The 1st Tryout

Thursday night was the first practice for the Israeli-Palestinian AFL team and needless to say, it was an experience. As the tryout begun, one of the organizers started explaining things in Hebrew, an Arabic translator followed in Arabic. With every drill, be it simple warm ups or how to kick the ball properly, the same format followed. At first, it was obvious there was slight discomfort. Communication is never easy when a common language is not shared - however, as the drills continued, the ice started to crack. Be it with helping each other on the drills, or asking simple questions about names and hometowns, we started talking and laughing together with the inevitable sport follies. By the time the scrimmage came along, the early 'seeds' of good teamwork were already visible. The try out went well for me. There were a lot of good athletes on display and I look forward to the challenge of making this team.