Monday in Texcoco, Mexico was a BEAUTIFUL Day for American Football

Monday, December 4, 2017:

Before we start talking U19 Europe Warriors football, let's talk about a late NFL score from Sunday.

 RAMS WIN! RAMS WIN!

Los Angeles' favorite team is still in first place in the NFC West, one game ahead of the Seattle Seahawks.

YAHOO!

Meanwhile, back in Texcoco . . .

A beautiful Practice Plan

would soon go awry

HC Bart Iaccarino handing out

t-shirts to the players and coaches

Our first issue of the day was switching hotels.

We were moving to the First Inn in downtown Texcoco which is both much more centrally located and just flat out a better hotel.

The plan was to leave our old hotel with with all of our luggage, practice and then eat lunch at our new digs.

We had a problem.

We are using an extremely nice recliner bus but it was not big enough to transport 46 players, 12 coaches and all of our gear at one time.

Thus the offensive players headed to the practice facility, unloaded the gear and stored it in our locker room.

While the bus returned to our old hotel to pick up the defensive Warriors, their coaches and more gear, the offense used the time for a much needed walk-through.

Good locker room signs in the 

Universidad Autónoma Chapingo

locker room

Agreed

Exactly

L. to R.: Warriors RB Coach Mauricio

Jaworski, me and UA Chapping

Head Coach Sergio Olvera

  

Sergio will also be the Head Coach of the ONEFA U19 club that we will play this coming Saturday.

Additionally, Sergio was Mauricio's first American football coach many years ago.

The respect and love between them was great to see.

 Sergio telling me Mauricio stories

Mauricio is still a good player who will join a team in Australia soon after our game.

As a RB coach he is both passionate and knowledgable.

Off the field he is throughly crazy!

I like crazy.

Looks like UA Chapingo was the

ONEFA DII Champs in 2015

The defense had arrived with the rest of the luggage, stored it away and it was now time for breakfast.

Ah, college dorm life . . .

While the players and most of the coaches headed to the Student Cafeteria for breakfast, I joined coaches Danny Tam (CBs), Preston Bailey (WRs) and Mauricio Jaworski (RBs) at a more authentic spot on campus . . . 

YES!

Chicken Tacos with French Fries

Two worked for me at 90 cents each.

Time to practice.

By the practice field:

"Here We Prepare to Win"

Indeed!

With our team Videographer Ed Reza

Ed's company donated these shirts

And a XXL was an American XXL!

Gracias Ed!

Offensive Line Walk-Through

Addressing the Offense

Team Photo with our new t-shirts

Practice #2 Warm-up

With Head Coach Bart Iaccarino

What's that logo on Bart's t-shirt?

In Rome, Bart coaches the

Lazio Ducks

I'm liking the logo.

Time to work on PUNCH!

It starts with a good stance

Offensive Tackles Coach Luis Rodarte is next to me, I have the Guards and Centers.

Working on some 2-on-2 drills

During our Inside Run period the thought of getting on a plane back to Los Angeles this afternoon briefly crossed my mind.

We looked bad.

During Team period, we looked good!

I'll hang out for at least another practice.

With our practice over, we headed back into town to check into our hotel. 

Our First Inn hotel's entrance

is just to the left

We were in a holding mode to the point that we decided to cancel today's second practice.

We will hold an previously unscheduled second practice on Thursday to make up our lost time today.

A little bit about the make up of our roster would be good at this time.

First, we have a 46 man roster with players from thirteen different European countries.

The origin and number of players from each country breaks down like this:

United Kingdom - 11

Spain - 10

Poland - 5

Switzerland - 5

Austria - 3

Norway - 3

Germany - 2

Italy - 2

France - 1

Netherlands - 1

Portugal - 1

Sweden - 1

Turkey - 1

Late Lunch at our new hotel

Team Bonding

After two practices, players are starting to interact much more, we are coming together.

Evening Coaches Meeting

Followed by a . . .

. . . Offensive Video Review Meeting

Thank Goodness for HUDL

and Ed Reza!

We are a work in progress to be sure but we are heading in the right direction.

Stay tuned . . .