Day 3 - Registration and Practice

Everyone woke up around 7 and headed downstairs for breakfast. Some thought about eating the poached quail eggs, but no one did. As for the fried pig's feet, everyone decided to steer clear of those. And for some reason, the orange juice over here is piping hot. Not too bad, but very shocking when you pick up a glass of OJ that almost burns your hand.

After breakfast we had time to practice. First Alex tricked, then Regina tricked, and Tomlin tricked. Then Cale slalomed, and then Ryan slalomed. It was good to get used to the water, but the site is definitely not tournament ready today. So it was just to get used to the conditions and such. This is the first time that I got to look at the site in the daylight, it is magnificent. Flags from every represented country line the shores. There were banners and signs welcoming you to the world championships about every 15 steps. There was practice for the opening ceremonies while we were there. Let me tell you, if the practice is anything like the real deal tomorrow, we are in for a treat. There were about 300 chinese children, with drums, singing and chanting in the practice. I will let you know the whole thing tomorrow when we see it for real. There is a media pavillion on the south end of the lake. It kinda looks like E.T. very cool. There are also a lot of platforms that stick out into the lake, which make for great viewing. This is going to be a terrific event.

After practice everyone came in to get some lunch. Again no one touched the pig's feet. Shucks. The team is out practicing trick right now. And that's where we stand.

Unfortunately the internet connection is quite slow here. So posting news is easy, but getting pictures up doesn't seem to be working. If I can, I surely will.

After trick practice, the team relaxed and saw a little bit of Tianjin. Cris and Jeff went to the official meeting and everything appears ready to go. Team dinner at 7:00 and then a meeting to go over the rules. The way that the tournament is seeded, is that all skiers are divided into 3 groups: series 1, series 2, and series 3. Series 1 is for the top 15 men, and top 9 women. All of our skiers are either series 1 or series 2. There is going to be some great skiing here.

After the meeting, a group of us went down for some more bowling. Russ, Cyndi, Cale, Tomlin, Jenna, Alex, Storm, Cris, Jeff, and Ryan squared off in a lane vs. lane competition. Ended up 1-1, rubber match will probably be tomorrow. :-) After bowling, there was some heated pop-a-shot competition as well.

In the morning there are the Opening Ceremonies. After that, it is all slalom preliminaries tomorrow. This is the order in which the US skiers will hit the water:
Tomlin
Storm
Ryan
Cale
Alex
Regina

I will try my best to give you as many updates as possible. Be sure to check here for US information and www.ncwsa.com/wuc for the most up to date general tournament information.

Thanks for supporting TEAM USA. Feel free to leave any comments for the skiers on this page. I will be sure to pass along your support to the team. They will love to hear it. GO USA!