Balls In Barbados
It was an early autumnal day in a London park. Bitter PopRival fans on one side reeling from the ugly guy's departure the night before, tourists on the other side taking a short break from the open top bus. The Caribbean shores felt thousands of miles away. In the summer of 2002, 10 of the IC netballers lived every university girl's dream: a fortnight in Barbados. There was drinking, dancing, famous footballers, and a few games of netball on the way. We were competing in the 4th annual Bajan Unifest 2002, with 110 other sportspeople from universities in Britain, USA and Barbados, covering the sports of netball, hockey, cricket and football. Barbados is where it's at when it comes to netball. Men and women alike play it, follow it and understand it, and they get the fantastic results.
Saturday 22nd June: The morning after the night before. It's a mystery how we all made it to Gatwick, but we did, all be it in a variety of physical states. Eight hours, 4 films and an ice cream later, we landed in sunny, breezy, palm-tree-packed Barbados. Virgins to rum punch, this was the night that changed our lives and shaped them for weeks to come. The "Unifest Welcome Party" kicked off at a nearby hotel. Conditions deteriorated when our leader Jo Harvey leaped into the hotel pool fully clad, briskly pursued by 40 Heriot Watt boys¡
Sunday 23rd June: Our first intensive training session, on the beach, in between sunbathing. There was an official Opening Ceremony for the Unifest competition, and the Imperial Ladies were about to play the first game of the tournament.
Fixture 1: Venue Sir Garfield Sobers Sports Complex, Team: Carrington, Barbados
The IC touring team is unbeaten in Britain. It arises from the fact we had never played together before. Leading from the start, we finished with a draw at 11-11, not bad for our first game. In the hottest conditions we've ever played in, games were only in 15-minute halves, rather than our usual 15-minute quarters. The end of the games showed noticeable superiority to the local teams as they had barely broken sweat, whilst we were close to needing hospital treatment.
No one was injured during the tour. Any accidents were always alcohol related
Monday 24th June: White sandy beaches, big waves in a warm sea, palm trees, Chefette (the Caribbean's answer to McDonalds), and strawberry milkshakes for Holly. What a life! The Harbour Lights nightclub is one of the most famous on the island. For £8.00 entry fee, we had free drinks all night. Stilt-men were encountered, and woo-ed. Clare demonstrated her ragga singing skills in Carribbean karaoke, and we danced the night away with the New Zealand cricket team.
Tuesday 25th June Fixture 2: Venue: Sir Garfield Sobers Sport Complex, Team Eden Stars, Barbados
A team, the mere mention of whose name sends shivers down the spine of every Bajan man and woman. They were a far better team than Carrington, possessing the rather fortunate gift of go-go gadget arms. We lost the first half 7-2. Sherry came in as Goalkeeper and put in a fantastic performance, as she did in all games. Following a defiant comeback, the heavens opened. Had it not been warm, the torrential downpour would have been quite homely and it made us feel the advantage of being English. However, the advantage was lost when the opposition ran off the court for shelter. The game was abandoned and declared a draw.
Earlier in the day, the IC netball team were alleged to have been seen building a human pyramid on the beach. It was Jo who had to climb to the top of the pyramid, but nose-dived off the summit, resulting in a face full of sand, wonky glasses, and 9 laughing-so-much-it-hurts mates standing beside her. It was all, however, in aid of the Unifest Talent Show at The Rusty Pelican that night. With a highly polished dance routine(one that the IC Rugby boys, who came to Barbados in week two, were treated to many drunken viewings of), the human pyramid had only been practiced on the sand. A tiled and slippery floor was not the finest morale booster. However, Jo made it to the top of the pyramid with ease (the power of rum punch) and flashed to the cheering crowd - in her own words, "Nakedness wins, girls, nakedness wins". We lost. We spent the evening drowning our sorrows and learning how to dance Bajan-style with the Carrington Netballers. Holly and Stuxy proved to be naturals (or was it that they were the most drunk..)
Wednesday 26th June Fixture 3: Venue: National Stadium Team Barbados Under 16s.
Today we were representing England in a battle of the nations, playing the Barbados Under 16s at their national stadium. It could have been a car park actually, but we were assured that it wasn't. The temperature was intense; the court had high concrete walls surrounding it, the sun beat down. The U16s were an outstanding team, playing beautiful netball and we lost 21-6. The old girls among us (Jess, Kath, Hannah and myself) were happy that our last game together representing IC was against a national team, and that it had been a great game. It led, of course, to another scandalous night at Harbour Lights involving stiltmen, Heriot Watt boys and vast amounts of rum punch.
Thursday 27th June: The Unifest Beach Party at The Boatyard. There was jet-skiing, kayaking, beach volleyball, football and kayak-racing (in which Jo crashed into a very large, very obvious, quite how she didn't see it no one knows, inflatable iceberg). Sherry lives in Barbados and introduced us to the craziest bus service I have ever had the misfortune of coming across. Taxis with a seating capacity of 10. Except they don't seat 10. For $1.50, we could get wherever we wanted, at an insane speed, on a pot-holed road, listening to ragga music very loudly, with 22 other people wedged above, beneath and beside you. We met Sol Campbell that evening, signifying the start of a beautiful story between him and one of us. So that the girls can avoid hassle from the tabloids, I shall leave the story there!
Friday 28th June: Another intensive training session on the beach.. Virgin Atlantic held a shoot-out competition in which whoever got the best out of 3 goals won a return trip to Barbados. Hannah and Holly were the only girls to score 1. A defender from St.Marys won. Off to Oistins Fish Fry Market in the evening, yet more drinking games, and finishing off in Harbour Lights,again. All that can be remembered is Clare returning home with a toilet roll holder and the surrounding piece of wall she had taken it from.
Saturday 29th June: After only 2 hours sleep, the first memory of the day is sleeping in the hotel car park. We had crawled out of bed with probably the worst hangovers of the fortnight to get a taxi into town, making our last effort for the Bajan Unifest Tour - a Jolly Roger Cruise. There was no drinking by us, even though it was free. There was no snorkelling, even though it was free. There was no moving. Jess slept in the shade of the lower deck for the entire 4-hour journey, and lost a flip-flop overboard. Somehow it just didn't matter. Clare lost 2 t-shirts overboard. Some made it onto the rope swing, some made it to dance on the deck.
Most didn't.
Sunday 30th June: The whole day was devoted to rest and recuperation. The IC Rugby team arrived on Friday and this afternoon we went to watch their 1st game of the tour. They won, easily. We followed a lazy day with a girls night in, with pizza and a film.
2nd week: The days were spent playing netball, cricket and rounders, followed by many great nights out with the IC rugby lads. Dancing, drinking, sand fights, beer fights, it could have almost been the union (I am, of course, lying). Whilst the St. Mary's girls taught us new drinking songs, the boys taught us a few new drinking games ('Fives' becoming a firm favourite). A tropical storm kicked in on Tuesday and in true Brit fashion, we headed to the beach to play rounders. In a last minute panic about lack of cultural knowledge of Barbados, we went to Bridgetown, the island's capital. In a cultural overdose, we invested in matching Hawaiian shirts, so we would look really classy when we went out. We also went on a coach tour of the island. Barbados is 11 by 14 miles (I know lots of interesting facts like this now), so getting anywhere is very quick. We saw Harrison's Cave, the 8th wonder of the world according to our guide. To be honest, it could have been Devon. We also went to the Flower Forest, a plantation, and got very excited about seeing real monkeys. The walk took us only 30 minutes as the lure of a caf²Ÿt the end of it was too great. The IC Netball and Rugby squads invaded Sherry's home on Friday afternoon for a fantastic barbecue. We played a friendly netball match against the Cheltenham and Gloucester (hockey) team - we won - with the rugby team as our back-up. The end of tour meal was our last chance to dress up and wear the heels we had packed but not worn for 2 weeks. Awards were won, wine was drunk. Harbour Lights, stilt-men, rugby boys and rum punch beckoned.
"I'm really glad I joined the netball club," said Ragga Queen Clare during a night at Harbour Lights. That's what it's all about.
