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UK Eagles 13: Where did the time go

2010-09-06T07:37:00.000-04:00

Alright, well the time has finally come... we're heading home after almost a month away. I'm at Heathrow airport, a little tired, sore, and dehydrated, but here. I am sad to lose this experience, but definitely happy to be heading home. It's been a long campaign. In light of that, I'll keep this one relatively short, but hopefully will get out a longer one once I've settled back into Boston.

So, Saturday we had our captain's run then I did some more packing before the ultimate flea market. The Welsh girls put up signs advertising the 'Wales Kit Swap Shop' in their common room. All the teams showed up with their various kit and went to town. We were only able trade for a bit before heading over to our rookie skit and jersey ceremony. The rookie skit was hysterical. I particularly appreciated Sha's impression of me. After the jersey presentation we presented coaches' and manager's presents. Afterwards, we went back to the dorms, where there was still trading happening. I didn't get too involved in the trading because I was too busy trying to deal with the fact that I had gotten news earlier in the evening that my car was towed back home. That was less than ideal. Monica was a saint for taking on dealing with most of it so that I didn't have to. After that I was ready to hit the hay.

Game day was pretty fast and furious. We had core and arousal workout early, and then there was only a short while before our match. It was a crazy intense match but in the end we came out victorious 23-20. Everyone was super excited! I was so proud of us and I am continually amazed at how far we've come in 4 years, but also, how far we came just in this one tour. We got a surprise for a win in Dave streaking the field in a star spangled bikini bottom trailing an American flag behind him. There are some great pictures from it. I'll post one once I get it.

After the game there was very little time because we had to get dressed to head over to the Stoop to watch the finals. It was also an intense game with NZ beating England 13-10. It was a great environment for that type of match!

After the match, we changed into our number ones and went over to the Holly Hog Roast and got a chance to hang out with some of the other teams. We played a lot of games and sang songs before departing back to the sports park at 10:30pm. That's where the true party began. They had the entire sports park closed down for just the teams and accredited personnel. They got a DJ and had dancing. It was a lot of fun, but exhausting. I finally made my way to bed around 3am and I was one of the early birds of the various teams.

This morning was a crazy event (as it always is) of getting everything packed and organized to head home. There was a lot of work spent on getting bags to weigh less than 23kgs... mine was over, but they let it pass. Now we are just waiting for our flight. Nothing like an 8 hour flight to feel refreshed! Alright, they just announced our boarding gate, so I'm going to sign out and go load up! Next time I write, it'll be from the USA!

UK Eagles 12: Cheering for our fans

2010-09-04T07:04:00.000-04:00

Alright, I need to break up some of the monotony of packing for a bit.

So, I spent all afternoon Thursday working on various things for school and work. It wasn't particularly entertaining, but it was helpful to my psyche. Then I got packed for the trading extravaganza/team BBQ. Everyone made fun of my huge bag, but then understood my reasoning when they saw how much loot I had to work with. There was a relatively casual BBQ that all the teams attended, then it was into the trading mayhem. It was like auctioneering. People were vying for Ireland's Puma fleeces and Wales' Under armor shorts, jockeying for position. It continued back at the dorms for a long time with different teams coming out at various points. Afterwards, everyone hung out at the dorms modeling their new schwag. I spent some time hanging out talking with Cheeks and Farrah about how far we've come since death tour 2007 before heading off to bed.

I woke up late yesterday morning and ate a light breakfast of yogurt and cereal. Then we had a meeting to go over the game plan for Canada as well as get selections for the match. I am back in my favorite spot as #3. I am excited to get back on the field. It's been a while since I've played THP against Canada. The past 4 times we've played I've played LHP, but I've been getting a lot of good THP time here, so I am excited

We had lunch over at the dining hall before a light practice to go over some of the things in the game plan. After practice, it was up to the pool for a quick recovery swim. We spent the evening supporting our supporters. Some American fans set up a USA fans vs British Police rugby match. We went as a team to support the fans who have been so instrumental in keeping our spirits up throughout this long World Cup campaign. We watched the game and then hung out socializing over pizza and fries. Then we boarded back up into our Mercedes-Benz bus to head back to the sports park.

We got back a little before 10, so there was just a little time to read before heading to bed.

I woke up at 9:20 this morning to an email saying we needed to have our bikes up to the Surrey Sports Park by 9:30am. Needless to say, I did not have my normal leisurely morning routine. I hopped up and got dressed and pedaled over to turn Truman in. It was another sad day. First, I had to give back Alice in Maine and now Truman in England. I am going to start having some issues. After wishing adieu to Truman, I went in and ate some breakfast since I was over near the dining hall anyways. Then I WALKED (le sigh) back over to the dorms and decided to start packing. I realized that we leave in only two days and that once we get into game mode tomorrow there really won't be any time to do it, so now I'm in the midst of clothes and shoes and everything else under the sun. Alright, back to the packing mayhem!

UK Eagles 11: North American Rivalry

2010-09-02T07:15:00.001-04:00

Yesterday seemed to fly by. I watched some of the earlier matches while eating a picnic with Monica. We watched South Africa beat Kazakhstan and Wales take it to Sweden. I got to see the Groefsema gang all decked out again. Then it was time to head back to the dorms and over to warm-up.

The team played a terrific match against Ireland yesterday. We won 40-3. I am really happy about the way the team played. Everyone seemed to be gelling out there. It is hard to not feel like I was physically a part of such a phenomenal victory, but I know that I played my role. But it's still a challenge. Also, it's hard to see how well we played in that match and play the woulda, coulda, shoulda game in our head.... This means we get to play Canada on Sunday in the 5th place match-up. How ironic that we would fly all the way across the Atlantic to wind up playing our North American rivals in our final match.

After the match everyone stuck around the bar at the Sports Park to watch the semi-final matches being held at the Stoop. New Zealand beat France handedly, but the Australia-England game was quite the fight. England only beat Australia 15-0, and that score was 12-0 for the entire second half until the final 3 minutes or so. I would've loved to see an upset, but alas, England is just too well-drilled and disciplined and were able to hold the Aussies out. To this point, we are still the only team to have scored on England in this tourney.

After the games, I went back to the dorms and watched the newest Trueblood episode. There were a couple of scenes that were freaky and I'm surprised I didn't have crazy dreams last night, but I guess I was tired enough for it to not be an issue. I got up this morning with thoughts of school and work running through my head, so I made myself breakfast and relegated myself to a day in front of my computer. Some folks are heading in to London, but I figure I've been there a number of times and I really need to get some stuff done, so here I sit... now it's back to it.

UK Eagles 10: Last Week

2010-09-01T08:37:00.000-04:00

Yet another game day is upon us. It seems I keep finding myself writing on game-days. I guess it's because we tend to have so much time to try and kill on those days and it gives me something to occupy my time and keep me from being overly-anxious. Although, I must admit, I am considerably less antsy today because I am not rostered for the match... That may change once the game begins and I acknowledge that I have no control over the outcome of the match... But back to my post.

I slept like the the dead Sunday night. I was completely exhausted. This whole process takes everything out of you and my body was definitely over being functional last night. I made a delicious breakfast burrito for myself, which definitely started my day off right. Then I got a surprise visit from Monica who came by to give me an American flag blanket for my room.

Monica left to head to London and I made my way over to our little grass patch for core before heading to the gym to get a little workout in before heading to lunch. I am definitely missing cooking for myself and have been eating fewer and fewer meals at the dining hall. In fact, I came back to the dorms and made myself a supplemental lunch of nutella, peanut butter, and banana sandwich with some milk. It made me a happier camper.

Then it was off to a meeting to announce roster and go over match tape from the England match. For the first time since January of 2006, I was not rostered for a match. It was a strange sensation. I am bummed of course, but also understand that my body needs a break. I don't know that I would have had the self-awareness to recognize that 4 years ago, but I get it much better now. We had a practice to get the team ready for the game. Then I came back to the dorm and showered quickly so that I could go meet Monica in London for dinner. I had thought about going and then was waffling, but when I found out I wasn't rostered it helped me make up my mind.

So, PK, Ash, Hannah, Em, and I took the train out of Guildford into London to meet up with various folks. Monica and I wandered out from Waterloo station and just meandered around the Thames. We got to watch the end of the sunset over the river, which was beautiful. We then spent considerable time in the Theatre district looking at the different sights before heading into a delicious Indian restaurant for dinner. We ate a ton. It was heavenly (I got to eat the left-overs for lunch today!). Then we took a double-decker bus back to the flat she is renting and passed out. This morning we strolled around the neighborhood and drank coffee before we made our way over to Clapham Junction for me to catch the train back to Guildford. I spent some time wandering around Guildford shopping before heading back to Surrey Sports Park. I spent most of the afternoon just visiting with people, getting bills paid, and generally trying to stay on top of everything back home since school officially started yesterday! EEK!

From there it was into our captain's run before dinner. My mom and John came over and we ate dinner at the Bench (the restaurant in Surrey Sports Complex) along with half the rest of our team. Then it was off to the jersey ceremony. After the jersey ceremony I came back to my room and got things organized for being back at work next week and did my laundry. I know, it's an exciting life I live! Somehow all of that took quite a while and next thing I knew it was midnight and I was heading to bed.

We got up this morning and had a leisurely breakfast in the flat next door. There was a lot of laughing and carrying-on. And then it was out to core and arousal before lunch. And now it is waiting time. Monica is supposed to be meeting me so we can watch the earlier games before our warm-up starts, but she appears to be late... that's alright, it gave me more time to get this done. Alright, off to watch South Africa play Kazakhstan and then it'll be round 2 against Ireland!

UK Eagles 9: Feeling like Julia Roberts

2010-08-29T18:26:00.005-04:00

We spent all morning/afternoon yesterday waiting for the match against England. We got to watch some of the earlier matches. There was quite a big upset in the mix with France beating Canada pretty handedly. After watching some rugby we had to go bag inside to rest some more so we spent that rest time finishing the puzzle and having hallway dance parties.

Finally it was time for the match. We Once again the fans were amazing. Blair's whole gang was there and they were body-painted and decked out to the nines. Blair's mom brought 25 Abe Lincoln-style tall red-white-and-blue hats for folks to wear. We could hear them all over the field. Though we didn't win the match, it was a great game and I am very proud of the way the team played. We fought hard and left it all out on the field, which is all we could ask for. After the match it was more ice-baths and pool sessions before heading back to my room to hit the hay. I was exhausted. Completely drained. It's been a while since I've felt that tired both mentally, physically, and emotionally. I think all the physical energy coupled with the emotional energy that always goes into a game of that magnitude and intensity just took it out of me.

I wish I would have gotten a chance to sleep in, but alas I told Monica I would meet her and A-C in the Starbucks at 9am. So IWoke up and made my way over to breakfast at the Sports Complex. At 10am, I received a text saying "I think we are talking about different Starbucks". Though I wished I could've been sleeping, I wasn't too fussed because I got to do a lot of reading, which I had been missing. We had a quick pool session at 11am before getting lunch.

After lunch, and several outfit changes, we loaded up into a bus (and several mini-vans) to head out to Windsor Park, which is a part of the Windsor Castle Estate. Beckett's uncle had gotten the whole team tickets to a match at the Queen's Guard Polo Ground. We were there to see the finals of the Duke of Cornwall Tourney. It was a 4 chukka match (4 periods) with the first two chukkas happening in typical British weather - rain varying between a drizzle to outright downpour. The last half was held under a clear blue sky, though. At half-time we got to go out onto the field and stomp in the divots ala Pretty Woman. I think perhaps we resembled Julia Roberts a bit in our cheering as well. We weren't sure that we were allowed to be super loud, but then the commentator goaded us into getting a bit more boisterous in our applause. After the match, Ashley and I helped hand out awards to the two teams which entailed a whole lot of cheek kissing.

After the match we took the bus home, and then many of us headed into Guildford for dinner with friends and family. Monica and I met up with my mom and John and went out to dinner at the Three Pigeons, which is the restaurant I ate at with Stina last Sunday. It was good, to get away and see my family and get to spend some time with Monica. After dinner, we walked around town a bit before heading back home. I went back the dorms and hung out with folks chatting a bit before heading back to my room. I originally was just going to download pictures from Bill English's Photo site, but then I got a second wind and decided to write this post. I was going to wait until tomorrow to do it, but the schedule looks pretty busy, so I decided not to wait.

So, now it's time for bed. Gotta get some good rest in preparation for what looks to be an intense day tomorrow. I am a little nervous for how sore I am going to be tomorrow since that'll be two days after the match and that tends to be when the soreness hits its peak. I guess it's a good thing we are hitting the gym in the morning, so we can work out some of it before practice.

UK Eagles 8: Moving on and up...

2010-08-28T07:11:00.000-04:00

After multiple times starting to write and then getting distracted by other activities, I think I finally might be in a position to get caught up. We have a little time this morning before we go over to the fields to watch some of the Sweden-Scotland match for me to get started, and then a lot of time this afternoon waiting for our game. So I should be able to get it all in before our last pool match this evening against England... so going back...

My last post was right before the Ireland match and a lot has happened since then. That game was really hard, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is really disappointing when you feel like you should have won a game and instead, lost it to yourself. We just couldn't seem to get out of our own way in terms of penalties and possession issues. It was also hard because I didn't feel like I performed as well as I know I can because of the cold I was fighting. Very frustrating and disappointing! Although, I did score my first International Try, so that's something. Needless to say, the mood back in the dorms was really somber as each of us processed the implications of the match. I coped in my own way by sitting with the stats sheets and figuring out where we were in the points and what needed to happen in the 3rd pool games for us to still get into the semi-finals. Being able to use my logic allows me to manage the emotion better. It's my own form of mourning that I feel more control over.

I slept really late on Wednesday trying to kick the rest of this sickness. The morning was spent having some coaches and captain's meetings to try and figure out how to recover from yesterday's loss. After those meetings, it was over to the pool for a recovery session and then lunch. After lunch we went and did a light lift in the gym to get the muscles moving and get the crap flowing out of our joints. It felt good to get on the rower and just move around a little. Then we had a meeting to go over our game plan for England and get ourselves mentally aligned as a team and announce selections for the England match. I'll be at tighthead again, which is exciting because I feel like my engage has been really strong recently.

Then it was then time for dinner before coming back to the dorms for some serious chill-out time. Christy finally got her luggage back - after it being lost for the past two weeks. So we had a lot of priceless picture moments of her being reunited with her bag. Also, we finally got to watch Phaidra on her episode of MTV's Made. It was hysterical and painful all at once. I would have strangled that girl if I had to try and coach her. I started writing that night, but decided sleep was more important for getting the last of this illness out, so only got little bullet points down before passing out.

Thursday, I had a lazy morning followed by a core session with the forwards. We had a really productive and fun session before heading to lunch. I think we needed a little levity to get back into a relaxed state of mind. After lunch, there was very little time before we had to load up into a bus to head to our private practice session. We had a short, but sweet practice to work out a few things that we felt needed to be cleaned up. When we got back to the Sports Park, we had ice baths and then we got some much needed free time. In fact we didn't have anything that we had to be back for until our captain's run late Friday. I'm not sure what everyone else did, but I took trains, planes, and automobiles to London to see my family. It was great to see my dad, Jack, and Jane. We went out to dinner in Grosvenor Square and then I stayed there with them.

Friday morning, I ate an amazing breakfast with Jack (waffles with strawberries and ice-cream) after spending the morning lounging and talking with my Dad. I took train back to Guildford and did some shopping before heading to Surrey Sports Park to relax for the afternoon. I did some much needed laundry and walked over to the TESCO to get food for the next week. We then had Captain's practice quickly followed by the jersey ceremony. It was great to have my family there. My dad was there with Jack and Jane, and my Mom and John were there. Everyone loved Jack. What's not to love... well, I guess they don't have to try and get him to eat vegetables. It was also exciting to have Potter with us again. We've missed her and it's great to get to see her.

It was nice to get to spend time with everyone, but definitely overwhelming by the end. I went back to the dorms with every intention of writing, but then Lynelle opened a new puzzle - that's the craze around these here parts. It's a crazy puzzle that in which the picture on the box doesn't match what the puzzle will look like. Instead, there is a character in the picture on the box and the image on the puzzle is what that person's perspective would be.By the time I went to bed, Vix, V, Lynelle, and myself were talking to ourselves and the puzzle and it was 1/2 done. I was worried I would find them in there first thing in the morning.

I woke up this morning without an alarm which is always nice. Then had a leisurely breakfast before heading over to core and our arousal session. Now we are heading out to watch some rugby and eat lunch before more waiting begins. Everyone seems pretty light hearted and ready to go, so I am excited for the outcome of this game today. We are the underdogs and have nothing to lose, so we might as well have fun with it!

UK Eagles 7: Game day again!

2010-08-24T05:49:00.000-04:00

Well, another game day is upon us. This time it's Ireland. I have been struck with the plague (i.e. a cold) so I am in quarantine and can't go to core or the arousal session so that I can make sure I get rest and hydrate before the match this afternoon. I feel like I just woke up (and in fact I did), so I'm going to write my post before heading back to sleep.

The last thing I wrote after our first match, which while only three days ago, seems likes forever. On Saturday morning, I decided to sleep through breakfast again. We knew we had an IRB anti-doping training/quiz later in the morning, so we spent some time over coffee studying the guide they gave us. We went over to the anti-doping quiz/meeting and learned a few things about the role of drug testing in sports and our rights as athletes before taking a 10 question quiz.

After the quiz, we went over to the pool and had a short recovery session to try and get some of the soreness out. I didn't get to capture it on film, but Cheeks, Sha, and Amy came up with a lovely synchronized swimming routine that I'll try and video next time. Then we just stuck around the Sports Complex waiting for it to be lunch time.

I was definitely feeling the effects of the game, so just wanted a mellow afternoon, which I got in the form of movie time with Beckett and Sha. We started watching X-Men 2 with popcorn - sorry about the crumbs in your bed, Beckett! We didn't quite get all the way through the movie before we had to go over for a team meeting in which we discussed our Ireland game-plan and got selections... Now is when things start to get hard as a player in terms of selections. Everyone is aware that the first game there are going to have to be folks who don't get selected. But once you get into the 2nd and subsequent games and people aren't getting selected it can be challenging to stay present. It takes a big person to be a good teammate in those circumstances.

We went form the meeting right to dinner and then back to the dorms. I thought it was going to be a mellow evening, watching Mari and Beckett since the Beatles. Next thing you know though, Amy and Sha are in a wrestling match involving markers and me and Beckett are trying to stay out of the cross-fire. Some nice stripes of varying colors later, and we finally got to finish watching X-men 2.

Note to self... I should not watch those types of movies before bed because I had crazy dreams. There were dams breaking at the World Cup and scrumhalves with laser-eyes. I diffused some of it by eating breakfast in the flat and discussing Thich Nhat Hanh and Buddhism with Kim over coffee. Before heading out to practice. Practice was short, sweet and intense. We had a core session and then worked with the group that would be playing today on our game-plan. After practice we had ice-baths, where it seemed like the goal was to figure out how many people you could fit in one go. I think the record was eight.

After ice-bathing it was time for lunch and laundry. During that time, I finally was able to talk to my dad and come up with some semblance of a plan for when he was arriving. I also spent a considerable amount of time figuring out the bus schedules to get to town so I could meet a friend for dinner. I got my laundry done just in time because we had a players meeting followed by sub-unit meetings that afternoon.

I caught the bus to town (with Vix, Kmimi, and Ham) to meet up with my friend Stina from back home. She's on of my PhD classmates from UNH who has been studying in Cambridge for 8 weeks. We went out to dinner at the Three Pigeons pub, which is supposedly haunted - though I think everything in England is haunted. Then we went to Jamie's Italian (as in Jamie Oliver) for dessert. I had the brownie with raspberries and vanilla-bourbon ice-cream. It was divine! We ended the evening by heading over to the Star Brewer, which is a small quaint pub with big comfy chairs and couches and sat and read over a cup of tea for a while. It was great to be out in the world and novel to not really talk about rugby for 3.5 hours. Instead, we talked about social justice, our respective PhD work, literature, etc.

I somehow misread the bus map, and wound up taking the "scenic" route home, but I got there, so no harm. Then I sat and downloaded all the awesome pictures that Ashley's dad took of the KZN game from his site before hitting the hay.

The day before a game is always pretty mellow, which I needed as I am starting to feel a little under the weather. I slept in forever. I think I finally woke up at 10am. I was going to watch the latest episode of TrueBlood, which came out in the States on Sunday, but then got talked into going into town by Vix, Bridges, Lara, Kitt, and I. I don't think I would have gone if it weren't the fact that I knew that Stina was in town doing work

So she and I met up and she introduced me to the Caffe Nero Caramelatte... it was deadly (in a good way). Picture melted caramel ice-cream with a shot of espresso. We then took part in some rertail therapy. I managed to escape with only one new shirt, which is impressive given how much I like to shop and how many things Stina convinced me I looked fabulous in. After the shopping, I came back to Surrey Sports Park and had a quick lunch before a fitting session with the folks from Canterbury. It was quite the tease to try on all this schwank gear and know that it's not for us right now :(

After the fitting, there was a little bit of time before the Captain's run. We took some official team photos and then got the session underway. The Captain's run was quite windy, which was good because it gave us some practice in conditions similar to what we are supposed to face tomorrow. After the run it was time for a shower and dinner. I decided to just wear the clothes we had to have on for the jersey ceremony to dinner, so I wouldn't have to walk back down to the dorms. Instead, I sat in the Starbucks and ate dessert and read some of my book while waiting for Stina to arrive.

Kathy gave another rousing jersey ceremony speech, which left all of us ready to play right then and there. It was really interesting to have Stina there for it because she does not come from a sports background. So she was a bit dazzled by the whole environment, setting, athletes, etc. It caused me to take a little step back and remember how special this all is and see it anew through a different set of eyes. We then sat and chatted for a bit more before I went off to the dorms and to bed.

And then it was game day again. I went over to breakfast... I figure I ate the official breakfast when we beat KZN, so I ought to continue the tradition. After breakfast, I came back to the dorms and was banished to my room. So that is where I am, writing and getting ready to play again. I am excited that my friends and family will be here to see the game and I'm just excited to play. Alright, at this point, I should put my self down for a nap. Nighty night!

UK Eagles 6: We love our bikini-clad fans!

2010-08-20T19:05:00.002-04:00

Whoo hoo! For anyone who hasn't heard the cheering all the way from England, the we beat Kazakhstan 51-0 in our opening match of the Women's Rugby World Cup. Amazing! Still coming down from the intensity of it all.... well that and thawing from the glacial ice-bath we took post match.

Picking up from my last post and leading up to today's victory...

Wednesday night we got our bikes, and like I wrote before, I rode to the store and back. After I got back, Ham and I took part in a little cultural exchange. We were tossing around a football, when some of the Irish girls asked if they could have a go. They had some nice catches, but the best part was the touchdown dance done by one of the Ireland centers on the walkway. While they were learning about American Football, a few of them tried to teach me and Ham how to play hurling (or gaelic football). Both Ham and I tried to hit the ball like it was a baseball and with little success.

Thursday we we had a mild morning before heading into our captain's run. A few folks took advantage of their new found freedom and rode their bikes into Guildford to have lunch. I rode my bike around the corner to the post-office to get a few stamps. We had a brief captain's run on Thursday afternoon just to get a feel for the field and get some more opportunity to fine-tune what we were going to be taking into the match today. It was a novel experience because up until that point, I always took captain's runs for granted in terms of how they flowed. It was an entirely different experience when running it. But it flowed well, and despite some slips because we had to do the run in sneakers, everything looked crisp and fast.

After the captain's run, I came back to my room and did some work, chatted, and otherwise tried to stay relaxed. Other folks napped, watched movies, etc. We had our jersey ceremony that the evening and it was great to see all the friends, family, and fans who came out to support us. It is always awesome when that happens. Then it was over to the Surrey Sports Park for Bridges, PK, and me, as we had to do an interview with Jackie Finlan of Rugby Magazine.

Today was an action packed day. I got up this morning and made my way to breakfast... I normally bypass making the trek from the dorms to the sports park for breakfast, but I had a little extra energy to burn this morning and couldn't sleep any more, so thought I'd go. After breakfast, we rode our bikes over to a field for a brief core session and arousal workout to get everything firing on all cylinders before heading back to the dorms for our final preparations. From there everything seemed to be happening in fast-time. We warmed up and got to the locker room and next thing you know we were following our flag-bearer out onto the field and belting out the National Anthem (with the help of all our fans). Then it was GAME TIME!!!

I would give you the play-by-play recap, but I think Jackie's article for Rugbymag.com or Katie Wurst's press release with USA Rugby do a better job of it, so I'll just stick to the feeling of it. We came out of the gates on fire and got on the board quickly, but everything seemed pretty frenetic. After that opening burst we got a little too crazy and got a series of penalties that had us on the back-foot. We just couldn't keep ball in hand initially, which I attribute to match-day jitters, and everyone trying to force something on every play. We weren't happy with the scoreline heading into half-time and knew we needed to step it up on both offense and defense. And did we. We scored 38 points in the second half because we started to relax and trust each other and just play rugby. It was great. I was bummed to come out of what had become such a pretty game, but glad to have been a part of it and to get a chance to watch some of that beauty as a fan. Speaking of fans... ours rock! We had such an amazing group of supporters there. Between family and friends, as well as the D.C. Furies, who were decked out in Star Spangled Bikinis (there's a pic here), we had the best fans. In fact, Ali Donnelly of Scrumqueens said the USA fans were the loudest of the day. That U-S-A chant definitely picked me up every time I felt a little lagging.

After the match, Christy and I were rushed off into the media corral where there were more interviews to be done with IRB TotalRugby, RugbyMagazine, Scrumqueens.com, etc. It's definitely more time in front of a camera or mic than I've ever had to face before and it is challenging me to be quick on my feet in thinking of how to respond to, sometimes, difficult questions.

Then it was into the coldest ice-bath I have ever experienced before a brief pool session to try and loosen up some of the stiffness that will no doubt be at full-force tomorrow. After that we got to go watch some of the other games before dinner (see all the results of the day at the Women's Rugby World Cup site). There was some good rugby being played all around. After dinner we went out and watched the Ireland-England match. Mari and I decided that the best place from which to watch would be between the two fields, so we walked with authority and positioned ourselves 15 m back from the sideline between pitch 1 and 2. It was the best seat in the house - after a bit a few other teammates wised up to our genius and came to join us. The match was hard-fought, with Ireland playing dogged defense. We were really hoping that they could hold England to under 4 tries so they wouldn't get the bonus point, but alas, it was not to happen. England scored their 4th try in the waning moments of the match. But it was a brutal game, so we can only hope that they beat each other up a bit in preparation for our Tuesday match.

After the match, we went back to the dorms... Ham ordered pizza, so I enjoyed a little late night snack before I went to my room to write. I originally wasn't going to post tonight, and instead was going to wait until tomorrow, but I still had too much adrenaline from today's win, so thought it was as good a time as any. We really stepped it up today and set the bar for our World Cup endeavor high and I couldn't be more proud of us.

UK Eagles 5: Bikes... again! Whoo hoo

2010-08-18T16:02:00.001-04:00

This is a quick post, but necessary because it is so exciting. We got bikes again. Our liason here at the Women's Rugby World Cup set us up with bikes for the whole time we are here. I rode to the store and back just for the sake of having wheels under me! It's great. Everyone is so stoked. And not only did we get bikes, but we got helmets as well. This is probably a very good thing considering that we aren't really that used to the fact that cars drive on the opposite side of the road here.

On another note, I changed the titles of the posts because there are pretty strict media requirements around the tournament with regards to what we can and can't write about/post. One of the big ones for branding reasons, is we are not allowed to abbreviate the name and I can't be bothered with writing out "Women's Rugby World Cup" every time I want to refer to it. So I'm going to try and come up with other euphemisms.

UK Eagles 4: Officially at the Women's Rugby World Cup

2010-08-18T10:11:00.001-04:00

I have a little time this morning because I opted to skip walking over to breakfast and ate here at our flat. It was nice and leisurely sitting in my PJs enjoying some coffee and chatting with Kim and Ashley. With that extra time, I am going to start working on this post before our morning session. We'll see how much I get done before heading out to practice. If I don't finish it, I'll just come back to it later.

We moved over to the official Women's Rugby World Cup flats on Monday morning. It was pretty comical watching all the bags pile up, as well as the plethora of food that had accumulated... though I benefited from that food this morning. It was pretty exciting to get to the new facility. We are the first athletes staying in these dorms and they the ones that are going to be used for the 2012 Olympics. We have our own bathroom (shower and all) in our rooms, which is exciting. All the other teams were also arriving, so it started to feel very real. We have Ireland across the walk from us, Canada next door, and Australia diagonal from us. So we get to see all the other athletes on a regular basis (whether for good or bad).

.... ran out of time before practice, so now I am returning after a practice, pool session, lunch, and getting 2 loads of laundry through the washer. I figure what better way to kill 60 minutes while the clothes dry than to catch up here.

After arriving on Monday, we unpacked and got a little settled in before heading over to the dining area for lunch. That first meal was our first chance to see some of the other teams and get a feel for the environment. It was a little chaotic at first, as I don't think the Surrey Sports Park were prepared for female athletes that were as big as we are and who eat as much as we do :) But after a couple of meals, they seem to have gotten into a groove. We were supposed to have a gym session in the afternoon, but there was a little miscommunication, so instead we did a little bodyweight session at the field with partners, which involved some wheelbarrow races, fireman squats, etc. It gave us a chance to model our new tech tees, which show off our massive guns.

The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking and finishing the settling in process. We had a brief meeting after dinner to just get the general lay of the land and understand what we were doing schedule-wise. We got to have quite the adventure getting to the meeting room since it entailed hiking to the top of what seemed like the empire state building.

After the meeting we came back to the dorms and got into position for the latest episode of Trueblood. It aired last night in the States, but we had to wait a day. It was the best episode of this season, in my opinion. So now, I don't know how we are going to cope with waiting an entire week before getting a new episode. I guess we'll have to come up with something. Maybe our rookies can use that time to really perfect their skit.

After Trueblood, I came back to my room and did some PhD work that I had been putting off and then started The Poisonwood Bible. I am not too far into yet, so I don't quite know how I feel about it. It hasn't sucked my in like Push did yet.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a jam-packed day. We had breakfast in the morning and then were out for a core session before doing set-piece work. We had a small break and then went to lunch, and next thing you know we were back out on the field again. After practice, we had ice baths, which were our first ones since we've been here... I don't know that I've missed them, but I did feel good at practice today, so I guess they're essential. While we were ice-bathing, Ashley English went over at the official tournament launch with all the other team captains. She got to hold the actual Cup... exciting!

Amy, Bridges, Kmimi, and I walked to the TESCOs after the ice-bath. It's a lot closer to us now, so should make it easier to get last minute food cravings taken care of. We walked back from the store just in time to head over to dinner. After dinner, the forwards had a brief players meeting. I think I found the key to people being invested and interested in meetings - Ben & Jerry's on top of cookies. It's amazing how much more energy there was in the room after I got that stuff out and started passing it around...

After the meeting everyone adjourned to various movies and card games and such. I watched Prescious with Blair and Phaidra. Everyone had said that it was a sad movie and hard to handle, but I think having just read the book made it more bearable. For any who have read the book, it is really graphic, so the movie was relatively mild in that regard and made it less intense than it would have been if I hadn't read the book first.

I decided last night that I wasn't going to go get breakfast, so got to sleep in for a bit, but I already wrote about that. From breakfast it was out onto the field for core and then over to the private field for our last true practice before our first match of the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup. We were pretty fired up at practice and you could feel it in the pace. Now the key is keep all that energy reigned in for another day before we play. After practice, we did some recovery work at the pool and then had the afternoon off besides a meeting... So now it's time for me to go get the clothes from the drier and get ready for our meeting. I don't think I'll be writing again before the game (maybe I will if I need something to keep me calm). So hopefully the next post will be all about the thrill of the match!

UK Eagles 3: Where's Waldo?

2010-08-15T19:18:00.003-04:00

I figure I'll catch you all up on the happenings of the past two days as a way of decompressing from a slightly traumatic haircutting experience this evening. To explain; on every tour Kmimi gives me a haircut. For the past few years it has been a standard faux-hawk. She is really good at it. Recently it had been suggested that perhaps I should have more mo' and less faux', which would mean having my hair considerably shorter. It's hard to do that with scissors, but as it would happen Ham had a pair of clippers so we were able to get it shorter... mush shorter! "uh-oh", "oops", and "is it supposed to look like that" are never things you want to hear coming from the people cutting your hair. After a small snafu in which more hair than was expected disappeared from my head, Phaidra came to the rescue and faded, blended, and clipped me out of tragedy and into what became trendy. In fact, at one point I felt a little like a movie star with Phaidra clipping one side and Kmiecik trimming the other and all my teammates wandering in to take pictures because they heard disaster was abounding. All I needed was someone doing my make-up...

My exciting haircut aside, yesterday and today were really relaxing days, which was nice. Yesterday, we had a morning session that was really high-paced and intense, which felt good. It's great that things are starting to click and we are starting to get really excited about our game in less than a week! After practice we came back to the dorms and pretty much just relaxed. The weather was really gray and rainy again, so I didn't want to do anything. Some people went into town to do some shopping. I helped Kitt do laundry. We got caught in a bit of a deluge, but eventually made it back to the dorm.

When we got back to the dorm it was time to start prepping for dinner. Kmimi was heading up the food brigade, so we had all hands on deck to do the prep work for pizza night. We had all sorts of veggies, meats, and other toppings being chopped and diced all over every surface of the kitchen. We wound up with an awesome feast of three different pizzas. We even had a few slices left over so we could snack on them during the Trueblood showing that happened later in the evening.

As you might have guessed, we watched some Trueblood that evening. We decided, since we had today off, that we could watch two episodes. We made some popcorn and got settled in.

Interestingly enough, we ended our day last night with Trueblood and then started our day with it today. After having an awesome omelet that Ham made for breakfast, we decided that we had some time, so we ought to watch an episode of Trueblood before starting our day off. We got through Episode 7, we decided it was still early enough that we really should watch Episode 8 as well. I mean afterall, Episode 9 was going to be aired tonight. We really should get ourselves caught up! So we watched another one and then got ready to head into town to do some sight seeing.

There was a large group that all went into town. We had a lot of fun adventures during our time in Guildford. I think a lot of it was facilitated by Nathalie who decided that we needed to recreate the Where's Waldo books all throughout the village. We found Waldo at the bus, in phone booths, in trees, at the castle... really everywhere you looked there was Waldo.

Throughout this we saw a lot of cool stuff... We wandered around the castle and the castle gardens. The castle was built in 1066AD and there were walls around it that dated to the 12th and 13th century. That is so ancient. I don't get how they were able to build the keep (that's what the tall castle tower is called) and the walls in those times. Baffling. While at the castle, we got to see a few teams competing in Lawn Bowling. After the castle we went through some of the narrow alleys (called closes) and saw some of the old cathedrals and hospitals. I've got some of the pictures here, but if you want to see all the days activity you can go to My World Cup Pictures.

We head over to the World Cup village at Surrey Sports Park tomorrow morning at which point all the other teams will be arriving (though NZ arrived yesterday so we've seen them around our dorms a bit). So, tomorrow marks the official beginning of the tournament. That meant that tonight there was a flurry of activity as we started packing up everything in preparation for the move.

Sadly, we weren't able to watch the latest episode of TB because it airs in the States at 8pm, which is 1am UK time. Maybe it'll be up online tomorrow so we can get our fix. I really think that if we had had TB, we might have avoided the unfortunate hair escapade of this evening. I think that we need TB to assuage our need for melodrama in our lives, and without it we are forced to generate our own...

Alright, time to sign out. Next time I write it'll be from the World Cup athletes' village and we'll be one step closer to our goal!

UK Eagles 2: Putt-putt and Curling

2010-08-13T18:31:00.003-04:00

Alrighty, now that I've got an episode of Trueblood done, I am ready to write. I'm hoping I can get this post done, so that I'll be completely up to date and can just do posts every couple of days (or a shorter one each day depending on my mood). Also, I'll need to get all my censorship-free posting crazies out f my system in the next two days since once Monday rolls around there are apparently a lot of media rules that we have to abide by in our use of social media in terms of what we can write and what pictures we can post and how we can portray the team and the tourney. I guess I should read the document Ginger sent out so I can make sure I don't break any of the rules.

I left off my last post with Wednesday night. The night I had just started this whole thing up again. Like I said, I had a really hard time sleeping. Because it took me so long to fall asleep, I slept in forever. Let me remind you we had Thursday off so I was okay with it. When I woke up, the family was all sitting around drinking coffee and eating breakfast - I think it might have been 11am. I guess everyone else was tired too because they all looked pretty groggy as well.

After spending a little bit of time working on editing an article that I had to submit back to a journal editor (like I said, being a PhD student can put a bit of a damper on things sometimes), Kitt and I decided to go do laundry and go explore Guildford (the town we are in). After a bit of an adventure finding an ATM where we could get cash (note to those traveling over from the States: if you have BofA, you don't pay any ATM fees (normally $5) if you use Barclays ATMs) we got our flat's laundry in and were off to walk in to town.

One thing I do love about the UK is the fact that they don't mince words when it comes to signs. For example, when near a seniors home you will see a sign which says "elderly people". If there are speed bumps near by, well they tell you that there are "humps for 430 yards". There's no room for error... well, maybe there is a little, but at least it makes me laugh.

Kitt and I eventually found our way in to town and somehow as if by pure magnetic forces beyond our control found ourselves in a sports and shoe store. After looking at a number of cleats and other shoes, Kitt settled on a pair of white, European, 'I am going dancing at a gay-boy club' pair of shoes. By that point we were starting to get hungry so we wandered out to find food, only to find ourselves standing in another shoe store. I don't know how it happened.

In the store, we ran in to Lara and Lynelle so all of us decided to go get food and wander around a little more. We ate at a cute little restaurant and then perused more stores before deciding that we needed to get back and get some more rest. So Kitt and I went and picked up our laundry and headed back to the flat.

When we got back I spent more time working on my article. It took a lot of time to get it done because I kept getting distracted. First it was the hall-way putt-putt. Vanesha brought a whiffle ball set with her to the UK. We decided that a great way to use it would be to work on our short-game, so we put a measuring cup in the hallway and worked on our putting. That was less than successful so we moved on to curling. We used two hand brooms and the whiffle balls again. Still not particularly successful, but really funny. My next distraction came in the form of dinner both the preparing of it, but also the eating of it. Half-way through dinner we could hear the pod below us laughing, so we needed to get involved. We took the whiffle ball bat and attached Kitt's belt to it so we could dangle it out the window with notes attached to it. We thought we were very clever. Next thing you know a broom appeared outside our window with a return message. This went on for quite some time and we all had stomach-aches by the end because we were laughing so hard. But alas, eventually it too was abandoned for the next distraction, Trueblood.

Last night we got a craving for two episodes, so we watched one on my computer and then borrowed Kitt's to watch another. I wonder if there is a 12-step program for this type of thing? Finally, I was able to finish my article and get it submitted... but it took a bit of time.

Then today we were back out practicing. We had a morning core session for the forwards before heading to the field. We had one morning session, which was held under an ominous sky and we just finished practicing when the skies opened up. It was a gross day all afternoon. Just a constant gray rain. Ashley, Beckett, and I had to go over to the Sports Park with Kathy to do an interview with TotalRugby Radio, but the perk was we got to enjoy a nice hot cocoa at Starbucks, which was great given the gray conditions.

After the interview it was an afternoon spent hanging with the 'family', reading, relaxing, and getting this all caught up. We had a great dinner together and ended it with an episode of Trueblood - like I said, we have a problem. All in all, it was a good day. Lucky (or not) for me, I finished Push this afternoon and haven't started a new book, so perhaps I can go to sleep tonight without too much issue.

UK Eagles 1: Welcome to the UK

2010-08-13T15:45:00.003-04:00

Alright, so we are 5 days into our UK Residency... I might be a little behind in terms of my posting. What's new? But I'll still try to keep it up. If I seem to be slacking just send me an email kick-in-the-pants.

So an update on what we've been up to for the past few days (I'll split it into two posts so that I don't get overwhelmed and not do anything).

After arriving in London at 7am and not really getting any sleep on the plane we were pretty much fried. We took a bus out to Guildford and unloaded what seemed like a mountain of bags... upon reflection, it was a mountain of bags. I took a nap, which in hindsight was a bad idea. When I woke up to go out for a run around I was a bit of a zombie. Luckily we were just trying to get a little bit of lead out of the legs, so we played some football and tag and other fun stuff so it wasn't too grueling or mentally taxing.

Because we aren't officially at the World Cup village yet we don't have access to a dining hall, so we are cooking for ourselves in our little flats. So after the runaround one person from each flat went out to the grocery store and stocked up the fridges for her suite-mates. I volunteered to go for my flat and I think they all benefited from my love of food. If you want a full-fridge, send a prop to do your shopping. It totally made me feel like I was back in Americorps, trying to figure out how to get the most food without breaking the bank.

When we came back from the store it was time for bed. After no sleep and a wicked time difference, I was exhausted. I went to bed at 9pm and didn't wake up until 8am the next morning.

Tuesday we had double sessions. We did some subunit work in the morning and then spent the afternoon on team play. It was super gray and rainy, but the practice was really productive. We came back afterwards and ate dinner (I almost missed dinner because I fell asleep watching 'The Weakest Link') before having a team meeting. After the meeting I started reading 'Push', and next thing you know it was 11pm. It is an intense book, but totally absorbing. Luckily I finished it today (Friday), so maybe I'll get to bed at a decent hour tonight.

Wednesday we had another day of double sessions. The forwards got back into the whole morning core routine again and then we went to the gym as a whole team. The sports complex that is being used for the tournament is brand new, so the weight facility are awesome, though it was a bit of a challenge converting all the weights from kilos to pounds. In the afternoon, we had another team practice. It seems like folks are starting to get over the jetlag a bit and practices are flowing.

Back on the home front, we are having a blast on our flat. It's Vanesha, Kitt, Ham, Kmimi, and me. We've created a little family unit. After realizing that having only a few folks cook for the entire team was not very time efficient, we decided to start having each flat cook for themselves with one group doing the prep work. So now we are having 'family dinners'.

After family dinner-time, it was time for some entertainment. So of course, Trueblood had to come back out. We managed to find a website where we could get one episode a night per computer of season three. So, Christy, Phaidra, Nathalie, Ashley, and I sat around my laptop watching Episode 1 of Season Three. Luckily, we don't have the projector set up like we did at Bowdoin so we can't just sit and watch 4 episodes in a row. We are forced to take a break and go to sleep.

Unfortunately, that whole going to sleep thing was not happening for me on Wednesday night. I was up until 2:30am working on this blog because I just couldn't sleep. Hopefull a few more days and I'll be over this jet lag thing. Luckily we had the day off Thursday, so I didn't stress too much about my inability to sleep like I would have if we had practice.

Alright, I'm up to Thursday. I'll leave off and come back to that with my next post, so that I can make sure I don't get too far behind. Maybe I can even get Thursday and Friday up tonight after episode 4 :)

2010 Women's Rugby World Cup: The Prologue

2010-08-13T12:27:00.001-04:00

For those looking to follow us other places, check out @swissbeatz, @maribwallace, @flank72002 on Twitter. ... and also Claudia's blog , Vanesha's blog, Kim's Blog, and Phaidra's website are other places to check us out.

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So, I'm already off to a rough start on my whole blogging thing. We had the entire day off yesterday and yet I didn't manage to get my post done... I was too distracted by shopping in downtown Guildford followed by hallway putt-putt and curling, the inter-floor note-feud, and Trueblood (all will be explained in a subsequent post) to get anything accomplished. Luckily (or not) it's super-gray and rainy outside today and everyone is napping during our off-time, so perhaps I can get caught up. I think once I am caught up it will be easier to maintain. We'll see...

So, before just jumping into the whole World Cup (or rather Women's Rugby World Cup as we've been told it's to be called) thing, I figured a little prologue might be beneficial. While we were pretty good at Nations Cup about keeping in touch, we fell off as the year went on. So I'll give the abbreviated version of what we've been up to as a team for the past year leading into World Cup. I'll try and keep it succinct (which for those of you who know me, know that will be hard) limiting my comments to only those things that are particularly funny, poignant, meaningful, or weird.

Nations Cup came and went. We were good about being up to date. Go back and look at USA rugby if you need a refresher.

We all came home and played for our respective Club teams in the first season of the WPL. In between matches we were figuring out time to squeeze in fitness tests once a month

Two weeks after the end of Nationals, the WNT assembled at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center in what will forever be known as Shanksgiving. This was an entertaining way to spend the holiday. I figure if I couldn't be with my blood family, then I'd at least be with my other family. I'm not real sure what the backs did - maybe their hair?, but the forwards spent many days kicking the crap out of each other.

After the Chula Camp, the pool got cut down to just 35 players working to try and earn a spot on the WC squad. I think once that started happening, it became more real that we were in fact getting closer and closer to London.

We had Atlantic Cup down in Florida in January. Somehow it doesn't matter where we go, we find ourselves facing atypical weather conditions. How is it the one year we are in Florida in January, there are record-setting cold temperatures? One morning we had to chip ice off the scrum-sled before we could use it. In fact, it was warmer in Boston on one of the days we were there. Regardless, it was a productive time together and we got to get two matches in against Canada, which was good because we need as much international game exposure as we can get. We wound up losing the fist match 18-8, but went on the win the second match 11-10.

The backs doing what they do

We didn't have any other full assemblies for the next several months. Instead, most players were working with their TUs and getting geared up for NASC's. Though we didn't have any full trainings, we did have subunit work. The forwards had a training in Monmouth NJ for fourdays in April, while the backs met in San Fran the following weekend. This was to be the final set of trainings before the squad was reduced from 35 down to 30 players. From the pictures it looked like they were having fun. I know the highlight for the forwards was a barbecue in which we won a highly contested tug-of-war competition, as well as a rousing game of chicken-in-the henhouse (if you've never played, I recommend it).

After the forwards camp was when the final 30 was named. That next round of cuts made it even more real... well that and the fact that we started to realize that matches were less than 100 days away.

In our final international matches before World Cup, we went to British Columbia to play two games against Canada. We were on Vancouver Island for 10 days staying at Dwight International School on the shores of Shawnigan Lake. We had a lot of time enjoying the lake (read: it was super cold and served as our ice-bath), as well as many nights spent watching movies. We played two matches and lost them both, which was disappointing in terms of outcome. But the from the level of improvement from game one to two, it is clear we haven't quite peaked yet, which frankly is okay as long as we're there come August 20. After the last match of Can-Ams, the final selections were announced. It was hard to know that 4 teammates would not be traveling to London with us after all the hard work we have all put into this endeavor, but in the end, we knew the day would have to come and when it did we tried to support each other as best we knew how.

Shawnigan Lake outside Dwight International

After the Can-Ams we had a few weeks off to back home before becoming professional rugby players for essentially the next 2 months. I spent my time doing some more training, working some for the Red Cross, and getting in one course working for Outward Bound.

Weight room at Bowdoin

Guitar hero

Residency was an awesome experience... and I certainly mean awesome in both the sense that it can mean great, but also in the truest sense of it brought on some awe. In a country as geographically spread out as ours is, we don't get a lot of time to work together as an entire team. It is so important to have time to work together consistently in order to create connections and understand timing so having the residency was a blessing. We worked really hard for three weeks. We had core sessions every morning for the forwards and stretching sessions for the backs, we did multiple practices a day, we got to use amazing weight facilities, got to watch match video, and have strategy session. We truly were taking on the role professional athletes. I think we became more aware of this role when we started getting recognized on the streets of Brunswick and people would stop us and ask for our autographs. Being featured in the newspaper several times didn't hurt either. In addition to all the we got a lot of quality time together. Mari brought her Wii to Bowdoin, so on any given night there was guitar hero going on generally with an audience. In addition, Kitt had the first two seasons of Trueblood with her, which quickly became an obsession. The first few episodes only had a few people watching, but by the end there was an entire cohort of us that were completely obsessed... the obsession has crossed the pond with us, such that we are now watching season three on my laptop at night. Another fun feature of residency was our bike gang. Mary-Beth (the coach of Bowdoin who took awesome care of us) told us about the yellow bike program, in which you can rent bikes to use around campus. Many of us got them to use to commute to downtown Brunswick and around to practices and the weightroom and anywhere else we felt inspired to ride. Each bike had a name, and quickly we began referring to our bikes by their name and knew who rode Megatron or the Lorax. I still miss April!

After residency ended, we had 8 days off to go home and have a little down-time, before heading to London. I spent my time with my dad, girlfriend, and cat, watching Red Sox games, seeing Cirque du Soleil, and generally being lazy.

Whew... who knew writing about a year would be so involved :) but now you know what we've been up to and we can start off World Cup with everyone all caught up.

Intro to the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup: It's been a long time

2010-08-11T20:44:00.001-04:00

Well, hmmm... it's been a little under 4 years since I last updated this blog - the last time being the 2006 World Cup in Edmonton Canada. With the 2010 World Cup right here, and many requests that I do it again coming in from folks who used my blog during the last World Cup to keep up with what was happening with the team, I've decided to give it a shot again. I can't make any guarantees that I will be as prolific in my posting as I was last time because this time around I have other obligations (i.e. a pesky PhD that I'm working on), but I will give it a shot.

Welcome to the 2010 World Cup in London

As of right now (1:36am, Thur), I am suffering from some serious insomnia as a result of jet-lag, muscle soreness, and watching Trueblood too close to bedtime, so it seemed like it was as good a time as any to at least kick off this endeavor. This means this is going to be uber-short and what you see is what you get. I'm just giving you the intro and then tomorrow - which is a day off - I'll work on getting you all caught up on what the National Team has been up to for the past however long so that we can get into the heart of World Cup 2010. With that I say, welcome back and good night!

World Cup 18: The end

2006-09-22T12:28:00.000-04:00

Well, I’m back in the country and starting to get back into the swing of the “real” world. I’m back at my usual haunts, the Temescal Café, having some coffee and working online. So, now it’s time for the final wind down from World Cup. The deep, meaningful, poignant piece on what it all means. Unfortunately, I’m not real sure of that myself. Being back home and slipping back into working and all that stuff seems somehow anti-climactic for what just happened. World Cup has been something that I have been training for and striving towards for the past six years or so. The fact that it has come and gone and life just falls back into the previous status quo seems somehow asynchronous. It feels like there should be some sort of transition or change, not just a return to normal. I guess that’s something to think about. It’s also hard not knowing what will happen next for the National Team. We played so well over the past two games and I just want to keep going with that momentum. I want there to be another World Cup sooner than four years so that we can really put everything that started to come together into play now. If we had played as well the entire tournament as we played against Australia and Scotland, who knows what we would have done.

Last night I went to practice with Berkeley and was two minds about it. The practice was very contact oriented and I was not really ready to be hitting again, yet, but the pace was slower than at the International level so it all evened out. It’s interesting to come back and be kicking right into the Club season because I spent a lot of time during the last bit of my training for World Cup talking myself through the hardest workouts by promising myself a break afterwards. That doesn’t seem to be an option, but I need to really find some new motivation to get back into the hard training. Hopefully after a few more recovery days my body will be ready to go back to the grind.

So, I guess that’s it. World Cup happened and it was amazing. It was the best rugby I’ve played in my life, both individually, as well as team rugby. I hope that the inspiration of playing that much beautiful rugby will carry us through the club season. Either way… it was one of the best experiences in my life. Now I have to reassess and set some new goals and aspirations to keep my energies focused and on track. On a side note, I’m going to try and be better about keeping this blog slightly more up to date than just writing after each rugby tour… but we’ll see how that goes.

World Cup 17: The last day

2006-09-18T07:04:00.000-04:00

So, the time is 4:59am and we're up loading the vans with our luggage. We'll be leaving for the airport in about a half hour. So I'll try and get a little in, but I'll definitely have to save the last post with the impact of this trip till I have more time.

The jersey ceremony on Saturday night was great. Anne McClain sent us the flag from her first combat mission in Iraq and that was the flag we used duringthe presentation. Anne was originally on the team a few years back, but then got deployed to Iraq and couldn't be here or come support. It was really awesome to feel that support from across the globe. After the jersey ceremony we had a short presentation to do gifts and such then it was crazy packing time and more rampant trading. We were all trying to get everything ready to go and get our stuff that has reproduced back into it's respective containers.

Yesterday just flew by. It was breakfast one moment and then we were on the pitch playing. It's was a beautiful game. We just worked so well together and the final score of 24-0 reflected that. Our scrums were on, our backs were on, everything just... I can't even think of a word for how much fun that game was.

Then we showered (there was no way in hell I was getting in the ce bath) and had our post match function with Scotland. Then we went down to watch the rest of the matches. France beat Canada and New Zealand beat England in a fiercly fought battle. I got to just hang out with my mom and John and the rest of my team. We also got to watch Dude and Jen get married during the day. They decided to do it in Canada because gay marriage is official and legal there. It was great to get to be there with them for that.

After the games it was the blitzkrieg of showering, trying to cram a few more things in bags, and then off to the official post tournament dinner. It was a zoo of activity with everyone wandering around trying to see what they could swap for. My best acqusition was a training jersey from france that I got for my technical tee. They also announced a World 15 and Jen was selected as the number 5. I am really proud of her (and Phaidra who got 6 and Ellie who got 11, too).

After the function we came back to the hotel and got changed into our going out attire and went over to the Lion's Head to party it up. We were there with South Africa, Australia, Ireland, and England. It was a lot of fun and then we wandered off to another place called Overtime for a bit before I threw in the towel and came back to get an hour and a half of sleep.

Now I'm up and packed and ready to begin the marathon travel day home. I'll write one more World CUp post when I get back and add pictures to this post, but for now... Goodbye Edmonton!

World Cup 16: It's starting to wind down

2006-09-16T19:12:00.000-04:00

So, we only have a few days left of this WOrld Cup. It's really surreal when I think about the fact that many of us have been training and preparing for this event for years and years and it's finally here and almost gone. It leaves a little sense of 'what now?'.

So the past couple of days have been a lot of fun and really have embodied what World Cup is all about. On Thursday I spent the day out shopping for food with Miller and KTP for our BBQ with South Africa, which was one of the highlights of the trip. We went over to the Edmonton Rocker's clubhouse and had a big BBQ. It started out a little like a junior high dance with both teams standing off to one side talking to each other, but that changed after a bit. We broke the ice initially with 'The Bottle Game', where one person is a base and the other person tries to crawl up there back and place a bottle out as far as they can without touching the ground. It's usually a drinking game, but we did it with water bottles and sober.

Then we had food, which always brings rugby players together. But the real bonding came when we played a rousing rendition of 'Chicken on the Henhouse', where everyone had to partner with someone not from their team. I won't even try and describe how you play the game, but for those of you who know what it is you know how much fun we had! After that there was a dance-off, where we went position by position with one USA dancer going head-to-head with a South African dancer. In the end we were all cracking up and the final tally was a tie (or at least I say it was, and since I was the MC keeping score what I say goes). The evening wound down with the South African girls singing and drumming for us and then with us doing our rhythm performace for them. It was a really great night to bring our two teams together and bond. It's really what World Cup is all about...

Yesterday was reminiscent of our various UK tours. We had two practices both in sleet/ice-rain and a temperature of 5 degrees celsius (about 42 degrees)... it wasn't too bad once we got moving, but the hands never seemed to regain feeling once it was lost. After what were our last real practices of World Cup we came back and took long hot showers to try and thaw some before heading to the hotel next door for a dinner. We had a fancy little shindig to thank all our donors who have given so much of themselves to this program and to what we are doing here. My parents were able to come to the dinner, so I got to spend some time with them again. And apparently people actually read and pay attention to what I write in my blog seeing as I now have tickets to tomorrow's match for my family thanks to one of our donors, Denise Hargreaves, who read my blog and wanted me to have her tickets since she couldn't be here. Thank you, Denise!

After dinner the trading craziness began. Several of the South African girls came by looking to trade stuff, so the feeding frenzy began. I really want one of their fleeces, but unfortunately I don't think I have anything that any of them would want, so I'll have to keep scouring. I wound up with an entire South African kit, as well as a French jersey, that is pretty much spandex on me (it's a XL though and I did trade their prop), but it prevents shirt tackles.

This morning we had a short captain's run-through to just get the backs working together. And then we came back to the hotel put on as many layers as we could find, as well as the various South Africa paraphanelia we had acquired last night to go out and root on the South African team during their last match. They unfortunately lost to Kazakstan, but we cheered them on the whole way regardless. After that we came back to the hotel to shower and began the packing process. We still have two days left, but tomorrow's going to be consumed with the game, then other matches and post tournament functions that we really need to be packed before tomorrow night because we'll be leaving monday morning at the butt-crack of dawn. While packing a little low-level trading happened (I got a Irish prop's jersey). After that most people stayed low-key and read or watched movies. I watched 'The Devil Wears Prada' with Jen and Pam, before we had to go to a brief forwards meeting. Now it's a little bit till dinner and then our final jersey ceremony of the tour. I'll be getting my 3rd number 1 jersey, which is just incredible to me.

So that's about it... I'll write tomorrow before the match (I hope) to try and stay up to date or else things may get too chaotic and I'll lose track of events.

World Cup 15: It all came together

2006-09-14T10:23:00.000-04:00

So you'd think with all the time I've had off in the past couple of days I'd have caught this up... but I caught a serious case of the lazies and haven't. So now I've got some catching up to do. So I'll start where I left off last time, which was with the jersey ceremony.

The jersey ceremony was short and to the point. Kathy's speech hinted around the discord that had been drifting around the team that I mentioned in my last post. She really emphasized our need to be unified going into our match vs Australia. After the jersey ceremony we had a team meeting to really address what had been going on for people. It was really good for us. It was also quite emotional, but I think that in many ways served the purpose of really emphasizing how much we really care about each other and this team. I left the meeting feeling a much greater sense of peace and togetherness.

I can't really remember the morning of the game. My short-term memory is non-existent. I think I spent it playing on-line cribbage, but I can't be certain. Before we left for the match Tina bought me a coffee with vanilla, which served to set my heart racing and stomach doing somersaults on the drive out to St. Albert's. We went through a quick warm-up and then it was game time. We played awesome. It was as though all the things we'd been talking about just finally came together. We were flying over breakdowns, the backs were passing and getting the ball wide, there was interpay between the backs and forwards. It was really pretty to be a part of. The only let-down happened with about 15 minutes left in the game. I think we got a bit frazzled with all the changes in the line-up die to subs and Australia capitalized on that. In the end the final score was 29-12. I felt really good about the way I played (I'm blaming the vanilla coffee) after I got sorted out in the scrums.

After the game we had our post-match exchange and then we watched the Scotland vs Ireland match, knowing that we would be playing the winners of that match on Sunday at Commonwealth Stadium. It was a fierce game with a final score of 11-10, with Scotland winning. There's a part of me that wanted Scotland to win because we haven't played them at this tourney, but I also wanted to see Ireland pull it out in the end because they played with such heart and tenacity right up to the end. After the match we came home and had dinner. Then the fun began.

A vicious rumor started circulating that there was karaoke at the hotel bar next-door. So a group of us ventured over there to croon to the masses as a victory celebration. As it would turn out karaoke is only on Sunday. The mistaken sign read Kokanee specials every night (not karaoke every night). Nonetheless we were there and decided to have some fun. We were not disappointed. There were 5 rugby teams who took over the pub (England, Ireland, Australia, USA, and South Africa) and we made a huge dance party thanks to a fun and entertaining deejay, who kept things moving. I went through two shirts because it was so hot and we were sweating so much, but it was a blast. A few of us schemed to try and abscond the Australian's Stuffed Wallaroo that they carry around, but our attempts were thwarted. I came home around midnight and showered before falling soundly asleep.

Farrah moving in on the Wallaroo

I told you it was hot in there

Yesterday seems so long ago. It was quite a fun day. In the morning we went to a local high school and taught rugby to a gym class. There were about 20 boys and 30 girls, and we worked with them on passing, kicking, evasive running, etc. At the end we even had a little time to do some tackling. After the gym class was over we did a Q&A session with the school's boys and girls rugby teams. All in all it was a lot of fun and went really well. We came back from the school and went directly to lunch. After lunch we had a pool recovery session with Michelle, before being released for the rest of the day.

Some people spent the day watching pay-per-view movies at the hotel. Others wandered over the gym to do light workout. Jen and I went and did laundry. Hopefully this should be the last time for the trip, though it has been raining and getting colder so we might go through more clothes than normal. After laundry, Jen and I came back to the hotel and then decided to go out and get Sushi for dinner. It was alright, but unfortunately we forget that we're from California where you can get amazing sushi just about anywhere, and right now we're in a land-locked state in Canada. We may have set our expectations too high :) After dinner we came back and had dessert with the folks who stayed and ate at the hotel and then watched some movies and tv for the the rest of the evening. It was a great way to end and otherwide dreary and grey day.

This morning we had breakfast and then had a brief video session. We were watching the reffing style of the ref we're going to have for our match on Sunday, as well as some footage of the Scottish team to see what we should expect. Then it was shower time so that we could be ready for our photo-shoot with Jen Doan. We were doing head shots out at a sanctuary near the river. It was beautiful out there and it really made me miss the fall, which we don't really get to see being in Oakland. I went off wandering while other people got their pictures taken. It was gorgeous. I wish I could have spent more time exploring the trails and wild-life.

After we took the pictures we came back and I cleaned my muddy chacos off and finally finished writing this. Now it's lunch time and we have the rest of the day free until 5pm when we're going to have a BBQ with the South African team. I have no idea what to do. Maybe I'll wander up to the outlets with some of the other girls (not that I need to do any shopping). Who knows...

World Cup 14: Axe-throwing, horse feeding bowlers

2006-09-11T19:28:00.000-04:00

Well the title probably leaves everyone a bit confused, so I'll explain... I'm writing this now to keep from chucking my computer out a 5th floor window because of technical problems. I've been trying to do a redcross instructor update for the past hour and the computer has been eating it each time I do it... after three times I've given up for a while.

So the past two days have been very interesting and hard and fun and everything in between. Yesterday we went to the Druids pitch at around 11:30am. We ate lunch at subway and then went to the clubhouse to watch the match video. There were definitely some frustrating things in it, but we were also able to see some of the positive things we did. After lunch and the video we got ready for an afternoon training session. Before practice began selections were announced. I'm going to be playing tighthead prop.

I didn't realize how much selections affect team dynamics but there seems to be a definite polarity between those who were selected and those who were not, at least backswise (I guess we don't notice it in the forwards as much because positions are constantly being rotated around and tweaked). I don't understand it because it's not like the people who got selected were involved in the selection process. There's no reason that those people should feel guilty for getting selected. Right now I don't think they feel as supported as they could be. I understand that it's hard to not get selected for a game, but divisions in the team can really impact morale and cohesiveness. It just splinters everything. Part of me questions whether I should be writing this but I'm not about to start editing my personal blog. That would take away from my sense of integrity about what I'm writing. That and I don't think it's a surprise that people get upset by selections particularly if they aren't picked. That's the nature of competitive sports in many ways. I guess the bigger issue is when that disappointment interferes with the unity of the team. Hopefully, once everyone has some time alone to process it'll be fine.

Practice was hard. There seemed to be a lot of competetive energy, flowing around. After practice we tried to shower before heading to Sue and Wes' for another BBQ but unfortunately were greeted by no water in th lockerroom. So we had to go with the deodorant shower before heading over there. When we arrived there we were greeted by several horses that were really excited about our willingness to give them lots of hay and grass. I guess the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

Sue then showed us how to do lumberjack ax throwing. It's a part of the lumberjack competitions. Apparently people actually make a living at it. Of everyone, Mari was the best with the ax. She scored 12 points.

Then we sat around the bonfire, while folks tried to break open a pinata. The cherry on the cake was when Wes told us that he'd hook up the sled-dogs to the ATV and take KFlo on a sled ride around the property. It was really impressive how fast those dogs run.

The only problem with the day was that my family wasn't there. They were supposed to be there. We were told once we got to practice that family and friends could come to the BBQ, so I called my mom and told her about it. They said that there would be directions at the front desk of the hotel, but there weren't. My mom had tried to call CArrie's phone to get directions, but unfortunately I didn't realize that Carrie didn't have her phone on her. So I didn't realize there weren't directions until Mari's parents arrived and I found out that they had gotten directions in the van ride out to the house. It was really disappointing, both because I didn't get to spend the time with my mom and john, but also because it hurt my mom's feelings because she thought I didn't care enough to find out what happened. I did and as soon as I realized Carrie didn't have her phone on her I went and called my mom, but they were back at their hotel.

When we got back to the hotel we just lazed about. I didn't realize how upset I had been by the miscommunication with my mom. I don't like feeling like people are hurt by me or disappointed by what I've done or haven't done. I spent some time talking about it with Jen. She made me feel a lot better. At that point I decided that I should put myself to bed, which I did by watching the replay of the Federer-Roddick match.

This morning was very low-key. We had breakfast and then nothing until 1:30pm. A lot of people went and did laundry, slept, watched movies, etc. I watched cooking and forensics shows with Jen. The we got ready for our Captain's practice. Ashley had been speculating that she thought we weren't doing the practice thing because of the specific clothes they had told us to wear. She was correct. We left the hotel and drove down the street to the bowling alley. There the backs played the forwards, with the forwards winning. We were carried by strong performances by Cox with 184 and Mari with 155. Then we were treated to some entertainment when Mari, Sinkler, Patty, Heather, and Farrah worked on their moves with 'Dance Dance Revolution' (DDR for those in the know) in the arcade.

Then we came back to the hotel and had several hours before dinner and the jersey ceremony. As I explained, I spent that time wrestling with my computer and now writing this. So now I'll go and shower before dinner and the jersey ceremony... the jersey I get tonight will be indicative of my 10th cap... rolling into double digits.

World Cup 13: Oz Again

2006-09-10T02:02:00.000-04:00

So we had our match yesterday. We came out on top 10-6. It was a brutal game. I woke up this morning feeling like I was hit by a train. They really pressured hard and it took all we had to keep the score margin where it was. It should not have been as close of a game as it was, but I can't dwell in the world of "should have". Because of the way the rest of the matches wound up we will be playing Australia again on Tuesday because they are 7th and we are 6th. The top 4 right now are NZ, Eng, Can, and Fran. It's really frustrating that the set-up of this tournament is such that in the end the 4th place team will be 2-3, while the 5th place team will be 4-1. Doesn't make sense!

After our match we showered and watched the France vs England game. England won without much problem. I got to spend time with my parents before heading back to the hotel. There we ate dinner and then I went to get treatment from our medical staff seeing as I couldn't look over my right shoulder without a lot of pain. After that several of us wandered down to the lounge in the lobby for a drink. I didn't have one because I was tired and dehydrated and wound up coming back upstairs shortly thereafter and wound up watching some US Open repeats on tv.

This morning both Carrie and I completely slept through the alarm and only just woke up in time for breakfast. We staggered down and scarfed down some eggs and toast before our pool recovery session with Michelle. It was pretty easy. After the pool recovery I had a massage. They arranged to have 4 massage therapists come to the hotel for 3 hours to do massages. So I definitely took advantage of that.

Then we spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our day off. There was talk of going to the mall, going to downtown edmonton, heading out to Elk Island National Park, etc. I was in the "how can I be as lazy as humany possible" crowd. So we decided to go to the mall and watch a movie and walk around a bit. We decided to see 'Wicker Man', which was #3 in the box office. It was horrible, but on a positive note it really allowed the brain to completely shut-down for 2 hours, so it served one decompression option.

After the movie we wandered back through the 48 city blocks worth of mall to the entrance that KTP had dropped us off at earlier in the day. One thing to note that we discovered is that the Budget rental vans are taller than 6'6", since we clipped all of the over head barriers on our way into the parking lot. Luckily they were all attached with chains and not solid.

Jen and I went out to dinner with my mom and step-dad. We went to a little indian restaurant that was really good. This was the first time that Jen has spent any significant time with my mom and step-dad, and things went remarkably well. There was no lack of things to talk about with John's love of sports and their love of travel... I hope it can be a continued rapport developed between all of them as time goes on. When we got back to the hotel the mindlessness continued with watching 'Maid in Manhatten', more tennis, and recently '13 Going on 30'. After spending a considerable time hanging out in Jen's room talking with Pam, Jen, and Maggie, I decided it was time to get to bed so that I could get ready for another day of hard training tomorrow. We've really got to get focused because Australia's going to come out hard against us on Tuesday because they've got something to prove. And we have as well, so the next several days will be quite intense... so I should get to sleep and I'll finish this and upload the pictures and such tomorrow before our practice session in the morning.

So this morning was very grey and blah... we woke up to thunder and lightening and lots of rain. It's the kind of day that cries for cuddling, movies, and hot chocolate. I got a few of those this morning after practice. Now I'm packing for the day. We have one practice session this afternoon and then we're having another BBQ at Susan's house. Unfortunately I don't think the weather's going to be as nice this time around as it was last time, but we'll see. Now it's time to head to practice to prepare for Australia again.

World Cup 12: Game day vs. Oz

2006-09-08T13:06:00.000-04:00

So, as par for the course I'm writing this as a distraction from the impending match versus Australia that will kick off in 3.5 hours. Carrie and I just came up from a pre-game weigh-in down in the fitness center. Unfortunately the scale didn't work so we're left without numbers. So now I'm up here getting ready for the game and writing this and sort of getting distracted by the fact that Carrie is watching 'Ellen'.

Yesterday was a very low-key day. We had a morning lineout practice down at a local high school. Then several of us who were running out of clothes went to a laundromat and did some laundry. It was a fun little foray where we sat playing cards, reading, etc.

After laundry it was time for lunch and then I took a little nap before heading to the pitch in St Albert for the Captain's practice. It was interesting because we weren't allowed to run on the field, which sort of takes aways from the name 'captain's run'. SO instead we moved to a side field to practice at pace. After the practice we came back to the hotel and lounged around watching CSI (our addiction) before dinner. Dinner was a fun adventure because we wound up involved in a rousing game of 'Who's line is it anyway?'. We got the coaches up for a dating game, where Krista had to decide between a Trekkie Liz, a Bronx Hair-dresser with a tic Candi, and an alcoholic T-rex Kathy. It was really funny. Kathy may have missed her calling.

After dinner we had the jersey ceremony. I was a little surprised that there were still so many friends and family here, after the mass exodus of NY players left earlier in the week. My mom and step-dad were there again. There seemed to be more parents and family there this time than before. Kathy's pre-presentation speech this time was reading all the good-luck messages from the womeneagles site. It was really great to have all those messages read to us.

After the ceremony I hung out with Jen until it was my time to go see Doc and Andrea. I was in there longer than anticipated because I git sucked into an episode of CSI (do you sense a recurring theme?)... then I came back and watched some US Open before heading to bed. This morning we had breakfast and then had a meeting with Kathy to talk about what she learned from her meeting with the head referee from the tournament. We need to be really conservative and play squeaky clean because the refs are going to be watching for infringements. After that we all spent some time relaxing (i.e. writing this) before we head to the game. Now we have 20 min until we leave, so it's time to wind it down. This match dtermines where we go with this tourney, so hopefully I'll have godd things to write next.

World Cup 11: Prep for Australia

2006-09-06T23:21:00.000-04:00

So today was fairly uneventful, which was a surprise. I think most of us were expecting two hard sessions, but instead we only had one and a video session. We ate breakfast this morning and then had some time to relax before heading out to the Strathcona Druids' pitch. There we watched the Australia v. France match from last Monday, and evaluated the game for what we thought were Australia's strengths and weaknesses. I made a friend. There was a little black cat who lives at the clubhouse...

okay, continuing where I was after a brief hiatus to play 2 games of cribbage with Shousie and to sit and gossip with Pam and Jen. Now I'm back in my room typing this while Annie, Carrie, and Farrah play rummy.

The little black cat sat on my lap the entire video session and purred. He only had one ear because he lost the other one to frostbite earlier. He was super affectionate. I wanted to take him home with me.

After the video session we got lunch from Subway. It was super exciting to not have to eat hotel food for a meal. We scarfed down our footlong subs and cookies and then got ready for practice. Before we began the session Kathy announced selections. I got the nod to start at loosehead, which is really exciting for me, but also a lot of pressure considering how important this game is to our standings in the tournament. The training session was very intense and hard, but in the end everything started to fall together as we ran together with backs and forwards.

After the practice we came back to the hotel and did ice baths and epsom salt soaks before dinner. After dinner I spent some time cuddling with Jen before it was my time slot to see Doc. After Doc worked her magic I got a massage from Sarah, which was awesome. Then I came back here to write, but as previously explained I got disctracted from the task at hand. So yeah... now I'm ready to get to bed and get ready for another day here in the lovely land of Edmonton.

World Cup 10: Practice then prison

2006-09-06T00:37:00.000-04:00

So, today was not nearly as bad as we anticipated. Our first task for the day was to do the last saliva sample for Trie. I feel like most of us probably had elevated cortisol levels because of being stressed about what we had in store for training. We did have practice this morning but it wasn't the two hours that we had been threatened with. Instead it was 45 minutes of hard running and contact work. It was really helpful for our flow and game play and left us feeling really gelled together. After practice we came back to the hotel and I saw my dad off. He's going to try and come back for the last weekend if the tickets are reasonable. Then we ate lunch.

After lunch we went out to a local youth correction facility. We did a bunch of drills and then got some of the kids to get involved. They were particularly amused when we put them into scrums and lineouts. We were trying to emphasize the positive impact that participating in sports has had for us. The whole idea of wanting to belong to something and having that sense of family in the team. We only got to stay for about an hour, but it was fun nonetheless.

When we got back to the hotel we had a video session, where we watched yesterday's game. It was frustrating to watch, but also really pointed out some of the critical mental errors that have plagued us in international play. So hopefully we'll be able to adapt to our mistakes and learn from them.

After the video it was free time. A group of us (Patty, Hedwig, Heather, Annie, Jen, Ashley, CArrie, and myself) went out to dinner to get Thai food, while others went to Olive Garden. It took a long time for our food to arrive but while we waited we got to hear lots of entertaining stories. And when it did arrive it was worth it. Wonderful curry, though it did clear the sinuses really well. By the time dinner was done it was 8:30pm and there was just enough time for me to go see Doc to get some treatment before heading back to my room to write this.

Now I'm trying to keep from getting sucked into 'Cruel Intentions' but unfortunately I think the addiction is kicking in. Hopefull it's almost over because I don't know if I'll be able to separate myself.

World Cup 9: Frustration all around

2006-09-05T00:25:00.000-04:00

So, we won our match versus Ireland, but it's a bit of a bittersweet victory. Because of the way the seedings and standing are set up for this tournament, our 24-11 win means that we did not score enough points to offset the point differential of the other 2 and 1 teams. This means that we have a really hard road to travel if we are to still make the semi-finals. Three things must happen and unfortunately we can only control one of them. One, we have to beat Australia and beat them by a lot. Two, Scotland has to get cremated by New Zealand. Three, Canada has to not beat Kazhakstan by too much (or not win at all). It sucks that we have so little control over the situation at this point, but that's what happens with this set-up, which doesn't make any sense in the first place.

Before I talk about the game, I'll talk about last night. It was really great for my family to be at the jersey ceremony, as well as some of my friends from D.C. There's something validating about having that type of support network and having them here to see me. It really makes me feel loved. After the jersey ceremony I went to bed and my dad went and hung out with the NYRC folks and had fun.

Me and my mom at the jersey ceremony

Me and my dad at the jersey ceremony

This morning was fairly quick because we had a noon game, so we left for the field at 9:45 am. We had to get there early because we had the next testing trial for Trie's cortisol/testosterone study. Our warm-ups went really well and carried us into the game, but then things started to get frazzled as we didn't adjust to the refs poor officiating. We killed ourselves on penalties, and also on the franticness associated with knowing that we had to score at least 4 tries to get the bonus point

to stay in it. It's ironic that our place in the seedings has been so effected by
our obsession with making sure we got our bonus point. In the end we stopped playing as a team and started just trying to score as individuals as we worked towards that magic number 4. Needless to say Kathy was not thrilled with us and has informed us that we will be having a hard and grueling training session tomorrow.

Watching the game with my girl

After the match we stayed and watched the other two matches that were after ours. South Afric lost to England, but fought hard, and Australia lost to France in another hard fought game. After the matches we came back to the hotel and ate dinner. Then I went down and hung out with my dad, who's leaving tomorrow. We watched my favorite tv show, Prison Break, and ate cheese tortellini. Now I'm retiring to try and get nice and rested before tomorrow's morning death squad.

World Cup 8: Slip-n-slides and Sled Dogs

2006-09-03T10:38:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday was a great day... lots of fun... In the morning before practice Kathy announced selections (I'm a reserve), so that was the lineup we primarily worked with during the practice sessions. We worked on lineouts and some scrum work, as well as some contact work around the fringes. It seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were headed back to the hotel for lunch. We had a really quick turn-around and were back out at the field at 2pm for practice again. There we worked on some more scrum/lineout stuff and then did some running together as forwards and backs.

Laura and Baja play on the tractor before practice

Wow... just had a slight delay in finishing my post because my mom showed up to use the fitness center and then I ran into my dad in the lobby and before you know it, it's 2:00 and we're just getting back from the Captain's practice. So I guess I'll continue from where I was.

After practice we showered at the practice pitches and then we headed over to our Liason Susan's house where we had an awesome BBQ. It was great. Susan and her husband Wes have a kennel and raise sled dogs. They have 31 of them. We got to take them for a walk around their acres of property.

Jen making friends

Also, they had a huge slip-n-slide set up down the hill behind their house. So several of us put on bathing suits and got soaped up and went down. This resulted in some interesting acrobatics, as well as some races because we can't do anything without making it a competition afterall. Then we used the kiddie pool to rinse off the suds.

Ellie, Kim, and Baja race down

The slip-n-slide crew

Rinsing off

They invited everyone who wanted to come to the BBQ to be there so there was lots of friends and family and other supporters there. We stayed there eating lots of wonderful food and hanging out for a long time. We also made some friends with the kids and in the end had to resprt the throwing them in the pool to save Pam from their onslaught. It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend a Labor Day weekend.

Our Hosts in front and fan club in the air

After the BBQ we came back to the hotel and I went to get worked on by Abby. Then I hunted down my dad, who flew in, and we watched Grosse Pointe Blank till he fell asleep. So I abandoned him and came back to my room and passed out watching Law and Order.

This morning we had breakfast and then I came back upstairs to work on this update when my mom and step-dad showed up. While I was getting them situated in the fitness center I ran into dad in the lobby. So he and I took a ride out to the airport to pick up a rental car. On the way back we wandered through 'Old Strathcona' (an area of Edmonton with cowboy bars and a pedestrian area) before heading back to the hotel so that I could get ready for the Captain's Run. He came out and watched the practice and I tried to enlist him to go spy on the Irish, but they were winding down so he didn't get much intel. Now I'm back here at the hotel and we have some down time until our video session at 5pm. So I'm going to shower and then Doc wants to work on those of us who are rostered for tomorrow that need stuff done so that she's not up until midnight again. Then there's dinner and jersey ceremony. I'm sure I'll have more to write tomorrow to try and stay calm before the game.

World Cup 7: Missed opportunities

2006-09-01T11:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I suppose the title says it all... we missed a lot of opportunities during our match yesterday. We lost to England 18-0, but the score really doesn't reflect the way the game went. For the first 60 mintues of the game we were deadlocked at 0-0, when then scored off a penalty. Then they managed to score two tries plus one more penalty kick. We fought really hard but we didn't capitalize on the times when we had offensive opportunity. I was disappointed in the way the lineouts went and towards the end of the match my own loss of focus in the scrum. I let myself get bogged down in the referee's poor officiating of the set-piece and it took a toll on my performance. I guess it's good to be able to appreciate that and to know that it's a critical piece for me to work on going forward in this tournament. By and large I think we really surprised the English who I think really were planning on walking over us, and we let them know that we were going to make them play.

Phaidra hits a tackle

Laura takes on their flanker

After the game I got informed that I had been randomly selected for drug-testing, so I got to spend the next hour or so being supervised to insure that I wasn't taking anything I wasn't supposed to before the test. My chaperone even had to come to the shower with me. After the testing I was feeling pretty faint and queasy because I hadn't eaten anything and had missed the post-match socialization/food while being in the anti-doping tent. Luckily, Baja had a half of a protein bar, which probably saved the lives of those sitting directly around me in the van.

When we got back to the hotel we went directly to dinner where I had to force food into my body because I'd gotten to that hunger point where I was feeling nauseous. After dinner many folks went down to socialize with the throngs of friends and family who had made the journey up, while others of us had to go see Doc for treatment. I was in the latter crew and by the time I got out of there it was past 10 and I just wanted to go to sleep. I was feeling both the effects of my earlier lack of food, as well as the general malaise of losing in a game that could have been won.

This morning I felt better about things after having a chance to sleep and recover. We had a good breakfast and then went to a pool recovery session lead by Tracy. It involved a lot of splashing and twisting, but overall I feel much better for it. The climax of the recovery came in the form of a race between Phaidra and I... there was no contest :)

After the pool we had a team meeting to debrief the game as we hadn't yet had an opportunity for that. We talked about where we had met our goals, where we hadn't met them, what we needed to improve on going forward. We're going to watch the game later this afternoon, and I think until we actually see it many of us don't really know how to assess the match.

Now some people are heading our with family and friends to hang out, while others are heading to the West Edmonton Mall (apparently the biggest mall in the world). I'm going to meet one of my college friends/teammates, Michelle, to catch up and I'll finish this up once I get back.

So apparently my day went on and on and now it's 11:30pm and I'm trying to wind down the day. It was really good to get a chance to see my friend Michelle, who I haven't gotten a chance to hang out with since summer of 2003. We went down to downtown Edmonton and walked around. When I got back it was 4:15 and was just in time for our team meeting to watch the video of yesterday's game. It was good to watch because I was able to see that I had more positive moments than I remembered. We are always our worst critics.

From the video session we went directly into dinner and then into another video session. This time it was to watch a game tape of Ireland vs the US from our UK tour in January so that we could get an idea of their weaknesses and strength and just general patterns of play. After that it was chill time until my treatment time with Doc at 10:00pm... now after a little late night prop-talk (Annie, Farrah, Carrie, and I) it's time for bed. I'm excited because both my parents are arriving tomorrow. My dad's only staying through the Ireland match (selections get announced tomorrow morning) and my mom's staying until the bitter end (the 18th).

World Cup 6: Game Day

2006-08-31T14:42:00.000-04:00

So we have less than 2 hours till we leave for the pitch. Now I've got to keep myself from getting too worked up into a frenzy between now and then. It's been hard because we've been doing a lot of mental focus type stuff and psyche up type stuff... not to mention the fact that in our team room we've created what we call our "Corner of Power". That's where we put up stuff to inspire us as we go forward into world cup. For example, in yesterday's newspaper a columnist wrote "Spare me the hot air about England, France, Canada, and the US have a chance to win it all". Nothing gets my blood boiling more than being overlooked and underestimated. Must go eat lunch to ease some nerves.

Well the countdown is on. 30 minutes until we leave for the pitch. A bunch of us just watched the NZ-Canada match live on the internet and now everyone is ready to roll. I'm going to update what's been going on over the past two days so as to not drive myself batty waiting.

Yesterday we had another easy day. We ate breakfast and then the non-rostered folks went down to the gym for a workout while the rest of us did some recovery work in the pool. That recovery work quickly turned comptitive as we played 500 with the South African team that was down there as well. It was good fun.

After that I came back upstairs and did some reading before lunch and then Carrie and I got into a rousing game of cribbage. Then there was waiting time, which involved some CSI and Fame, before we went to the field for our captains run. The practice was fairly short but intense as we ran through the last little things that we wanted to get ironed out. When we got back dinner was on, so we ate before showering for the jersey presentation.

As usual the jersey presentation was emotional. It was particularly poignant to see Patty get her jersey which for her is a 5th. Another thing that made this presentation different from some in the past is that it was open to all the family and friends that had come to watch the games. So there was a lot of support surrounding us throughout the process. I got a little shock when I looked at the tag of my jersey and saw that it was a small, but I guess that means no jersey tackles.

Front-Row Lovin'

Captains and Coaches

After the jersey presentation a bunch of us spent some time with Doc trying to work out all that last stuff before the match.
This morning was breakfast followed by a team meeting during which we watched "Do you believe in Miracles" which is the documentary about the 1980 olympic hockey team. It left quite a few of us teary eyed and ready for kick-off to happen. After that the waiting began, which I have been trying to fill with things that won't cause me to get too anxious (like ironing my dress shirt), but even as I'm typing this I can feel the adrenaline starting to get going. Need to stay composed and relatively calm for another 3 hours when finally it gets to be unleashed all over England. Time to sign-off and really get focused and make sure I've got everything ready to go and take it to em. Hopefully when I write next it'll be as victors.

World Cup 5: Finally to Edmonton

2006-08-30T00:24:00.000-04:00

So yesterday was a very lazy day but had some very entertaining portions that popped up every so often. After I updated this blog yesterday I proceeded to do some packing and then I wound up getting sucked into the movie "Love Potion No. 9" with Laura and wound up watching that. After the movie I went down to the pool/hot-tub and did some stretching and recovery type stuff. A bunch of other people went to the MOA and watched 'Talladega Nights', which they said was very funny. After I went to the pool I wandered over to the MOA to get lunch and then went on the 'Screamin' Eagle' ride and the 'Timberland Twister' roller-coaster using the free-ride coupons we got from Jane T yesterday.

I came back to the hotel and finished packing before we went to Major's for a send-off dinner. They had the wireless trivia game that kept Dude andI involved even so much that we bypassed the first round of food. You know we're enthralled when two props will skip food. In the end Dude wound up winning one round and I was ahead by 1500 points when we had to leave. On the way home we swung by DQ for a little late-night snack.
When we got back to the hotel many people worked on laundry and finished packing, but those of us in the front row had bigger issues to deal with. The lifting sleeves arrived for the jumpers, but it turned out that they are a bit tight for them to wear. Therefore us front-rowers decided to help them out by putting them on and wearing them around to stretch them out. It took a little wrestling to get them on, but in the end we managed to get them to the right size.

This morning was the three-ring circus of trying to get to the airport and getting everything together and everyone on flights. We had somewhere in the range of 17 extra bags that had to be checked in addition to the many bags that were in excess of the 50lb limit that had to be rearranged. But in the end we arrived in Edmonton where our liason Susan picked us up and got us out to the hotel. When we got there we had a lunch, that to the happiness of Ashley had of a great dessert spread, and then went out to the Druid rugby pitch for a training session. After training we came back to the hotel and had dinner before being released to the care of the Docs who worked magic on me. After getting worked on I got to have some QT with Jen and then came back here to do my update.

We have less than 48 hours left till we play England and I am starting to really feel it. It was hard to really believe that we're at World Cup when we were in MN, but once we got here and met the liasons and saw the French and South African teams (all teams from the same pool are at the same hotel) wandering around it really started to sink in. I'm at World Cup! I'm part of something that I have been striving for for years. It's finally here... Now it's time for bed before I get myself too worked up.

World Cup 4: A day off

2006-08-28T10:55:00.000-04:00

So, I was going to write this last night, but then I realized that we had all day off today and what better way to "stay off my feet" (as Kathy told us to do) than to catch this up and then do some reading.

Yesterday was a fun day. We got up and had a little short practice to work on some subunit stuff, which entailed for us forwards a bunch of lineout work. After that we got a chance to eat a light snack before doing some controlled scrimmaging against a Minnesota select side. For the first hour we forwards worked lineouts and scrums against them before coming together for the last hour and actually playing through. It was a bit of a surprise on the first play of the scrimmage when we looked up and realized that their backline had 7 more people than normal. After getting over that initial shock we pulled together and still were able to put together some beautiful offense and high pressure defense despite being seriously outnumbered.

Phaidra and Tonka warm-up with Dancing

One thing I want to write about is this fascinating tackling drill we've been doing that has been very enlightening for me. So we've been doing one-on-one tackling in a small space, with a catch. The defender has to hold a tennis ball in each hand while making the tackle. It really shows how much we rely on our hands when tackling and forces you to use your legs, shoulders, and full arms if you really want to take the ball-carrier to the ground. It was really hard at first, but now it's awesome to feel how much power we can generate when we don't rely on our hands to do the tackling.

Team Pic after the scrimmage

After the scrimmage we had the entertaining task of getting the scrum sled back onto the trailer and onto Jane's car, Stubby. This resulted in a near-death experience (I may be being a bit dramatic) when the weight of the sled caused the trailer to come off the hitch and come flying up towards my face. A little remaneuvering and we were able to get everything set, though I do think that Stubby's rear end was not actually touching the ground.

We went to Jane's house for a BBQ where we lazed about and ate lots of food. We even got cake because it was Ashley's 30th birthday so we celebrated her entering her dotage. One of the more interesting parts of that was watching Mari work her art major magic on a watermelon to create a masterpiece.

After the BBQ we came back to the hotel to shower and then head to the Mall of America (MOA for those in the know) to watch the movie 'Invincible'. We laughed, we cried, we applauded. Definitely a good team movie and pump up film. I mean come on it's all about The Eagles. How much more appropriate can it get!?!

After the movie we came back and had a brief team meeting to announce selections for the England match. I was named as Loosehead, which is just awesome. It's so funny to me sometimes to think that for so many years in college and playing at the U-23 level that this was my dream, and now it's but days away. I remember so vividly during the Chula Vista camp in 2004 having my one-on-one meeting with Kathy and her asking me what my goals were for playing rugby and telling her that I wanted to play in the 2006 World Cup and that's what I was working towards. Now it's here... And we only have one training session left until we get to show the world what we're about. The full selections for the match are 1. Jamie Burke 2. Mari Wallace 3. Meredith Ottens 4. Erin Carter 5. Jen Crouse 6. Phaidra Knight 7. Ham 8. Tina Nesberg 9. Claudia Braymer 10. Heather Hale 11. Ellie Karvoski 12. Pam Kosanke 13. Keenya Warner 14. Laura Cabrera 15. Ashley English 16. Danielle Miller 17. Annie Collier 18. Kate Pope 19. Kelly McMahon 20. Lee Knight 21. Kristin Baja 22. Patty Jervey

Today is a lazy day. We have the entire day off. Our only instructions were to take care of ourselves and not be on our feet all day. It's actually worked out perfectly because it's a grey day and drizzly, so my plans of staying here reading, drinking water, perhaps doing a pool recovery should be the perfect pace. Then tomorrow it's off to Edmonton.

World Cup 3: After the first practice

2006-08-27T00:00:00.000-04:00

So it's been a long but productive day. We started the day with a meeting with Trie who is testing the rise and fall of testosterone and cortisol during competition as part of her Master's thesis. She wants to test all levels of players, so working with the National team is great for her. The process however turned into quite a spectacle. Here's the way the procedure works. First, you must gargle with spring water. Then chew Trident Original (it's the one that's scientifically proven) for three minutes before proceeding to spit 5mL of saliva into 2 different test-tubes. Some people struggled with the process more than others

Lee passing out our supplies!

Trying to fill the test-tube!

After the testing we went to the pitch for our two practice sessions. The morning was primarily devoted to lineouts for us forwards. I have know idea what the backs do when they go off by themselves, but I can only assume it has something to do with being fast. Lunch came and went and was accented by the presence of coke and frosted animal crackers (a prop's best friend). After that we split again and we forwards wandered over to the scrum-sled (which turned out to be a slight hike away) and spent a lot of time scrumming. It was a really awesome session and we really felt like we were gelling by the time we all came back together.

After practice we got to come back to the hotel and shower before heading over to Outback for dinner. As a forward I stongly support this process of food being readily available immediately upon entering an establishment. It prevents the onset of crankiness. Once we were done with dinner we had a little downtime before heading to our team meeting. I spent that time learning how to put pictures into my posts, which after a few frsutrated attempts were thwarted I figured it out.

The meeting was really good for us to just talk about what we're trying to do tactically. Tomorrow we're doing a controlled scrimmage with the midwest folks so it'll be a good opportunity to look at all the stuff we've been working on. Alright, now it's time for me to go to bed. I originally was going to wait to do this til tomorrow but then I figured I had the energy for it, why not.

World Cup 2: First day in MN

2006-08-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

So, it's begun... we've had our first night's sleep in our hotel and now we're heading out to the first of what will no doubt be long, but fulfilling practice days.

Yesterday all us Pacific girls managed to get to the airport and onto our planes. It was one of the least complicated travel scenarios for rugby yet. On the plane Carter and I spent our time working on the lineout plays, by writing them out onto the newspaper since neither one of us thought to bring the sheet in our carry-on. When we got to MN we took the airport shuttle out to our hotel and picked up the Atlanta contingent on the way. Then we had a little down time before heading out to a little light practice to work out the kinks of travel and get the blood flowing. As usual the game of touch got a little more forceful, which was the sign that it was time to split and work forwrds and backs stuff. We spent some time working out lineout movement and then just got some time to run around together. All in all it was just nice to be playing with everyone again after the hiatus since Stanford.

Back at the hotel we showered ate our Chipotle dinner and hung out exchanging water bottles - each player decorated a water bottle for one of her teammates to have for the tour. We had a meeting at 7:30 with Trie to find out about the opportunity to participate in a research study before we watched the NZ-England match from last fall. I was shocked when KTP said that breakfast was at 8am and that we didn't have to meet for practice until 9:30am... that's virtually noon for rugby tours. After the videos it was time to come back and sleep after sort-of-sleeping in the airport thursday night. I also spent some time posting the rest of the pictures from our Boulder trip online.

This morning, par for the course, the first people at breakfast were 5 front row players. We know when there's food. We can sense it on our radar. So the conversation stopped and we ate to our hearts' content and were done before most of the backline showed up. I figured I had some time before practice so I'd get this started so as to not fall behind within a day of getting here... so that's it for now.

World Cup 1: heading to MN

2006-08-25T04:01:00.000-04:00

This one is going to be short as it is 1am and I am sitting at the San Francisco International Airport waiting for a 6:15am. Some might say I'm a little OCD arriving st the airport this early, but I've been dreaming of playing in the World Cup since I was in college, so I'd sit at the airport for a week if I had to. The bigger reason is that the BART wouldn't get us here until 5:30 and if we're going to have to get up at 3:30 to make a shuttle, why not just come sleep at the airport and not have to get up until 4:45... so I'm here, not sleeping and otherwise pondering this undertaking. I'll give a little more info about what I'm thinking heading into this next 3.5 weeks in a few days, but just wanted to give a few key details for eveyone's info going forward.

The USA has matches on 8/31, 9/4, 9/8, 9/12, and then either 9/16 or 17. Everyone who can't make it to Edmonton can watch the matches on the web live at www.rwcwomens.com. Information about how things are going will also be the womeneagles website (and of course here). I'll try and update this every couple of days, but I can't guarantee it. We're all flying into Minnesota tomorrow and then head to Canada on tuesday. I'll have a better idea of schedules and plans after we meet tomorrow. Anyways, I really should try and get some sleep before flying out, so until there's more to write...

How does one catch up after a 6month hiatus!?!

2006-08-25T03:26:00.000-04:00

So I have not been blogging in a while... that's not to say that I haven't been introspecting I just haven't had the internet-access required to do the necessary writing of that introspection. Alas, the real impetus for getting back into it is the upcoming World Cup... and by upcoming I mean I'm at the airport and fly out tomorrow. I have had many requests to keep a blog again for this tour similar to the one I kept for the UK tour... while I would love to say I'll be as diligent this go round as that I fear the nearly doubled time away may make that more challenging, but I'll try.

Strangely though I feel as though I ought to at least make some effort to catch up at least a little before I delve into what will be one of the most momentous events in my life. So here's the synopsis of the past 6 months: Things with Jen are great and we moved in together in June. I went to New Hampshire for my interview, which involved a great deal of maneuvering on my part and found out in March that I was accepted into the Outdoor Education PhD program at UNH, and was offered a graduate assistanship to cover my tuition plus a 13K stipend, which was an absolute blessing. When I emailed my advisor to find out what I should do with regards to rugby and grad school since they seemed to be in opposition to each other, he gave his full blessing for my deferral and assured me that there would be money for me come the fall of 2007. So it appears my life is going along as planned.

I also got a part-time job working as a personal trainer and strength coach. This has been great because it has given me access to all the training equipment that have really accented my regimen leading up to World Cup.

Additionally I have continued with my work with Landmark Education and much more at home in myself as time wears on, not that I was hugely uncomfortable before, but just that I didn't how comfortable I could be. I did the advanced course in April and am currently working in the Self-Expression and Leadership program, which really is about taking what you're passionate about and really putting it into the world. For me that has and will continue to be really providing opportunities for children (both the young and the young at heart) to follow their dreams not matter what. It took me a while to figure out what that meant in the context of this program but finally I figured it out and have started doing some work on it. The premise is creating a mentorship program of sorts wear young female rugby players could actually contact the National team with questions, seeking advice, etc and we could respond. It would be the equivalent of a high school or middle school soccer player sending an email to the US Soccer team to ask about the best way to work on corner kicks and getting a response from Mia Hamm. How great of an opportunity would that be for us National Team players to be able to really give back to the future of women's rugby and to some degree have a hand in shaping it!?!. I don't really know how it would look as of yet, as it's still in it's infancy, but I have broached the topic with Kathy and she is supportive and I've started communicating with the board of the newly founded US Womens Rugby Foundation (www.uswrf.org) about possibly linking the two. So we'll see where that goes...

On the rugby side of things we have had several opportunities ot play together over the past 6 months. We got together in Chula Vista (though I didn't go due to an unfortunate shoulder injury), then agains in Blaine to play the Midwest, over the week of ITTs in Colorado when we got to play two internationals against Canada, and finally in a one-day camp at STanford in July. We went 1-1 during the Canada matches, which may turn out to be a blessing in disguise as it has shown us where we are vulnerable and also served to leave us really hungry heading into World Cup. I guess tomorrow we'll find out how hungry it made us.

Okay, so now I feel a little better about diving head first into this World Cup blog and don't feel quite so behind, though I hardly feel like I've done justice to the past 6 months of life, but alas we take what we can get.

My Landmark Experience

2006-02-28T13:11:00.000-05:00

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you, and just happening. Interesting that despite what each of us thinks are hugely important trials and tribulations, really most of the rest of the world does not care. Not at first that seems a bit demoralizing, in the 'no one cares about me' sense. But when you really think about it, it's really liberating in that 'the entire world is not that concerned with what I am doing, so I can do what I want and be happy' sense. This is just one of the many interesting points I came away from the Landmark Forum with (I did it the weekend of Feb 10-13). It's an interesting process. I originally decided to go at the suggestion of Rose. I really didn't know what to expect, but I was sad and upset and figured I'd try anything once :) Luckily she had warned me going in that it could be a little salesy, which helped me keep things in perspective. I mean if Rose went into it and didn't like the 'hard-sell' side of things, but still felt like it was an amazing experience and worth doing... well let's just say it helped keep my mind open.

The interesting part of the whole thing is that a lot of what is said/taught in the forum is fairly intuitive, common sense sort of stuff. In fact in many ways it's the simplicity of it that makes it so powerful. It's also what makes us so resistant to it, because we as humans somehow feel like we should have been able to figure it out on our own if it were that easy. I guess that is the foil of our ego. I was able to really take a step back from my life and take a look at how what I had been doing was affecting all the relationships I have in my life (love, work, friends, etc). By seeing where you have been a cause in your own problems gives you the authority and power to be the solution in them as well. Once I had been able to really see myself as the cause of my life, because it's my life and no one elses, it was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. It helped me regain a sense of control that I had previously not experienced when I was busy seeing life as something that was happening to me as opposed to as something that I happened to.

I won't really preach about the merits of the course too much, though I will say that it is something I would recommend anyone to do for the peace and empowerment it provides (just don't get too frustrated by the hard-sell side fo it). I just want to point out one of the things that was most important for me coming out of the course.

Life is right now! All of us are so busy living our lives for a future that may or may not happen. If I work x-number of hours a week I'll save enough money to be able to spend time with my family someday. Or if I get this job, or this relationship, or have this much money, then I'll be really happy. Or the opposite, of I don't want to be in a relationship because I may get hurt or it may not work (I know this one well). Guess what!?! You're missing it. Life is what's happening right now. Now is the time you need to be happy in and feel fulfilled. Tomorrow never comes. When tomorrow gets here, it's right now, this moment! And yet we still live for tomorrow and someday. Live to your potential right now, and live to your passion because this is it. This is what life is. This is your life, right now.

A Return to Love

2006-02-03T01:21:00.000-05:00

it is time for me to release the hold my fears have over me. They no longer serve me, nor do they make me happy. I want something more!

" 'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

-- From A RETURN TO LOVE

The UK Saga: Part 6, the end

2006-02-02T12:13:00.000-05:00

So I need to get this last post about the tour done so that I can get back to using this blog to help me figure my own stuff out.

This one is going to be pretty basic because I just don't really have the energy to devote to an extended dialogue right now. We took the bus to the airport on Saturday morning and when we got on the bus we were told that we were not going to have the afternoon practice in London. We were instead going to have a walk-through in the parking lot on Sunday morning if we could find space. We got to the airport and I was able to send out some post-cards (a little late since it was the last two days of tour) to my family and friends. When we got into London we got on yet another bus and made our way over to Kingston, where we were staying. When we got there we had a bit of time to decompress and relax before dinner, which was followed by the jersey ceremony. Then most of us just spent the evening relaxing (though I think some of the non-rostered players wandered down into Kingston to check it out). In the morning we had breakfast and then a brief meeting to go over line-outs. I spent some time trying to get packed up so that things would be easier the next morning when we had to be at the bus at 6:15am. We left to drive to the game at 12:15pm. The match went well, though we were plagued with penalties. I think the ref was unduly harsh at times towards us, but that's just me. In the end we won 21-8 (I'm pretty sure that was the score). We definitely wound up stepping up in the second half. We were really pleased to have gone 3-0 on tour and that became our mantra over the course of the evening. At the after match function, we all had some celebratory drinks and decided that we needed to go out on the town. When we got back to hotel we did our last minute packing and then we headed out for some well-earned R&R. Mari (social coordinator extraordinaire) figured out different places for us to go to. We hit up a small bar called Barcadia and had a few drinks, played some never-have-I-ever, and just hung out together. Then we went over to a club called Oceana and did some dancing. I was surprised to see the amount of energy that we had for dancing considering the fact that we had played a very intense rugby game. Jen and I left the club and wandered over to Subway to get some food before heading back to the hotel. I don't really know what the rest of the folks did with their night, but I know we all made it to the bus, which is a big accomplishment considering the fact that we had some serious stragglers last time. The flight back to the States was uneventful, and Jen and had a lot of time to talk. When we got back to Newark it was a bit chaotic as everyone gathered their bags and either was leaving the airport, or trying to catch flights, so the goodbyes were brief across the board. I said my good-byes to the Berkeley girls, knowing I'd be seeing them in a few days, and wandered out to get my rental car and head up to New Hampshire. And thus ended the U.S. tour to the UK and Ireland. Hopefully we'll have some more matches between now and World Cup, but if not, at least we have a good place to build from.

The UK Saga: Part 5

2006-01-27T17:37:00.000-05:00

So I am sitting in the manager's room right now listening to Michelle Carrone give Ham her requisite compliment after telling her what time the bus leaves. Her, Candi, and Doc have to, when anyone asks them what time our bus leaves in the morning, tell them when it's leaving and then give them a compliment. It was their fine for being late for the bus coming home in Edinburgh. It was quite an entertaining evening of skits and a fine session. Will give more details later. I'm also highly amused by the conversations that have arisen from the book that Trucano brought with her, Sextrology. I'm learning more about our staff than I ever needed to know ;)

So back to the course of life here in Limerick (which by the way tonight is our last night). So Thursday was a nice little recovery day for us. We actually had a recovery session in the pool, but Michelle let me use running to the laundromat as my recovery session, because I had to pick up all the stuff that we had dropped off so that we could pack up before noon. When I got back from that little jaunt I went to a nice leisurely breakfast before packing up all my stuff... we needed to pack everything to get it shipped to London because of that pesky 33lb weight limit for ryanair. After getting all packed up there was just some leisure time lounging about. Then Jen and I went to lunch and headed into town so that she could try and get the last of the coaches gifts, which were stressing her out. It was a very lazy time and then it was time to wander back in to the hotel and have dinner. After dinner we had a meeting where the selections for the England match were announced... there was a bit of confusion about it all, because apparently some people knew the selections before we were told them because they had been posted on some website, so Kathy wasn't too thrilled with that.

I will be starting at tighthead prop for the match, which will be a lot of fun, but also a shift after playing LHP for a while now. After the selections were announced we then watched the tape of the Ireland match. It wasn't as bad on tape as it appeared in real life, but some of that may also have been that there was some time to put things in perspective. After the match we just watched tv and went to sleep.

Today was our last day of intense practices. We had to be at the pitch ready to go at 9:30am and worked on clearing in the breakdowns and tactical decisions with regards to breakdown assignments. It was a fairly mellow practice and we broke for lunch at 11:30. After lunch we were back on the pitch at 1:30, with Kathy's goal being that we'd finish at 3:30pm. We worked on lineouts, scrums, and defense, and had a pretty good focused session to wind out the tour. After practice it was ice bath time, and then the Sextrology reading started to entertain us until dinner. After our last awesome meal, it was time for our evening entertainment.

The rookies actually got there skit given to them, sort of. Back when we were in Scotland they were told that they had to make "music video", which they did of Thriller. Let's just say that a few of us took the brunt of the abuse... and those few of use know who we are. After the skit, we did our fine session, where the majority of our punishments were in the form of limericks being composed. This is because earlier in our stay we had a fun little activity where Shouse gave us all pictures of each others pets and we had to write limericks about the pet or the pets owner if we knew who it was. So it sort of became a theme.

After that we just lounged and watched a rugby game that was on tv... so it was a relatively easygoing day, for being a two a day tye situation. Now I am making sure I am all caught up before we head to London tomorrow. We're leaving at 10:45am, which means one more amazing breakfast. We're going to have a walk through tomorrow when we arrive in London, but nothing else really training wise.

On that note, I need to go to bed parce que Je suis fatiguee. I think the steady sleep-deprived state I am achieving is starting to get to me. Who knows what the computer situation will be like in London, but if I get a chance I'll get it going again.

The UK Saga: Part 4

2006-01-26T17:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this one is going to be a bit shorter than the rest because I am tired, but I also will try and get this thing caught up.

So, monday morniing the squad for the Ireland match was announced. I was a little disappointed to not be selected, but that's part of the way this level of play goes. We had two practices that day. I wound up minorly injuring my elbow, which was really frustrating, because it was my elbow that I dislocated two years ago and it really scared me. We did lunch at the University of Limerick and then had an afternoon practice. I was a little shocky the whole day after my elbow, which made me tentative at times. But alas, what's a girl to do.

I don't know if I previously mentioned it (I think I did), but the food we have here at the hotel is amazing. Lot's of yumminess! Each morning we have a breakfast of fresh fruit, cereals, yogurt, and then we get to order some hot food (eggs, pancakes, etc). We are getting seriously spoiled.

On Tuesday we had the morning off to go into Limerick and look around a bit. We went to a couple of ruby stores. Jen and I went wandering around as she was on the hunt for coaches gifts, which is apparently a more stressful process than I had previously anticipated. After our day in the town we had a short walk through practice, so that we could get used to playing at that late time of day (our match is at 7pm on Wed). My ebow felt great most of the day, but after practice it was really sore. But now it's feeling better after a few days off. The dya ended with the jersey ceremony and everyone just lounging around watching tv and movies.

On wednesday, we had a lot of free time. THe forwards had a brief lineout practice and those of us not rostered had a short workout with Michelle. Then KTP and I went to Mr. Jeeves to drop off laundry because I was starting to run out of clothes and my roommates were commenting on the odious nature of my under armor. THe forwards had a short meeting before we had a dinner and headed off to the pitch. I was really antsy the whole time at the pitch because I wasn't playing and didn't really know what to do with myself. I wound up helping shag balls for Kosanke as a way to stay busy. The match was... interesting. The first half was really hard to watch, particularly being completely non-rostered and knowing there was no chance I could go in. At halftime Ireland was winning 5-3, and the lockerroom was very somber. The second half was definitely better, and in the end we wound up winning 23-5. Because of that we were given today off from training.

After the match we had our function with the Irish team and then we got to go out to a bar called Groody's for a pint of Guiness (I went with the Cider). Then we went home to fall out. Anyways, I guess I won't get to completely catch-up, but I am closer and hopefully I'l get the rest done tomorrow.

Goodnight, now to let Patty use the computer and me to bed.

The UK Saga: Part 3

2006-01-22T16:46:00.000-05:00

First and foremost, we beat Scotland 13-6. More on the game to come, but wanted to get it out right from the get-go. Also we're now in Limerick.

Before I start any updates I need to make sure I write about the tour rules up to this point. I keep meaning to write them and then I forget each time, so I wanted to make sure I did it this time right away. 1. Each time you enter the common room of Drake you had to do some sort of movement to announce your entrance. This provided a lot of motivation to get into the room early so that you could watch the creative entrances. Some funny, impressive, lewd... 2. You have to eat meals with different people (on a side-note to that one, I think the coaching staff have violated that rule at each meal, and are in for a surprise if they think were letting them off unscathed) 3. No bed head, or bed-face (this can best be described by Ham on the first night we were in Scotland) 4. Fashion-faux pas - need I say more? (Crouse tried to argue that my bright-blue superman tights fell into that category, but it was hard to support when our fine-master had some pink paisley tights she was wearing) 5. No leaving your personal belongings at practice or around in general (Hale managed to leave every article of her clothing in the locker room in Netherdale - wonder what her fine will be) 6. I think the last rule was no sharing of TMI (too much information). This one was most regularly violated by our boisterous Mari and Phaidra. These rules are all fineable (most of the fines will be public spectacle I think).

Okay now that I got that out, I can actually finish the update. So, when last I left it was with going to bed on Friday night. Friday night I decided that I was going to sleep with my earplugs in and almost slept through breakfast. That would have been very sad for a prop :( On Saturday we had a bit of free-time before the game. The non-rostered players went to the gym with Michelle for a little workout. And I am actually quite intrigued by the game they describe as "Tiger Ball". After I packed up all my kit gear, I went over to use the computer to do yesterday's entry and then went and ate lunch. After lunch we loaded onto the bus for our little jaunt down to Galashiels. I get very crazy immediately before games if I spend too much time thinking about the game, so I just spent the game with my mind wandering aimlessly through the guilty pleasure of Maxim magazine (I know it's awful, but it serves it's purpose). Other folks zoned out listening to music, reading, sleeping, etc. When We arrived at Netherdale Stadium we had a bit of time to watch the men's match before getting dressed for our match.

After we got dressed we headed out to a side field to warm-up and then it was back into the locker room for final prep. Everyone was very pumped to finally get this tour kicked off, and the intensity was awesome as we all stood listening to the national anthem play. I actually would not do justice to describing the game, so Iam just going to let usa rugby do it. The game description is at http://www.usarugby.org/cgi-bin/02/press/displayFullAnnouncement.pl?announcementId=265 . I can tell you that it was a sloppy game at times, but a win is a win is a win. I felt pretty good about my tackling, but was definitely frustrated by the fact that I let the ref get into my head and throw off my scrumming for a while early in the match. It gave me an important lesson in learning to adapt in the face of things not going wuite the way you expect. On a side note, Phaidra wound up with a pretty heinous injury (she tore her tear duct) and will need to have that repaired. She was highly entertaining on her pain killers :)

After the match we all showered and headed to the Galashiels clubhouse for a dinner with the Scottish women. It was a good meal and our "percussion performance" went off without a hitch. The Entertainment for us came when our new caps, Claudia, Ham, and Trucano, got their "caps" (tartan berets of sorts), went skipping around the banquet to the singing of the Scottish women's squad (we joined them after we figured out what they were saying) "Skip around the room, skip around the room, we won't shut up till you skip around the room". I personaly thought they were saying "skipper in the room" and had no idea what that meant. So I was glad to have it explained. After that we all boarded the bus to make the journey back up for our last night at the HMS Caledonia. When we got back we all did some packing and tried to clean up before falling into a comatose like sleep.

Sunday morning was really chaotic, as we tried to eat breakfast, clean, pack and get on the road to head to Glasgow. I was really tired so as soon as the bus was loaded and on the road I fell asleep. So I missed the adventure that was us going to the wrong airport first before discovering that there were two airports in Glasgow. The airport we flew out of looked like something that Rainbow Brite would live in and was decorated with the phrase "Pure Dead Brilliant". Does this seem like a wise marketing choice to anyone? Why don't they just name the airlines that flies out of there Crash and Burn Air? Either way the flight was uneventful and we landed at Shannon right around 1pm. Once we had gotten all our luggage, we loaded yet another bus to head to Limerick.

Oh, I almost completely forgot. So, at last writing I think I had mentioned the packing fiasco of possibly mailing things to Ireland, possibly mailing things back to the states. Well, neither of those happened. Instead, it was decided that we would load the bus in Scotland and it would then go via ferry to ireland and would drive down to Limerick with all our stuff. I only remember this detail now because that bus just arrived and we were able to get to all our luggage again. How entertaining!

Once we got to Limerick we checked into our hotel, Castletroy Park Hotel. It is definitely much nicer than anything I am used to. Each room has a double bed and a single bed, so me and my roommates had to figure out a democratic system for deciding who got their own bed. We opted for drawing cards, whoever got highest got the bed. I sunk it with the Ace of Hearts. Whoo hoo! Then it was down to the pool for a brief recovery session, which us tight-fivers turned into noodle-racing, and underwater wrestling. But it was nice and relaxing and just plain fun.

Dinner was at 5pm. It was a real treat, we had an awesome meal with crystal glass-ware, waitresses who put your napkin on your chair when you get up, etc. Definitely happy about that. A fed prop, is a happy prop! After dinner we had a meeting, where we watched last night's match (after some slight technical difficulties - and several downloads of user manuals, etc). Watching the game from the outside really showed some places where we had really not capitalized on huge opportunities. So, I have a feeling we will be working on all that stuff tomorrow. After the meeting everyone scattered to get ready for bed, go get treatment, work online. I hit up Sara for some work on my shoulder that was feeling a bit tender and crunchy from yesterday's match. And then I came to room 133, the manager's den so that I could get this thing all caught up. And now I am! Yeah! I can go to bed and get ready for practice tomorrow (9-11:30, and then again 1:30-4:30)... though I'd be lying if I didn't say that I am very excited about breakfast after the dinner that we got. The way to my heart... Also, the squad for our match against Ireland will be announced tomorrow morning, which I'm sure has everyone antsy and curious and speculative. We'll see how that goes. Alright, now it is time for me to go to sleep in my single bed and put my earplugs in to save my sanity.

The UK Saga: Part 2

2006-01-21T05:25:00.000-05:00

So, to continue the update... I'm using this as a way to diffuse a bit of the nerves that are building seeing as we have a match in 5 hours. Hopefully, this will help take my mind off it bit, so I don't start chomping at the bit too much.

So, when I left it last time, we had just finished our morning practice on Thursday and were getting ready for our free afternoon. I was one of the folks who headed into Edinburgh to putter around. I have been there several times, so I really didn't have an agenda. I just wanted to get of the base for a little while. Other folks had plans to visit the castle, go on the underground crypt tours, etc. Hedwig, Jen, and I went wandering around aimlessly on the quest for a rugby store... When we found out it was a 20 min walk away, we decided to veto that idea (though another group - Ashley, Suzanna, Kelly, and Baja- made the trek) and instead opted to go into a Scottish pub for some coffee and relax. We hung out there for an hour and then continued our wanderings. Hedwig abandoned us on her own mission to find an internet cafe, which is quite funny since about five min later we stumbled into one where we found a number of the team checking email and drinking coffee. I jumped online, and continued my mission to try and figure out how I was getting to NH (still working on that one). There were two buses going back to the base... One at 5pm and the next at 6pm. So, at about 10 til 5 we all wandered back to the bus to make our way back to the base.

When we got back began the entertaining task of doing lots of muddy laundry in washing machines that don't really remove mud very well. Suffice it to say there was quite a back-log. Those folks who stuck around or who came back on the early bus went and ate at the dining hall, and those folks who took the 6pm bus wandered in right at the end to eat desert. There were a few funny stories from that group. Particularly the description Candi gave of her evasive running from the restaurant she had dinner at with Dr. Bartoli and Michelle Carrone, our strength coach. Apparently she left them in the dust as she sprinted back trying to get to the bus so it wouldn't leave them.

That night consisted of more laundry for everyone, and then the fun began. We had a meeting where we found out the schedule for Saturday and then we had to discuss our trip to Ireland. Prior to our leaving for Scotland we had gotten an email telling us that for our flight to Ireland our checked baggage weight limit was 33lbs and our carry-on weight was 20lbs, because it was going to be a small puddle jumper plane. Most people did not heed that advice and came to Scotland with some folks being near 100lbs of stuff. In my own defense, I planned accordingly in that I had one bag that was 27lbs and one bag that was 40lbs, so I figured I could do some swapping around, and get them to 33lbs apiece. But then I found out it was one 33lb bag total. The charge for being over was $5/pound, which could get very expensive. So the plan was to pack everything we'd need to get us through Monday into one bag that was under 33lbs and the rest of the stuff would be shipped to Ireland to arrive on Monday and then shipped again to get it to London. So all of us started our frantic packing-unpacking, guesstimating weights, etc. Then the idea came up that if we weren't going to have the stuff in Ireland for much more than two days, before it would have to be shipped again, why not just ship the stuff home rather than sending all over the place. So, everyone then unpacked and packed again. This time having one bag to check on the plane to go immediately to Ire, one bag to be shipped back to the States, and then another bag if necessary to go to Ireland along shipping routes. They had to be ready by the next day because the bags going to Ireland were leaving at 8:30am. So, the halls of the Drake building were filled with a lot of chaos for a while as everyone debated their critical essentials. I for one realized that as long as there is laundry available, I could probably get away with half of what I brought with me - lessons learned! That was a late night and everyone, went sleep with visions of rolling luggage and scales dancing in their head. I tried to go to sleep but alas had some snoring roommates to deal with (I won't name any names) and wound up in the end heading into the common room where I set up a really comfy little nest of couch cushions on the floor. I wasn't the only one who had that idea as another teammate joined me in there around 3am, when the howling of the wind was keeping her up.

I woke up Friday morning slightly tired, but not too bad... my little cocoon was actually more comfortable than the bed, so at least I felt better about that. We had practice that morning. Now up to now the weather had been rather mild and we'd been pleasantly surprised. Friday was when that changed. When we got to the field, the sky was dark, the air was frigid, and there shearing daggers of icy death pelting us from the sky. You may think I am overexaggerating, but I'm not. There was sideways sleet and hail pelting us. Us forwards were glad for the scrum practice that we started with just because it meant we all got to stay warm from body heat for a while. We worked on some looseplay, a penalty play, and then called it good at 10:20am, when hypothermia seemed imminent. Most of us opted to just walk back to the dorms in our boots and kit, rather than stay out in the torrent to take them off. We all took warm showers and then the mad crush in the laundry room began as everyone tried to get all the things washed and ready that they would need for today's match. The rest of the day was fairly lazy, with people napping reading, watching movies. The forwards had a brief afternoon session of lineout work in the gym and then we had free time until dinner. After dinner, there were a few meetings to get last minute plays ironed out before the jersey ceremony at 7:30. As always, the ceremony was emotional. There's nothing like walking up in front of your teammates and getting that USA jersey handed to you by your coach. Knowing what that represents for me as a player... it's a symbol both of playing for this team, representing my country, a tribute to all the people who supported me up to this point, all my hard work... there's no real way to do justice to it in words, but those who have been there and done it know what I am talking about. After the ceremony things got a little lighter as we practiced our entertainment for after the Scotland match. Last year we did a little choreographed dance number to Usher, this year we worked on a rhythm presentation. Director Keenya kept us until we were performing up to her standards (which are fairly high considering the fact that the back triangle was banging spoons together and the centers had shakers full of pasta as their percussive instrument of choice). After that everyone left to go watch rugby games, and do whatever pre-game rituals they had in place. I stayed up talking and otherwise being a lazy bum, until I wandered to my room and rather than take any chances shoved my earplugs in a went to sleep.

With that I need to go eat lunch and get ready for today's match. I'll get the rest of this updated, probably when I get to Ireland, where supposedly we have wireless internet, and therefore I won't be trying to cram multiple days worth of stuff into each post. But for now I am going to get to work on mental prep for the game.

The UK Saga: Part 1

2006-01-20T10:40:00.000-05:00

So, perhaps it is a good thing that I waited to write my update on what's been going on here in the UK until today, because otherwise it would have missed out on some entertaining tidbits. But I'll give the highlights up to this point.

We arrived in Scotland on Tuesday morning at about 7:30am, without too much trouble (other than some serious jetlag and one unfortunate passport-losing incident). When we arrived we all got settled into our rooms at the HMS Caledonia, which quite a number of us were familiar with seeing as we are in the same place as the last UK tour. Lunch came and went and many of us crawled into our beds for the deadly pre-practice nap. I woke up slightly disoriented due to the surroundings and the exhaustion, and stumbled my way out to the playing fields. We had a brief handling practice just to take some of the edge off of flying and (I think) to keep us from sleeping the rest of the day away. After practice was dinner and then a short meeting. A quick glance around the room by Kathy, told her all she needed to know... watching the Scotland match from last year was not going to happen that night. Quite a few of us (me included) were using all left over energy stores just trying to stay vertical and keep our eyes open. Shortly after the meeting adjourned, most people were sound asleep. I forced myself to stay awake until 9pm, in an attempt to get on something resembling a normal schedule.

Despite the nearly 10 hours of sleep I got (some got closer to 14), when my alarm went off at 6:45 I muttered a few choice words, and rolled out of bed for the day to begin. Breakfast (poached & fried eggs, stewed tomoatoes, baked beans, and potatoes) came and went - I can't really say for sure whether I was even awake for it, but supposedly I was there. We then had a meeting (i think, the days are all starting to sort of run together) or maybe that was after lunch. I think it was after luch. In either event, we went to practice and spent the better part of the morning working on decision making and tackling. The weather was remarkably mild, and the fields were soft, so it was actually quite pleasant. Our time on the field looked a lot like some sort of strange dance though because we had to constanly move locations to avoid ripping up too much of any given piece of ground. After practice we came back and changed into dry clothes and headed to lunch. Following lunch there was a team meeting to talk about the afternoon schedule and to announce the squad for Scotland. It was 1.Burke 2.Miller 3.Ottens 4.Trucano 5.Crouse 6.McMahon 7.Ham (I am not even going to attempt to spell her last name) 8.Nesberg 9.Braymer 10.Hale 11.Neder 12.Warner 13.Jervey (I could be wrong on whose IC vs OC, but I am a prop so I sometimes don't pay attention to these things) 14.Karvoski 15.English 16.Wallace 17.Joyce 18.Barth 19.P. Knight 20.L. Knight 21.Aerts 22.Kosanke. Knowing the squad helped with the afternoon practice, which involved scrummaging, lineouts, backline stuff, and general game play... I know I am missing things in here, but really it's been a lot of rugby and I can't really keep track of everything we've done on any given day. After practice we showered and ate dinner. Then there was a little free time before we had a team meeting where we did in fact watch the Scotland match, and tried to breakdown some of our tendencies that did not suit us very well last time. Following that there were individual forwards and backs meetings to work on whatever it is that backs talk about and for us defining our scrum calls. That evening we all just hung around (some people stayed up and watched a rugby game that L. Cabrera had brought with her on DVD) and went to bed. I spent some time on the computer trying to figure out the rest of my life, seeing as I have a grad school interview in NH the day after we get back from the tour and no way of getting there.

Thursday was a fairly mellow day (relatively speaking). We had our usual breakfast and then a team meeting. We were supposed to meet from 8:15am to 8:45am and then practice from 9am until 12. Sadly (I don't know if you can sense the dripping sarcasm, considering my love of 3 hour practices- and I don't think I was the only one not too disappointed) our meeting didn't end until 9:15, so we didn't start practicing till a bit later. That morning we started out working on some more scrum stuff and then went into a lot of slow ball work. We ended the practice with counterattacks. Yet again the weather held out for us, and it was breezy and a little drizzly, but nothing too bad. It was definitely not like the artic tundra we had been expecting. After practice everyone hustled back to shower and change because we had the afternoon off and so a group of us were headed into Edinburgh to hang out for a few hours. Another group opted to just hang around the base and watch movies and relax.

But alas, I will have to continue my story (and right when the entertainment of last night and thismornings practice were getting ready to come up) later when I have more computer time. We have limited access, and with 30 people trying to use one computer it can get a bit hurried. Hopefully this evening I can get everything updated.

QUOTES

2006-01-13T13:47:00.000-05:00

Love is everything it's cracked up to be…It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. Erica Jong

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. Peter Ustinov

Love is not blind - it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less. Rabbi Julius Gordon

If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down. Mary Pickford

The things that one most wants to do are the things that are probably most worth doing. Winifred Holtby

Could you imagine how horrible things would be if we always told others how we felt? Life would be intolerably bearable. Randy K Milholland

Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them. John Updike

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead. Bertrand Russel

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. HL Mencken

When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power. Hugh White

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness. Friedrich Nietzsche

We can only learn to love by loving. Iris Murdoch

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. Edgar Allen Poe

In order for people to be happy, sometimes they have to take risks. It's true these risks can put them in danger of being hurt. Margaret Cabot

Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved. Victor Hugo

The Invitation

2006-01-11T18:21:00.000-05:00

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to! know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Refelections on my past

2006-01-08T18:02:00.000-05:00

As we head bounding forward into this new year of 2006, i have found myself coming to a crashing face-to-face awareness of the life I've lived and really not been too thrilled with it. It's time for a change. I've spent the better part of my years living either in fear of my emotions and therefore have kept them behind walls so thick that they could have spared Nagasaki. Now I sit with a floodgate of emotions that I am not used to experiencing (let alone with this velocity and ferocity): anxiety, fear, overwhelming love... they all occupy a heart that had been so protected, but from what? all of my worst fears are realities of my own making and I need to come to terms with that in order to not fall prey to it again. So I sit. I sit with my emotions overpowering me at times, knowing that this is the only way. Realizing that while I may have idealized the notion of the Bene Geserit Litany I've never lived it.

"Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fear's path. Where it has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." - Bene Gesserit Litany

Rather than taking the hard and unpleasant road, I have historicall chosen the "easier" one. I put that in quotes, because while it misleadingly seems easier at the time, it most certainly is not when all the cards are dealt. It is a hard lesson to learn, and one I wish I had come to terms with much earlier in life, but how's that pesky catchphrase go "it's better late than never"!?!

I find it particularly poignant that I am coming to this cross-roads now as I prepare to venture across the country on a move that has no enddate in sight and has no safety nets. It is unbelievably liberating and scary as hell and is perfect timing (if you can have perfect timing for these types of things). I need to step forward fears still present, but not being allowed to dominate how I live my life. THIS IS MY LIFE AND I WANT TO LIVE IT AND BE HAPPY!