Saturday dawned much sunnier, drier and less breezy than the past few days, and it was easy to see the effects of this as people were hanging around outside much more, and it was easier to meet people in a relaxed way. I had a slightly later start today, and so arrived after the morning duty in the Oasis of Silence, but it was good to learn that 2 players had again come to the devotional time. After some practical tasks, we were all into match day routine - dividing our time between the match pitches and other parts of the venue. It was nice to be greeted in a friendly manner by some of the volunteers who're only here for match days - we get to know some of them quite well as they're largely stationed in the same places doing the same task each match day. Although there was again a wonderful family-type atmosphere, with spectators of all ages and also of many nationalities, there also seemed to be more tension in the air - there were not so many squad members around spectating, and many of the spectators seemed more focused - perhaps because by the end of today's 6 matches, everyone would know which 4 teams would have gained places in the semi-final play offs and so play future matches at The Stoop in Twickenham, and which 8 teams would be playing both their remaining matches here in Guildford.
In the end, it was England, New Zealand, France and Australia that gained the top 4 places. For chaplains, who're supposed in many senses to be impartial, and it was a case of "rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep".
Despite wanting to for a number of reasons, mostly to do with people I've got to know in the last two weeks, I didn't see much of the match between England and USA. This was firstly, because I was trying to make sure that an injured player who'd gone to hospital having been injured in an earlier match got chaplaincy support if she wanted it, and also through setting things up for our first movie night. In the end, no-one came, which was slightly disappointing, but at the same time we were only responding to an identified need and offering a resource or opportunity, so if no-one felt they needed or wanted it when it came to it, that's fine by us - it is responding and serving that's important.
Sunday, 29 August 2010
The weekend (and final pool matches) approach fast
I wasn't in Guildford on Thursday, but apparently it was still quite quiet. Training had resumed in earnest, following the brief pause the day before, but apart from going to training and meals etc, people didn't venture out much as it as wet and windy again. Apparently, one chaplain even rashly promised the Aussies better weather by the weekend, but she had read the weather forecast first! One player did come to the morning devotional though, which was good, and those chaplains on duty still managed to 'loiter with intent' and meet and chat with people, both players/squad members but also staff and other volunteers - a reminder that chaplaincy at an event like this is for everyone, not just the elite sportspeople.
After a very early start at home on Friday, I was back in Guildford ready to open up the Oasis of Silence at 8am. A player from one of my pool teams again came for the morning devotional time, which was good. After that and a time of sharing with the other chaplain on duty this morning, we set about some practical tasks: One of the things that has become apparent through various conversations that the chaplaincy team have had over the last few days is that people in a number of squads have begun to suffer from something akin to 'Cabin Fever' (meaning the reactions that happen when a person or group has to live in a relatively small/enclosed space for an extended period with nothing much to do). Whilst many of the squads are impressed with all being based together in an Olympic-style athletes village, and enjoying the plus points of that - no travel, single rooms, good sports facilities, and the ability to walk from sleeping quarters to meals and to training facilities - a number of people are finding it quite claustrophobic, especially as, apart from their dining room, there's no shared communal space where they can relax and enjoy people's company outside their own squads - apart from the Bar and a branch of Starbucks in the sports centre that is! The seeds of the idea having been sown by various chaplains earlier in the week, 3 of us spent various bits of today checking out the practicalities: could we book/hire a room to show a DVD? what about projection facilities? publicity? did the organisers mind the chaplaincy doing this? etc, etc. By the end of the day, plans were almost fixed to have 2 movie nights, one games night, and a quiz night within the next week.
In between this, various visits were made and conversations had, including some time spent in the nearby hotel where the referees and other match officials are staying and based. We had originally planned to have an Oasis of Silence there too, but in the end no rooms were available, so we try and make sure that at least one chaplain visits once per day. So, it was good today that there were a numebr of officials around and we were able to have conversations with them.
After a very early start at home on Friday, I was back in Guildford ready to open up the Oasis of Silence at 8am. A player from one of my pool teams again came for the morning devotional time, which was good. After that and a time of sharing with the other chaplain on duty this morning, we set about some practical tasks: One of the things that has become apparent through various conversations that the chaplaincy team have had over the last few days is that people in a number of squads have begun to suffer from something akin to 'Cabin Fever' (meaning the reactions that happen when a person or group has to live in a relatively small/enclosed space for an extended period with nothing much to do). Whilst many of the squads are impressed with all being based together in an Olympic-style athletes village, and enjoying the plus points of that - no travel, single rooms, good sports facilities, and the ability to walk from sleeping quarters to meals and to training facilities - a number of people are finding it quite claustrophobic, especially as, apart from their dining room, there's no shared communal space where they can relax and enjoy people's company outside their own squads - apart from the Bar and a branch of Starbucks in the sports centre that is! The seeds of the idea having been sown by various chaplains earlier in the week, 3 of us spent various bits of today checking out the practicalities: could we book/hire a room to show a DVD? what about projection facilities? publicity? did the organisers mind the chaplaincy doing this? etc, etc. By the end of the day, plans were almost fixed to have 2 movie nights, one games night, and a quiz night within the next week.
In between this, various visits were made and conversations had, including some time spent in the nearby hotel where the referees and other match officials are staying and based. We had originally planned to have an Oasis of Silence there too, but in the end no rooms were available, so we try and make sure that at least one chaplain visits once per day. So, it was good today that there were a numebr of officials around and we were able to have conversations with them.
Wet Wednesday
Wednesday was very quiet with little movement around the campus. This was to be expected as squads often take the chance to take things slightly easier the day after a match, doing lightish training only in an attempt to give tired and possibly bruised bodies time to repair themselves. During the day, the chaplaincy team became aware of at least 5 players across the tournament who were having scans on one bit of their body or another, a reminder of how physical a game rugby is.
Taking post-match day quietly also gives people time to go off an explore - it seems a shame for those who've travelled huge distances to get here, not to have opportunity to see something of the country they're visiting - mind you, as businessmen have often told me, they do that all the time - those of us who live relatively static lives need to remember that jobs or professions that involve lots of travel certainly can't be compared to a holiday (even though people joke about that aspect). Today, whether squads stayed around Guildford or ventured further afield, they will have got very wet as it rained on and off, and was torrential at times.
Taking post-match day quietly also gives people time to go off an explore - it seems a shame for those who've travelled huge distances to get here, not to have opportunity to see something of the country they're visiting - mind you, as businessmen have often told me, they do that all the time - those of us who live relatively static lives need to remember that jobs or professions that involve lots of travel certainly can't be compared to a holiday (even though people joke about that aspect). Today, whether squads stayed around Guildford or ventured further afield, they will have got very wet as it rained on and off, and was torrential at times.
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Second Match Day
Tuesday dawned bright but cool - good weather for this second pool match day, although sadly (especially for spectators) there was some rain later during some of the matches. It also got windier as the day went on, which made life difficult for both spectators and players. Today was another early start for me, and so I went straight to the Oasis of Silence at 8am. No players turned up for the devotional time but three of us spent some time sharing and praying, and later a few people called by.
After that Dave C and I met to discuss progress so far, and planned the rota for the final week. Now that we know how things are working out in practice we were able to tailor-make this much more than we'd been able to do with the initial rota - it's amazing how things differ between planning and practice, especially when practical experience is added.
My next task was to make my second trip of the tournament to the BBC Radio Surrey studios. This time it was to record a "60 second sermon" to go out on next Sunday morning's religious programme. The idea behind this is that local ministers distill their Sunday sermon for that day into 60 seconds - I remember doing one of these when I last lived in this area and found it a challenge (! - those that know me will understand the explanation mark!) - but, as I won't actually be preaching anywhere this coming Sunday, I wrote a 'thought for the day' type of talk, linking illustrations from sport with one aspect of our practical faith, using the parable of the sheep and the goats as my text.
Another brisk walk followed, in order to get back to Surrey Sports Park in time to do some wandering around before the matches started. As last Friday, there were 6 pool games in all today, with the first match kicked off at 12noon, with the 6th one doing the same at 6:30pm. They were again good matches - for those who know rugby, apparently women's rugby has a lot less kicking and a lot more running when compared to the men's game. It is still a very fast and physical game, though, requiring a mixture of strength, speed and agility on top of all the technical skills.
I wasn't able to stay for the last matches though, as I had a speaking engagement at Andover Rotary Club this evening. They'd invited me to speak about my work as a sports chaplain from Athens 2004 right through to today, so it seemed appropriate to attend in my Women's Rugby World Club uniform rather than dressed more smartly with my clerical collar. As I'd missed the matches involving my pool teams, I kept my mobile phone on silent and, after texts from WRWC chaplaincy colleagues, was able both to keep in touch with what was going on in Guildford and also begin my talk with the latest results!
After that Dave C and I met to discuss progress so far, and planned the rota for the final week. Now that we know how things are working out in practice we were able to tailor-make this much more than we'd been able to do with the initial rota - it's amazing how things differ between planning and practice, especially when practical experience is added.
My next task was to make my second trip of the tournament to the BBC Radio Surrey studios. This time it was to record a "60 second sermon" to go out on next Sunday morning's religious programme. The idea behind this is that local ministers distill their Sunday sermon for that day into 60 seconds - I remember doing one of these when I last lived in this area and found it a challenge (! - those that know me will understand the explanation mark!) - but, as I won't actually be preaching anywhere this coming Sunday, I wrote a 'thought for the day' type of talk, linking illustrations from sport with one aspect of our practical faith, using the parable of the sheep and the goats as my text.
Another brisk walk followed, in order to get back to Surrey Sports Park in time to do some wandering around before the matches started. As last Friday, there were 6 pool games in all today, with the first match kicked off at 12noon, with the 6th one doing the same at 6:30pm. They were again good matches - for those who know rugby, apparently women's rugby has a lot less kicking and a lot more running when compared to the men's game. It is still a very fast and physical game, though, requiring a mixture of strength, speed and agility on top of all the technical skills.
I wasn't able to stay for the last matches though, as I had a speaking engagement at Andover Rotary Club this evening. They'd invited me to speak about my work as a sports chaplain from Athens 2004 right through to today, so it seemed appropriate to attend in my Women's Rugby World Club uniform rather than dressed more smartly with my clerical collar. As I'd missed the matches involving my pool teams, I kept my mobile phone on silent and, after texts from WRWC chaplaincy colleagues, was able both to keep in touch with what was going on in Guildford and also begin my talk with the latest results!
Monday, 23 August 2010
Week 2 begins
Saturday was a day off for me and I'd returned home for that - one of the advantages of an international sporting event being hosted in our own country is that we all live relatively close. However, that said, as I live in Wiltshire I'm the chaplain with the longest journey. This is partly because our chaplaincy team comprises a number of local ministers in addition to a few specialist sports chaplains. I was also absent from Guildford on Sunday, as I was taking part in services at St Michael's Church, West Andover, the parish where I'm an assistant priest.
On Monday, I returned to Guildford, and to chaplaincy duties in and around the Women's Rugby World Cup. This was the 'usual' mixture of spending time in & around the Oasis of Silence and out & about around the whole venue, plus some admin and preparation tasks that needed to be done. Having been away over the weekend, there was also some catching up to do.
Sadly, one aspect of that was learning that a player from one of my pool teams had sustained a more serious injury than was at first thought - a broken bone means that she won't be able to play again in this tournament and so will be heading home sometime soon. Although the bone concerned means that this isn't actually a major injury as such, it is obviously major for her and also for her team mates with whom she's trained intensively for the last few months. So, it was good to be able to offer support to members of that team and their TLO, both explicitly and implicitly. As a chaplaincy team, we're also able to pray for her, and for others with needs, as well as for the whole event. Even if no-one comes for the 8:30am and 8:30pm devotional times, the chaplains on duty still meet to pray at those times each day.
On Monday, I returned to Guildford, and to chaplaincy duties in and around the Women's Rugby World Cup. This was the 'usual' mixture of spending time in & around the Oasis of Silence and out & about around the whole venue, plus some admin and preparation tasks that needed to be done. Having been away over the weekend, there was also some catching up to do.
Sadly, one aspect of that was learning that a player from one of my pool teams had sustained a more serious injury than was at first thought - a broken bone means that she won't be able to play again in this tournament and so will be heading home sometime soon. Although the bone concerned means that this isn't actually a major injury as such, it is obviously major for her and also for her team mates with whom she's trained intensively for the last few months. So, it was good to be able to offer support to members of that team and their TLO, both explicitly and implicitly. As a chaplaincy team, we're also able to pray for her, and for others with needs, as well as for the whole event. Even if no-one comes for the 8:30am and 8:30pm devotional times, the chaplains on duty still meet to pray at those times each day.
First match day
Friday was yet another early start, the fourth in a row. However, although I went to the Oasis of Silence at 8am I didn't stay there for long, as I'd been invited by BBC Radio Surrey to be interviewed on their breakfast programme so that their listeners could hear all about the chaplaincy presence. Their studios are located on the main University campus and it was a nice walk across in the sunshine - thankfully the first match day had dawned much brighter than had been forecast by the weather people. The interview seemed to go well - perhaps too well in that it created further work as afterwards I was invited back to do something else for them next week!
The walk back to Surrey Sports Park, and on to the Oasis of Silence, gave me the opportunity to chat to various people along the way - Surrey Sports Park staff, match day security staff, members of the event organising team, new volunteers, and a few players. Later, once the gates had opened to the public, the chaplains already onsite walked the area around the 2 competition pitches, sometimes meeting and chatting with people we met, and in quiet moments praying for all involved in this tournament in so many different ways.
There were 6 games in all today. The first match kicked off at 12noon, with the 6th one doing the same at 6:30pm. These were all games between 2 teams in the same pool - meaning that it was perhaps even more important than usual for chaplains to be impartial as we each had an interest in both teams playing a game. I watched most of both games involving the four teams in my pool, although I also spent time talking to spectators and event staff, as well as to players spectating later games. I also spent some time on the phone and chasing & talking to contacts in person to offer support, both practical and pastoral, where injuries occurred. Thankfully none seemed as serious as they might have looked at first.
The walk back to Surrey Sports Park, and on to the Oasis of Silence, gave me the opportunity to chat to various people along the way - Surrey Sports Park staff, match day security staff, members of the event organising team, new volunteers, and a few players. Later, once the gates had opened to the public, the chaplains already onsite walked the area around the 2 competition pitches, sometimes meeting and chatting with people we met, and in quiet moments praying for all involved in this tournament in so many different ways.
There were 6 games in all today. The first match kicked off at 12noon, with the 6th one doing the same at 6:30pm. These were all games between 2 teams in the same pool - meaning that it was perhaps even more important than usual for chaplains to be impartial as we each had an interest in both teams playing a game. I watched most of both games involving the four teams in my pool, although I also spent time talking to spectators and event staff, as well as to players spectating later games. I also spent some time on the phone and chasing & talking to contacts in person to offer support, both practical and pastoral, where injuries occurred. Thankfully none seemed as serious as they might have looked at first.
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Building both relationships and bunting
Thursday brought another early start, and it was great this morning that 2 players came to the Oasis for our morning devotional time - and especially that they were from the pool team that I'd met with yesterday. As well as sharing in the devotional, they added topics to our prayer board and stayed for a coffee and a chat.
Contact with another team and their coach came when they used the metal staircase outside the Oasis for one of their fitness tests (it involved a piece of equipment that attaches with a magnet hence the need for something metal). This provided an opportunity for the players waiting in the queue for their turn to see into the Oasis, and for me to ask questions of the coach about what they were doing whilst he was packing things up.
Other activities today included further casual conversations with several other players from the pool team I spent time with yesterday; a telephone conversation with another of the TLOs I'd rung yesterday; a visit to the area surrounding the 2 match pitches, which included conversations with several people setting things up and getting the ground ready for the first match day tomorrow; and trying to 'design' various attractive but weatherproof ways of decorating the outside of our building - several of the 12 squads have started to decorate their buildings and so why should we miss out, especially as it also draws attention to our new location.
Contact with another team and their coach came when they used the metal staircase outside the Oasis for one of their fitness tests (it involved a piece of equipment that attaches with a magnet hence the need for something metal). This provided an opportunity for the players waiting in the queue for their turn to see into the Oasis, and for me to ask questions of the coach about what they were doing whilst he was packing things up.
Other activities today included further casual conversations with several other players from the pool team I spent time with yesterday; a telephone conversation with another of the TLOs I'd rung yesterday; a visit to the area surrounding the 2 match pitches, which included conversations with several people setting things up and getting the ground ready for the first match day tomorrow; and trying to 'design' various attractive but weatherproof ways of decorating the outside of our building - several of the 12 squads have started to decorate their buildings and so why should we miss out, especially as it also draws attention to our new location.
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