(#20) Goalball Retrieving At The Junior Blind Olympics – Part 5 (More Learning Experiences (and Limited Lunch Choices))

May 7, 2014

Picking up from yesterday –

Also, during the games, the volunteer leader of Goalball would stand by the bleachers and give the parents little tie bits and such as the game was going on (since many people had never seen Goalball before).

It sort of sounded like a little sales pitch because she kept mentioning that you could come play Goalball with them on the weekends… But it also sounded like it was free to participate. So, I dunno…

It was a little funny though because Goalball is supposed to be played in a quiet gym. (I know that’s a little counterintuitive for sports, but the athletes need to be able to hear the bells in the ball.) And this person running Goalball would talk about how important the silence was – but then she’d be giving facts during the game.

She wasn’t all that loud, so I’m sure that’s why she thought it was fine. But the athlete closest to her (and me) in one of the intense matches sshed her, which was sort of funny. (I didn’t have anything against the woman, it was just hilarious to hear her continue to talk about how important silence was, but then talk, and then get sshed by an athlete.)

We broke for lunch. And again, it was incredibly sweet of them that they provided lunches for us. However, yet another thing I like to think I learned if I ever plan some type of event like this –
In the volunteer handouts, they said salad would be available instead of the meat option.

I’m actually trying eat less and less meat. I don’t want to go so far as to start saying I’m trying to be a vegetarian. I don’t want to make a declaration that I will never have meat again for the rest of my life. But I am generally trying to keep a mainly vegetarian diet. And I’ve been doing a pretty good job.

I was excited about the salad, but I hung back to make sure any real vegetarians (and of course any athletes) could have what they needed before I got what I needed. But they completely ran out of salads in both places where food was being served! Tons of people were not pleased. Lots of vegetarians did not get fed.

I did bring bars with me, because I know if you’re going to have a special diet, you always have to be prepared to provide your own stuff. But I felt bad for all the vegetarians who’d been told they could have salad, but instead got turkey sandwiches.

Wah Wah.

And I’ll finish out here tomorrow.

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