Saturday, July 4th! Well, today we had a training session that concentrated on our attack and then on our defense and getting a better understanding of our system. We spent perhaps 30 minutes working on these tactics today and also spent about 40 minutes working on our first touch in a limited possession type game. At the end of training we put them through a very tough fitness session. They handled it fairly well, but not as we expected or hoped. This training session did not get off to a great start, due to the fact that 7 players were very late arriving. That will not happen ever again! Tomorrow we will train at 7 AM and continue our tactical training as well as some more difficult conditioning and fitness. After training, we all came back together for breakfast and then a very short rest before we began our pre-camp touring. As I mentioned yesterday, we were going to Beit Guvrim and then to Latrun. It was a terrific day. We first visited Beit Guvrim and went into the caves and had to crawl around a bit on our stomachs, just to get through some of the openings...not what I enjoyed, but Sean loved it, as did the entire team. This was the foundations that the houses were built from in this area. We also visited two more caves where you could actually walk normally and see everything. One was the burial sites for the tombs and it was absolutely fascinating. The other was a "bell shaped" cave, where they started from the top and dug down and around to take this material to make more houses. It was extremly large. Next, we traveled to Latrun. This was an Armor division base for the military, where all the different types of tanks that have ever been used in battle and those that were captured were on display. I loved this the best, since I was a former Armor Officer. From the top, we could see the one road leading to Jerusalem in the distance. There was also a very large Memorial Wall with all the soldiers that had been killed in battle in the armor division. We will also have our Closing ceremony here as well on July, 23rd. Sean and I saw Aly here at Latrun for the first time since she arrived yesterday. It was a great "hug and kiss" for me. I was hoping, but not expecting to see her until our 4th of July celebration here at our hotel. We had a bbq and fireworks. It was a wonderful day, with a great ending. the only thing missing was my wife, Marie! I sure do miss her! After training tomorrow, we will travel to Jerusalem. I am not sure if we will visit Ancient Jerusalem or modern Jerusalem tomorrow. Which ever one we visit tomorrow, we will visit the other one on Monday. I am looking forward to this and I know it will be the highlight of our touring days. Every bus has a Security guard, complete with weapons and ammunition. Nothing here is ever left to chance. I made friends with our guard who was a 26 year veteran of the Israeli Army. I can't wait to write about our Jerusalem visits. Hopefully, we will have some more photos to display. We wish all you a wonderful conclusion to the 4th of July. With our very best regards, Preston and Sean from Israel