This morning we ventured out to the US practice field. Although the practice is open to journalist for the first 15 minutes, almost as soon as their stretching was wrapped up, Coach Ryan took the players to the far end of the field and had his staff form a wall with interlocking arms to block our view.
Indeed there would be no leaks on tactics and strategies. FYI – SWAT guys do not like to have their picture taken.
The practice was based on the campus of the Chengdu Information and Technology University. From the stadium we could hear students practicing marching drills in military attire.
While there was marching on the Tennis Courts, immediately adjacent were rows and rows of table tennis tables.
In the afternoon, Julie Jacobson from AP, armed with her video camera and I went to the Panda Research Center. Julie wanted to do about a 3 minute video for an AP website and I needed some shots that typify the Sichuan area. Which is another way to say that we thought seeing the pandas would be really cool.
What caught my attention immediately was not the pandas, but a little girl who was more than a little afraid of me, but her parents seemed fascinated by the Americans with the big cameras. They were encouraging her to smile and pose, but I was sufficiently different to her to be a bit of a threat, no matter what her parents said. Ultimately, I was asked to pose with father and daughter so they could have a photo of me.
Pandas have periodically been on tour at major zoos in the US. I do recall seeing them at the Minnesota Zoo. They were there sleeping, doing what I thought was all pandas did. Sichuan Province is home to 85% of the World Panda population. When they are at home, they climb, they play and run they after each other. When they play, keep in mind the females way around 200 pounds and the males about 250, they roll and push and squeal.
Although they wouldn’t allow us to shoot in the nursery, there were 3 side by side in a playpen. A truly amazing sight!
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