cafes.  Nearly all the boys stopped at the gelato shop recommended by Linda.  It was a wonderful cool treat on a hot day and based on informal polling, Nutella flavor was the biggest hit. 


The boys huddled with Coach Lynch in the Vodice harbor for some afternoon instructions.


The boys traveled as a group and returned to the hotel (a short 10-minute walk away) for some rest during the hottest part of the day.  The group regathered at 6:15 pm before returning to the Sibenik pool for the third and final match with the local club team.  Now, after beating the local team twice, it was clear that some national pride was on the line as four new players arrived on the deck.  The new players made the match far more competative with some very aggressive, challenging (and clean) play.  Nevertheless, the Newport boys prevailed, beating the Croatians at their own game.  The boys huddled with their coaches in the warm Croatian evening sunshine.


Soon thereafter, the sun set on Sibenik and we returned to our hotel for dinner and a good night's sleep.

By Newport Harbor Water Polo

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Happy Birthday Dave Harper

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To celebrate Dave Harper's birthday, we followed the Croatian tradition of bridge jumping.


Actually, on the road between the hotel and the pool, there was a bungie jumping opportunity.  To celebrate 55 years, Dave took the jump.  Rich Lee then followed with his own jump before we headed to the pool for another scrimmage.  There will be video of the jumps!