Billy, seen here singing the Club song after the 2012 ANZAC Friendship Match, has described the Vung Tau training camp as “a great weekend”.

National co Captain and Saigon Captain, Billy Crang has declared last weekend’s Reds and Whites athletics training carnival in Vung Tau to be a “great weekend even though i can hardly move now!”

The weekend was designed to build the esprit de corps of our players (pardon the French here but consider it a tribute to our new 21 year old stand out, French recruit, Manu, who absolutely blitzed on the field) as we gear up for the match against Malaysia on 20 July which will then be followed by the Asian Champs.

Coach, Andy Glendinning had us doing some mega hard, competitive, running exercises out on the Vung Tau Dog Track. Then, after lunch at Club Sponsor, Tommy’s Bar, Tassie Josh took a few of the boys to the beach for some further workouts.

In the evening, we headed to Matildas Bar for the Geelong Vs Hawthorn match on the tele. Hosts, Andy and Colleen put on generous servings of some of the best roast chooks you will ever eat. The occasion also provided a great opportunity for the Swannies to meet new people in Vungers as we try to spread a sense of ownership of the ANZAC Friendship Match.

Sunday morning produced, inevitably, a Reds Vs Whites scratch match. That was followed up with a well deserved lunch back at Tommy’s Bar before we all caught the ferry back home to Saigon.

As Billy summarised, “I loved the combo. I think we really hit our targets to do some work for the huge games coming up; we got around the town and became better known; and we did some team bonding and building. Awesome!”

Special thanks to the Vung Tau Dog Track for making the ground available to the Swannies on the Saturday and Sunday mornings; Andy for organising the various training sessions; Tommy’s Bar for organising the waters at the ground as well as the lunches on Saturday and Sunday (and again, for preparing the ground on ANZAC weekend); Matildas Bar for putting on a great dinner and for Timmay Clements for being the “Go To” guy on the ground in Vungers this weekend.

Upcoming highlight

Next Saturday prior to training in Saigon, Dave O’Shea (the 30 yo former Queensland junior champion) and Manu (the 21 yo athlete)  will compete against each other in an 800m race prior to training. The challenge was offered on Saturday night and we will see its outcome next Saturday… (The things the Swannies do to increase the numbers at training each week…)