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The 2009 World Masters Opening Ceremony – A Competitors Journey I arrived early for the march and joined up with my team mates. There were crowds everywhere and everyone was talking and joking with all the other competitors. The count down was started on the big screen at the Sydney Showground where we all congregated. Many teams dressed up for the occasions. Some in official team colours and dress. Others were just out to have lots of fun. Teams from all around the world were present. Age is no barrier Neither is height – I almost had a heart attack when I thought I might have to play the guy on the left in football. Thankfully he is playing basket ball. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found that out. Finally our time to start marching arrived. We left the showground and started to head down to the stadium. Just because we were marching didn’t stop us from meeting people from around the world. I even caught a glimpse of the REAL 703 team! There were spectators cheering us on along the way. We had to wait a few times on the way to allow those ahead time to enter the stadium. This didn’t dampen the atmosphere and was seen as another chance to meet other people from around the world. The NSW Police were there, but had a fairly quite time as far as I could tell. And the hard working and always happy volunteers did their thing. We reached the Stadium and started our entry. I think these guys needed a rest (or maybe they were just waiting for some of their team to catch up). And entered into the arena. The Competitors just kept on coming! Over 26,000 competitors have entered the 2009 World Masters. The opportunity to meet others from around the world continued. The Ceremony started and the flags representing all the nations with competitors present were paraded. I lost count. The World Masters Flag was raised and the Oath taken by all the Athletes. And then the party began! If you weren’t there then you missed out on a fantastic night.

A much needed win today, 3-1 over Dunbar Rovers. This was probably the most physical of the 3 games so far. We changed our configuration slightly, going from a 4-4-2 to 3-1-4-2, employing a floating centre back/centre half. This allowed us to play a more attacking game. The change paid off and we were the stronger team on the park. Ashley Pini taking out a hat trick. Dunbar had few opportunities but took a goal late in the second half with a shot from outside the box that was deflected off the chest of our sweeper. Despite letting the goal in it was a good result. We still need to win on Wednesday to ensure that we make it through to the finals. 8 teams progress through to the finals – two from each of the four pools. The first finals game is a sudden death leaving four teams to battle it out for Gold, Silver and Bronze.

A disappointing 1 – 0 loss today at the hands of Dunrooten. A poor start saw us defending for the first 20 mins and not really getting near the ball. They seemed to out number us and had several good opportunities. Finally they got their goal with a miss kick shot which kind of sparked us into playing some football. We had an improved second half but could not get a good shot on target and eventually lost 1 – 0. A good talk at half time saw us change our approach and with better shape we were at least able to compete with them. Time got the better of us in the second half. The equation now is two wins from two games to get a crack at the QF’s. The surprise of the day was to see BUM FC win against Dunbar Rovers 2-1.

The 2009 Masters are finally underway and what a way to start. A 4 – 0 win over a very ordinary Woolworths team. Probably a relief more than anything as we have now scored 4 goals in our first Masters attempt and won’t finish at the bottom of the pool. We played on what would be one of the best fields I have ever played on. Woolworths generally had the better of the first 5 – 10 minutes. After that the midfield started to dominate and our right half (Steve Green) was too quick down the right sending over some great crosses which put them under pressure. Finally we took our chance and got the ball into back of the net and then repeated with a cross from the left which was met in the air for a great goal. The subs started coming on and soon took full control of the game. We continued to dominate them through the second half and put away 2 more goals,

I have chatted with some of my team mates about the time it has taken to pick up their accreditation. Longest queue time so

I picked up my accreditation for the World Masters last night. I queued for about 2 hours. There are over 26,000 entrants to the World Masters. They all have to pick up their accreditation over a period of a few days. This would be one of those IT projects where the technical part is actually quite straight forward. The complex part would be the actual implementation. The sheer volume to transactions that need to be processed in such a short time is enormous. Every entrant needs to have photo identification. Many, like me, submitted a photo online weeks ago. But a significant number needed to have their photos taken whilst picking up their accreditation. Imagine trying to do this WITHOUT digital photography? Despite the queue, they seemed to me to have a pretty good setup. Tomorrow is the first game. Kick off at 10:15am at Valentine Sports Complex (VSP1) against Woolworths United Seniors.

The 2009 World Masters starts at the end of this week ( http://www.2009worldmasters.com/ ). I have joined up with West Pymble FC and will be competing in the Over 40’s Competitive division. There are 4 pools. We are in pool 1. The first 2 teams from each pool go through to the finals. The first final is played on Friday 16th. The draw works well for us as we have a bye on the 15th. Giving us a day’s rest before the finals start (assuming of course we get that far). 10/10/2009 10:15 AM VSP 1 Woolworths United Seniors v West Pymble FC 11/10/2009 11:30 AM VSP 1 Dunrooten United v West Pymble FC 12/10/2009 04:30 PM VSP 2 West Pymble FC v Dunbar Rovers 14/10/2009 04:30 PM VSP 5 West Pymble FC v BUM FC 15/10/2009 West Pymble FC v Bye