News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Tammy and Marisa Haynes are all set for the trip of a lifetime. The mother and daughter leave Sisters next week for South Africa and the World Cup.
It is difficult for Americans to fully appreciate the scope of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup, the month-long soccer extravaganza that occurs every four years. To think of it as the Super Bowl, the World Series and the Stanley Cup Finals all rolled into one massive event doesn't even come close to depicting the riveting international passion that drives the
event.
The qualification phase for the final tournament lasts for three years - and it takes nearly that long to plan a trip as a spectator.
"It's been an ongoing process for probably two years," Tammy Haynes explained.
She wanted to take her daughter on a big trip, and they weren't sure what the trip would be. Originally, they thought they'd go to the Olympics in Beijing, China, but they ran out of time to manage the logistics. The World Cup was a logical next step.
"Marisa has played soccer ever since she was five, and we've always been big soccer fans," Tammy said.
The Haynes' entered a lottery to get the tickets for which they'd applied.
"We only managed to get two sets of tickets out of all the ones we applied for," Tammy said.
They will see Ghana v. Germany, and another match whose competitors are not determined. One match is in Cape Town and the other is in Johannesburg.
The mother and daughter also plan to tour some small game reserves while in South Africa.
"We're not too interested in all the touristy stuff," Marisa said.
She said she has talked her mom into bungee jumping at a site called Bloukrans Bridge in Plettenberg Bay that supposedly has the longest vertical drop in the world (216 meters).
"We'll jump in tandem so I can scream in your ear," Tammy told Marisa.
Marisa's own soccer career has been derailed over the past couple of years.
"I'm gearing up to play again," the Sisters High School junior said. "The past two years I've blown out both my knees with ACL injuries and surgeries."
The Haynes' return to the U.S. on July 19 and promise to bring lots of pictures and stories to tell.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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