Hello all, This is my first official entry in our new website, I am striving for mediocrity so the shoes aren’t too big to fill next time around. Just kidding, but in all seriousness this is an exciting year ahead of us, we have arrived in Florida now for our final national team training camp before the Olympic selection process begins. The first week has come and gone but…

First things first though, a story… Well, as you don’t all necessarily know I am a) paranoid of snakes, and b) got an awesome new driver from my parents, a Nike sumo to be precise. This club is awesome. This past Sunday we went to a course in FLA and played 18, it was wicked, cheesy adjectives notwithstanding it actually was. Upon getting there when I went to pay the 32 bucks at the register, by the way it was a gorgeous course for 32 with a cart it was a great deal. Anyway I am rambling, right as I am about to pay, I look down on the counter and there is a giant picture of a rattlesnake crossing a cement path. I casually feign a calm and cool attitude, and ask where's that from (like a 14 year old with a fake id)? The guy answers oh yeah, someone saw that thing on hole 14 yesterday! “Excuse me” I say, yesterday, he replies rather nonchalantly, “yeah and its 7 feet long”! I am seriously scared when I get out there. There are all these bushes all over the place and it being a windy day every rustling of the brush in the wind sounds like a potential rattler. I get up to hole one take out the driver and cha ching... sweet drive (in my amateur eyes at least). That was about the only good part of my game all day, as I was 13 over after 3 holes... but that is beside the point. On the third whole you have to hit over a large water body. I drill it and clear this bit of water, had to have gone about “285”... crushed it. It was awesome. Gab being the superior golfer can't match the Sumo's raw power and plays around the water a bit more, and one shot later he is right on the edge of a little pond. He goes down to the ball to play it not really paying attention to his immediate surroundings and looks up, and all of the sudden the ground is shaking and Gab is within 8 feet of a massive gator which thankfully is scared and heads for the water, but he comes running freaked out... and this for whatever reason adds to my snake phobia. I know makes no sense. By hole 14 I had almost forgotten about the snake and was starting to re-enjoy myself, when I got a friendly reminder from Mark and Gab who decided it was a good idea to hide in the bushes up ahead and jump out making hissing snake noises... of course I nearly fall out of my cart and yell a few choice words over my shoulder. All I keep thinking about is an episode of fear factor where the poor "lucky" contestant has to face a coffin full of snakes for a period of 2 minutes in order to make it to the final, and just when you think you've made it in comes the rattler, all 7 feet of it.

Aside from a weak golf game, I am having a great time here in lovely Florida at the Pines Resort, a home away from home. The training camp is now officially a week done, and things are moving smoothly. It's great to get back out on the water again and apply a winter's worth of hard work to actual paddling. Things only get harder from here, but it’s a challenge I am excited to embrace further. That's all I've got for you. Keep it real.
Andrew

ps. if you haven't already seen it, you've got to go and see "I'm not there"