Days 4, 5 & 6

Alright Day 4… The Great Ocean Road… I could say how great it was and everything but I think the pictures speak for themselves (if you haven’t seen them, go now and look at Facebook). It was a long day, but well worth it. That’s all I have to say about that.

Day 5… The day started with a visit to the Victoria Institute for Sport which is sort of like a Winsport type setup at COP designed to help the athletes develop under one roof. From there, we walked across the street and met with Simon Weatherill (possibly the most interesting man alive) and got a tour of the Melbourne Sport and Aquatic Centre which is like the talisman centre on steroids. Simon is the CEO of the facility and designed it from the ground up. This was extremely interesting hearing how they design and manage these facilities. That afternoon we went to the Rod Laver Stadium, home of the Australian Open (Tennis) where we were given the royal treatment and got to experience it from the perspective of the players from the locker room where we say Raphael Nadal and Roger Federer’s personal lockers. We saw the post-event interview room where I got a picture of me in the seat where they sit (as if I could win a tennis event) as well as a very in depth tour of the facility. This was extremely cool. Finally, the night concluded at Deakin University where we got a lecture on Social Responsibility in Sport, which I thought after everything else we did that day was rather dull.

Day 6 started at Visy Park, home of my new favourite AFL team, the Carlton Blues where again we were given a very indepth tour of the facilities. We are hoping to see them play this weekend. Then it was back to Deakin University (which is a very long Tram ride) for a lecture from a former grad of our program who is working on his master’s thesis and then again on Sport Development (first year stuff, and again sorta dull). Tomorrow we play footie against a bunch of 11 year olds. Not exactly sure how the liability worked out on this, but it should be fun. Geoff out.