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Field Hockey Canada |  |
July 18:  Sarah Forbes | July 19:  Meggan Hunt & Steph Jameson  | July 20:  Becky Price | ||
July 22:  Deb Cuthbert & Lisa Faust  | July 23: ??? | |||
July 24:  Stephanie Hume | July 25:  Aoibhinn Grimes & Kelly Rezansoff  | July 26:  Sue Tingley | ||
July 27:  Jenny Johnson |
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Hi All!
We arrived yesterday with weary eyes but excited to get to the athletes village and meet everyone. The volunteers made the transition from airport to the bus to the accreditation station to our second bus to our second security point to our next bus then to our third security point and then to the athletes village seem not so long and tedious. Sept 11 has sure had an effect on the security here. We even have an RCMP officer from Toronto in the village with us keeping us briefed on security if need be.
The Canadian staff gave us a briefing and showed us where to find everything. They have named our residences after the four Canadian cities that have previously hosted the Commonwealth Games, field hockey is residing in Hamilton House. We then tumbled into our not so large rooms, cozy, I must say politely, and found our team clothes all piled into a suitcase. After an hour or so of laughing and trying on the outfits, we all headed for the exchange line to get the right sizes; someone forgot to tell our sponsors that we are all not 6 feet tall and wear huge things. It's actually rather affirming, I don't think I have worn an extra small since junior high or maybe even elementary school!!!
The clothes are pretty nice but some things are definite trading material or giveaway material.
We then found the 24hr cafeteria and, needless to say, we all got our second wind. The athletes village is like a surreal little bubble, anything you need or want is located somewhere in the compound. The Internet village with over 100 computers is the ultimate highlight, along with the games room filled with xbox, sega, playstation and pool tables. There are movies at the theatre every night and events always taking place.
The day came to a close quickly with everyone exhausted and tired from jetlag and the highs and lows. We are all looking forward to tomorrow when we hit the new pitch for a training session and run around. The cooler temperature will make training a little more comfortable than the above 35 degree weather we were experiencing back home before we left, however a little sun wouldn't hurt! Apparently Manchester is known for its' rain and damp conditions this time of year.
Regardless of the weather we are all glad to be here and are excited about our upcoming practice matches and then the real pool play. I will sign off by saying hi to all our training companions back in Canada, you gals are awesome!!!
Day two at Disneyland... oops, I mean Athletes Village. The day started off bright and way too early for a team run, around some grass fields in the village. And then the clouds rolled in, and the rest of the day was VERY WET. Originally, we had laughed at the enormous red ponchos we were given by Zellers, but today we sported them gladly as we ran through the showers.
We had some free time in the morning to enjoy unpacking, free haircuts, games, and more food. Our parents will be happy to know that we are being very well taken care of! It's awesome. It's impossible to walk more than ten steps without a friendly volunteer asking you if you're having a good time or if you need any help. Our favourite thing to do is to walk past all the other athletes and try to guess where they're from and what sport they play. We're getting much better at this game every hour. There are countries here I've never heard of and we're always getting to meet new people - good times.
Then we went to practice, and the turf field is terrific. Wish we could have one like it at home! We just had a light practice but it was great to get out there and check things out. We're all looking forward to our upcoming matches on this pitch. We're also looking forward to getting some more sleep!..
When we came home, we found that the men's hockey team arrived. As happy as we were to see them and learn that they are all well, we also learned that they are sharing our floor. This also means that they are sharing our bathroom... 3 showers, 3 toilet stalls, 2 sinks - 32 people. Let's just say it's going to be an interesting week! (Can they PLEASE put the toilet seat down in the middle of the night?!)
So us two rookies are signing off for the day, very excited about the amazing experience we're going to have. Thanks to everyone at home for your continued support. Love to all our families and friends - hope things at home are just swell...
Once again we began our day by stepping straight out of bed into a morning jog about the village. By the end of the run our eyes were open, and as Megan put it "there were more guys to check out" with more athletes filling into the village every day.
The highlight of the day had to be the picturesque, however very long bus ride through the rolling hills and single laned roads of the country. We saw 827 sheep, 532 cows, and Waldo on the way. This journey then lead us to the castle like college (St.Mary's College) in between two rivers that could be compared to Hogwarts School of Wizardry from Harry Potter. However, instead of a game of Quidditch we played a scrimmage match vs. the English UN21's in a game that we could say was not magical, but got our feet wet for the upcoming matches.
Although the end result was a 1-1 tie, there were still brilliant performances throughout the game. Debbie Cuthbert struck first after stealing the ball from the English defender in front of the goal putting Canada up 1-0. Stephanie "Barney" Hume also played her first game for Canada with a fine performance. Way to go Barney!
Following the game England treated us to beverages and snacks prior to our departure back to the athletes village. I believe that I can speak on behalf of the team that if I never hear another Michael Bolton song his voice will still be ringing in my ears. Apparently our bus driver had a thing for Michael, and strangely enough Debbie knew all the words...must be a U.K thing.
That is all my friends. Cheers to all, especially Mom, Dad, Brooks, and Ewan. LOVE YA.
Started the day by kicking my roomie out of bed. Deb actually keeps her alarm on the other side of the room so she has to get up and then to my surprise she turned it off and promptly jumped back into bed. A bit of a struggle to get up, we are still dealing with some of jet lag but we are over the worst of it... I hope... no reports of any 3 a.m. trips to the caf last night anyway.
Men and women united this morning for an 8:45 sharp media session photo-op. No time for bed heads or sleepy eyes, we looked great in our new Adidas unis in a sea of red & black. Followed by a mad scramble to catch a 9:45 bus to Bellevue Stadium to play our first game at the official venue against South Africa. The team was in great spirits all morning and it filtered onto the field. Playing hockey the Canadian way with three 20-minute periods we knew right off the bat we had the advantage (Hockey Night in Canada)!
It was end to end hockey - both teams started out very fast paced. We got the first PC and continued the momentum from there. South Africa was really strong on the ball but our defense came up big and both our goalies were forced to produce some stellar saves. We created a number of well-earned scoring opportunities, but it was Aoibhinn who finally put Canada on the scoreboard early in the third. Beaner's goal went unanswered by the South African's and when the final whistle blew it was a 1-0 game in favour of the Canucks. (An encouraging result against a team that currently hold a World 6th place ranking)
A number of us stayed to watch the game that followed as our Canadian lads were given their chance to have a go at South Africa. It was great to have the opportunity to cheer them on and witness some fine displays of International hockey. Grabbed a lift back to the village on the Pakistani team bus paying fare by means of entertainment thanks to Veronica who had them singing and clapping through the streets of Manchester.
The others made a quick get away to attend the Flag Raising Ceremony that included the whole Canadian contingent along with three other nations (Guyana, British Virgin Islands and Swaziland). The Mayor of the village gave the official welcome and an interesting explanation was given for the official emblem of the games; the 3 figures with their hands in the air on the podium represents the "M" for Manchester, athletes celebrating together, and the crown for the Queen's Jubilee. The raising of the maple leaf was a powerful and proud moment. Truly inspirational!
Yes, Karen, time has been spent in the cafeteria... KT actually just walked into our room and asked "ready to go for dinner?" and I said "already, didn't we just eat?". Well the salmon and curry calls. They ran out of hot chocolate in the caf so we walked to another one - have to counter the dampness somehow and the hot chocolate hits the spot.
Just another average day for us hard-working athletes... okay... maybe not. However super day all round - even the rainy weather hasn't dampened our spirits. Wonder if our stuff will ever dry...
 |  | received their first International Cap in the match against South Africa. Congratulations to both! |
| |
Since we're in England, we'll do the typically English thing and start by discussing the weather. Tuesday was pretty much like every other day here: cold, cloudy, and slightly wet and blustery. Next subject.
Today we played the Olympic and World Cup Champions, Australia. A pretty daunting opponent for this young Canadian team that were, however, up to the challenge. The Red Wolves opened up the scoring with a brilliant penalty corner goal early in the first half by Meggan Hunt. The Aussies answered with a pc goal of their own that hit the inside of both posts to beat the defence. They followed that goal up with a nice play down the baseline that resulted in another goal from the stroke mark. The Canadians rallied nicely however and the play continued competitive culminating in an excellent Canuck offensive play that found the Aussie goal. Unfortunately, the umpire ruled that the ball had hit Barney's body before entering the net. The other umpire could not clarify and so the Aussie umpire stuck with her call. Video replay proved that the goal was legal but a 2-1 loss to the Aussie's is nothing to be ashamed of. The Aussie girls were also very sportsmanlike opponents and during the game even suggested to the umpire upon the disallowed goal that she should accept our statement that the ball went in off the stick.
Anyways, enough shop talk. After the game, we had to rush off to the Canadian reception. As the vans approached the reception hall, the familiar green and white logo of the much craved coffee shop came into view. A cheer rose from the back of the vans as our coffee addicted girls salivated at the thought of a non-fat latte. The plan was made to assault the café after the reception.
A brass band struck up as we entered the Hall and we arrived just in time to see the celebrity video of various Canadian well-wishers such as Tragically Hip, Jan Arden, Bare-Naked Ladies, Bif Naked, Great Big Sea, and of course Don Cherry. Also athletes such as Kurt Browning, Jarome Iginla, Catriona Le May Doan, and Steve Nash wished us all the best. We also heard a great speech by the badminton star, Denise, who at the age of 42 is competing in her 6th Games and has won 7 medals. Her current partner is only 17 years old! There's hope for Lisa to stick around for another 3 Commonwealth Games, right Lisa?
By the end of the reception we were ready for food and in our rush some left before they remembered their Starbucks Mission. All was not lost. Lisa, Meggan, and Barney saved the day. Beaner and KT had their day made when a delivery of Grande Non-Fat Lattes was made to the dining hall. The rest of the evening was spent in various activities, the least pleasant of which was probably in the ice bath cum garbage bins. Jenny, Fausty, and Jules stood up to their waists in icy water from 9-10pm. Other athletes were very impressed by their fortitude. It's a good way to gain respect…although not as good as beating South Africa and having a close match against Australia.
One more game before our day off which also happens to be Jules' birthday and of course the Opening Ceremonies.
Another day, another game!
Well today started like any other day here (although a little later than yesterday as our morning run was moved to 10am). The weather as usual was like Vancouver in October, a lot of cloud, some liquid sun and a very small amount of real sun - isn't it July?
Our morning run actually turned into a morning walk out of the village. Headed to a park near by where we ran into some friends from back home. Yes, some Canadian Geese were hanging out by a not so beautiful lake (apparently they are a bit of a nuisance here). I was a little disturbed when it was pointed out that you could fish in this lake - the dead fish floating by the side did not make it look like a good idea.
Our game against Scotland wasn't until later that evening so the rest of the morning people did various things, from e-mailing, to laundry (which let me tell you is a long process). We gathered at 2pm for some team pictures (wearing a combination of our skirts and the hockey jersey's from Zellers) - we've all had enough team pictures for the time being. After that we had our team meeting, grabbed a snack and at 5:45pm headed to the field to play Scotland.
Again we played it in true Canadian style with three 20 minute periods, but this time it was not to our advantage. The first twenty went well for us, but our bodies definitely began to feel the affects of the last two games (a lot of running in the past games). A 2-1 loss was rather disappointing for us. We all came back from the field looking forward to dinner, icing, a evening massage, and a good sleep-in as a day of rest was all that was in order for the next day (and of course the opening ceremonies).
So that's it, that was our day. All the best to everyone at home - hope your all smiling and we'll all be waving tomorrow to you in the opening ceremonies.
The clouds hung thick in the air in true Manchurian style as we began our day with the typical team run. As the team bravely pushed our way through the village to once again explore the back fields our group of young, strong and good lookin athletes truned the heads of volunteers and athletes alike.
The athernoon was spent relaxing around the village web-nesting, cinema-seeing, bed-sleeping and hot-cold-contrasting (in large garbage cans). The group reassembled mid-afternoon for our offical flag signing rookie tradition and a beautiful rendition of 'Oh Canada' was sung by our rookies Steph J and Barney. We also spent this time creating nicknames for each other which gave birth to: J. Wall-She-Can-Do-No-Wong, Good Megs Hunting (aka Meggahunt) and Tricky-Stix-Rix. And then it was time for today's main event: The 2002 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremonies.
Q: So Aoibhinn, as a veteran and 2 time Commonwealth Games participant how do you feel the ceremonies went?
Love and greetings to everyone in Vangroovy and Vangroovy Island! Hi Mom(s)
and Hi Dad(s)!! Hi Benji! Hi Anna, Connor, Rich!! And thanks to everyone for
all your support!
Game Preparation and thoughts: as I woke up I could feel the butterflies and the excitement mounting in my stomach... it was game day - the official start of our CommonWealth Games!
We headed out for our routine wake up/morning jog and stretch. The team was relaxed but you knew everyone's thoughts were on India. The day continued as normal as we headed to the cafeteria a few times - we hung out (e-mail, watched movies, physio, rested...) - we had our team meeting... and then it was time to head to the turf. As we left the village, the men's team interrupted their intense cricket game to give us a big cheer - Thanks boyz!
The excitement continued as we arrived at the turf and the English fans were cheering loudly for their home team. We began our warm-up on the second pitch and it was great to see some of our Canadian parents ready to cheer us on... Keep it up!
Highlights of the match - Our goalies played brilliantly, we had a great first half of play by creating numerous penalty corners, our brave rookie 'Barney' toughed it out Canadian style by receiving 3 stitches to her knee at half time with NO freezing (Ouch!) - she returned to play the second half... we mak'em tough! The 1-0 loss was both disappointing and frustrating but we have taken our lessons and are looking forward to our two next matches... Bring it on!!!
Chillin' with the Queen - This was was no normal day for a few reasons...
Story: The Queen was coming to the village to see the sights and to have a lunch with some of the athletes. I was not sure when she was coming or where she was going but I somehow managed to have a little chat with her! I was coming out of the 'mini shopping area' in the village, there was a a line up of people and lots of excitement going on... I was not sure what was happening on but I figure the Queen must have arrived... so I stood in the line up of people and sure enough the Queen was walking down the pathway. As she made her way down, she motion over towards me and asked me if 'I was from Canada'... I said yes, I am and then she asked me where she could find one of these maple leaf tattoos that I had on my cheek (Don't worry Mom and Dad - its the wash-off kind!). I laughed and said that I could find her one and that it would look great on her face as well! She laugh and in her British accent said oh no no no... I said it would be great, we could put one on each of her cheeks!... but she just laughed again and said oh no no no... and kept on walking. So that was my excitement of the day... Me and Queen! Not sure why she did not want the tattoos. Anyways...
Onward and upwards... looking forward to our next few games... Thanks for all your support back home!
We started today with a team run to wake-up our bodies from yesterdays game. We then proceeded to the trailer for a video session to learn from our game against India. The rest of the day was off (much needed rest).
Many of us had family and friends visit the village. Becky's Ewan gave out hugs to all the girls who needed some loving (Jeff I miss you desperately baby).
Following the video session we watched the men play a hard fought game versus Wales resulting in a 1-1 draw. The weather is finally decent here with the sun out all day. The rest of the day was low key with the exception of a few intense scrabble matches between Butch, Beth, Jenny, Megan and Sarah. However, Butch keeps trying to use skeptical Aussie slang words to gain some extra points.
The spirit is amazing here with all the Canadian athletes and mission staff supporting each other along the way.
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