Mendoza, Argentina

We have officially arrived in Mendoza, Argentina!!! After 22 hours of traveling, we got in yesterday morning around 11am. Needless to say we were a little exhausted, most of us only having slept for bits and pieces of the flights. In good spirits, and with all of our bags, we had lunch waiting for us as we arrived at the hotel. After some down time to rest and nap, we had practice. We always practice on the first day of arrival to help us just get moving, get used to the turf, and adjust to the new time zone. Mendoza, Argentina is 5 hours ahead of Chula Vista, so it definitely has thrown us off a bit.

With a good nights rest under our belts, today's schedule includes two practices to really get our touch back and bodies ready to go. We already have our first game against Argentina tomorrow!! Fortunately our hotel is very accommodating with comfortable beds and good food to keep us charged and ready to go!

Pictures and video will be coming soon.

Nothing too crazy or funny has happened yet, but we did have a hallway pow-wow last night in order to use the internet. We get wireless in the rooms, but the signal is pretty weak. We discovered that it is much better in the hallway, so there were about 5 of us sitting in the hallway last night calling and skyping home from our computers.

OH! and I almost forgot... the WINTER OLYMPICS start today!!! Hopefully we will be able to watch it from down here and the TV coverage will be good. :)
GO USA!!!!!

Big Steps

It's been a few days since I've last posted. This last week was pretty hectic. After finishing our test matches against Holland with a heartbreaking loss in the final seconds of the game (after being up 2-0 at half too), we had 2 final games vs. China to get a result. Our 2nd game with China was a hard fought 2-1 loss which was yet again disappointing after the effort and work we have put in. Going into the final game, we approached it as our World Cup qualifier, a must win to get into the World Cup. We took a mentality and belief that we would win the game no matter what. Finally taking a step in the right direction, we got the results, with a 2-1 win, weathering everything China could throw at us.

In conclusion of the series, we got some much needed time off this weekend. Finally getting settled into our new place, my roommates and I had the rest of the team over for a little house warming get together. It's always nice to have your own place and space to go home to after a hard day's training. :) It was also superbowl weekend, so 2 of my roommates and I got together with the Gementera's (the family we stayed with for a little bit in the fall of '09) and had some tacos, watched the game, and we'll took a little nap too... we were tired!! All in all, it was a nice little break from hockey to let our bodies and minds recover as we get ready for the next stage of our build up.

As we prepare to leave tomorrow for our trip to Argentina for more test matches in preparation for the qualifier, we are excited to continue stepping forward and seeing the results of the hours/days/years of hard work we have been putting in.

Game Time

We are now in the midst of our test series with Holland and China. Today will be our first test with China, as we have already battled through a scrimmage and test match with Holland.

Sunday saw the first match up against the number one team in the world. No doubt the Dutch showed us in that first game why they won the Gold in Beijing. After three 25 minute periods, they had put in 5 goals on us, with us struggling to make anything happen with our attack. We proceeded to play an overtime period (golden goal) for practice. This was a tale of two very different teams. With a new mentality, in which we know we can compete with anyone, whether the previous scoreline shows this or not, we knotted one just 4 minutes into the first overtime. This was quite a shock to the Dutch who hadn't seen much action in their defensive end all game. It was a major step in the direction our team has been striving to go, and we were very excited to end on a positive note. A round of stokes still followed though. After one round, five strokers, it was tied 4-4. Followed by sudden death, Holland capitalized on their first chance, and we unfortunately didn't, leaving the final at 5-4. Although the score fails to show the steps we have taken as a team over the past year or so, we knew just how much positive we could take out of this game.

Building off of this first performance, our first real test match against Holland showed vast improvement. Our mentality and belief is one of our strongest attributes as a team. When it is present, it shows in our play on the field. Despite what has occurred in previous games against Holland, we went out on this day to win. The Dutch took an early lead just minutes in off a quick counter due to poor decision making on our part. We responded though with a goal of our own. Before the half was over, Holland yet again took advantage of a mistake in our backfield giving them the 2-1 lead going into break. The second half led to a multitude of chances that did quite return in our favor. Although we challenged the Dutch and kept them under tight pressure for the rest of the game, they proved their number one ranking with a pair of drag flick goals to end the game at 4-1. As a team, we know that this match was fairly evenly played, and that with a few adjustments (in particular, cleaning up a few unforced errors and finishing on a few more chances) the outcome can be much different.

Today is a new day though. With a few practices this week and a day off yesterday, we are fresh and ready to go for our next challenge, China. On mornings before games, we all have rituals or things we like to do. Often you will find people filling out the crossword, reading, or playing cribbage (Maren hehe); anything that is relaxing, yet still engaging. This morning I decided to go for a walk around the center. It's a beautiful day here and it was nice to just clear my head, loosen my legs up, and enjoy nature. But now it's time for the crossword before our pregame meeting!

Rain rain rain

Hello All!!

Week two updates comes amidst one of the craziest storms I've ever seen in California! (Although in all honesty, it's pretty tame compared to the hundreds I've been in back east.) This is SoCal though and neither the natives nor the land is quite prepared for a storm like this. Unfortunately it has also greatly affected our training schedule this week, limiting the number of times we have been able to get on the field (it is flooded) and practice in preparation for our big games this coming weekend/week.

Staying true to one of our team mottos: adapt and adjust, we have found a way to continue our progress and stay flexible with our schedule.

In the mean time, my roommates (Lauren Pfeiffer, Maren Ford, and Melanie Brill) and I have been finding plenty of ways to keep busy! Daily crosswords are nothing new, but we have given a bit more attention to this endeavor. Reading and movie time has increased in recent days as well. All in all, we have enjoyed some quality bonding time! Today we even found a little time to go bowling to get out of our rooms and away from the training center.

Although it is supposed to continue raining and thunder storming all day tomorrow, we already have plans of watching and analyzing video on our upcoming opponents. There are always other ways to prepare besides on field preparation, and we plan on taking full advantage of the time indoors to not only rest, but better understand the game of field hockey.

That's all for now from rainy California!

Week One 2010

First week back of training for 2010. It’s the start of a new decade and a new team that has evolved a lot since the Olympics in 2008. With a lot of fresh faces joining us this past fall, and many returning to the team this spring, the energy surrounding the start of the year and the training block for this World Cup year was high. Personally, I was excited to get back out on the turf in preparation for our first game of the year, which is now only a week away!

The first week was a tough one, as it always is after being away from the team. It is hardly “time off” when we are away because we remain diligent in our fitness/running and lifting, even though we take a little time away from the pitch. Getting back into “hockey shape”, as we call it, takes about a week or so, and we definitely feel the soreness in week one. The first week looked a little like this:

Day 1(Monday): Practice in the morning- mostly to get our touch back on the ball and get used to playing with everyone again. Lifting in the afternoon- which was a hard lift, building on what we had done away from the team

Day 2(Tuesday): Practice in the morning. Running and small games (7 aside) in the afternoon.

Day 3(Wednesday): Recovery run- 40 minutes

Day 4(Thursday): Fitness testing in the morning. Full game in the afternoon.

Day 5(Friday): Corner practice and running in the morning.

Day 6(Saturday): Recovery run- 4 minutes

Day 7(Sunday): (today) REST DAY!

This is a typical week for us (except Thursday usually consists of a practice and a lift), although, our schedule for the next month is going to be quite different because we are playing so many games (which is awesome!!!) J

Even with such a rigorous program, we do find a little time here and there to do some fun things. This week I had a chance to go to dinner with my cousins who live in the San Diego area, went to see Avatar (GREAT MOVIE!!), attend our coach’s 40^th birthday celebration, and root for the Chargers (my new hometown team! even if that was a rough game today).

I will update more in the coming week and keep you posted on how our preparation and matches are going.

Welcome Back

I know it's been a while since I've last posted. 2009 has been a crazy year. I graduated from Wake Forest, made the move out to California full time to train, and have been having a blast. Posts will be coming more regularly as we start out training again in January 2010. Stay tuned for updates on training leading up to the World Cup.

Happy Holidays to all!

Departure...

The last week of training was a bit short for those of us who aren't going to the Olympics. We played one final full game on Monday to help the team get back into full game competition. Monday afternoon we lifted in the heat chamber on what would be our final training session with the team before they left for China. Tuesday and Wednesday they proceeded with their final practices, and had Thursday off from practice to prepare for their departure on this morning! It was a very hectic couple days and were quite emotional for a few us, as most of us were organizing to move out in our final days in California.

This was probably the hardest part for our house. As all of us (Katelyn Falgowski, Jesse, Gey, Katie O'Donnell, and I) are all returning to school at the end of August for the fall semester, we had to pack our entire house (and sell lots of it too). What was even harder though was saying goodbye to our neighbors who have been like family to us during our 7 months away from home and during our rigorous training. The Gominiack's (Aubyn, Jack, little Jack, and Joe) were more than generous in their support and friendship. We not only had numerous dinner's (our only home cooked meals) at their house, but whenever we had a rough day, the boys could always put a smile on our face!

We will truly miss all of the people we met in California! We all made some great friends that will not be forgotten. I want to thank everyone for the support they have not only given me, but my team and teammates. It has meant the world to me and I know I wouldn't have been able to go through everything I have this year without these people.

As for me, I will continue to blog throughout the Olympics. But my plans for now are to head home and see my family! I will be home for about a week or so before I head back to school (Wake Forest University) where I will be picking up my field hockey stick again for the start of preseason! Let's just say... you gotta love a sport if you play it as much as I do!