Day 2 of competition...not as exciting:(

A quick break from my school work studies to write more on my Australia competitions.
I think I ended my previous post at the end of Day 1…unfortunately, that was my only day of glory…but the fun was only just beginning! On the second day of pool events, I woke up with a nasty cold in my throat and nose area…it was a big bummer and made me feel like crap. I knew I still needed to compete well for the team, and I tried my best in my events: the 200m Super Lifesaver and the 100m Manikin Carry with Fins. Again another ‘unfortunately’ belongs here because in both events in the prelim heats, I was disqualified for drowning ‘Bob,’ my manikin!
I guess that means I’m not really a “Super Lifesaver”?! But we already knew that, right? Hahaha
The rest of Team USA had the same kind of bummer luck and we had a ton of DQ’s on the second day…where we should have scored a ton of points in finals, had we been allowed to swim! But the cool thing was, all my teammates were really laid-back, and very calm about it…not totally frustrated so that it affected their future events, so I took a page from their book and just focused on my future events and how to excel at them.
The highlights of Day 2 were watching the SERC event in the morning…when Daytona Beach hosted the World Champs in 2002, my mom and I volunteered at the Orlando Aquatic Center for the pool events. One morning, we were ‘victims’ in the Simulated Emergency Response Competition. In short…each country sends out 4 members to the pool deck where an ‘emergency’ situation has been created (people drowning, people drunk on the edge, dead manikins on the bottom, boats flipped over, etc) and they get 2 minutes to do whatever they can. My mom and I were drowning victims in the Orlando pool…it is VERY hard work to drown the exact same way for 2 minutes for 25 teams! So, it was very nice to sit in the stands and watch some other pour soul drown for 32 teams…and watch how each country approached the situation (of course Australia was ridiculously perfect!). I wont say anything about Team USA…except it was hilarious and we got 17th out of 32, which is ‘Average’!
When we weren’t at the pool (which was not very often because we got there at 8am and didn’t leave until 8pm on both days) I enjoyed seeing the city of Geelong. It is an ‘old’ city, as far as ‘old’ goes in Australia (they are younger than the USA). But age doesn’t effect the amazing view of the water in the harbor and there were plenty of cool places to get meals with the team…we loved this one pizza/pasta place for dinner, almost every night!
The drive from Geelong to Lorne Beach was about 1.5 hours…most of it along the Great Ocean Highway, I’m speechless. Beach after beach of white sand with clear blue water and big white waves crashing…I never wanted the drive to end! But then we get to Lorne, and it’s a beautiful beach and we actually get to swim in this one! Our hotel in Lorne (because we spent 3 nights there instead of driving back and forth each time) was a huge resort right on the water…kitchen, living room, 2 bedrooms…heaven!
The ‘rest day’ between pool and beach events was more like a ‘training day’ for Team USA (mainly me). Mitch…our coach and a former World Life Saving Champion himself…helped me learn all the rules of the events that I was signed up for, gave some tips, and watched me practice. Our board paddler, Maggie, had a ‘try-out’ session with Micha and I for one of the relay events…I will get into more detail on the Day 3 post. Other than that, I actually spent some of the day ‘resting’ because my cold was hitting me hard-core and sleep wasn’t coming easy at night…it wasn’t going to stop me from one moment on the beach though! Day 3 post coming soon!:)