Lyle Adams Reports on Day 3 from Brazil
Rising senior gives daily play-by-play

May 13, 2008

Monday, May 12 (Day 3)
We began today with breakfast at Santa Filomena. It was not the typical continental breakfast, but it was equally as good. I speak for the entire team when I say that the fruits and juices of Brazil are excellent. After breakfast we had a light training session for about an hour. Coach said that he was very pleased with the training session because we were beginning to regain our legs and shake the cobwebs from the flight. The highlight of training occurred at the end of practice when our bus driver, Josè, played goalie for a bit. Josè saved everything in sight and he proclaimed himself as sensational and I agree.

We were scheduled to leave Santa Filomena around noon, so we had a couple hours to ourselves. Team morale was very high today since we learned enough Portuguese and figured out how to work the showers. The previous day, we had all taken cold showers not by choice, but now we were able to enjoy the beauty of a warm shower. After showering and packing up, we headed to lunch and departed for Santos and the shores of the state of Sao Paulo. The bus ride from Santa Filomena to the coast was only about three hours but was quite the journey. We drove through the mountains and saw beautiful views of the coastline, harbour, and vegetation. However we did view some of the favelas of Brazil, which made us realize how truly blessed we are.

We arrived at Riveria San Lorenco, our beach resort, around 3:30 in the afternoon. Coach gave us thirty-five minutes to unpack and get situated before we headed down to the beach. It was about a ten minute walk to the beach, but the walk was quite memorable. When we finally arrived at the beach, we were treated with quite a sight. The coastline seemed to go on forever with beautiful white sand and offshore mountains in the distance. After testing the temperature in the ocean, we played a few games of beach soccer. These games became very competitive and the overall winner was openly disputed amongst the team. One thing was certain, however, that Ricardo (our tour guide), Dr. Rosenbaum and Chris Ina all have futures in professional soccer. We headed back to the hotel shortly after the games to shower and eat dinner.

Dinner was served at the resort restaurant and was as good as all of our previous meals. The team has really taken a liking to the native juices and as a result there was quite the scuffle to get some juice at dinner. After dinner, Coach spoke to us about the following day's activities and the opportunity we were about to partake in with our match with Santos FC (one of the most prestigious clubs in all of Brazil and the world, and the former club of Pele, the world's greatest soccer player). We were given the rest of the night to relax. Many of the guys played in a card tournament which was filled with passion, joy, and anguish for those who lost. The rest of the team played ping pong, pool, and foosball in the game room.

Today was our third day in Brazil and I can say it was my favorite day so far. But I said that about the first day and the second day respectively. We spent a lot of time together as a team and these moments were truly memorable; from Cody doing a back flip into the pool at Santa Filomena to Dr. Rosenbaum scoring a goal during beach soccer. I cannot wait to see what is in store for us in the upcoming days but I can assure you they will be filled with memorable moments.

Ate logo,
Lyle Adams
On a more personal note, my Portuguese is improving daily and the Portuguese-Made-Easy book was a valuable investment.

Days 1&2 Photo Gallery
WFU Coaching staff reports on Days 1&2

- WakeForestSports.com -