This weekend marked the end of our regular season in the Quebec League, and since we failed to qualify for the playoffs, it was our last trip to Canada.
I must say that looking back over the last two and a half years, the trips to Quebec have been some of the real high points of my time with the National Team. Stuck in a van for 5+ hours each direction, the trips themselves were a time for bonding with teammates, having discussions (sometimes funny, sometimes poignent, and a few times even heated), and taking time to reflect. As uncomfortable as the physical van ride could be, I always looked forward to these weekend trips. They were a time to "get away" from everyday life in Cortland, as well as a time to put practice into action. There is nothing better than having the opportunity to play games to see how you improve.
This weekend I completed my third season in the Quebec League, and am proud to be one of the few people who has been there to see, and be a part of, the recent evolution of this team. I recognize the faces of most of the girls we play against, can visualize each gym we play in, and know how to find my way around the neighborhoods where we usually stay. I have my favorite restaurants and favorite radio stations, and while the three seasons of games sometimes blend together, my favorite moments on and off the court do not.
Driving back this Sunday, I felt a hint of sadness as I realized this chapter of my life was closing. The van was quiet, and as the familiar landscape passed by outside my window, the sight of the snow melting and the spring emerging was itself a reminder that when one thing ends, something new begins.
As we drove out of Montreal for the last time, I took a few moments to reflect on the last two and a half years. I thought about some of my favorite memories- going to Brazil, beating Champlain and Canada, eating with the team at Pacinis, visiting a sugar shack for the first time, and nearly dying in the old handball van and living to laugh about it. These are the memories I enjoy revelling in with my old teammates and telling stories about to my new ones.
I wish that my last season in the Quebec League could have ended on a different note- maybe with a Championship trophy and a chance to say we beat the league. I am disappointed that our individual and team improvements did not reveal themselves in our recent scores. But I hope that the experience we gained this weekend, along with the lessons we learned from the countless weekends that came before, will come together when it really matters.
In less than two days we head to Mexico, the first of the major international events we have coming up in the next few months. This is what we've all worked and practiced for over the last several years. These games matter more than anything else we've done since I've been on this team, and now it is time to lay everything on the line. It's time to bring it.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
1-1 in Canada. Sigh.
Seriously, what is going on! We spent the week at practice working on our motion offense, and for the most part things looked really good. We were moving the ball better and had some nice looking fast-breaks in the practice.
So, coming into this weekend, I figured we would do pretty well. And we did, kind of.
First of all, it was kind of a hectic weekend because we only had two games instead of three. Both of them were on Sunday, so we decided to save money and do the whole trip in one day so we didn't have to stay in a hotel.
We left around 6:30am on Sunday morning and headed straight for Montreal. The weather was awful in Cortland, but thankfully it cleared-up as we went north. We arrived at the gym in Laval right before noon, so we were able to do a full warm-up before our first game at 1pm.
We played Sherbrooke first, and we won by a lot: 34-16. We could have done a lot better, the turnovers were high and the defense broke down at times. Still, we did a lot of things well and it was nice to win a game by so many points.
When the game ended, we had thirty minutes to rest and snack before we played our second game of the day against Laval, a team that has several players on the Canadian National team and has come in second in the league for the last several years.
It was amazing, we started the game off with a bang and kept a solid 3-4 point lead through the whole first half. Laval called a time-out right before the end of the half, and managed to go on a three-goal scoring run to end the half with 13-12, with the US up by one.
The second half started off well for us, and we regained the lead and kept it between 1-3 points throughout. Finally, at the very end of the game, with seven minutes left, our lead diminished slowly, and by three minutes left they were ahead. While we missed our scoring opportunities, they capitalized on fast break and we lost the game 28-24. It was awful!
There is nothing worse than losing a game that you could have won- that you were winning for 55 out of 60 minutes! I was extremely bummed at the end of the game because we worked and played hard for most of the match and just couldn't finish.
We still have two games left in the Quebec League next weekend, and if we win both of those, and some other teams lose, we still have a chance at playoffs. Let's just keep our fingers crossed.
Monday is a day-off and then we're back to work, getting ready for Quebec League games next weekend and then Mexico in one week!!
So, coming into this weekend, I figured we would do pretty well. And we did, kind of.
First of all, it was kind of a hectic weekend because we only had two games instead of three. Both of them were on Sunday, so we decided to save money and do the whole trip in one day so we didn't have to stay in a hotel.
We left around 6:30am on Sunday morning and headed straight for Montreal. The weather was awful in Cortland, but thankfully it cleared-up as we went north. We arrived at the gym in Laval right before noon, so we were able to do a full warm-up before our first game at 1pm.
We played Sherbrooke first, and we won by a lot: 34-16. We could have done a lot better, the turnovers were high and the defense broke down at times. Still, we did a lot of things well and it was nice to win a game by so many points.
When the game ended, we had thirty minutes to rest and snack before we played our second game of the day against Laval, a team that has several players on the Canadian National team and has come in second in the league for the last several years.
It was amazing, we started the game off with a bang and kept a solid 3-4 point lead through the whole first half. Laval called a time-out right before the end of the half, and managed to go on a three-goal scoring run to end the half with 13-12, with the US up by one.
The second half started off well for us, and we regained the lead and kept it between 1-3 points throughout. Finally, at the very end of the game, with seven minutes left, our lead diminished slowly, and by three minutes left they were ahead. While we missed our scoring opportunities, they capitalized on fast break and we lost the game 28-24. It was awful!
There is nothing worse than losing a game that you could have won- that you were winning for 55 out of 60 minutes! I was extremely bummed at the end of the game because we worked and played hard for most of the match and just couldn't finish.
We still have two games left in the Quebec League next weekend, and if we win both of those, and some other teams lose, we still have a chance at playoffs. Let's just keep our fingers crossed.
Monday is a day-off and then we're back to work, getting ready for Quebec League games next weekend and then Mexico in one week!!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Out to dinner
Love this pic! Edina (my roommate) and I came home from a long practice on Friday night and realized that we didn't have a lot of food in our fridge! Seeing as it was the end of the week, and we were exhausted from five days of work and practice (including a three-hour practice that night), we couldn't find the energy to go out and find food.
So- I drank a boost (one of those high calorie drinks for old people) that I found in my fridge leftover December, and Edina opened a can of beets. And voila, dinner for two ;)
Don't worry, we both went shopping the next day and finally made some real meals for ourselves. But we thought this was a funny picture to sum-up what life is like in Cortland, sometimes!
Monday, February 26, 2007
One win, two losses and a sub-freezing warm-up
Despite hoping we would win all three games this weekend, or at least two, I have to admit that the weekend went pretty well.
We left Saturday morning for the usually six hour drive to Montreal. Usually our coach likes to take the backroads, but since our assistant coach was driving we went on the highway, and it was much quicker! So, we got to Granby (about 45 minutes outside of Montreal) by 3:30pm.
We were all very amused when we got to the Granby Motel, which was no doubt a few steps down from the Hotel Castel with Spa that we'd stayed in previously. To quote one of my teammates "This is what happens when you lose to Canada in the qualifiers and have to take an extra trip to Mexico." Exactly. But despite appearances (including the trailer turned motel rooms sitting out front), the Granby Motel fulfilled its obligation of giving us a warm place to sleep.
USA vs. Granby
Saturday night we headed to the Granby gym to play against a team that, despite beating them several times, had beaten us in the last game by one point. We were not about to lose this game, so we arrived on the court with some fire to win.
Speaking of courts, the Granby gym is renowned for their very short court, so our fast breaks would be cut and we wouldn't be able to rely on fitness to beat them. Thankfully, everyone stepped up and we had a really great game, winning 27-23. Yay!!
Everyone was really excited because it felt like a true team effort. The attitude on the court was really positive and energetic, and we truly played as a team. It made the win that much more enjoyable.
After the game we grabbed some pizza/pasta and some groceries and had a very satisfying meal in our rooms while watching Forest Gump. We fell asleep pretty early since we'd have to leave for Montreal at 7:30am.
The morning drive went pretty quickly, and after eating a nice breakfast in the car, we arrived at the L'ecole de la Magdaleine earlier than expected. Since there was no one to open the door to the gym, our assistant coach thought it would be nice for us to take a walk outside to "warm-up."
Sadly, it was really REALLY cold outside (or maybe I just wasn't dressed properly for a walk in 5 degree weather) and our warm-up walk just got my nose running and my hands and ears frozen solid. My roommate joked that we looked like a bunch of prisoners out on our 20-minute walk around the yard. At least we all had a good laugh at it, and were very grateful when we saw the person who had come to open the gym!!
A clip from our warm-up walk
USA vs. Champlain 1
We played our first game on Sunday against Champlain 1, the best team in the league and the one with 5 players from the Canadian National Team. Among their best players is the National Team goalie, Audrey, who has a saving percentage of 70-80% against our team. In the past it has been as much of psychological game as it has been a physical one, but after our win against Granby, we definitely felt like we could take-on Champlain with no fear.
After a rough two minutes early on, the game was really really close through most of the first half. We were only down one point until the last four or five minutes when something broke down and they got ahead by six at the half. The second half was pretty good, we got their lead down to four and they never "pulled away" but we couldn't make up for the six point deficit in the first half and ended up losing by five. Despite the loss, we couldn't feel too badly about our performance. Again, I think the energy was really good and the teamwork was strong and we played well together- it just didn't culminate in a win. As always with this team, and against this goalie, it comes down to being really precise with our shots. Still, it was a game we could be proud of, and it gives us something to build on.
USA vs. Montreal
The second game of the morning was against Montreal, a team we are fighting against for a play-off spot. They beat us in the semi-finals of the playoffs last year and we definitely have a history with them as well. Overall they are a pretty good team, with decent players at almost every position, and one really strong player who has just returned from playing several seasons with a team in France.
Had we played Montreal first on Sunday, I think the outcome would have been a little bit different. We got behind early on in the game, and had a lot of difficulty shooting against their goalie, who is also a goalie on the National Team. We had a lot of opportunities to shoot and just didn't finish. I'm sure a lot of this had to do with the fatigue, especially for our four backcourts, who had very little time to rest during all of the games. But again, even though we lost, the atmosphere stayed positive and we pushed as a team until the end.
On the van ride home our team captain made a good point. She said that even though we wanted to win, maybe the results this weekend would give us even more motivation to win our next four games, which we will have to do if we want to get a playoff spot. At least there is something to build on, and I think everyone has a renewed sense of motivation coming from the positive feelings we experienced as a team.
We left Saturday morning for the usually six hour drive to Montreal. Usually our coach likes to take the backroads, but since our assistant coach was driving we went on the highway, and it was much quicker! So, we got to Granby (about 45 minutes outside of Montreal) by 3:30pm.
We were all very amused when we got to the Granby Motel, which was no doubt a few steps down from the Hotel Castel with Spa that we'd stayed in previously. To quote one of my teammates "This is what happens when you lose to Canada in the qualifiers and have to take an extra trip to Mexico." Exactly. But despite appearances (including the trailer turned motel rooms sitting out front), the Granby Motel fulfilled its obligation of giving us a warm place to sleep.
USA vs. Granby
Saturday night we headed to the Granby gym to play against a team that, despite beating them several times, had beaten us in the last game by one point. We were not about to lose this game, so we arrived on the court with some fire to win.
Speaking of courts, the Granby gym is renowned for their very short court, so our fast breaks would be cut and we wouldn't be able to rely on fitness to beat them. Thankfully, everyone stepped up and we had a really great game, winning 27-23. Yay!!
Everyone was really excited because it felt like a true team effort. The attitude on the court was really positive and energetic, and we truly played as a team. It made the win that much more enjoyable.
After the game we grabbed some pizza/pasta and some groceries and had a very satisfying meal in our rooms while watching Forest Gump. We fell asleep pretty early since we'd have to leave for Montreal at 7:30am.
The morning drive went pretty quickly, and after eating a nice breakfast in the car, we arrived at the L'ecole de la Magdaleine earlier than expected. Since there was no one to open the door to the gym, our assistant coach thought it would be nice for us to take a walk outside to "warm-up."
Sadly, it was really REALLY cold outside (or maybe I just wasn't dressed properly for a walk in 5 degree weather) and our warm-up walk just got my nose running and my hands and ears frozen solid. My roommate joked that we looked like a bunch of prisoners out on our 20-minute walk around the yard. At least we all had a good laugh at it, and were very grateful when we saw the person who had come to open the gym!!
A clip from our warm-up walk
USA vs. Champlain 1
We played our first game on Sunday against Champlain 1, the best team in the league and the one with 5 players from the Canadian National Team. Among their best players is the National Team goalie, Audrey, who has a saving percentage of 70-80% against our team. In the past it has been as much of psychological game as it has been a physical one, but after our win against Granby, we definitely felt like we could take-on Champlain with no fear.
After a rough two minutes early on, the game was really really close through most of the first half. We were only down one point until the last four or five minutes when something broke down and they got ahead by six at the half. The second half was pretty good, we got their lead down to four and they never "pulled away" but we couldn't make up for the six point deficit in the first half and ended up losing by five. Despite the loss, we couldn't feel too badly about our performance. Again, I think the energy was really good and the teamwork was strong and we played well together- it just didn't culminate in a win. As always with this team, and against this goalie, it comes down to being really precise with our shots. Still, it was a game we could be proud of, and it gives us something to build on.
USA vs. Montreal
The second game of the morning was against Montreal, a team we are fighting against for a play-off spot. They beat us in the semi-finals of the playoffs last year and we definitely have a history with them as well. Overall they are a pretty good team, with decent players at almost every position, and one really strong player who has just returned from playing several seasons with a team in France.
Had we played Montreal first on Sunday, I think the outcome would have been a little bit different. We got behind early on in the game, and had a lot of difficulty shooting against their goalie, who is also a goalie on the National Team. We had a lot of opportunities to shoot and just didn't finish. I'm sure a lot of this had to do with the fatigue, especially for our four backcourts, who had very little time to rest during all of the games. But again, even though we lost, the atmosphere stayed positive and we pushed as a team until the end.
On the van ride home our team captain made a good point. She said that even though we wanted to win, maybe the results this weekend would give us even more motivation to win our next four games, which we will have to do if we want to get a playoff spot. At least there is something to build on, and I think everyone has a renewed sense of motivation coming from the positive feelings we experienced as a team.
Friday, February 23, 2007
New practice theme
This past weekend we had a couple of practices as well as a "team meeting" before our video session on Sunday. The theme of this meeting (besides dealing with a few random things) was our new approach to practice.
After losing to Canada in January, everyone agreed that we needed to change something if we are going to be a winning team. So, we've been trying different approaches at practice to see what works best for our team. We've spent a lot of time going back to basics and really trying to have accountability for ourselves and our teammates during practice. This means focusing on the details like good passes and precise shots so that practices are just as important as games. It also means running a lot of sprints and doing a lot of push-ups when we make mistakes. The idea is, you have to pay for your mistakes in a game, so you should have to pay for them in practice!
We have now decided to turn-up the intensity in our practices so that we do a lot more running at a lot faster pace. We have also integrated more foot-work and speed training into our practices so that every drill is an opportunity to improve on these. As we saw in Europe, playing at the international level is as much about speed and fitness as it is skill.
We'll see how this goes- so far, so good. Practices certainly aren't easy, but I think there's a greater sense of accomplishment at having worked at a more intense level every day. It has only been a week, but I think we've all seen an improvement in the energy on the court. Hopefully we will be prepared for our three games in Canada this weekend! If we want to secure our spot in the playoffs of the Quebec League, we really need to win at least two of these games!
After losing to Canada in January, everyone agreed that we needed to change something if we are going to be a winning team. So, we've been trying different approaches at practice to see what works best for our team. We've spent a lot of time going back to basics and really trying to have accountability for ourselves and our teammates during practice. This means focusing on the details like good passes and precise shots so that practices are just as important as games. It also means running a lot of sprints and doing a lot of push-ups when we make mistakes. The idea is, you have to pay for your mistakes in a game, so you should have to pay for them in practice!
We have now decided to turn-up the intensity in our practices so that we do a lot more running at a lot faster pace. We have also integrated more foot-work and speed training into our practices so that every drill is an opportunity to improve on these. As we saw in Europe, playing at the international level is as much about speed and fitness as it is skill.
We'll see how this goes- so far, so good. Practices certainly aren't easy, but I think there's a greater sense of accomplishment at having worked at a more intense level every day. It has only been a week, but I think we've all seen an improvement in the energy on the court. Hopefully we will be prepared for our three games in Canada this weekend! If we want to secure our spot in the playoffs of the Quebec League, we really need to win at least two of these games!
Friday, February 16, 2007
Snow days!
We got a big blizzard in upstate New York this week, so the fun news is that I got a few days off! My car got stuck in the parking lot of my apartment complex, and with 20+ inches of snow, they closed down my office and the university so there was no work or practice for two days!
Most of the time I'm not a huge fan of the snow, mostly because I hate driving in it and it gets kind of depressing after a while. But- when there's so much snow that everything shuts down, it's kind of fun! I even put on my snowpants, gloves, and a hat and went for a nice walk in the winter wonderland. I also watched a bunch of movies on TV, something I NEVER get to do with my hectic schedule.
Yay snowdays!
Most of the time I'm not a huge fan of the snow, mostly because I hate driving in it and it gets kind of depressing after a while. But- when there's so much snow that everything shuts down, it's kind of fun! I even put on my snowpants, gloves, and a hat and went for a nice walk in the winter wonderland. I also watched a bunch of movies on TV, something I NEVER get to do with my hectic schedule.
Yay snowdays!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
I heart 16-hour drives!!!!
This weekend we drove down to Greenville, South Carolina to play three games in the NETHC. Yes, we drove- from upstate New York to South Carolina. And by we I mean my coach, who drove through sun and snow, day and night, and while most of our van was dead asleep.
The way down was a little bit better because we did it in two parts. We left Friday afternoon and drove down to Maryland where we had dinner at our teammate Sara Merkl's house. We crashed there for the night and then woke-up at 5am to begin the second leg of our journey.
Clearly, the highlight of the Saturday morning drive was stopping for lunch at Chick-fil-A! It was divine, especially since I only get to eat it once a year when I make it down south!
We arrived on Saturday afternoon in time to play a 2:30 game against West Point. I was really excited to play because I had fans in the crowd! My aunt and uncle drove all the way up from Charleston to come see me play, and my beloved 6th grade teacher Mrs. Leslie also came to cheer me on. It was also fun for them to see me play, especially since we won by a lot and I got to put in 6 or 7 goals.
We played two games on Saturday (West Point Gold and West Point Black), which we won by at least 20 points. On Sunday we played against Furman and although we won by a lot, it was kind of disappointing not running our fast break! Last time we beat them 57-9, but this time Christian decided it would be better for us to practice running our set-offense.
After the Furman game we showered quickly and began the arduous journey north. We stopped twice for gas/food but otherwise it was a straight shot. We made it home at 4:00am, just in time for me to catch a few hours of sleep before work the next morning!
The way down was a little bit better because we did it in two parts. We left Friday afternoon and drove down to Maryland where we had dinner at our teammate Sara Merkl's house. We crashed there for the night and then woke-up at 5am to begin the second leg of our journey.
Clearly, the highlight of the Saturday morning drive was stopping for lunch at Chick-fil-A! It was divine, especially since I only get to eat it once a year when I make it down south!
We arrived on Saturday afternoon in time to play a 2:30 game against West Point. I was really excited to play because I had fans in the crowd! My aunt and uncle drove all the way up from Charleston to come see me play, and my beloved 6th grade teacher Mrs. Leslie also came to cheer me on. It was also fun for them to see me play, especially since we won by a lot and I got to put in 6 or 7 goals.
We played two games on Saturday (West Point Gold and West Point Black), which we won by at least 20 points. On Sunday we played against Furman and although we won by a lot, it was kind of disappointing not running our fast break! Last time we beat them 57-9, but this time Christian decided it would be better for us to practice running our set-offense.
After the Furman game we showered quickly and began the arduous journey north. We stopped twice for gas/food but otherwise it was a straight shot. We made it home at 4:00am, just in time for me to catch a few hours of sleep before work the next morning!
Friday, January 12, 2007
Christmas and Lake Placid
With practice and games right up until our Christmas break, I didn't get out of New York until Dec. 22. It was supposed to be a pretty easy trip back with one stop in Chicago on the way home to LA. Sadly, blizzards in the midwest had me delayed for two days before I made it home to California!!
So, Christmas break with the family was super short, but at least I made it home. On Dec. 27 it was back to New York to begin our training camp at Lake Placid.
Let me begin by saying that the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center is tight! It isn't particularly huge, but everything about it was nice. It was about as ideal as a training center could be (for the short-term, anyway).
We were sleeping three to a room, which was pretty fun. I was rooming with my teammates Megan Ballard (our right back) and Melanie McCormick, our leftie (right wing). It was a fun room to be in, and when we weren't napping or listening to music, we were dominating the board games as the "Rm 205 Mafia." Just for the record, we won at Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, and Catchphrase! It was a blast.
The food- also fantastic. In fact, there was nothing better than waking up and having a bunch of fresh fruit, eggs, waffles/pancakes, ten kinds of cereal ready to be eaten. I was in heaven, and the only reason that I didn't gorge myself was because we had morning practice AFTER breakfast. So sadly I had to excercise a little bit of self-control. Lunch and dinner were equally exciting with my favorite being the steak and potatoes. I love it when I get to eat food for free that I can't normally afford to buy for myself. Lake Placid food gets a big thumbs up!
Granted, as fantastic as the living experience was (comfy rooms, great food, and nap time), our purpose for being at the training center was to prepare for our games against Canada. In that sense, when it came down to practice, it was time to be serious. For the most part our training sessions were really good. We had four coaches around, including our two new Scandinavian coaches (Thomas from Denmark, and Niclas our goalie coach from Sweden), and we spent a lot of time working in game-like situations and scrimmages. Most days we did two practices, one in the morning and another one in the evening. It was tough!!
The first game took place on January 4th at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center. Going into the game I felt pretty prepared, we'd had a lot of good practices and everyone seemed really motivated (we even watched the movie "Miracle" before we played, trying to get into the right spirit of things). Sadly, when we got out onto the court, something was off. The first half ended us with us behind by three, and then Canada took it away in the second half to win 28-22.
We played the second game in Montreal on January 6, and again we lost to Canada, who won the North American slot for the Pan-American Games. Thankfully we still have a chance to go to the Pan-Am Games if we win at the second-chance tournament in Mexico. It's just sad that we lost twice to a team we can beat!
Click here to read more about these games in the WNT press release
So, Christmas break with the family was super short, but at least I made it home. On Dec. 27 it was back to New York to begin our training camp at Lake Placid.
Let me begin by saying that the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center is tight! It isn't particularly huge, but everything about it was nice. It was about as ideal as a training center could be (for the short-term, anyway).
We were sleeping three to a room, which was pretty fun. I was rooming with my teammates Megan Ballard (our right back) and Melanie McCormick, our leftie (right wing). It was a fun room to be in, and when we weren't napping or listening to music, we were dominating the board games as the "Rm 205 Mafia." Just for the record, we won at Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, and Catchphrase! It was a blast.
The food- also fantastic. In fact, there was nothing better than waking up and having a bunch of fresh fruit, eggs, waffles/pancakes, ten kinds of cereal ready to be eaten. I was in heaven, and the only reason that I didn't gorge myself was because we had morning practice AFTER breakfast. So sadly I had to excercise a little bit of self-control. Lunch and dinner were equally exciting with my favorite being the steak and potatoes. I love it when I get to eat food for free that I can't normally afford to buy for myself. Lake Placid food gets a big thumbs up!
Granted, as fantastic as the living experience was (comfy rooms, great food, and nap time), our purpose for being at the training center was to prepare for our games against Canada. In that sense, when it came down to practice, it was time to be serious. For the most part our training sessions were really good. We had four coaches around, including our two new Scandinavian coaches (Thomas from Denmark, and Niclas our goalie coach from Sweden), and we spent a lot of time working in game-like situations and scrimmages. Most days we did two practices, one in the morning and another one in the evening. It was tough!!
The first game took place on January 4th at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center. Going into the game I felt pretty prepared, we'd had a lot of good practices and everyone seemed really motivated (we even watched the movie "Miracle" before we played, trying to get into the right spirit of things). Sadly, when we got out onto the court, something was off. The first half ended us with us behind by three, and then Canada took it away in the second half to win 28-22.
We played the second game in Montreal on January 6, and again we lost to Canada, who won the North American slot for the Pan-American Games. Thankfully we still have a chance to go to the Pan-Am Games if we win at the second-chance tournament in Mexico. It's just sad that we lost twice to a team we can beat!
Click here to read more about these games in the WNT press release
Sweden Recap
You can read more about the Sweden trip on our team blog: WNT Abroad.
But as for my personal interpretation- it was a great trip! After our three-week tour of Europe over the summer, most of us agreed that it didn't get much better than our stay in Stralsund, Germany. Well, Sweden definitely gave Germany a run for its money!
Firstly, we stayed in these cool cottages which were nice because we had our own kitchen and it was just two of us to our room. The team that was hosting us also brought us some good food to stock our kitchens so we could make a nice breakfast in the morning with eggs, french toast, and juice. Yummy.
As for the handball side of things, it was a great mix of training sessions and games. The schedule was pretty nice while we were there, so even though we played nearly every day, we still had down time in between our 10:00am practice and our evening games. I got to read, nap, and just chill with my teammates. Good times!
Another highlight of the trip had to be going to the European Championships in Stockholm. We saw a total of four games, and it was amazing! It definitely hyped me up for thinking about all of the international competitions we have coming up this year.
The games went pretty well for us, which was a good confidence booster for all of us. Even when we played the Sweden U-20 team, we held on in the first half 12-12! I think one big thing we learned on our trip is that we have to keep pushing the ball and playing at a higher speed, that's how handball seems to be played at the higher level.
Definitely check out the team blog so you can get a feel for what the trip was like on a day-to-day basis. It is too much for me to try to cram in one blog post!!
But as for my personal interpretation- it was a great trip! After our three-week tour of Europe over the summer, most of us agreed that it didn't get much better than our stay in Stralsund, Germany. Well, Sweden definitely gave Germany a run for its money!
Firstly, we stayed in these cool cottages which were nice because we had our own kitchen and it was just two of us to our room. The team that was hosting us also brought us some good food to stock our kitchens so we could make a nice breakfast in the morning with eggs, french toast, and juice. Yummy.
As for the handball side of things, it was a great mix of training sessions and games. The schedule was pretty nice while we were there, so even though we played nearly every day, we still had down time in between our 10:00am practice and our evening games. I got to read, nap, and just chill with my teammates. Good times!
Another highlight of the trip had to be going to the European Championships in Stockholm. We saw a total of four games, and it was amazing! It definitely hyped me up for thinking about all of the international competitions we have coming up this year.
The games went pretty well for us, which was a good confidence booster for all of us. Even when we played the Sweden U-20 team, we held on in the first half 12-12! I think one big thing we learned on our trip is that we have to keep pushing the ball and playing at a higher speed, that's how handball seems to be played at the higher level.
Definitely check out the team blog so you can get a feel for what the trip was like on a day-to-day basis. It is too much for me to try to cram in one blog post!!
Friday, December 01, 2006
Going to Sweden!
We're heading to Sweden on Friday Dec. 1- should be a great time. I will try to post here as much as I can, but we will also have a team blog set up at: www.wntabroad.blogspot.com
After coming back from a nice Thanksgiving at home and then jumping straight into work and practice on Monday, I didn't get a chance to pack until late Thursday night. I *think* I have everything- at least the most important things (passport, shoes, uniforms). We have to carry so much stuff with us because we have to have all of our Nike sponsored gear. Not that I'm complaining about having cool stuff from Nike, just that it can a lot to cart around!
From the looks of things on weather.com, it looks like the weather will be fairly mild while we're in Stockholm. Maybe some rain, but the temperature will stay above 40. Not bad considering the sun is setting at 3:30pm and we'll be really close the arctic circle!
We're scheduled to have our first practice on Saturday a few hours after we arrive. Ugh! Hopefully I will do what I always do and sleep the whole time on the plane. Even still, I'm not sure I'll be in the best shape for running around, especially since we'll be under the direction of one of our "guest" coaches who are hardcore Scandanavian former-Olympians! Wish me luck. Hopefully I'll adjust quickly to the time difference so I can be on my game :)
After coming back from a nice Thanksgiving at home and then jumping straight into work and practice on Monday, I didn't get a chance to pack until late Thursday night. I *think* I have everything- at least the most important things (passport, shoes, uniforms). We have to carry so much stuff with us because we have to have all of our Nike sponsored gear. Not that I'm complaining about having cool stuff from Nike, just that it can a lot to cart around!
From the looks of things on weather.com, it looks like the weather will be fairly mild while we're in Stockholm. Maybe some rain, but the temperature will stay above 40. Not bad considering the sun is setting at 3:30pm and we'll be really close the arctic circle!
We're scheduled to have our first practice on Saturday a few hours after we arrive. Ugh! Hopefully I will do what I always do and sleep the whole time on the plane. Even still, I'm not sure I'll be in the best shape for running around, especially since we'll be under the direction of one of our "guest" coaches who are hardcore Scandanavian former-Olympians! Wish me luck. Hopefully I'll adjust quickly to the time difference so I can be on my game :)
Monday, November 20, 2006
3-1 in NETHC
Coming into this weekend (11/18-11/19), I was totally wiped out. It's been more than six weeks since I've had a single day off from work or practice. Not to mention, we had an exhausting week in Quebec City with three games and a lot of travel, and then I had to go to work all week.
That being said, as always, I was looking forward to the games this weekend. Especially since I figured we would blow away all of these teams and have a nice confidence booster going into our (much-deserved) Thanksgiving break.
Just as a reminder, these games are part of the NETHC, that is what I like to call our "practice" league. These games are against younger or less experienced teams, so it gives us a chance to get playing experience for our newer members of the team.
*Game 1- USA vs. Laurier* (Saturday)
This game was against Laurier Senior team, I have no idea where they come from, but they speak English. We didn't know anything about them coming into this game, but right away it was clear that we should dominate them. We scored a few goals right off the bat after using a really aggressive high defense to force them to make turnovers. It worked well and we were up by almost ten going into the second half. This is where we should have pulled away for a really big win, but we got sloppy and only won by 17.
Final score:USA 32, Laurier 15
*Game 2- USA vs. Chaudiere* (Saturday)
This was another game where we should have dominated. They were the junior team of the team we played in Quebec City last week. We knew their style and also recognized a few of the players that we saw last weekend. We were up by nearly 10 at the end of the first half and could have probably won by 20, but again we got sloppy in the second half and never really pulled ahead. We need to work on this!
Final score:USA 32, Chaudiere 22
*Game 3- USA vs. Sherbrooke* (Sunday)
I'm not going to lie, I was pretty tired when we had to meet at the gym at 8:00am to prepare for two more games! I stayed until 10pm the night before working the tables for the games after us, and I was beat. Thankfully we had an hour to get our minds and bodies warmed up before we had to play, and thankfully I had watched this team play the night before so I had some ideas about what to expect.
I scored the first goal of the game and we came out pretty strong as a team in the beginning. To be honest, looking back all of the games are starting to run together. We played pretty well, but we could have probably won by more. It seems to be a trend. We should have definitely scored more than 24 goals.
Final score:USA 24, Chaudiere 11
*Game 4- USA vs. Laval* (Sunday)
This was definitely the best team of the weekend, although they lost to Chaudiere the night before by three points, which was kind of surprising. We were expecting to run a lot, and knew we had to play good defense, but I think the results of this game took everyone by surprise.
Sure we were all tired after three games, but there was no excuse for us losing the game the way we did. In fact, at half time we were winning 17-7. Then something happened, the game got dirty, and we started making mistakes. We had a couple of two-minute penalties and way too many turnovers. Defensively we started to break down and let them score. I wish I could understand exactly what happened, but it was ugly.
Final score:USA 24, Laval 26
In my mind there is no reason whatsoever we should have lost this game. But I guess we have to experience things like this in order to figure out what we need to work on. We've overcome a big obstacle by learning how to come out strong in the beginning, but we really need to focus on not only keeping our lead, but pulling ahead even more in the second half. We also need to get better at dealing with high pressure situations. With four minutes left to go, we were down by two. There were several opportunities for us to come ahead in the last minutes of the game, but we choked.
We've got some work to do, but hopefully we're making progress. These were the last games before we go to Sweden, so I hope we can remember what we need to do better so we can make the most of our preparation tour in December.
That being said, as always, I was looking forward to the games this weekend. Especially since I figured we would blow away all of these teams and have a nice confidence booster going into our (much-deserved) Thanksgiving break.
Just as a reminder, these games are part of the NETHC, that is what I like to call our "practice" league. These games are against younger or less experienced teams, so it gives us a chance to get playing experience for our newer members of the team.
*Game 1- USA vs. Laurier* (Saturday)
This game was against Laurier Senior team, I have no idea where they come from, but they speak English. We didn't know anything about them coming into this game, but right away it was clear that we should dominate them. We scored a few goals right off the bat after using a really aggressive high defense to force them to make turnovers. It worked well and we were up by almost ten going into the second half. This is where we should have pulled away for a really big win, but we got sloppy and only won by 17.
Final score:USA 32, Laurier 15
*Game 2- USA vs. Chaudiere* (Saturday)
This was another game where we should have dominated. They were the junior team of the team we played in Quebec City last week. We knew their style and also recognized a few of the players that we saw last weekend. We were up by nearly 10 at the end of the first half and could have probably won by 20, but again we got sloppy in the second half and never really pulled ahead. We need to work on this!
Final score:USA 32, Chaudiere 22
*Game 3- USA vs. Sherbrooke* (Sunday)
I'm not going to lie, I was pretty tired when we had to meet at the gym at 8:00am to prepare for two more games! I stayed until 10pm the night before working the tables for the games after us, and I was beat. Thankfully we had an hour to get our minds and bodies warmed up before we had to play, and thankfully I had watched this team play the night before so I had some ideas about what to expect.
I scored the first goal of the game and we came out pretty strong as a team in the beginning. To be honest, looking back all of the games are starting to run together. We played pretty well, but we could have probably won by more. It seems to be a trend. We should have definitely scored more than 24 goals.
Final score:USA 24, Chaudiere 11
*Game 4- USA vs. Laval* (Sunday)
This was definitely the best team of the weekend, although they lost to Chaudiere the night before by three points, which was kind of surprising. We were expecting to run a lot, and knew we had to play good defense, but I think the results of this game took everyone by surprise.
Sure we were all tired after three games, but there was no excuse for us losing the game the way we did. In fact, at half time we were winning 17-7. Then something happened, the game got dirty, and we started making mistakes. We had a couple of two-minute penalties and way too many turnovers. Defensively we started to break down and let them score. I wish I could understand exactly what happened, but it was ugly.
Final score:USA 24, Laval 26
In my mind there is no reason whatsoever we should have lost this game. But I guess we have to experience things like this in order to figure out what we need to work on. We've overcome a big obstacle by learning how to come out strong in the beginning, but we really need to focus on not only keeping our lead, but pulling ahead even more in the second half. We also need to get better at dealing with high pressure situations. With four minutes left to go, we were down by two. There were several opportunities for us to come ahead in the last minutes of the game, but we choked.
We've got some work to do, but hopefully we're making progress. These were the last games before we go to Sweden, so I hope we can remember what we need to do better so we can make the most of our preparation tour in December.
Team Thanksgiving
On Tuesday November 14, we had a team Thanksgiving dinner- it was brilliant! Our teammate Sunny Chen was headed off the Netherlands for a few weeks to train with a team there (see her blog: www.wnteuropeaninvasion.blogspot.com) so she decided to celebrate Thanksgiving early.
First, I love any holiday that revolves around food, and any opportunity to celebrate that holiday more than once is fine by me! Sunny and her roommate Jacque had everyone over to their mansion (they are Army girls, so they can afford to live somewhere nice) for turkey and mashed potatoes- everyone else on the team supplied the rest. They also had some great bottles of wine, and various desserts, so overall it was a FEAST! And of course, no handball holiday would be complete without Christian cooking up his famous escargot! I love it.
After hors d'oeuvres, everyone sat down at a long table together and had an awesome time eating, drinking and just generally being merry. I must say that it was one of the most enjoyable evenings I've had in a long long time. The stress and exhaustion of everyday life seemed to float away as we just enjoyed each other's company.
After eating enough to feed a Somalian village, we sat around the table B-Sing and having a good time. Eventually my teammate Anne pulled out a game called "Rummykube" and we played that for a few hours. I had really bad luck at first, it seemed, and I collected about a million little pieces before I could lay down. But then I laid down all of my pieces on my first turn and won (thanks to some help from my coach). It was a fun time, I can't wait until real Thanksgiving! What a great warm-up :)
Yayy holidays!
First, I love any holiday that revolves around food, and any opportunity to celebrate that holiday more than once is fine by me! Sunny and her roommate Jacque had everyone over to their mansion (they are Army girls, so they can afford to live somewhere nice) for turkey and mashed potatoes- everyone else on the team supplied the rest. They also had some great bottles of wine, and various desserts, so overall it was a FEAST! And of course, no handball holiday would be complete without Christian cooking up his famous escargot! I love it.
After hors d'oeuvres, everyone sat down at a long table together and had an awesome time eating, drinking and just generally being merry. I must say that it was one of the most enjoyable evenings I've had in a long long time. The stress and exhaustion of everyday life seemed to float away as we just enjoyed each other's company.
After eating enough to feed a Somalian village, we sat around the table B-Sing and having a good time. Eventually my teammate Anne pulled out a game called "Rummykube" and we played that for a few hours. I had really bad luck at first, it seemed, and I collected about a million little pieces before I could lay down. But then I laid down all of my pieces on my first turn and won (thanks to some help from my coach). It was a fun time, I can't wait until real Thanksgiving! What a great warm-up :)
Yayy holidays!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
2-1 in Quebec City
*The trip*
This weekend's trip to Quebec City was a long time coming. We haven't played a "real" game since June, and we haven't been in season since last March. It was hard not to be super pumped-up going into the weekend. Especially since I was feeling really confident about how we were going to perform.
We left early on Saturday morning, although sadly not in our "new van." So, we caravanned in three rentals. As can be expected, after claiming my window seat in the pimped out Mercury Mountaineer, I passed out about five minutes into the trip and woke-up as we arrived in downtown Montreal.
As an aside, I love Montreal. It is a fantastic city, and it was fun to wake-up and see all of the people bustling around. Christian dropped us off in front of a VERY crowded restaurant called Egg-spectations, where we met up with our teammate Sarah Gascon (a fellow California girl) who is rehabbing her knee in Lake Placid at the moment.
After a delicious brunch/lunch, we packed back in the cars and headed 2.5 hours north to Quebec City. Again, I slept most of the way, and it was wonderful.
We arrived at the hotel around 4:45, and had an hour to nap/rest/meditate before we had our team meeting and left for the gym. I didn't sleep at this point, but I spent an hour lying in the dark listening to music, and it really seemed to calm my mind- I feel that was key.
*Game 1- USA vs. Chaudiere*
I was definitely hyped for this game, and it felt good to get out and run around during the warm-up, especially after the 8 hour drive. We had plenty of time, so Kathy and I were able to do our passing/shooting thing that we like to do pre-warm-up.
The gym where we played is just a box- almost no room on the outside of the court, so things are really smooshed inside. At least the floor, which was "sport court," had only handball lines on it! Much better than the gym at say, Laval, where you can barely tell where anything is through the 400 different lines crisscrossing the floor.
I started the game at circle, and enjoyed playing both offense and defense, something I'm transitioning to this season. I felt pretty good through most of the game, even though we definitely tried to keep a good pace.
The first few minutes were a little bit tight score-wise, but we came back and stayed ahead by at least a three through most of the game. I scored five goals, which shocked me because I had a man-to-man type defense on me most of the time and I never felt that open. I was also pleased that I got off two nice lobs, and was then able to hit my corners and vary my shot a little bit- something Christian is always telling me to do in practice.
In the end, we won without too much difficulty, although we probably could have won by more. The reffing was ridiculous- they were letting people get away with murder on both sides of the court. I got pushed from behind by two people on a fast break and nothing got called, even when I went flying across the floor!! But Christian said that's the Chaudiere style of play, so we had to suck it up.
Final Score: USA 29, Chaudiere 23
*USA v. Chaudiere (Sunday)*
In our second match against Chaudiere, we saw the same kind of performance from them. They played a high defense and pushed our backcourts out a lot. There was a lot of space for one-on-ones, but we probably should have tried to capitalize on this a bit more.
It was a bit frustrating at the circle, where they played a man-to-man type defense on me, denying the ball. I got two passes the whole game, but at least I was able to draw 7-meter penalties on both of them. No "real" shots, sadly.
To be honest, this game kind of blends into the first game just because we played them so close together.
Final score: USA 27, Chaudiere 21
*USA v. Granby (Sunday)*
We finished the second game against Chaudiere around 11:40 or so and then had an hour break to eat and rest before starting our warm-up for the game against Granby. I had some peanut butter and jelly and a banana and tried to digest it as quickly as possible for I started running around again!
When the game started, we knew we were going to have to push and it wasn't going to be easy. We were up by five at the half-time, and clearly, this was a game we could win. I personally felt pretty good about us winning the game, but somewhere in the second half things began to deteriorate.
Offensively, we made some silly mistakes, but our biggest problem was that we continued to get 2-minute penalties to the point that we were down one person (and at one point, two people) for a majority of the second half. We kept the lead until the last minute when they got ahead by one point. We had several opportunities to score to at least tie it up at the end, but we double-dribbled twice, missed a fast-break shot, and stepped on the line during a wing shot. It was so frustrating because this was such a winnable game.
Obviously we were all pretty bummed at the end. No one likes to lose, but especially when it is a team you can beat. We were up by eight at one point in the beginning of the second half, and we lost- not because of external circumstances that we couldn't control- but because we dug our own grave.
Needless to say, it was a quiet trip back. That being said, we did stop and eat at a nice pasta bar halfway between Quebec City and Montreal. After that I passed out for the remainder of the drive home. We arrived at 11:45pm, and even though I was hungry again, I was too tired to bother eating, so I went straight to bed.
This weekend's trip to Quebec City was a long time coming. We haven't played a "real" game since June, and we haven't been in season since last March. It was hard not to be super pumped-up going into the weekend. Especially since I was feeling really confident about how we were going to perform.
We left early on Saturday morning, although sadly not in our "new van." So, we caravanned in three rentals. As can be expected, after claiming my window seat in the pimped out Mercury Mountaineer, I passed out about five minutes into the trip and woke-up as we arrived in downtown Montreal.
As an aside, I love Montreal. It is a fantastic city, and it was fun to wake-up and see all of the people bustling around. Christian dropped us off in front of a VERY crowded restaurant called Egg-spectations, where we met up with our teammate Sarah Gascon (a fellow California girl) who is rehabbing her knee in Lake Placid at the moment.
After a delicious brunch/lunch, we packed back in the cars and headed 2.5 hours north to Quebec City. Again, I slept most of the way, and it was wonderful.
We arrived at the hotel around 4:45, and had an hour to nap/rest/meditate before we had our team meeting and left for the gym. I didn't sleep at this point, but I spent an hour lying in the dark listening to music, and it really seemed to calm my mind- I feel that was key.
*Game 1- USA vs. Chaudiere*
I was definitely hyped for this game, and it felt good to get out and run around during the warm-up, especially after the 8 hour drive. We had plenty of time, so Kathy and I were able to do our passing/shooting thing that we like to do pre-warm-up.
The gym where we played is just a box- almost no room on the outside of the court, so things are really smooshed inside. At least the floor, which was "sport court," had only handball lines on it! Much better than the gym at say, Laval, where you can barely tell where anything is through the 400 different lines crisscrossing the floor.
I started the game at circle, and enjoyed playing both offense and defense, something I'm transitioning to this season. I felt pretty good through most of the game, even though we definitely tried to keep a good pace.
The first few minutes were a little bit tight score-wise, but we came back and stayed ahead by at least a three through most of the game. I scored five goals, which shocked me because I had a man-to-man type defense on me most of the time and I never felt that open. I was also pleased that I got off two nice lobs, and was then able to hit my corners and vary my shot a little bit- something Christian is always telling me to do in practice.
In the end, we won without too much difficulty, although we probably could have won by more. The reffing was ridiculous- they were letting people get away with murder on both sides of the court. I got pushed from behind by two people on a fast break and nothing got called, even when I went flying across the floor!! But Christian said that's the Chaudiere style of play, so we had to suck it up.
Final Score: USA 29, Chaudiere 23
*USA v. Chaudiere (Sunday)*
In our second match against Chaudiere, we saw the same kind of performance from them. They played a high defense and pushed our backcourts out a lot. There was a lot of space for one-on-ones, but we probably should have tried to capitalize on this a bit more.
It was a bit frustrating at the circle, where they played a man-to-man type defense on me, denying the ball. I got two passes the whole game, but at least I was able to draw 7-meter penalties on both of them. No "real" shots, sadly.
To be honest, this game kind of blends into the first game just because we played them so close together.
Final score: USA 27, Chaudiere 21
*USA v. Granby (Sunday)*
We finished the second game against Chaudiere around 11:40 or so and then had an hour break to eat and rest before starting our warm-up for the game against Granby. I had some peanut butter and jelly and a banana and tried to digest it as quickly as possible for I started running around again!
When the game started, we knew we were going to have to push and it wasn't going to be easy. We were up by five at the half-time, and clearly, this was a game we could win. I personally felt pretty good about us winning the game, but somewhere in the second half things began to deteriorate.
Offensively, we made some silly mistakes, but our biggest problem was that we continued to get 2-minute penalties to the point that we were down one person (and at one point, two people) for a majority of the second half. We kept the lead until the last minute when they got ahead by one point. We had several opportunities to score to at least tie it up at the end, but we double-dribbled twice, missed a fast-break shot, and stepped on the line during a wing shot. It was so frustrating because this was such a winnable game.
Obviously we were all pretty bummed at the end. No one likes to lose, but especially when it is a team you can beat. We were up by eight at one point in the beginning of the second half, and we lost- not because of external circumstances that we couldn't control- but because we dug our own grave.
Needless to say, it was a quiet trip back. That being said, we did stop and eat at a nice pasta bar halfway between Quebec City and Montreal. After that I passed out for the remainder of the drive home. We arrived at 11:45pm, and even though I was hungry again, I was too tired to bother eating, so I went straight to bed.
Monday, November 06, 2006
World Championship Website
The 2007 Handball World Championships (Women) will be in France next December. This is one of the events we will try to qualify for over the next several months.
Here's a link to the site:
The World Championships are huge for handball, so it would be a really amazing experience to go. I hope we end up in the south of France for the preliminary rounds, just so we don't have to be somewhere TOO cold!
Physical Testing
A few times a year, and especially in advance of selections for major events, the WNT players have to go through a battery of physical tests. I think for most players (myself included, maybe even to an extreme), this is a stressful process. The tests themselves aren't too bad, but I think it is the pressure of wanting to see improvements in yourself, and the competitiveness that comes from watching your teammates complete the tests as well. Plus, I'm not going to lie, I feel like years of being graded at school make me feel that numbers somehow define my self-worth. I realize that this is ridiculous, but I'm not sure if that kind of social conditioning can be undone.
Saturday we did the "easy stuff"- which was basically a bunch of measurements. Height, weight, arm span, hand span, and body fat percentage calculations. Sadly, I have not grown six inches since my last physical test in May, so I will continue to lose points for my height and really small hands. That sucks!
On Sunday was the real killer. We started off in the weight room with sit-ups, push-ups, chin-ups, and bench press. I improved in everything, except chin-ups, but maybe it's because I've been doing the overhand ones for my newest workout program. Or maybe my arms were just really tired from having done 55 push-ups in a minute just two minutes before that. Oh well.
After the arm stuff, we went to the field house to do the running stuff. We started off with the long jump and vertical, and then moved onto the 30m sprint, t-test, and ball throw. For the most part, I improved on everything, and don't dread any of those tests too much.
The final event, the beep test, is a test of endurance. This is by far the most difficult part of the testing for me, and the one that stresses me out the most. For those who have never done it, it is basically running between two lines (20m shuttle) as the beeps on the CD get faster and faster. You run until you can't run anymore. I tried to psychologically prepare myself for this by downloading the beep test and listening to it in my bed while I visualized. I realized that I failed miserably with this excercise as when I started to hyperventalate in my bed around level 6. I had chest pains and difficulty breathing when I was just thinking about it! Then I dreamed about beeps all night and didn't sleep. Note to self: I suck at visualizing.
When the real test began I couldn't breathe before it even started!! Thankfully, by the end of level 1 I had calmed down a bit and was able to reach my goal of improving a level from my last test. I still have a ways to go before I reach my ultimate goal, but I'm working on it.
All-in-all, I think I showed a general improvement, and also know where I want to continue to see improvement. I guess that's the goal of the physical testing for the athletes anyway, to give yourself an idea of how you're doing. I'm just glad it is only once every 3-4 months!
Saturday we did the "easy stuff"- which was basically a bunch of measurements. Height, weight, arm span, hand span, and body fat percentage calculations. Sadly, I have not grown six inches since my last physical test in May, so I will continue to lose points for my height and really small hands. That sucks!
On Sunday was the real killer. We started off in the weight room with sit-ups, push-ups, chin-ups, and bench press. I improved in everything, except chin-ups, but maybe it's because I've been doing the overhand ones for my newest workout program. Or maybe my arms were just really tired from having done 55 push-ups in a minute just two minutes before that. Oh well.
After the arm stuff, we went to the field house to do the running stuff. We started off with the long jump and vertical, and then moved onto the 30m sprint, t-test, and ball throw. For the most part, I improved on everything, and don't dread any of those tests too much.
The final event, the beep test, is a test of endurance. This is by far the most difficult part of the testing for me, and the one that stresses me out the most. For those who have never done it, it is basically running between two lines (20m shuttle) as the beeps on the CD get faster and faster. You run until you can't run anymore. I tried to psychologically prepare myself for this by downloading the beep test and listening to it in my bed while I visualized. I realized that I failed miserably with this excercise as when I started to hyperventalate in my bed around level 6. I had chest pains and difficulty breathing when I was just thinking about it! Then I dreamed about beeps all night and didn't sleep. Note to self: I suck at visualizing.
When the real test began I couldn't breathe before it even started!! Thankfully, by the end of level 1 I had calmed down a bit and was able to reach my goal of improving a level from my last test. I still have a ways to go before I reach my ultimate goal, but I'm working on it.
All-in-all, I think I showed a general improvement, and also know where I want to continue to see improvement. I guess that's the goal of the physical testing for the athletes anyway, to give yourself an idea of how you're doing. I'm just glad it is only once every 3-4 months!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Not enough of a good thing
My general rule of thumb is that you can never have too much chocolate, garlic, or Law & Order, and apparently the same thing goes for coaches as well. OK, maybe there's a point where like 10 coaches would be too many (too many chefs ruin the soup?), but we're nowhere near that point.
This week has been awesome- we have our assistant coach, Dawn, in town for the week along with Niclas, our Swedish goalie coach (and by Swedish I mean he just arrived from Sweden on Sunday). We also had our USOC rep (and former National Team player) Mike in town to out at practice. To make the most of our handball entourage, we added a few more practices in the mornings, so there's been a lot going on. But I have to say, having this many coaches around really makes practice awesome; we can split up and work on different things, and the intensitiy is so much higher.
It's too bad we can't have three or more coaches with us all the time, I feel like we'd be able to get better so much faster! That being said, we'll take what we can get. Maybe it wouldn't be as exciting if we had it all the time :)
In other news, this week has been good preparation for us as we get ready for our first Quebec League games next week. I am REALLY looking forward to making the trip to Canada, it gets me all excited thinking that the season is starting again. I feel like we're going to do really well, so we better go 3-0 again next weekend! We're playing in Quebec City, so the drive will be long, but I don't mind. Supposedly we're going to have our new van (!?!!!!?) by then, so we don't have to worry about the car exploding on the way, which is a relief. And it is still early in the year, so maybe there won't be too much snow. Either way I get to kick it for a few hours and listen to my ipod and nap and relax and hang out with my cool teammates and get a change of scenery. Oh yeah, and work on my French, too :)
Yay handball!!!
This week has been awesome- we have our assistant coach, Dawn, in town for the week along with Niclas, our Swedish goalie coach (and by Swedish I mean he just arrived from Sweden on Sunday). We also had our USOC rep (and former National Team player) Mike in town to out at practice. To make the most of our handball entourage, we added a few more practices in the mornings, so there's been a lot going on. But I have to say, having this many coaches around really makes practice awesome; we can split up and work on different things, and the intensitiy is so much higher.
It's too bad we can't have three or more coaches with us all the time, I feel like we'd be able to get better so much faster! That being said, we'll take what we can get. Maybe it wouldn't be as exciting if we had it all the time :)
In other news, this week has been good preparation for us as we get ready for our first Quebec League games next week. I am REALLY looking forward to making the trip to Canada, it gets me all excited thinking that the season is starting again. I feel like we're going to do really well, so we better go 3-0 again next weekend! We're playing in Quebec City, so the drive will be long, but I don't mind. Supposedly we're going to have our new van (!?!!!!?) by then, so we don't have to worry about the car exploding on the way, which is a relief. And it is still early in the year, so maybe there won't be too much snow. Either way I get to kick it for a few hours and listen to my ipod and nap and relax and hang out with my cool teammates and get a change of scenery. Oh yeah, and work on my French, too :)
Yay handball!!!
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
First three wins!
This weekend we played our first weekend of games in the NETHC. It was great to finally play, and I think we were able to work out some kinks and realize where we need to focus our energy a little bit.
The scores are as follows:
USA vs. West Point Gold (B-side): 47-12
USA vs. West Point Black (A-side): 38-13
USA vs. Champlain Jr.: 26-11
I injured my thumb slightly during the first game, which gave me some difficulty shooting the ball, but it is nothing serious and it should be back to normal in a few days. It was just a little frustrating to lose control of the ball a few times when I had some nice opportunities to put the ball in.
On a side note, I came back home on Sunday just wiped out. I think this weekend was a little more tiring than usual because I was really hyped up and over-anxious about playing games again. After I showered Sunday I just laid on my bed for a few hours trying not to fall asleep at 4pm! I managed to drag myself out of the house to see Marie-Antoinette, but otherwise I was completely useless!
I really enjoyed having games, but now I'm eager to play again soon! Sadly we don't have any more games for another few weeks, but I guess that gives me time to work out some of the kinks I noticed this weekend.
The scores are as follows:
USA vs. West Point Gold (B-side): 47-12
USA vs. West Point Black (A-side): 38-13
USA vs. Champlain Jr.: 26-11
I injured my thumb slightly during the first game, which gave me some difficulty shooting the ball, but it is nothing serious and it should be back to normal in a few days. It was just a little frustrating to lose control of the ball a few times when I had some nice opportunities to put the ball in.
On a side note, I came back home on Sunday just wiped out. I think this weekend was a little more tiring than usual because I was really hyped up and over-anxious about playing games again. After I showered Sunday I just laid on my bed for a few hours trying not to fall asleep at 4pm! I managed to drag myself out of the house to see Marie-Antoinette, but otherwise I was completely useless!
I really enjoyed having games, but now I'm eager to play again soon! Sadly we don't have any more games for another few weeks, but I guess that gives me time to work out some of the kinks I noticed this weekend.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
ESPN Magazine Article
ESPN.com published a really cool article about our team. Kathryn Bertine, a writer for ESPN and a triathlete is on a quest to make the 2008 Olympics. She tried a bunch of different sports, of which team handball was one. She didn't make the team, but she wrote about her experience at the try-out. It's a pretty cool article! Mad props to her for getting us some national media coverage.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
My Handball Hero
Anja Andersen is my handball hero. Some people may have a problem with her because she's an arrogant, selfish show-off, but really, I can't get enough. She played for the Danish National Team through the 1996 Olympics and then retired in 1999. She's been coaching one of the top teams (Slagelse) in the European Champions League until recently when she strangled a ref. Well, there you go.
She's got style and attitude, and I like that! I hope that she doesn't strangle any more referees so that I can meet her during the World Championships next year when she comes as the coach of the Serbia and Montenegro National Team.
Here's a link to a video tribute to her on YouTube. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
2006-2007 Game Schedule
As I mentioned, this is an exciting year! As usual, we're playing in two different leagues to get some game experience before our major events.
One league is the Northeast Team Handball Conference (NETHC). This league was created by my coach, Christian Latulippe, and is comprised of two men and two women's division mostly in the (here's a big shocker here) northeast region of the US. This year the league merged with some teams from the Quebec League to give more games to people on both sides of the border. For the most part, since our team is a lot bigger this year, my coach will use these games (which are less competitive) to help our newer players gain experience.
The second league is the Circuit Quebecois (Quebec League), which is based out of Canada. There are nine teams (including the USA) in the senior women's division, and the level of play is the highest in North America. This gives us several quality games. Last year we had a record of 10-8, and came in third place after making it to the play-offs. We beat every team in the league at least once, but couldn't take it all. This year we're hoping to win the Quebec League- it certainly won't be easy, but it is definitely a worthy goal!
Here's our game schedule- if you notice, we have our first games this weekend! I'm really looking forward to starting the season, but it will be interesting. Since there are several new people who don't have much game experience, I think Christian will use the weekend to give them a real feel for the game. Although, it will be good practice for everyone.
One league is the Northeast Team Handball Conference (NETHC). This league was created by my coach, Christian Latulippe, and is comprised of two men and two women's division mostly in the (here's a big shocker here) northeast region of the US. This year the league merged with some teams from the Quebec League to give more games to people on both sides of the border. For the most part, since our team is a lot bigger this year, my coach will use these games (which are less competitive) to help our newer players gain experience.
The second league is the Circuit Quebecois (Quebec League), which is based out of Canada. There are nine teams (including the USA) in the senior women's division, and the level of play is the highest in North America. This gives us several quality games. Last year we had a record of 10-8, and came in third place after making it to the play-offs. We beat every team in the league at least once, but couldn't take it all. This year we're hoping to win the Quebec League- it certainly won't be easy, but it is definitely a worthy goal!
Here's our game schedule- if you notice, we have our first games this weekend! I'm really looking forward to starting the season, but it will be interesting. Since there are several new people who don't have much game experience, I think Christian will use the weekend to give them a real feel for the game. Although, it will be good practice for everyone.
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