Field Hockey Canada |  |
Nov. 13:  Erin Morton | Nov. 14:  Jenny Johnson | Nov. 16:  Erin Fraser | ||
Nov. 18:  Meggan Hunt | Nov. 19: Meggan Hunt | Nov. 24: Lisa Eastman & Erin Morton | ||
Nov. 27:  Stephanie Jameson |
 Back to Schedule and Results |
Field Hockey Canada | |
| Nov. 13: Erin Morton | Nov. 14: Jenny Johnson | Nov. 16: Erin Fraser | ||
| Nov. 18: Meggan Hunt | Nov. 19: Meggan Hunt | Nov. 24: Lisa Eastman & Erin Morton | ||
| Nov. 27: Stephanie Jameson |
| Back to Schedule and Results |
On November 11th, the Canadian field hockey team regrouped in Vancouver to prepare for their last developmental tour of the year. After Vancouver's driest fall season, the team was blessed with four days straight of solid rain. It rained during the intersquad game, during the beep test, during practice and every day after that.
Despite the rain, there was lots of energy and enthusiasm with the excitement building. November 11th finally came, and the team headed to the airport to start their long journey to Perth, Australia. With doubt in our minds about the next few days of traveling, a total of 24 hours of flying time, we were very surprised to see what Singapore Airlines had to offer to us as their passengers. We felt like kids in a candy store... our own personal TV with remote controls, 25 movies to select from, lots of music to listen to, and all the games one could imagine... with Nintendo being the big hit for everyone. With these features, it kept a lot of us very entertained... for me... 11 hours straight!
The first leg was about 11 hours, and we made our first decent to Korea to refuel. Next was 8 hours to Singapore where we remained there in a hotel over night. After three quick hours of sleep and a refreshing shower, we were back on the plane for our final leg of the flight. Although the eyes were heavy and tired, the excitement was soaring as there was only five hours left until we would be at our final destination.
We touched down in Perth at 2:30pm, and it was 29 degrees, sunny and beautiful. We are finally here. Perth, Australia! We plan to make the most of the experiences and opportunities we are presented with while here.
Thanks for the support from back home…missing you all!
 Hi Yan, Here is the team diary for Nov. 14 and 15th. Sorry it's a little behind schedule. Having all our belongings stolen last night was a bit distracting... Other than that, all is well! It was tough to lose to Australia so badly, but they are very much on top of their game, and we are developing. No Worries! It really is beautiful here. |
It was a magnificent first day in Perth. We began the morning with an early run on the Fremantle Beach. We gave our quads a workout by running in the water knee deep and finished our session with body surfing. Afterwards, Butch dared to take 18 starving women to the grocery store for breakfast food. It was quite the scene to see us in the store, many of us in barefoot, without a proper shirt, and with salt dried all over our shoulders. The Aussies are very laid back to say the least.
The afternoon welcomed us with 36-degree heat, this along with the extremely dry air was a bit of a shock to the system for our first practice. Our throats felt quite raw, although it could have also felt this way from swallowing the abundance of flies they have here. We trained at the Perth AIS field, where the World Cup is being held. The turfs are relatively hard with a noticeable grain, but still fantastic!
Friday was much cooler. In the morning we went running in Kings Park, where we had an awesome view of Perth. The highlight of the day was a Coaching session with Steven Davies - Australia's top striker in the 90's. He showed us a variety of shots, hitting and receiving techniques. The session was super fun and a great learning experience.
With ample practices under our belt we were excited to take the field against Ireland. Our game was held in Bunbury, which is about a two and a half hours drive. On our way we stopped to have a picnic lunch (very yummy) and some of us got to see kangaroo's, emu's, and a gang of bikers (one was from Saskatchewan).
The game turned out to be a 3-0 loss. The Irish presented us with great grit and speed. We showed composure and had opportunities we just didn't capitalize on. In our post game stroke off we refocused and sunk 8 out of 10 strokes.
If the loss wasn't enough to swallow... While eating at the "International Eating Ho", our bus was broken into. Many lost cameras, discmans, sunglasses, wallets, cash and passports-even a couple uniforms (just to name a few). Ask Leslie about her poem ("Ode to !@#$%^& Australian Thieves").
After the police reports, calls home and credit card cancellations we called it a day. Looking forward to our game against the Aussies and high hopes for house insurance coverage.
Congratulations on first Caps for Lauren, Mo, Ali and Red! Welcome back to Lisa Eastman and Dana D'Abreo!
 |   | Ali Johnstone, and Erin Fraser received their first International Cap in the match against Ireland. Congratulations to all! |
 | |
A day off! We started out early with a workout in the surf at Cottesloe, where the last shark attack occurred two years ago. Butch tried hard to scare us but after a while we got everyone in to battle some waves. The Aussies may think the water is still too cold, but we know it's way colder at home so we're doing our best to enjoy it for everyone!
After some treatment and some quiet time, we wondered what to do in our free afternoon off. Hmmm... 18 girls in a new city, after a loss, needing to replace some stolen items? Retail therapy! We did our best to help out the Australian economy by bringing home heaps of bikinis and board shorts, revived and ready for a night of dinner, meetings, and relaxation.
Those of us with a little less cash opted to check out the museum, where we saw some super cool skeletons, including a giant blue whale skeleton that really psyched up the anatomists in the crowd.
When we came home, plans of chilling out changed as we were accosted by the doping police, and spent the rest of the night making dinner around urine samples... Good times.
After dinner, some stayed awake long enough for a chuckle over our old classic "Zoolander", which is always quotable in any situation. Comments like "he's ridiculously good looking!" and "it's OK that you just sprayed water all over me. Water is the essence of moisture, and moisture is the essence of beauty". Those who have watched the movie lots will know what we mean!
We woke up psyched and ready to play Scotland, a team we've played a few times this year and one we were prepared to beat today. Fate would have it other wise, it seems, as they managed to get up quickly and we had a bit of a flat start, not quite sharp enough and giving the ball away for some costly turnovers. Their first goal in particular was a sweet tip up under the crossbar, and their next two goals weren't bad either.
We turned it around nicely, put on more pressure as the game continued, and did our best to stay positive through some slightly less than magnificent umpiring. We did put one away on a corner at the end of the first half, which turned the tides a little as we came out much tougher in the second half and created many chances. Lots of chances, unfortunately no results. The second half was a 0-0 tie, but we leave this one a little frustrated with a 1-3 result, knowing that it should have been different on the scoreboard once again.
Coming home after the game lead us to a great surprise, the police had arrived and returned many of our stolen items back to us: passports, ID, uniforms, and a few other small items were returned, which was pretty sweet. We're still looking out for any strange looking Aussies who might have suspicious looking Canadian clothing on, so that we can go kick their butts if we happen to run into them!
That's it for me as I'm off to meetings, video, treatment, and other e-mail. Happy Birthday to my brother Jeffers. Hello and love to all those training partners, friends, and family at home. Thanks for your support - we are learning and improving each time we go out, so stay tuned for more action.
Today marked the beginning of the 2002 World Cup here in Perth. With no games today, we had the opportunity to watch every team start their quest for World Cup glory. Australia faced off against USA for the first game of the day. Looking especially sharp, Australia dominated the game, beating them 4-0. Later in the day, we watched the show down between Argentina and New Zealand. Despite only a 1-0 result, Argentina continue to remain the favorites to win the tournament.
Although we would prefer to be participating in the World Cup, it is an incredible opportunity to watch the tops teams in the world play. This tour has marked the end to a developmental year of hockey within Canada. The goals of the program were accomplished, as all athletes in the program were afforded the opportunity to gain international exposure. We must now take what we have learned, in order to become a dominating force on the international scene.
After a long day in the sun and sweltering heat, we headed back to the resort where we rested up in preparation for our game against Western Australia.
Today is the last official day of our Tour to the land down under. Most people are actually staying longer in Australia (some for a few extra days to watch more World Cup Action, and some for a few months of training in the hot sun!) but five of us (Red, Azelia, Lesley, Mo and myself) will be flying out very late tonight.
Even though many people are staying on longer, we all had to pack up and vacate the Broadwater Resort today by lunchtime, so the morning was spent doing some last minute packing. A few of us also went to the Gryphon factory here in Perth, to check out some equipment and try out their light sensor that measures your swing speed and the speed of your hit.
After lunch most of us headed over to Perth Hockey Stadium (a beautiful facility) to watch today's World Cup Games. Many of us were successful in finding a patch of shade to watch the action from, which was definitely necessary after getting a little too much sun yesterday on Rottnest Island (you should see my sunburned feet!).
The hockey has been excellent to watch so far, and in my opinion the game of the day was Australia vs. Ireland. I love watching the Aussies play because they have phenomenal skills and move the ball so effectively, but Ireland played an outstanding game and it was close right down to the wire. While Australia had more of the play and deserved the 2-1 victory, Ireland played great defense and had some good scoring chances in the second half.
It has been a great experience to play such top level teams on this tour and also to watch some amazing hockey at the World Cup.
 | to my friend Susan Paterson who turns 20 today! |
| Back to Schedule and Results |
For information or comments: fhc@fieldhockey.ca
FHC Menu
National Teams Menu