Narobi Hockey Tournement

Last Friday morning some of my friends and I got on a airplane to Nairobi to participate in the under 11 and under 13 field hockey tournament. I have never played hockey before and I had never touched a hockey stick before so the odds didn't look so good. I did end up signing up for the under 11 B.M.I.S hockey team. I have been taking three one hour hockey lessons each week for 6 weeks, two on Monday and one on Tuesday all with my best friends. There was about 12 girls on the team and two wouldn't play in Mombasa, and four wouldn't play in Nairobi, a bit nerve racking. In the end, I was picked for the team.  I was so excited. Some girls on the team that weren't picked had played for at least 2 years, it kind of made me seem like a pro. We won the league in Mombasa, but the Nairobi girls are really competitive, big, and aggressive. I play wing and its a lot of effort; especially when its boiling hot out side.

When we arrived in Nairobi we went to the boarding house of Garden Estate Braeburn. I felt like I was in jail.  The rooms didn't have pillows, sheets, or blankets and the walls were made of dark grey stone. Nairobi felt so nice out it was the first time I have been cold in a long time; not air conditioning cold, weather cold. The next day was the big tournament and it was raining, uh oh. It was raining all night and all day with loud thunder followed along with lightning. When everyone woke up in the morning all of the flying termites that lived outside were inside EVERYWERE! There was thousands of them, the bathroom sinks and the showers were full of them the halls were full of them. I was petrified of them, I thought they were going to bite me.  They looked so scary and so big.  The worst thing was it was still raining, that meant there was tons of mud, I mean tons.

 The tournament still went on. We got on the bus after breakfast and made our way to Peponi. Peponi all ways wins; they win all of the tournaments.  They won the rounders tournament and the previous hockey tournament and they win every year. But we didn't give up, even though it was super cold and muddy we played all four games and lost and had the best attitude. That's all that matters right? Peponi won, but really I think we gave it our all and left with smiles on our faces, and next term I am hoping to find myself back in Nairobi for net ball. Wait, what is net ball?