Dear Reader,
If you read this page you are really interested in American football and in particular our team “Minsk Moose”. For everyone who has stumbled this article and doesn’t really realize what it is about I should like to clarify: “Minsk Moose” is a young team started the journey in American football this year. We have just played 4 matches and lost three of them in Monte Clark Cup and the last one with Rebels 55 to 0 in the Ukraine, how come? It is really hard to answer?
You may suppose that we are “the rookies” of 18 and 25 years old (only few of them 30+). We have lost the game but are glad indeed as the lessons learned are really precious. Truly said I revised much in a game strategy as well as other players did. The game made us think of our actions on the field.
Well, I go directly to our visit to Kiev. We left Minsk at 22 p.m. on Friday. Our comfortable bus didn’t play much. W slept everywhere stretched out at the back or even on the aisle on bus. Awfully tiered we reached the border and stuck there for 2 more hours. Finally we left for Brovary (25 km from Kiev) and stayed in Grand Sport Hotel at 10 o’clock on Saturday morning. The hotel was amazing and exceeded all our expectations. We needed fresh shower, some food and of course to have a sleep. But everything was later. Having thrown our sacks in rooms we first met in the hall to run the scenarios about combinations and some techniques of the forthcoming match.
The second meeting was on the field at 13.00. It was awfully hot and we started to warm-up so as to minimize injuries during the match as we had already had a bad experience. Brovary citizens’ hospitality made the opening ceremony exciting with ATO and ULAF guests.
It suddenly started to rain that made players think of different match endings. While teams were waiting for captain’s draw the rain stopped as suddenly as started.
The match with Rebels began at 14.00 by the click off and was going for 3 or even more hours. The game mobilized us but we still made a lot of tactical mistakes in attacks and defense that led to missed touchdowns. After having lost the game we gathered the equipment and went to the hotel where we finally had a rest.
Having played the game we couldn’t visit Kiev and its Kreschatik. We were astonished by the picturesque scenery on the way to the capital. The Dnieper with ships and boats spread beneath the bridge made indelible impression. Kiev reminded me New York by its bridges. Besides the there were a lot of people, cafes as well as trees in Kiev. We walked along Kreschatik one of the most known and crowded central streets of the world with old buildings, cheap cafes and friendly people. We walked along Kreschatik admiring the atmosphere of the beauty of the night city. But being so tired after such a busy day we returned to the hotel in Brovary and before went to sleep had to share opinions about the recent and next matches.
Роман Попов, DE # 72 Minsk Moose.
