Wednesday, November 25, 2015

My first business trip aka “KamLuke”


Hi everyone!

How was your football weekend? What did you watch?
If you need a reminder, here were some of the best football moments from last week!
 




1.  High school football quarterfinal

As I mentioned in my last blog titled “My first interview”, BC Place was the host for BC High School Football quarterfinal games last Saturday! Did you miss it? Here are the results.

 



Langley 28 Vernon 27

GW Graham 33 Holy Cross 27

Vancouver College 27 Notre Dame 0

Terry Fox 33 South Delta 14

New Westminster 27 St. Thomas More 13


 


 


2.  Uteck Bowl
 
If you watched this amazing game, you would have seen the UBC Thunderbirds advance to the CIS football final for the first time since 1997 thanks to a convincing 36-9 win over the hometown St. Francis Xavier University X-Men Saturday evening at Oland Stadium. I can’t wait to see if the UBC Thunderbirds can win the Vanier Cup this Saturday!
 



3.  CFL Division Finals

If you stayed at home all Sunday, you probably watched the CFL Division championship games! I didn’t get a chance to watch these but it looks pretty exciting. Grey Cup will be fun! Who are you cheering for? I think I want to see Ottawa Redblacks win the game because I love to watch the “Giant Killing” situation where Edmonton Eskimos who are expected to win is defeated by an underdog whom the majority expects to lose.

 

Hamilton Tiger-Cats 28 Ottawa Redblacks 35
Calgary Stampeders 31 Edmonton Eskimos 45





4.  BCCFA 9-Man Championships
 
I think those always reading my blog might have predicted that I went to BC Place to watch the high school games, or perhaps stayed home to watch the spectacular UBC game. But actually, I was in Kamloops which as many of you know is far away from BC Place. The reason why I was in Kamloops was I assigned to go cover the BCCFA 9-Man Provincial Football Championships. It was a little challenging, but rewarding and invaluable for me. I kept a short little journal during my amazing trip and I want to share it with you here.
 
 
 


November 20
 


Before getting on a bus bound for Kamloops, I already had a hectic schedule. In the morning, I had a tutor session for one-and-a-half hours to help improve my writing skills. Once I finished the lesson, I had my normal Pro-D day (professional development) at the school I am attending called Gastown Business College. The purpose of our Pro-D day is to discuss the challenges faced during our practicum training transitions and take advantage of what I learn from lessons to contribute to Football BC. The lesson lasted for three hours. That’s why when I arrived at the bus station, I was so exhausted. However, this was the beginning of my long trip.

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
My first challenge took place just at the bus station when I found out the departure gate was suddenly changed. As you know, if I took the wrong bus, I might go to a completely different place and not be able to make it to Kamloops in time. (That would not have been fun to explain to Daniel!) So, I confirmed with two staff whether I was on the right bus just to be on the safe side.

My favourite seat when I take a bus is at the very back. Luckily, I managed to get the seat I wanted. But when I went to take a nap, a scary-looking guy took a seat next to me even though there were a lot of vacant seats. If I had not been so tired, I would have been so happy (even though I thought he looked scary) because it was a great opportunities to talk with a native English speaker. However, at that time, I did not feel well enough to chat so I didn’t speak. I decided to read sports articles in Japanese to keep away from him but eventually he saw and asked me whether I was Japanese. The reason why he asked me was he has been studying Japanese for a long time and wanted to know about Japanese culture, food and society. We quickly became friends and talked all the way up to Kamloops – a four-hour trip! When I looked back on the situation, I think I was able to spend some precious time with him because I not only got to practice my English but learn some new idioms such as “suck it up “ from the conversations as well as teach Japanese to him, which made him happy.
 
 
When I arrived at Kamloops, Brian Olthuis, a legendary football coach and a Football BC executive member, picked me up there and invited me to stay in his home overnight. I was a little nervous because this was the first time for me to meet him but, before I even got a chance to make a good first impression, he made a great one to me by introducing himself in Japanese. From the experience, I was so delighted that I was Japanese because many Canadians including my bus friend named Matt and Brian seem to have a positive image about Japan.

 
Brian showed me his comfortable house and was kind enough to prepare a very cozy bed for me which helped me to get a good night’s sleep. I felt like I was in a five-star hotel.

 





November 21


When I woke up and came to a living room, Brian provided me with great breakfast, cereal, yogurt, a muffin baked by his wife, Rendy, and an orange. We chatted for a while before we left for the field. Thanks to his heart-warming hospitality, I really felt welcome and excited for the day ahead.


 

Once I got to the Hillside Stadium with Brian, I was so surprised how popular Brian was because most people I met in the stadium greeted and respected him. I could understand why is called a “Legendary Football Coach”. A few minutes later, when I tried to Tweet comments about games starting, I found out a mistake on the scoreboard because a different team was listed instead of the one that was supposed to be playing. I informed a referee about it and, as a result, it was fixed. He praised me for what I did, which made me even more motivated to work that day.
 
 
 
Schedule and Result
BCCFA 9-Man Provincial Football Championships

Pee Wee Division (Round robin games with a 30 minutes run time)
10:00
Prince George Titans Red 18 Kelowna Lions 20
11:00
Victoria Hitmen 19 Prince George Titans 12
12:00
Kelowna Lions 19 Victoria Hitmen 14
1:00
(shootout)
Prince George Titans defeat Victoria Hitmen to move on to the championship against Kelowna Lions
1:30
(shootout)
Prince Gorge Titans beat Kelowna Lions
Titans are the Pee Wee Champions.
Atom Division (Round robin games with a 30 minutes run time)
2:00
Kamloops Broncos 16 Vandarhoof Vikings 16
3:00
Vandarhoof Vikings 0 Meadow Ridge Knights Blue 18
4:00
Meadow Ridge Knights Blue 22 Kamloops Broncos 8
5:00
(shootout)
Kamloops Broncos defeat Vanderhoof Vikings to move on to the championship against Meadow Ridge Knights Blue
5:30
(shootout)
Meadow Ridge Knights Blue beat Kamloops Broncos
Knights are the Atom Champions.
Junior Bantam Division (Normal game format under the BCCFA rule book)
6:00
Prince George Axemen 0 Vermon Magnums 52
Magnums are the Junior Bantam Champions.

I was able to learn a lot of new things from BCCFA 9-Man Provincial Football Championships even though I struggled to deal with some problems I encountered. Let me tell you about it.
 
First thing that comes to mind is the unfamiliar rule and style. Do you know what round robin games with a 30 minutes run time is?? “Round robin games” means a competition in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn and “a 30 minutes run time” means the clock stops for time outs (1 per team per half) and injures only. In other words, even if a team lost a game one time, the team still has a chance to win a championship. Because of the system, I had difficulty in tweeting comments frequently because I always had to keep track of scores due to quick game process even though I wanted to charge my cell phone. In addition, it took a few minutes to understand “Shootout”, a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. As a result, I was so confused to catch up with games because the winners were very quickly decided. However, I was able to figure out what was happening by asking referees and spectators. I must say the unfamiliar situation forced me to be an efficient and quick-witted (problem solving) person because I could learn how to prioritize what I had to do on the spot.
 
 
As for the players, I thought they were so lucky. That’s because the environment and atmosphere for playing football is pretty different from Japan. For example, players can play football in a maintained artificial field, which not only makes player’s motivation enhanced, but also helps them avoid serious injuries. When it comes to Japanese amateur game, we cannot play games on artificial grounds unless moving up to semifinal and final rounds. Because of the system, bare school grounds where we usually play sports bring about serious injuries like cramps and sprains easily. In addition to that, the competition here has an analyst, commentator and seasoned referees for each game. Players can feel as if they played football in a professional football league.
 
What also is very attractive to me is there are a lot of enthusiastic coaches supporting players seriously. I feel that players can enjoy these games safely because they are surrounded by a reliable coach, assistant coaches and sports doctors standing by. Also, they have a lot of strategies to win games because they analyze weak points about opponent teams during game all the time. It seems to me that players, thanks to their coaches, are able to put their best performance out each game.
 
 


The most challenging thing about Kamloops, however, was the cold! Even though I wore a lot of warm jackets, gloves and tuque, they did not work because of extreme cold. For example, when I took pictures, I had trouble pushing the button as my fingers did not move properly. The same thing for when I tried to post to Twitter from my phone. But I must say I was able to grow as an individual because I managed to put up with the severe weather while still completing my duties.
 


 
After I finished all of my duties, Brian picked me up from the stadium and surprised me by taking me to the Sandman Centre to watch a hockey game between home team Kamloops Blazers vs Edmonton Oil Kings. Once I arrived at the arena, I was overwhelmed by atmosphere I have never experience because this was my first time. I felt a sense of unity with spectators and players more than any other sports, as well as player’s excitement because my seat was right in front of player’s benches. What is better, I was able to watch both teams score six goals in total and the Blazers come from behind and win the game. I was blown away by the spectacular game. I really appreciate Brian providing me with a great chance to go watch and teaching me that I should sometimes give myself a pat on the back after I did my best at work. In addition, he gave me a great quote ‘Work hard and Play harder”. I want to keep that in mind.

 


 

When I look back on the great trip, overall, I am satisfied with my performance because I think I could live up to my supervisor’s expectations and went the extra mile even though I still had difficulty in communicating with native English speakers. I also feel I was an extremely lucky person because interns like me hardly ever have the same responsible opportunity like I did. So, after I go back to Japan and start job hunting, I would like to emphasize the experience, which helps me make different from other candidates. Finally, I want to express my thank you to Brian and Matt, who I met in the bus, and people who helped me out during the trip. Without you, I would not have had such a great trip.
 
I hope you understand how come the blog title is “KamLuke” after you read my blog today - Luke went to Kamloops. Thank you so much for reading my business trip story. I hope you are not getting sick of my blog because of the length. I am going to tell you about my friends who watched football games in BC Place for the first time and their feedback next week. Have a great day and a great football weekend!

 

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