Just realized that there are details about the tour that I’ve left out. We practice at the fields at RAF Halton and the first couple of days we had the England Women’s 7’s team on the field next to us as they prepared for the European 7’s Championships in Hanover, Germany. Since then we have been on our own with the exception of the people who walk their dogs around the outside of the fields. Today a little black dog named Lola joined practice after she had spent twenty minutes trying to catch seagulls. She was a sweet pooch but her owner described her as “having a mind of her own, the little sod” =)
We have our own locker room at the small stadium and it’s nice that the players can change out of their wet clothes for mealtimes. The weather is strange. Today it was sunshine followed by torrential rain for fifteen minutes and then sunshine for the rest of the day. Weather has been in the mid sixties most days and the evenings have been nice and cool. The dorm has nice duvets and so the combination of two-a-days, cool evening breezes and a warm comforter has made for great sleeping. Talking of sleeping, we’ve introduced a one hour rest period in the middle of the day where the players have to be off their feet. They can sleep, read, listen to their ipod but they can’t walk around…….most seem to choose sleep.
So the day was our usual pre game practice day and the team spent time working on new combinations and tightening up some loose spots. Last session today produced some great rugby as the improved communication produced a higher level of confidence. They finally looked like they had played together for a while.
Had dinner, went back to the Orphange and the jersey ceremony was at 8:30 tonight. They know twenty-five players won’t go into twenty-two shirts but it’s always tough. Here is the squad for the game against Canada.
USA U20 WNT Team
1 Wendy Sherman, Colorado State
2 Katie Hathaway, Norwich
3 Rachel Sommer, West Linn OR
4 Katie Humphrey, Kent WA
5 Maggie Reidy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
6 Erin LeGate, Maryville
7 Jozy Gessner, Summit, CO
8 Candace Barley, Maryville TN
9 Brittany Houston, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
10 Sadie Anderson, Penn State
11 Morgan Rovetti, Brigham Young
12 Lisa Henneman, Seattle Women (Captain)
13 Brooke LeGate, Maryville, TN
14 Erica Cavenaugh, University of Virginia
15 Jessica Sexaur, Army
16 Tyra McGrady, Indiana University
17 Erica Lane, Chico State
18 Mallory Ives, Colorado State
19 Cat Parkhill, University of Minnesota
20 Brittany Woodard, Virginia State
21 Katie Johnson, Hopkins, MN
22 Amelia Villines, Stanford
Help Raise Funds for USA U20 Women's National Team!!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
U20 Nations Cup Day 9
Monday, July 13, 2009
U20 WNT Day 8
Has it really been eight days? This was a free day for the players and they had options on where they could go. Jeff and Sue took a group south to Stonehenge and Bryn, Curt and Amy went up to the town of Rugby to see the birthplace of the game. The group that went to Rugby had a wonderfully relaxed day and the highlight was the players being allowed to run around on the field at Rugby School. Brittany Houston kicked three long range drop goals and didn’t stop smiling for an hour……..she was in rugby nirvana.
The group that went off to see the big stones had a good time. They found Stonehenge fascinating although Becky Holmes got distracted and went off to look at sheep. They spent the afternoon in Oxford on the way back and the players got to see some of the places that are used for the interior shots in the Harry Potter movies.
The day produced a great tour moment when Maggie Reidy got distracted by a window full of shoes and walked slap bang into a lamppost. One leg and one arm shot out in front of her as it stopped her dead in her tracks.
U20 WNT - Day 7
We had the early game so our schedule was up for breakfast, walk through the gameplan in tennis shoes and off to Brunel for the game against England. We made nine changes to the team that beat Wales but they looked really good together yesterday so we were confident we could give England a good game. The game was a tough one and ended in what looked like a one sided 7-42 loss but the reality was that we gave England problems in a lot of areas and got beat for speed on the outside. They were big and physical but our forwards went toe to toe with them and their tries were all in the corners and unconverted. We actually finished the stronger and got a try from Brittany Rose in the sixty seventh minute and it was a good one. Asia Donaldson found some room on the outside and took the ball to the English twenty-two, She offloaded to Sadie and then a couple of quick offloads between the backs took the ball down to the English five meter line. A series of small rucks resulted in a penalty to the USA. Brittany was being treated for an injury when the play started and ran sixty yards to rejoin her teammates as Brittany Houston took a quick tap and gave it to Brittany Rose who took a couple of England players with her as she put the ball down on the goalline.
We lost a couple of players to injury as Jozy Gessner re-injured the elbow she hyper extended at the U23 NASC and Brittany Rose’s shoulder injury meant that she couldn’t continue. We have fingers crossed that they will both be available for selection for Wednesday’s game. The post game meal at Brunel was fun and the both teams seemed to get along well. We were back at the Orphanage by 9:00 pm and all the players were fast asleep long before lights out at 11:00 pm.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
U20 WNT Tour day 6
Everyone was pooped this morning after walking all over London yesterday and it was another day of players falling asleep every time we stopped moving. Kurt got more great pictures of "Sleeping Beauties" so I thought I would post one. Practices were short and productive as the squad worked on tweaking the gameplan for tomorrow's match with England. Jersey ceremony tonight and selections include nine changes to the team that beat Wales. Brittany Rose and Brittany Houston have both been in the program for a few years but tomorrow will be their first U20 caps. We finished the night with a chalk talk and the players were in bed by 10 pm. We play England tomorrow and they looked really good against Canada. We know they are the clear favorites but the team is upbeat about their prospects. We hadn't beaten Wales before Thursday so we know that anything can happen.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Friday July 10th
The players had a free day today and we all went to London for the day. We split into three groups and each went exploring the city. All the players got back to the meeting point at 7:00 pm and we took the train back home and shared stories. We watched the video of the Wales game and ended the night by celebrating Asia Donaldson's birthday with cakes and a solo rendition of Happy Birthday by Jeff Noe. Fun day.
