#RebuildRugby Ukraine - Day 2
As my second full day in Odesa emerges, the storm clouds have rolled away over night ane we wake to the beautiful sunrise over the Black Sea (above).
Bouyant by the weather, it must be time to get ready and hit the gym. The God of Laziness was surely looking down on me this morning for as I was in the middle of my morning routine, the lights went out again. Thankfully, like a boy scout, there was a torch in the bathroom for those just in case moments.
Odesa is indeed a lovely place to be but just as you begin to forget about the war, a small but strong reminder gives you the wake up that you deserve, today it was quite literally during a walk in a park close to the port. Of course the Port of Odesa used to be a critical hub especially for grain exports. When the war began turnover fell from more than 100 million tonnes to less than 22 million. Overlooking the port on the path around the park's perimiter a small hut covered in netting stood guard - a great vantage point to look East towards Crimea and danger.
A few metres away a shelter had been dug into the hillside for protection with a rudimentary wood and sheet metal roof.
This wasn't the only example today. Driving to the Avangard Region (a collection of small towns and villages on the outskirts of Odesa), our journey took us past the once busy Odesa airport, road blocks prevent all but military access now with large concrete shapes usually used on shorelines to reduced the impact of severe waves now serving a new purpose - to block invading tanks and heavy vehicles.
As we pass the final district of Odesa the landscape opens to fields bidding farewell to the metropolis but there is one last hurdles, one more stark reminder of war, a military checkpoint.
Every vehicle entering or leaving the city must pass through such points but this one, has a series of trenches and firing points carved into the fields on either side of the highway.
As we turn into the regional centre of Avangard, it is clear that the people here care deeply about where they live and providing opportunities (especially in sport) for young people. There are facilities for football, swimming, gymnastics and racket sports, but not for rugby.
As we discover during our meeting with the Regional Mayor Serviey it is something that they are very keen to do, in the next village, Nova Dolyna (New Valley), the one that we saw during our visit in July.
There's certainly some bureaucratic work to be done but the biggest hurdle has already been jumped; they have the land and are happy for it to be transformed into a rugby pitch to provide for the community. We met with five executives from Avangard including Project Managers, Sporting Directors, Members of Congress and of course the Regional Mayor. All of them were in agreement that they are keen to sign an agreement with TRF to work in partnership to transform the ground in Nova Dolyna into a new rugby facility that will support the great work already achived by Maryna.
After the formalities of the meeting were done a number of the delegation from both sides headed to the site