Tuesday was a day off from the WRWC for me, though not a day off from ministry. As I'm due to move house soon, I had a meeting fixed that day to induct a new team of chaplains at my local ASDA store where I''ve been Chaplaincy Team Leader for just over a year, and a chaplain for a year before that. As well as finding a new team leader, I'd managed to find two more new chaplains in addition, so hopefully a strengthened team will allow this ministry to grow and flourish into the future.
Returning to Guildford on Wednesday for semi-finals day, I was sad to see that some of the infrastructure around the match pitches had disappeared. I'd seen the beginnings of this before I left, but was sad to see how much had gone. This is because some of the focus now moves to The Stoop in Twickenham, as that is where the top 4 teams now play their games, whilst only the remaining 8 teams play in Guildford. Whilst this is great for those in the top 4, I can't help feeling that this is not good for those who remain here, and it seems partly to undo the positive emphasis at the beginning of the tournament that in this world cup everyone has things to play for right up until the last day, unlike those perhaps more usual tournaments when a team or player goes home as soon as they've been knocked out.
At 1pm a number of people from local churches arrived to take part in a Community Tag Rugby session. This was something that Dave and I had been involved in planning with the RFU alongside the chaplaincy. Originally a wider community day, it had turned into a Faith Communities session somewhere along the way. This proved to be good fun, and was for all ages and genders; and all who attended where able to stay and watch today's 4 matches in Guildford for free.
Most of the afternoon was spent around the match pitches, talking with volunteers, staff and spectators, as well as watching some of the rugby - this was particularly important for me as I'd promised one of my pool teams that I'd do so, as I've got to know a number of their players (this was the team who invited me to their team meeting in week 1 to introduce the idea of chaplaincy). Part of the evening was spent manning the Oasis and part in the bar watching the England match on TV with a number of the squads and volunteers.
Saturday 4 September 2010
Bank Holiday Monday
Another morning shift today, and it was interesting to contrast the unusual quietness of a Bank Holiday Monday as I drove in from the village where I'm staying with the atmosphere at the venue where everything was happening much as it has for the last 2 weeks. Later on, explaining to a couple of players who were waiting for a bus to go into Guildford, that they might be less frequent than usual as it was a holiday weekend, I was asked what event or whatever we were marking with this holiday! This made me realise that I didn't really know - I don't think it commemorates anything in particular (does it?) but it made me realise afresh just how much we take things that happen our own country for granted on occasions.
After the morning stint in the Oasis of Silence, I manged to book the same room that we had last night, for tonight's Games Night which was brilliant. I also arranged a buggy to transport things there from the Oasis - a local church youth organisation has very kindly and generously lent us games such as giant Jenga and giant Connect 4, as well as loads of board games plus both a Wii and PS4, so it would have taken many many trips for the 3 of us on duty during the afternoon and evening if we'd had to carry them by hand.
The rest of the day was spent visiting, and spending time at, the various training pitches, as well as the hotel where match officials are based. It was good at one of the training pitches to meet a number of family members, and chat to them for a while - chaplaincy is for them too. Later in the afternoon, I spent quite a long time with a volunteer who needed to talk about a difficult pastoral situation she finds herself in.
Having checked that everything was okay for the Games Night, I then headed home - and immediately became conscious of another aspect of Bank Holiday Mondays - lots of traffic heading home after days or weekends away!
After the morning stint in the Oasis of Silence, I manged to book the same room that we had last night, for tonight's Games Night which was brilliant. I also arranged a buggy to transport things there from the Oasis - a local church youth organisation has very kindly and generously lent us games such as giant Jenga and giant Connect 4, as well as loads of board games plus both a Wii and PS4, so it would have taken many many trips for the 3 of us on duty during the afternoon and evening if we'd had to carry them by hand.
The rest of the day was spent visiting, and spending time at, the various training pitches, as well as the hotel where match officials are based. It was good at one of the training pitches to meet a number of family members, and chat to them for a while - chaplaincy is for them too. Later in the afternoon, I spent quite a long time with a volunteer who needed to talk about a difficult pastoral situation she finds herself in.
Having checked that everything was okay for the Games Night, I then headed home - and immediately became conscious of another aspect of Bank Holiday Mondays - lots of traffic heading home after days or weekends away!
Sunday's 60 second sermon
Sunday saw my earliest start so far, as I was at Surrey Sports Park before 7:30am in order to find a quiet spot with good mobile phone reception so that BBC Radio Surrey could ring me. Having been into their studio on Tuesday to record a "60 second sermon", the plan was for them to ring to chat live on air shortly before they broadcast the sermon so that it can be put into context. We had a good conversation, not just about sports chaplaincy but about chaplaincy in general. This added background, not just to the "60 second sermon" but to the interview I'd done in week 1 for their breakfast programme. Must admit though, that I don't often get asked to discuss existentialism before 8am on a Sunday morning!! (For the inquisitive, this came about because in talking about some of the things sports chaplains get involved in, I made the comment that we're not just here for the bad things of life like injury or coping with lack of success but also for things like the big questions of life such as "who am I when I'm no longer a famous athlete?" which was a question I'd spent some time discussing with an athlete at one of the previous major sports events I've ministered at.)
Being at the venue that bit earlier meant that I saw lots of players as they were on their way to breakfast and/or their morning sessions in the swimming pool, which was good. I then opened up the Oasis of Silence at 8am, but as no-one came to the 8:30am devotional I didn't get to 'preach' the aforementioned 'sermon'.
The rest of the morning was divided between the usual 'wandering around' the venue and various practical matters related to tonight's movie night - firstly being given a much more central room than the one we had last night, which was a matter for thanksgiving; then altering all the publicity we'd produced yesterday; before spending time learning how to connect everything up to, and then operate, the rather splendid audio-visual system they have installed (much more complicated - and impressive - than anything I've personally used before).
I managed to take a couple of hours off in the afternoon, and returned to find that it was very very quiet - even quieter than previous post-match days. A number of squads had gone out for all or part of the day, and I think others must have been sheltering from the torrential rain that descended mid-afternoon.
Some more visiting and admin was undertaken before setting up for the movie night. It was good that a good group of players came, from 3 different squads, all of whom thanked us for putting this on even before they'd seen the movie. It was a very good humoured and relaxed evening, with the added bonus for me that I really enjoyed the movie too, which made a day with my earliest start and latest finish not seem as long as it actually was.
Being at the venue that bit earlier meant that I saw lots of players as they were on their way to breakfast and/or their morning sessions in the swimming pool, which was good. I then opened up the Oasis of Silence at 8am, but as no-one came to the 8:30am devotional I didn't get to 'preach' the aforementioned 'sermon'.
The rest of the morning was divided between the usual 'wandering around' the venue and various practical matters related to tonight's movie night - firstly being given a much more central room than the one we had last night, which was a matter for thanksgiving; then altering all the publicity we'd produced yesterday; before spending time learning how to connect everything up to, and then operate, the rather splendid audio-visual system they have installed (much more complicated - and impressive - than anything I've personally used before).
I managed to take a couple of hours off in the afternoon, and returned to find that it was very very quiet - even quieter than previous post-match days. A number of squads had gone out for all or part of the day, and I think others must have been sheltering from the torrential rain that descended mid-afternoon.
Some more visiting and admin was undertaken before setting up for the movie night. It was good that a good group of players came, from 3 different squads, all of whom thanked us for putting this on even before they'd seen the movie. It was a very good humoured and relaxed evening, with the added bonus for me that I really enjoyed the movie too, which made a day with my earliest start and latest finish not seem as long as it actually was.
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