Rugby cisneros summer camp

The Rugby Cisneros Summer Camp

In this post, I'm going to show you the highlights of the summer camp.

On the 27th of June, at the Seneca avenue, 8 in Madrid, a bus was waiting to pick up about 30 children. I was one of them. That bus was taking us to none other than the Rugby Cisneros Summer Camp! I said goodbye to my mother, packed in my suitcase and climbed on board.

After 6 hours of bus travel and a short WC stop, we reaced the Carucedo lake, where we had reserved a series of small cottages. And, guess what? We arrived just in time for snacktime! After that, we prepared our presentations of our cottage posters and totems. We had supper. We went to sleep at about 23:30.

The Papahumas cottage

On day 2 we started with breakfast: some toast, milk, and biscuits. After that, we had rugby practise (no rugby camp can exist without daily rugby practise). We mostly did physical exercises, you know, burpies, push-ups, etc. After the rugby practise, we had the noon fruit (bananas) and went to the Carucedo lake, where we will bathe in the sun and in the water for about an hour, until lunchtime. In the lake we wrestled with one of our coaches but failed miserably (no wonder, he is one of my idol players of the cisneros 1st senior team. He even got made a tribute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEGWOOZwQr8

Well, we had lunch and got the afternoon task to prepare a somewhat dramatic presentation of our cottage and of the inhabitants. We had supper and, with butterflies in our tummies, presented what we had to.

Day 3! Awesome! Same rugby training and breakfast. But today the coaches had a surprise for us. Canoes! We paddled to the secret beach and the hidden lake. We even got a glimpse of the secret cave!

three men in a boat!

We searched for the undrwater village the highest point of which is the legendary bell tower of the village. But we had no luck, so we would turn the other boats and watch the crew floundering helplessly in the water. We had lunch and got ready for the afternoon task.





Over the camp, apart from the daily rugby training, we played a real life cluedo, had our own Olympics. The last canoeing day was day 12 out of 14. Today, as we already had seen all the fun stuff and wrestled in the water, we thought that today would be the perfect day for turning boats over. NOPE. First of all, every one or two elders had to take a small boy and, secondly, a coach was always following us on their own 1 place canoe (so lucky).That day it was our turn to make true the yearly Haunted House. For me, and I was just the gate keeper, it was difficult not to laugh, also because for the elder groups, after my say, I went behind poking them with my stick. On the last day, some of us missed the party because of an incident I feel I'm not the one to write about it but we all returned home in one piece.

The End

Our trip to Navarra

Our Trip To Navarra

On friday 20th, after school, we went to the Avenida de Séneca to catch a bus that will take us on an awesome journey to Pamplona in Navarra. The first surprise we got was the fact that there were tablets on the seats you could play on. After a quick stop for some fresh air and another 2 hours in the bus, we arrived at the Hostel. We all chose a bed and then hurried downstairs for supper. That was the second surprise (or dissapointment) I got. Potato tortilla for supper! Yuk! I tried to finish off the sixth I had in front of me for the sake of my allergies, but I just couldn´t. After the meal we all proceeded into our bedrooms to sleep. It was already about 9 pm. Anyway, we mucked about a bit and then we lay down at last.

Saturday was the big day. We arrived at La Única's field at about 8 a.m to find we were the first team to get there (excluding La Única). I'm saying this because there was something else we didn't realize there were other teams in the tournament. There was a  particularly nasty french team that started fighting for no reason at all. Well, everything went a lot better after our game against the french team (which we won). We played against La Única, the game resulting in a 18-18 draw.

All the teams pose at the end of the tournament

 For third time we had a ginormous (and I mean ginormous) paella that disappeared off the plates as if by magic.

The Cisneros team gobling up the paella.

 We were then given the trophies for participating and got back on the bus. We were taken to a beautiful park with a variety of different birds. There was also deer. After a tour of the park, we stopped at a BMX park and ate some sobados before the bus took us back to the Hostel. There were sausages with potato puré. Yum! Sleeping time was the same as yesterday.

On Sunday 22nd was the day on which the semi-finals of the cup of spain were celebrated. We were taken to the VRAC's field in bus. There, we watched the game, where we lost. After congratulating and comforting the players, we piled back into the bus and drove back to Madrid.

Parents vs children

Parents vs Children

On the 14/5/2016, after I'd come back from my swimming lessons, we left almost at once for the Central Complutense University rugby pitch. We watched how the U-18s played a game of Forwards vs Three-quarters, but all of us were thinking "what and who are we playing against?" We were told to go to the B pitch. There we recieved the terrible news: our parents were playing against us! Well, we all tried to keep a straight face, but all of us suddenly had butterflies in our tummies. Against our parents? No, that couldn't be right. We were wrong. It was right. In less than half an hour, the game started. It was not a tackling game, just grabbing. At least we didn't have to tackle our own parents. And some of them were really hard to tackle. Then we got more bad news. Our coaches were playing on the parents team! We tried really hard and scored a couple of good tries. But by then we were exhausted. My poor father had to leave the game about 15 minutes before it ended because he hadn't warmed up and had a pain in the left leg. Nowadays he keeps fit, but he still needs our support. I also got a pain in my ankle just when the game finished. Then we drove back home in time for lunch.

The 1st senior team's final

The 1st senior team's final

So, right after the prizes had been given to us and to the CRC, the 1st senior team came out to do their pre match training. I saw all of our coaches and a few of our summer camp helpers, tough (and I mean really tough) rugby players. The 1st senior CRC was not that strong against the hardened seniors as the U-14 had been against the A team. The tries started, one by one. We had found a high spot to watch the match, and we cheered and protested, as the match got more tense. Eventually, relief flooded inside us. The match was finished... and the 1st Cisneros senior team had won the Cup of Madrid! The 1st senior team hadn't won a final for about 31 or 32 years now because they always stumbled over the VRAC  1st senior team in the final. So it was quite an event.

A young player poses with one of his coaches that happens to be from the 1st senior team

The First team's final

The first team's final

After having lunch at Ginos and a quick shower at home, we rode on father's motorcycle to Orcasitas, where the 1st senior team and the U-14 a team were playing against the CRC (Canoe Rugby Club). This was the last game of the season not only for us, but for the rest too. Well, the least I can say is that the a team lost the final and the Complutense Cisneros A was 2nd in the league.

My best match in my career

My Best match in my career

On the 7th May, the league for us was finished. We played our last match in the season against the XV Hortaleza.

Everyone was surprised to see me in action. An action I had never been able to get into. It was incredible what I could do. I attacked cleverly going down the left wing, although I was tackled more than once. I think I drank too much water after our tries, so I got a half-flatus. I could barely run. But I was determined to continue and, after the break, I had fully overcome the flatus and had got fully in the game to continue. It was incredible what some adrenaline and some tiredness could do to a half-tired person. I got more active in the game and, although I was flattened by a half-tonn giant from the other team (I calculated the weight roughly, for he was quite really plump), 2 other players and I were praised by the coach because we had run at him and had not cowered behind. So in that match I made some major achievements. The ultimate score was 43-22 and we had won. We went to have lunch at the Ginos Restaurant. I deserved it, my father said. I thought so too.

For safety reasons I will not write the full names of players, coaches, etc.

The semi-finals

The Semi-finals in Alcobendas

On the 30th of April, we woke up pretty early. Why? Well, on that particular Saturday there was a particularly important event being held. The semi-finals of Madrid's rugby tournament! We arrived at the field, quite different from what I remembered it on that cloudy match we played against the Alcobendas when there was no B team. It was a sunny, extremely hot summer's day and we were ready to confront the Alcobendas B. Well, that is to say. As not all of the B team turned up on time, the Alcobendas B would have to play against The Deleitor, a Portuguese club that had come to visit. After a hard training, we confronted the Alcobendas B after they'd lost against Deleitor.

When they kicked the ball off the centre spot, we caught it and sent attack after attack into their defence. In nearly no time at all we were near their try line but it took us some extra effort to score our tries. I got the ball 2 times but, as I found out the hard way, the Alcobendas B had a total different way of tackling and tripped you up, so your reaction was to drop the ball and to put your hands out so as not to bite the dust. That's just what happened to me. 

Well, after a hard match that we won (yaay!), we confronted the Deleitor. They used the same technique we used against Staines (see The London Trip post). They let their 2nd year giants do all the work in the first half and then let the 1st years try to finish off the match.

Well, there is no way I could say we won the match. Then, the Alcobendas B coach gave the captain and the half-scrum of each team a small trophy (for the captain) and a flag of the Alcobendas each. He then gave the best player another Alcobendas flag. Our team captain went home with 2 Alcobendas flags and a trophy. 

After having the 3rd time, the A team played the return game, we watched and cheered. The end of the match was a relief but it also gave me butterflies in  my tummy. The A team had gotten into the final match! We ran onto the pitch and congratulated them, slapping their backs and giving yells of joy.

For sfety reasons I will not write the full name of players, coaches, etc.