Sunday 6/13 - the team proceded to the mess hall for a 7:30 AM breakfast and shortly thereafter did some further rugby training on the beach.  The team attended 11:00 AM Mass at St. Michael's Church and returned to the barracks using their week-long Bermuda bus pass.  The bus pass allows the boys to travel the entire island for the entire week exploring all the historical sites and beaches in Bermuda.  The bulk of the team members spent the afternoon at Horseshoe Bay and surrounding beaches playing frisbee and rugby in an attempt to attract the attention of some young ladies who just recently graduated high school in New York State and are visiting Bermuda.  Beach Invaders, a favorite sport of Shanahan touring teams in Bermuda was played to improve rugby skills, communication and decision making skills.  It is also a helpful game in attracting young unsuspecting feamles.

Lunch was a full meal of lasagna and dinner is being served shortly!... Dinner was roast beef with plenty of good vegatables, gravey and dessert.  After dinner all the young men were off to different spots on the island.  All arrived back ontime for their curfews: Juniors 10:00PM and seniors 11:00PM.  A group of juniors returned early but then were off again to the beach for some beach rugby by starlight.

Monday 6/14 - Today hearlds the arrival of the first team match vs the Bermuda national team.  Breakfast at 7:30AM was again attended with civility by the team who are getting used to the early breakfast schedule.  Shortly after the team began practice in the barracks marching parade ground. All will have lunch before they are off for the balance of the afternoon till we leave the barracks by bus for the match at 5:00PM.
Will continue to keep you posted....
The match played by Shanahan was an excellent, strong & determined effort against the Bermuda U-19 National team.  Shanahan eventually lost what was a very competitive match 30-17 against a large, slightly older and stronger team.  The match was enjoyable to watch as a coach and spectator as Shanahan went up 7-0 in the first ten minutes of play, then the match went to 7-3 and 10-3 before it ended at half: Bermuda 15; Shanahan 10.  Scoring in the first half for Shanahan was Chris Cusick with a conversion kick and penalty kick added by Greg Ireland.  The tackling was never ending by all Shanahan players on the field.  The 2nd try was scored by John Shine (needs to be fact checked) with the final Shanahan try scored by Chris Cusick.  The Bermuda team offered jersey's for man of the match to Greg Ireland, playing at scrum half and Ben Anstrand who played #8.  Bermuda defeated Shanahan with three breakaways off lineouts; without these breakaways the play on the field was even up with neither team having the advantage over the other.  John Shine had a rough day with kicks but outplayed his counterpart with his running, passing and leadership skills.  Greg Ireland was plummelled throughout the match but never waivered in play.  A junior standout appeard in the name of Ray Gould who played in his first international rugby match never backing down from the fierce opposition and showing quick decision making.  All players deserve credit for their outstanding efforts and cannot all be singled out; however Liebel; Seifert; Laurento; Farrell;Barbera & Vendetta Chilla led the pack for much of the match with the teams back being covered in an outstanding manner by fullback Brad Harrison.
After the match Coach Ireland lobbied for the team to have extended curfews of one hour for each class which was granted, and breakfast the following day was delayed by 15 minutes to allow for the extra hour out.  It cannot be confirmed but many presents for mom's may have ben purchased that evening as the gentlemen's thoughts turned homeward....

Tuesday 15 June - Dawn brought overcast skies and remained that way for much of the day; however the water remained at a 75 degree+ temperature and all enjoyed the water for part of the day.  Team members were happy to bathe bruises in the warm Atlantic ocean but some also managed to find some cliffs for jumping and herioc feats of cliff jumping with some trying flips and dives.  The day was enjoyed also with trips on the bus lines into the city of Hamilton; rides on the ferry and efforts to meet some of the girls coming off the cruise ships and on the HorseShoe bay beach.  Practice started at 5:30PM, went till 6:30PM with the Bermuda squad playing primarily touch to improve passing skills.  Dinner at 7:00PM and then another night out "on the town" before curfew.

Wednesday 16 June - Today was the teams one "free" day on the tour from rugby training or a match and all were encouraged to roam the island taking in historic sights, buying presents for moms and utilizing their bus pass to the maximum.  Coach Ireland and wife Karen took the 45 minute - 1 hour ferry ride from the Dockyards at the Northern end of the island to St. George on the South end.  This is a trip that the team members can make every day and other shorter ferry rides - all on their weekly bus pass. President/Committee Chairman John Hoertz and wife Kathy with Mrs Laurento spent more time shoping and studing historic sights at the Dockyards- which conmtains the original British Naval Cemetary replete with ghosts - as well as returniung to Hamilton.  Coach Karabin managed to spend the day working.

While the team spread to the winds they are followed the strict tour rule of traveling with a minimum of three personnel in a group, preferencec is five+ team members.  This rule is iron clad and any player found violating this rule is grounded for a day.  It is safe to report that the beaches were another favotite spot for many members throughout the day and all one can say is thank the Lord for Aloe!  Of course YOUR son put on  the proper amount of sunscreen; it was the other mom's son who violated the rule of proper sun screen application.

All the above description was in reality a filler for the big event of the day which was with meet with great excitement by the team, plus "young" coaches (23 years old) Mike Barbera and Mark Schaeffer.  On Wednesday evenings from 6:00-11:00PM the city of Hamilton closes down Front Street which is the docking location for the large cruise ships. On this evening there is a "Harbor Night" explosion of events for all to entertain and participate in.  Thankfully the young men did not try to participate in the "high heels race" but were simple spectators to that event. While coach Karabin & Cantwell guarded the baracks from invading ants, all other coaches under the guidance of Coach Ireland mingled with the team in a guardian role. Based on live reports of team members it is highly recommended that you do not allow your daughters to attend a cruise.  Seems the girls coming down the plank were dressed for attracting James Bond!! 

Anyway they all had a wonderful time with another extension on their curfews for the evening because of this event.  Just a few violations of curfew occurred but the gravest was a 9.35 minute late arrival. Those five young men volunteered to do a quick twenty pushups to gain access to their bunks.  Michael Kitchens arrived back at the Barracks unnoticed coming up the front drive into the Barracks and consequently tried to convince Coach Karabin that he was a "Ghost" and able to move about unnoticed. Seems he hard too much "sun" earlier in the day and it had gone to his intellectual processing center.  After several crab pinches to protruding feet from his bunk, which resulted in some degree of pain, Michael admitted that he was indeed not a ghost but a normal human being living in our temporal world and required TO FOLLOW ALL TEAM TOUR GUIDELINES.  In the barracks Chilla and 2011 team captain Liebel discussed old thoughts about the priest hood, some requested a reading from Coach Karabin's biography on Alexander Hamilton to help prepare them for slumber while other players simply dropped off immmediately to sleep. Vinne Laurento, Greg Ireland, Steve Hoertz, Chilla and others were leaders on the evening encourging everyone to make curfew.

Thursday 17 June - Breakfast was right on time at 7:30AM but some of the team were slackers and did not arrive till 7:35 AM.  Practice at 10:00AM followed before free time was granted for the balance of the day till they had to return to the Barracks at 4:30PM.  A cookout is schedule out this evening a mile from the Barracks at the home of a previous U19 Bermuda coach who ref'ed the first match.  Hamburgers/hotdogs for all including all Shanahan adults with swiming in his family pool. After the cookout all will return directly to the barracks and spend a peaceful evening falling asleep to a reading from Alexander Hamilton's biography.  This seems to be a proper way for education and crowd control in a barracks of rugby people. 
Well it is now 9:25PM in Bermuda and the young men do not want to leave our hosts home.  It has been a racus evening of soccer with 8 & 11 year old boys in the back yard; basketball & swimming and game night in the pool.  The Hot tube was a huge success as well.  Can you believe that our own Home Tent cook master, John Hoertz, immediately took over the grill duties for the hot dogs and hamburgers for the team and our host family who brought a U17 team over th play shanahan in September of 1993. Plenty of excellent deserts including a very sweet \Bermuda watermellon. The Bermudians stayed at the Karabin and Mattioni households for a week and enjoyed their time in Pennsylvania.  Tonight was a reverse visit from 1993 a reverse trip "back to the Future".  It is an accurate statement, from my viewpoint, that they had more fun this evening enjoying the company of their teammates engaging in the simple pleasures of life more than there previous big night out on the town in Hamilton.  If you can remember I would appreciate an e-mail back letting me letting me know if my assessment was accurate.