my favorite thing that I brought on this trip was a bathrobe. very light, wraps around for when I’m hanging around the stands — unfortunately i have zero photos in it because 1) all the refs have only short breaks between games and 2) the pool deck is wayyyy too stuffy and hot to wear anything other than my swimsuit and the referee shirt + black shorts uniform.
things that happened the last 3 days:
referee beep test went fine, almost everyone passed. i’ll do a write up about the beep test some other time.
practice games came and went,
the official round robin started!
morning and afternoon referee shifts have swapped schedules — more below.
updates on the US teams for Mon July 22:
Official stream link for all World Championship matches: CMAS TV
U24W: [game schedule link]
lost 0-7 against Colombia, 0-8 against France
U19M [game schedule link]
lost 0-9 against Colombia
U24M: [game schedule link]
won 2-6 against Malaysia, lost 2-6 against Spain (today Tue July 23)
P.S. Lyndon is commentating some of the U19M games! Tune in to CMAS TV to check it out :)
On #4: all the referees are placed into 4 teams, with each team managing 1 court for 1/2 of the day (totaling 2 courts and 2 shifts a day). The morning crew works the first game until 1:30p, and the afternoon shift works the 1:30p game until the final game which ends around 8p. Both shifts have their pros and cons. Morning shift has a tough wake up schedule and immediately start their days in the water, but the rest of their evening is free. The afternoon shift gets the whole morning off, but games run a bit late to post-(normal) dinner time.
During the first 2 days of the round robin, my team worked the morning shifts. I always napped for at least an hour after those shifts, but then had dinnertime to go exploring and see the evening food options. I love that shift because Southeast Asia really comes alive in the evenings, when the weather cools down a bit and people can get their munchies on. I went to Jalan Alor, a famous food street with tons of vendors. This street is known for its seafood options; one of the Aussie refs got grilled stingray!
The afternoon shift is a bit brutal. Dinner is served for the late shift at the pool, but most of the protein available is meat. I’ve been struggling a bit as I am vegetarian, but that was nearly impossible to do if I wanted any semblance of protein during tournament days. Last year, the Gold Coast organizers gave prepackaged vegetarian meals for myself and Véro so that we’d have options. Malaysia is much more difficult; I think I’d be purely eating soy products the entire time here if I stuck to my regular diet. I’ve bought a few protein shakes to help because I also can only eat small portions of meat or my stomach gets a bit upset :’)
Some of the residual stress from the games makes me uneasy as well. I had an interaction with a player that put me on my heels a bit, and that’s always hard to get out of my head. things like that linger when I try to reset for the coming games.
truthfully, I’m pretty knackered. between the change in diet, jetlag (+15hr from San Francisco) and poor sleep quality, I only really have enough energy to referee games. Most of my free time is spent recovering from my sleep schedule and then decompressing or catching up with news back home and whatnot.
I think I naturally am a singularly minded person when it comes to competitions, both as a referee and as a player. I take the games seriously, and I am willing to let go of some of my free time if it means I can recover well for the coming games and next few days, especially as the tournament unfolds. I have the luxury of staying in Malaysia after the tournament, so I don’t mind staying in a bit to recover until I no longer have referee responsibilities.
today is going to be one of those “stay in, chill morning” types of days. I’m going to do a quick gym session and then take a little nap before I head to the pool. If you have suggestions on how to sneak a nap in, let me know!!
until next post! probably when playoffs start :)
rosa
Jalan Alor looks spectacular. Glad you can enjoy Malaysia even after the tourney. I'd like to commend you for your routine in light of jetlag. Circadian rhythms can be a menace. Thank you for including the competition links. Very convenient. Excited to dive right into it and learn something new. In regards to napping, try earlier in the afternoon. Sometimes just closing your eyes and trying a pre-dream visualization or mindfulness exercise can help in recovery. Lastly, am curious, how do you feel your overall experience is different as a player versus as a referee. Thanks again for the informative post. Stay cool.