netball or basketball? eh, i think they're the same thing?

after breakfast today we had a short presentation on sports psychology by amanda palmer. i just recently took a class on sports psychology last semester so it was all really good review. they do pretty much the same things that we do over in the states which was pretty nice. after lunch we were signed up to play some netball, but i think the higher ups got mixed up because we ended up playing basketball for two hours. i still know just as much about netball as i did before our "lesson", which is pretty much nothing at all. i definitely got my work-out in and at five thirty i am pooped and ready for a nap. canberra is a really quiet town, so i feel like i'm always sleepy. tomorrow we have the day off followed by a brumbies game. it should be really exciting! <3

i suppose you gotta study on a study abroad trip

today was our first full day in canberra and it was filled with lectures! (though i suppose on a study abroad trip, we should be learning something ...) our first lecture was given by alicia norris on "fueling your performance". she spoke on topics regarding how nutrition helps an athlete perform, how we fuel our body, types of fules used for certain intensity and duration of exercise, nutritional requirements, energy balance, and hydration. only 2% of body fluid needs to be loss before performance will be affected, so remember to stay hydrated in the summer heat!

our second lecture was given by damian raper on "injury prevention". he spoke on topics regarding injury risk reduction, acute management of injuries, rehabilitation, injury surveillance, injury risk factors, and prevention strategies. one interesting thing that differs between the states and australia is concussion management. both counties seem to follow the zurich protocol for return to play (RTP), but in rugby union they have this thing called the "head bin". this is about a five minute period where a medic must figure out if an athlete actually has a concussion and if they can go in or not. this is dangerous because symptoms can develop over a few hours and if a concussion is not resolved before RTP a life-threatening injury called second impact could occur.

our third lecture was given by nathan versey on "recovery". he spoke on topics regarding different ways to recover such as sleep, nutrition, periodisation, warm down, stretching, massage, hydrotherapy, compression garments, and relxation techniques. after the lecture we had a lab on hydrotherapy. specifically contrast where you are submerged in cold water for a bit and then warm water. we all tried to stay in the warm tub as long as possible because the cold tub was not pleasant to be in at all! you're supposed to always finish in the cold tub after a contrast treatment and an hour later i'm still trying to warm myself up!

anyway, i think i'm gonna go find myself a nice hot cup of tea to warm up to before dinner. there isn't good wifi here (or more so none at all), so don't be alarm if i'm not responding to emails/texts. i'm trying the best i can! missing everyone at home dearly <3

we made it to cleavage!

apparently canberra has two different meanings behind its name. for the more "official" meaning used by the government and people who don't know the aboriginal language, they believe that canberra stands for "meeting place". on the otherhand, for people who do know the langauge. they say that canberra stands for the hills that the city lies within - which resembles a cleavage. haha, i think that was about the only thing i got out of the short ten minute tour the bus driver gave us from the train station to the australian institute of sport which is where we are staying. since it's fall here, the weather is a little chilly. i'm walking around in jeans and a jacket all day. which is a little weird because i left seattle wearing shorts and a tank top. but canberra is a very nice little city. there isn't much to do here so i've been getting lots of much needed sleep. we also get fed three square meals a day so i've been full since i got here! everything is just so much more expensive here. especially the food. a pint of beer is close to 7-9 dollars while a normal entree is almost 20! i'm definitely going broke over here. but the experience is well worth it <3

lions and tigers and ... kangaroos?

on sunday the group took a trip to the taronga zoo. it has been said that the view from the zoo is the same view from p. sherman 42 wallaby way. some of the girls wanted to find the dentist office, but sadly this was the closest we ever got ): this zoo is so cool though! it's like built on the side of a mountain or something because we need to take these sky-lift like contraptions to the top. it was sunny and cloudless when we went so the view on the way up was breath-taking. once in we booked it straight to the kangaroo exhibit. this was a really cool one because there was a path the you could use to walk through the exhibit. you had to stay on it but the kangaroos could come up to you if they wanted to. i think they were enjoying the sun too much though because they were literally just lying there without a care in the world. next we saw exhibits of wombats, koalas, wallabies, tasmanian devils, emus, and so many other animals that are native to australia. one funny thing though is that there were exhibits for deers, chickens, goats, pigs, and cows. definitely was not expecting that! after the zoo a lot of the group went to do the bridge climb, i didn't have enough money to go so me and some others walked around the rocks market and the sydney contemporary museum. there were so much walking needed for both that when i got home my feet went straight up to try to redistribute some of the blood that had probably pooled at the bottom of my feet, haha. for dinner i tried some kangaroo pizza and it actually wasn't that bad! it tastes kind of like beef? i don't know. it wasn't bad at all though. next on my list is some crocodile! <3

kangaroo love <3

 

viva la vivid sydney

even though it wasn't planned, we were at the right place at the right time for vivid sydney. vivid sydney is basically a month were the city lights up the opera house, the bridge and various other places with LED light from about six pm until midnight. if anyone ever visits sydney, i highly encourage you to go during vivid. you won't regret it. it is so beautiful, especially late at night with the stars and moon shining over head. the opera house is amazing too. we weren't able to actually go in because all the doors were locked, but we were right underneath it for vivid and the lights were stunning! on saturday night, our tour guide took us out on a dinner cruise around the harbour. not only was it all you can eat and all you can drink we were able to see vivid from the deck of our ship and the view was spectacular. i wish you all were here to see everything i'm seeing. i feel so bad for writing all these amazing things without being able to show you pictures. ): getting a little homesick and missing home <3

just a little bit of vivid sydney

dinner cruise!

cricket: insect or game?

on saturday we toured the sydney cricket grounds. it has a ton of history in it and was a great place to visit for the day. it's interesting to see the club houses here in sydney. i know that back at home celebrities/professionl athletes kind of have their own place to go to that the general public can't get to. here, on the other hand, the public has rights to any place that professional players go. for a yearly fee, the public can use the same utilies that they professional athletes use. it's ridiculous! another crazy thing though is that to get some of the best seatings in the stadium, there's like a 12 year wait before you can buy a spot and even then the seats are ridiculously expensive! there was also a walk of fame that held the names of the best of the best in cricket, footie, rugby union and rugby league. apparently you can only get nominated when you've been retired for ten years or you were dead, so none of the players were particularly in a rush to get there. we weren't able to play any cricket though ): oh well, this girl can wait to bowl again <3

strapping some studs!

on friday all the athletic trainers took a bus to go watch a strapping session for the sydney bears. for all of you that aren't familiar with the terminology, strapping is another term for taping that is used here for australia. and can i please just say, RUGBY BOYS ARE SO GOREGOUS! jk, but kind of not really ... anyway, it was really interesting to see the differences from here and the states. in the states we use cotton tape. we start of by spraying an adhesive spray on all the athletes followed by prewrap and then the tape. here in australia, they solely use mcconnell tape. which in the states is an expensive brand that is only used periodically. it's also really sticky so it was interesting that the physios applied nothing but the tape onto bare skin. they also have a taping form called a figure 6 and the boot which were interesting to see. i don't think i would ever place mcconnell tape directly on skin, but it would be interesting to see how our rugby/football boys back home would like it (or not). afterwards, we were able to catch a part of the bear's game. they play rugby league which has different rules to rugby union. i think i'm definitely a rugby union girl at heart <3