It was a nice quiet weekend in Tashkent, the highlight being Ocean’s soccer games on Saturday afternoon. Our school hosts a local tournament to help prepare the student-athletes for the culminating Central Asian Federation of Athletics and Activities (CAFAA) tournaments.
Ocean was sick this week with flu-like symptoms. She stayed home from school on Friday, but after some encouragement, she participated in the tournament. They played four 40-minute games in the afternoon, and her team finished in third place. Our school had difficulty finding schools with female soccer teams. Female sports in general and soccer specifically are not popular in Uzbekistan due to cultural mores. The athletic director said out of the 20 schools we interact within the city and region, only one, the British School of Tashkent, had a girls soccer team ready to play. We did invite two club teams, one from our section of the city and another from Bekabad, a city 140 kilometers from Tashkent on the border with Tajikistan. The club teams pull from a wider population than schools and have much more training that we do. The two club teams were above the two school teams. However, it was good for TIS to play them to lift their game in preparation of next month’s CAFA championship that we are hosting for the first time since I’ve been here in Tashkent. Her coach wants to play them again.
Ocean played midfield and centerback in defense and got action in every game. She is a really good athlete and as she plays more soccer, will feel more comfortable. It was a rare rainy day in Tashkent. It didn’t feel like we were in Uzbekistan as this is the first steady rain we’ve had in months. TIS played BST in the consolation game and it was a highly entertaining match. We fell behind 0-1 and eventually rallied to win 3-2 and take home a bronze medal.
Nadia and I went out with friends on Saturday night for drinks at the Hyatt. We had a lot of good laughs! I played 3 sets of tennis with our friend Noah this morning at the Olympic Tennis School. Nadia sat out because she fell during the Terry Fox Run on Friday afternoon. Our school held two runs around the campus for elementary and secondary students to raise funds for our Cancer Curesaders. The student-led group collaborates with the children’s cancer hospice in Tashkent. Nadia scraped her knee, arm and lip as she fell on a small rise in the path on the asphalt.
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