Costa del Sol

It's been tough trying to keep up with my writing but I will keep on battling to get the story out . A couple days ago I got to skate on the ice rink in Benalmadena in Spain ;) I was there a few months back but there was no ice and back then I met up with the organizer/president of the league ... Rickard Astrom . We stayed in touch and I swore to come back ... Obviously I kept my word and planned a trip that would include a stop here . Rickard recently made plans to move away so there was no better time to come over then now . So Rickard organized a very peculiar mini tournament for us ! 

I woke up really early to go grab my equipment from Noemi's house (friend of mine) and got to the rink bright and early and met a couple guys also waiting for the rink to open . From what I hear there were as many as 16 of us at one point scheduled to show up to play in this mini tourney ... Unfortunately it's the same shit all over the world when it comes to organizing anything , one by one I heard the excuses given to Rickard why this guy or that guy couldn't make it ... Some were obviously super lame excuses but Rickard stayed the course and kept organizing for a great day and trust me when I say the guys that bailed missed out ... Big time ;) 

By the time the ice was ready we had 5 skaters and 2 goalies for this 3 on 3 rink so we divided a 2 on 2 scheme where everyone was playing for themselves ... Yeah so if you scored , got an assist or were on the winning side you would personally get a point and that would count in the overall individual standings . Hold on this gets even more interesting ;) there were 3 Finns , a Swede and a Spaniard competing as skaters and myself (Canadian) and another Spanish keeper . The games were 3 minutes each and we all got a great workout in ... We were dead at the end , everyone went hard but through it all we all smiled , laughed and joked around with each other . No animosity whatsoever !!! Super fun ;) after the ice time we got dressed as public skating was starting I was walking around Club de Hielo Municipal with only a towel on looking for a shower ;) next part of the tourney .... Paintballing ! 

No joke ! I have never been paintballing before so this seemed more then interesting and I was a bit nervous but I sucked it up and got into Aki's car ( he's one of the Finns ) . We cruised over to Coin and on way were supposed to pick up another plate but he was still sleeping ?!?!?! At noon .... Jaysus! So the 5 of us carried on to the outdoor paintball grounds . The place was in the middle of an orange tree field and you wouldn't know what it was if it hit you in the face . When we arrived we all looked confused but quickly got into our camo covers to protect our clothes from the paint , we were quickly taught how to work the guns and next thing you know we were all like a bunch of children rolling around in the dirt playing war ;) what a blast ! I had a shit load of fun and I swear I felt like I was 12 years old again as I ran around , jumping and rolling in the bushes shooting at all my new buddies .... By now everyone had a name :) the Spanish goalie was Karim and the Spanish skater was his girlfriend Maria of course you all know Aki now ( one of the Finns) and obviously there is Rickard ;) at first we tried capture the flag in the one field then went to another field and played all out assault as the 2 goalies defended the flag by peppering everyone with our bullets hahahaha !!! 

We divided a 1 on 1 point scheme which had us battle each other . I lost to Aki ( side bet of a beer paid up ) I also lost to Karim in the goalie battle and I beat Maria  , sorry I hit your hand twice (ouch!) then I beat the undefeated Rickard to hand him his only loss ;) during all this the owner of the paintball place brought us beers and nibbles which was so cool . It really was a great team building activity which made us all better friends .... Nothing beats shooting at each other with beers in hand , no wonder red necks have so much fun eh ;) ? Alas we had to get back to the rink but I'm sure we all wanted to stay and keep shooting at each other . I got hit twice and the one time in the stomach bruised me so honestly it does hurt a bit .  

We had a couple extra skaters waiting for us at the rink as one of the Finns from earlier returned and there was a new Dutch guy and another Spanish fella who scored on a nice penalty shot ... Yeah he got the better of me . The highlight was when Maria fell into the boards and I said are you alright ? She looked at me and said she had too many beers and we both laughed ! At the end Aki and Rickard were tied for first and I came in 3rd but really we were all winners ... Oh I have to mention that I even scored a goal !!! No shit ;) Mr. Taxi himself got the big assist . Aki owns a taxi company in Finland that sponsors a hockey club .... Both the company and the hockey club go by the name of Mr . Taxi ... Look them up ! He also runs a tournament in Granada which I hope to play in someday  .  

What a day . I mean we dealt with the chance of cancelling everything but instead made the most of it and really the only people that lost out were the ones that had other excuses . I've never competed in a hockey tourney like this and if I ever hear of anything like this I won't hesitate to join . I hope the best for all my new friends and hope to get on the ice with all of them again someday until then I will cherish my day with the guys and gal from the Costa Del Sol Ice Hockey League , thanks for especially goes out to Rickard ! Whoever replaces you to run this league has some big shoes to fill in ! Adios Muchachos ;)