Saturday, January 31, 2009

Saturday Workout at C.U.S.


Today was our last Saturday workout before donning the pads on February 7th.  

Seven new Elephants joined Gianmarco Pecorraro for the two hour drive from Palermo.

Gianmarco, in the center of the bottom row with the gray ski cap, will be playing the role of Jesus Christ in several Passion Plays all over Sicily during Holy week this spring.

We met at noon at the Elephant War Room to go over the offensive and defensive playbooks and clear up any questions that they may have had.

It was a very productive session.

Catania University Sportivo (C.U.S.)

As stated earlier, we will be playing our games here at C.U.S. this season.  Yes, that IS the Ionian Sea in the distance.

The view of C.U.S. from the other end zone.
 
The Elephants on a Warm-Up Jog
near Brian FitzGerald's Newest Sprint Toy

I had to ask what in the world is that huge bowl-like contraption at the edge of the track?  I have never seen anything quite like it before so I asked our owner Davide, sprinter/WR Salvo Persano and WR Claudio Mangano.  The same answer from all three of them independently.

Are you ready for this?  Sprinters are supposed to train in it.  Apparently, a college professor in Italy proposed that if you ran inside this thing, the need to fight centrifugal force would make you faster... if you didn't fall due to lack of speed, visualize me or Giulio Romano running in this thing.

It seems that the good professor was able to sell these things to track facilities all over Italy.  Only later did they figure out that it didn't work but ours is still out there for you to try out.

Now Brian FitzGerald, the Track Coach at Rio Mesa H.S., is recognized as one of the very finest sprint coaches in all of American high school coaching.  If Brian can get one of these things, I know that he could make it work to the Spartans' advantage!

30 Liter Can

This is Davide Giuliano's and it will soon be holding 30 liters of olive oil for his home use.

Sicilians take their olive oil VERY seriously in case you did not know!

4 comments:

DPLassen said...

That sprinting device would seem to indicate the Italian gene for invention has declined a bit since DaVinci.

On the other hand, if one of the players brings his dog to a game, you've got a perfect place to keep it.

George said...

Good idea!

Is Michael Vick available yet?

Anonymous said...

nah,he's goin nuts cuz the judge is sellin his cars and his boats in atlanta..

itzbfitz said...

Bring on the bowl!!! If it doesn't work, we can use it for ice baths after practice. Or, maybe, as a soup dish for shot put coach Mike Kildee.