For the past couple of seasons my team has decided to take one of our earlier practice weekends to get away together for a mini camp. Last year, we stayed at an old military fort turned retreat which was fun for the nerdy historian in me. This year we stayed a bit closer to home at the Sambica camp by Lake Sammamish.

 

Friday started off a bit rough for me as my car decided that it no longer wanted to drive on my to work. The check engine light flashed furiously as I limped and prayed my car into the work parking lot and later around the corner to the mechanic. The mechanic called me halfway through the day to let me know that I needed to replace the coils and spark plugs on all 4 cylinders. Ouch. That goodness I just got my tax return. I would have rather spent it on fun things but having a working car is kind of a priority.

Luckily, the mechanic was efficient and fixed my car up in time for me to drive to the camp. I arrived around 6pm. Sambica is a historic bible camp that they sometimes rent out.It is located directly on the shore of the lake and has a beautiful view. I quickly realized I was the first player there and picked my room from out of the 4 available.

Each room had several bunk beds for us to sleep in. I picked the room marked David and went to the very back right floor level bed. When I was a kid I liked the top bunk but now I’m 32 and have played football for 10 years. Bottom bunk for me thank you.

More people trickled in later in the evening. The main meeting area had a pool table, Foosball table, and plenty of room to hang out. We socialized and played pool and it was fairly low key. Due to my new early morning work schedule, my body clock is all messed up and I was tired at 8PM. I held out to talk to some of my new teammates in our room until around 11PM.

The next morning, our first practice was at 9AM. I drove out to the high school we were practicing at and got ready. It was a bit chilly but I was ready to go for the day full of football. We practiced for a good 2 and half hours before taking a short hour break for lunch and then went at it again for another 2 and half hours.

On the drove back to the camp, I drove by an LA Fitness and quickly pulled into the parking lot with the genius idea of showering at a gym that I belong to, rather than waiting in line for the 3 available showers back at camp. Points for me.

I got back to camp in time to hang out for a bit before the pizza for dinner arrived. The next plan of action was the skit. We were told to break into smaller groups and plan a skit in which we had to make fun of at least one of our coaches. My skit group had been planning ours all week. Mostly this was due to my teammate Koroshes being highly proactive. Many group texts later, we had an idea and characters but needed time to finish the product.

We met in one of the rooms and hashed out the remaining details. The idea was that we would play Family Feud, with each of us playing the characterized versions of our coaches. I was selected to play our defensive line coach which was fun because he is always so excited. I’m fairly certain that I won’t be on Broadway anytime soon but I held my own.

Our skit slayed. We won and celebrated with a fake Oscar speech.

Later that night, I got in a lengthy discussion about the state of women’s football with a couple of my teammates in our room. It makes me happy to know that we are all working towards the same goal of making this sport better.

I woke up early the next day, packed my gear, headed home, and crashed for the remainder of Sunday.

It’s memories like the ones created at this event that I will always take with me.

Next week I will be headed to the Women’s World Games Camp in New Orleans, along with 225 other players from 18 countries, to play at the New Orleans Saints facilities. Stay tuned for more posts about the events.