Nearly Half way through the season.

Sorry i haven't written for so long. What started supposedly as a rest has turned into an extremely busy few months.

Chelmsford Ladies 1's are playing better hockey each week and grounding out some results. We had an extremely good start to the season with a win away to Leicester which unfortunately followed with a few poor games and annoying results. But we've been learning as a team from our new coach - Simon, and things are coming together more each game. In fact at times we are playing some very exciting hockey - you should come and watch to see!

I've personally been frustrated with my hockey for the past few months, after our intial rest i had an injury then played a little and then fell ill! so fingers crossed i'll get a full game in on Saturday! against Ipswich. Frustrating for me and for the team i can imagine.

We need a win from our last game going into the christmas break. We are away to Ipswich on Saturday at 2pm (i think).

On our return from the Christmas break we go straight back into Indoor the favoured game at Chelm!

Have a lovely Christmas all.

Lisa
x

Tuesday 10th October

England 2 Germany 1

Back home now and getting back into the swing of a normal life albeit for a few weeks!

We were really pleased with our game against Germany. We played very well and worked as a unit.

Ginge gave us the lead in the first half having soaked up quite a lot pressure from the Germans. Then just before the end of the first half i found myself in an acre of space with the ball at the top of the 'D' and smashed the ball into the goal, Rachel Walker from Olton helped my strike into the goal with a deflection over the line so a great team effort. Katy Roberts kept us in the game in the second half with a penalty stroke save so in all it was a great game for the Chelm girls!

It was frustrating to see the Spanish smashed by the Argentinians but equally as satisfying. The Dutch won the final as predicted and rightly so. They are number one in the world!

Watching the final and medal ceremony gives you so much motivation to continue training so hard i want to be there!

We have a few weeks break from hockey whilst the National League starts but we'll be back before you know it.

The last night proved to be a good night out and we all enjoyed letting our hair down finally but after little alcohol for 6 months or so it certainnly proved to be a cheap night!!!

Stay tuned for Chelm updates - Tufty is it posisble to archive this and get a new blog up and running for the league?

Take care all, many thanks for your messages - keep them coming.

Lisa
x

Sat 07 Oct England 0 Japan 2

Now we are just left wondering - when will we learn?

Danny has been consistently telling us its the little things that make the difference between being in the Worlds top 6 and not, and its these little things that are slipping by. 1 goal sat between us and a semi-final now we are straing at a best place of 7th. Which we have to take, and have to ensure a good performance. I want to walk out of this tournament proud as possible to have given everything even when the chips were down. Its about taking as many points as possible from the tournament and about our performance as a team and as individuals. What we can learn from one game till the next and who has the emotional stability to get it right.

So we play Germany again tomorrow.

The Japanese game we´d have won if it went on posession. But what did we do with that posession? Nothing that set the world on fire! There was the difference the Japanese took their chances. They could have had another couple of goals if it wasn´t for the brilliance of Katy Roberts in goal who made two crucial saves in the first half.

There is talk of us ´not turning up for the game´apparently, i certainly didn´t view it like that. The first half we imposed our game on them as asked of us. We had a lot of posession but simply didn´t create from that posession. We made a view glaring errors which gave them some clear cut opportunities which Katy kept us in the game. The second half started as the first but Japan broke through our defence and once again we were on the back foot we could only then look to throw everything forward. The Japanese defended execeptionally and all we could do was keep trying. By throwing all we can forward we left ourselves open to penetration which the Japanese took. So critics may say we didn´t turn up for the game i´d argue with that statement but say we need to work on more aspects of play before we are ready to take on the Worlds Best Teams again.

I´m still very excited about the future we are improving all the time and we are learning from every experience and thats what counts from now!

Thanks for all those messages (Steve, Emma, Hayles, Hils, Nick etc..) i´ll keep my blog running for Chelm so please stay tuned!

Lisa
xx

Thursday 5th October England 1 Spain 1 Gutted!

Hi all, thanks for all the comments again and thanks for your positive vibes.

Well what can i say other than - GUTTED! Sorry I didn't write yesterday i hope you weren't looking for my write up! I really wasn't in the mood last night.

I can't write about the game i'm afraid i really dont have the energy or desire its one of those games that i wont forget in a hurry but wish i could!

Its now all about finishing in the top 6 as we orginally set out to do and that means beating the Japanese tomorrow so onwards.

Please please keep those positive thoughts and vibes coming we still need them.

Sorry to be short and brief.

A gutted but positive about tom
Lisa!

Tuesday 3rd October England 1 Germany 0

So Olmpic Champions 0 England 1. A great performance by us that gives us the necessary three points to keep us in the running for a Semi-Final Spot.

We have to make sure we take three points from the Spanish game tomorrow to get into the Semi-Final of the World Cup.

The game today was really good, a fast hard tough battle but very enjoyable. The first few minutes were very tense and we were a little tentative. We won a penalty corner early on which I was having to inject - thankfully my first injection was accurate although i had to retake as the Germans ran out too fast, the second was again accurate but again the Germans ran out too quick at which point their number one runner gets a green card (a warning) and i also get shown a green card. The first time i push out in a proper international match and i get a green card for holding (apparently!) oops! The third i was so worried about holding i took too quickly and pushed it all wrong which resulted in a 90yrd sprint for me back to defend. I was mighlty annoyed but i'd get my chance again. Germany then won their first corner which we defended well. I got into a little bit of a tussle which i have to say really wound me up so I retaliated a bit and not surp[risingly Danny took me off soon after. He let me cool off on the bench for 5 minutes or so and then i was back on to rest Helen Richardson at CH. Whilst i was off the pitch the Germans got another penalty corner and Beth Storry made an awesome save which the rebound fell to a German girl - Mel Clewlow (canterbury) made a diving save to stop the girl putting the ball into an empty net. A key moment.

So at half time it was 0-0 the second half started and we were immediately into attack and won a penalty corner i was injecting again and this time no card! it was accurate. Crista Cullen drag flicked teh ball at goal. Both Lucilla Wright and I were there to follow in. Lucilla managed to scoop the ball into the back of the net only to hit a German girl on the line., A penalty stroke was given. Helen Richardson cool as a cucumber stuck it into the back of the net. We continued to have many attacks and we also defended like our lives depended on it. The minutes dragged out but gradually the time depleted and we'd won 1-0.

Awesome!

So now onto the Spanish.

You all must have been sending thouse vibes so please please please keep them coming.

And to anonymous who doesn't know me thanks for your comment it was very much appreciated. Glad you are enjoying watching and enjoying the blog.

Thanks to all those who leave messages.

With love from Madrid,
Lisa
xxx

Sunday 1st October England 1 (should have been 2) India 1

Well now, who saw it?

You could say an interesting game!!!!!!!

So was it or wasn't it i know your asking. Well we are 100% sure it was. Kerry definetly touched the ball before it crossed the line, she knows she did. So the new 3rd umpire does it help? What could you all tell from the TV we get the replays on the big screen but they aren't very clear what did it look like from the comfort of your sofa's?

So that's what it comes down to. This tournament is posing to be extremely close in every match in both groups. At the top of the sport its the slightest, smallest detail that can make all the difference.

We will be looking back at the video tomorrow and learning from our mistakes and where we could have played better. In the hoe that come Germany we can get the three points required and turn this tournament back in favour of us. It isn't over the fat lady sings!!

For those who didn't watch it your probably wondering what the hell i'm on about. So i'll start from the beginning - We started the game well we knew we had get it and give it not let the Indians crowd the ball carrier as we know they are very god tacklers and stealers of the ball and have an extremely fast counter attack. We also know they can get quite physical!!!! So the more you can stay out of their reach the better (if you get my drift!!) We had a few chances and a few penalty corners in the first half, but unfortunately didn't convert. Then the Indians right before the end of the half had a fast break into our bottom left defending side, the ball got expelled into the air and one of the Indian girls took a swipe in the air, all of our defenders were expecting the whistle rightly or wrongly, it didn't come the girl hit the ball in teh air which fell to another Indian who put it into the goal. We immediately swarmed teh umpire to ask her to confir with her colleague, she did and on the whistel of half time the goal was disallowed.

The second half as to start, but in true cricket style the oppo didn't want to take the pitch they were not happy with the dececision from the end of the first half! Eventually they were told they had to come onto the pitch. They did. The game started. We had the colleywobbles (great sayinging) for first few mins but managed to settle.

I'm really sorry but going to have to go as just had the message from administrator will be back later to tomorrow - keep you all in suspense sorry......

BYEEEEEEE for now

Ok i'm back sorry for the long delay. So .......... but managed to settle........ We then played some exceptional hockey. Really quick interpassing that cut through the indian defence and won numerous penalty corners non of which we could convert. The Indians fianlly came back at us with antother of their quick counterattaks and won a penalty corner. They left slip hit the corner which unfortunately clipped Helen Richardson on the foot, the umpire gave a penalty stroke. We appealed saying the ball was going wide but she was adamant she had given the correct decision. I was very confident with katy in the goal (being a penalty stroke expert!) that she would save the stroke. She got extremely close but the Indian took it well and levelled the score to 1-1. Early on in this second half we went down another key member when Jennie Bimson took a swipe across the face cutting her left cheek in a similar fashion to Kates knee injury and again we somehow managed not to win the decision.

We were not going to let this affect us and again played some good hockey. We broke through numerous times. A great chance fell to Al Danson who showed some exceptional skill in beating the GK but then lost her positioning within the 'D' and pulled the ball wide of the goal. It was a devasting moment for her, but we continued to apply the pressure. With two minutes to go Crista took a very quick free hit just outside the attacking 25 Kerry Williams ran towards the ball and was in 'D' when it touched her stik and flew into the bottom left corner of the indian goal. we were 2-1 up.

Or where we! The third umpire was called into action, a new ruling for the mens and womens world cup. The video replay was played over and over and they eventually came to the conclusion that the goal should not stand. So with 2 min to play still at 1-1 we still applied great pressure, we won another pc but again could not convert. It simply was not going to be. It has to be one of the most eventful games I have played in. It had the crowd gripped.

So with a win a loss and a draw we now stand 4th in the group with two games to play. The Germans and the Spanish. David Faulkner ventured this morning that we are exactly in the same place as they were when they played in the Olympics 1988 - and we should all know what happened there - they won the GOLD! So don't think we are dead and buried yet we aren't we still have everything to play for and we need to win twice!

So if you haven't sent you positive thoughts and vibes then now is the time!!!

Till tomorrow,

Adios
xxx

29th September 2006 England 0 Holland 1

Oh Dear - a loss!

we were so annoyed. The day started just as well the China Match day. But it wasn't to be.

I don't know what to say really. We started the game and the dutch to be fair had the majority of play for the first half. We were on our back foot. We had a shot from Al but they took the iniative for most of the half. I had worked myself up into a frenzy perhaps putting too much pressure on myself from the minute i woke up and started the game very badly, very uptight and not relaxed i just wasn't playing my normal game at all. Still i gradually got into the game and found my feet well actually fond my stick and worked out what the ball was!!

Towards the end of the first half our captain kate Walsh was taken out of the rest of the game with a nasty swipe having just nicked the ball of one of the Dutch girls. Thankfully she is now walking about the hotel but we are still not sure how much damage was done. We were all getting flashbacks of the World Cup Qualifier!

The second half was much different. We started playing a lot faster. It was quite frustrating as the Dutch kept on breaking play down and the umpires just weren't stepping up to the mark it seemed. The dutch got away with all sorts. Even a big fat foot in the circle right under the umpire but no play on play on. Now i'm not one to come off the pitch and blame umpires and to be fair Holland over the course of the game probably should have won but just what if, what if the umpire had given the corner!!!! Still we can't live on what ifs and the game is over. We lost, we didn't play great. I didn't play great. But we have to move on, move onto the next game and get ourselves back into the tournament. At the end of the day (it gets dark!) Holland are number 1 in the world and the pressure was and is on them. That was never really meant to be a 3 pointer for us, we just have to get ourselves into the right frame of mind to play the next game.

So back on the recovery horse- nutrition, active recovery, hydration etc etc and we will stand to fight another day.

Please don't stop those positive vibes and thoughts, please share them using the message service below, we need all that we can get.

Till next time,

Love Lisa
xxxx

27th September 2006 - ENGLAND 3 China 2 YIPEEEEE!!

Hi All,

Many thanks for you comments, just read them all and both Al and I got very excited with each comment.

We are soooo happy a great start to the tournament. But as we were reminded quite rightly straight after the game we have to keep our feet firmly on the ground and make sure we get ourselves fully recovered over the next day before taking on the Dutch on Friday.

Al (Alex Danson my roomie.) woke up this morning with a good feeling. I will listen to her in the future! We were both hyper first thing this morning and from after breakfast we just couldn't wait to get on the pitch. We had our team meeting at 10.30am by the time this finished we were all well and truly prepared to take on the CHinese. We'd been preparing for this for months. Lunch was early at 11.30am and from lunch till the time we left the tunes were turned up, the hair straightening irons were heated and water bottles were prepared. We weren't going to let anything be amiss before we started this game.

We finally left the hotel at 1pm and arrived at the ground at 1.30pm. The weather was sunny sunny sunny, nice and warm which is always a good omen we play well in heat. As soon as we got to the ground we were into the changing rooms and weighing in (check our hydration!) then immediately out and into the warm up. Having completed the running warm up we were then onto the stick and ball. I have to say this was a little lax, i think the nerves and apprehension of the build up was getting to us all. Danny asked if we were all ok - but i think collectively we knew, we knew we just needed to get into the game and hear the first whistle go to start.

Finally the time came. The whistle went, and we were off, harrying, closing down the CHinese as quickly as possible. We knew from stats that they start games hard and fast and we were determined to match this. We did and imposed oursevles on the Chinese from the off. The game was fairly end to end but with not so many chances in either 'D'. In the 12th minute we finally broke through their defence from a long corner that Crista Cullen (Leicester) powered into the 'D'. The Chinese defence miss trapped the ball and left it sitting up nicely for Al to slam home. The Chinese responded after another 8 minutes or so with a penalty corner which their PC specialist flung into the goal with a drag flick. The game got a little frantic for a few minutes but once it settled we again broke through and Chloe Rogers found herself free on the right hand side of the 'D' she calmly placed the ball across the goal for Lucilla Wright (Olton) to put into the empty net. The ball seemed to cross the line in slow motion. We finsihed the first half two one.

During half time Danny & Karen ensured that we maintained concentration, gave us a few tiny details to our play and then sent us out on a highly emotional 'COME ON'. It was great to see the emotion within him and all of us responded brilliantly from this. We started the second half just as well as the first, at a pace to match the Chinese despite our start it was the Chinese who found the back of the goal first from a free hit outside the 'D'. They hit the ball in and the CHinese girl took a deflection in the middle which wrong footed Beth Storry (Holland club team!). The game stood at 2-2 until about the 57th minute when Crista Cullen scored a slip left drag flick at a penalty corner won by Chloe Rogers. It was a great moment. The last 13 minutes seemed to fly by thankfully although i'm sure that wasn't the case for the supporters on the sideline! The last 3 minutes we kept it on the right hand side in our attacking 25yrd to play time down. It worked and we won 3-2!

A really solid performance from all and a well deserved win.

As i said before we can't get carried away we have to perform as well if not better on Wednesday against Holland and between now and then we have to do everything to ensure we get the best recovery - rest, nutrition, hydration, active recovery etc!

Thanks for all those who have passed on their positive thoughts.

I have to make special recognition of Bam & Jem from Al, its great that you are reading the site and not from CHelm hockey club or my family. Lets hope more follow your lead!

Thanks to all my family for their thoughts and vibes and all those from Team Chelm.

Love to all back home.

Over and Out
Lisa
xxx

26th September 2006.

Its the day before the tournament begins. We have now had our last training session and it all starts from here. The mood in the camp is excited and nervous but very jovial and light. The nerves for me are really beginning to kick in now, everytime I think about the game tomorrow i get these waves of jumbled - excitement, apprehension, fear; but i think it's all good. I can't beleive we are actually here time flies! I am definetly ready to start the tournament, i'm injury free and just prepared to take on whatever and whoever is thrown at us.

We had the opening ceremony (well more of a opening gathering of all the teams and officials) at the ground today, it hit home that the tournament was starting.

The ground is finally taking shape with all the stands erected and all the signposts and banners decorating everywhere. It looks like it should be a great spectical.

I will be sure to come back online tomorrow to let you all know how we got on.

Keep those fingers crossed and keep feeding those positive thoughts.

Till tomorrow,
A nervous but excited Lis!
xxxx

Thanks for the comments Hils & Big Sis!

I forgot to say thank you so much for you comments.

I'm glad Geebs has started clapping lessons if its anything like her walking lessons she'll have picked it up in no time at all!!

Big thanks for the sky details, set your sky plus if you have it!!!!

See you in a week or so Muir family.
xxx

Sunday 24th September, 2006. 3 days to go!

Welcome back to my blog and a big Hola from Espanol (Spain - sorry my fluent Spanish maybe too much for you all!!!)

I dont have long to write as we only have ten minutes left on the internet connection - we (my roomie Al Danson and I) are trying to sort out internet for the few weeks we are here but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment. So you will have to bear with us for the moment. Hopefully by the tournament starts we will be up and running so i can upload and keep you all updated whenever i feel like.

So far the holding camp has been fairy good. We have trained everyday and played the Koreans in a practice match. We drew with the Koreans 1-1. It was a good game and we felt we got a lot from it. We are addressing a few minor details and have another practice match tonight v Japan. Then a last few training sessions to put the icing on the cake and hopefully that will lead us in well to our first match V China.

The pitches we are playing on are both really nice and play quite quickly. The venue is getting more and more like a world cup venue by the hour! Each time we go to the pitch there is something else built. At the moment it is all boding well!!

Well Sorry to cut it sort and not tell you all more but have to get going otherwise i'll cut off!!

Hope you are all well. If i forget to say - good luck to the ladies 2's in their first league match.

Take care and don't forget positive thoughts!!
xx

Day before we leave!!! - YIPEEEE

Hello again,

Its the day before we leave and i'm about to start packing. We finished our last training camp at Bisham yesterday lunch time we have a day to prepare ourselves and then off we fly tomorrow morning very early!!

We are all very excited and looking forward to the next few weeks ahead of us. A week today and we will be preparing for our first match against China. It feels like this has come around so quickly.

I hope all of you were following the mens World Cup. They were ranked 11th in the World going into the tournament and finished 5th a fantastic achievement - congratulations to all.

Everyone keeps asking if we are feeling the pressure having the men finish so high. I really don't and i think the team would agree. The mens world cup on Euro Sport just made me more excited about getting out there and into the tournament. It showed that at that level its the smallest of margins that makes the difference between winning and losing.

My last training session didn't exactly go to plan - i got a ball in the face whilst practicing attacking corners and cut my cheek so had to have my face glued and this morning i have a beautiful coloured eye and its likely that i'll be a scar face for a while at least! (there goes my successful modelling career - as i'm such the perfect height to be a model!!!!!)

Well i hope you all tune in to the blog over the next few weeks. Unfortunately the internet access is very expensive in the hotel so I may not be able to write as often as i would like but will try as much as possible.

Will be back soon and from the sunny climes of Madrid.

Positive thoughts appreciated.

Lisa
x

Yep it works well, and I even get to test it in a new window before it goes live!

Hope this makes for easier reading.

The archive stories from the Commonwealths and the World Cup Qualifier are easier to find aswell now. So when you have a spare half hour or probably longer have a read and see how the England Team got on earlier in the year.

Ta Ra for now!

Just Checking the New System

Hi to All,

I'm just checking out this great new system Tufty has implemented. You can all even leave comments now if you want!

So let me know your thoughts, any i'll also try and field any questions that you may have providing they are clean, sensible and predominantley about hockey!!! I'll obviosuly have the right to refuse!

Lets see if this works .............GO!

World Cup Selection

I'm so sorry for not writing sooner. It has been a very busy couple of weeks, it feels like I don't get 5 minutes to sit down. If I'm not training with the team, I'm training on my own doing fitness or busy trying to earn enough money to afford to live!

It's been a very exciting couple of weeks with the selection for the World Cup and then travelling out to Madrid for a recce. Selection was now over a week ago. Once again another nerve racking day was ahead of me. We were told selection would come out at noon but unfortunately I wasn't near my computer during the day as I was having to get a new passport having had my old one stolen whilst on holiday. At about half eleven in the morning I couldn't wait any longer to see if it had arrived, so I got my sister swinging into action on the internet to check my e-mails to see if the team had been announced. It had, I sat in the car on the other end of the phone my sister slowly and painstakingly read out the team, I'm sure she must have scrolled down the letter first to check my name was on the list but finally she got to the W's in the list and sure enough there was my name. I was selected for the World Cup. I was so excited. The smile couldn't have been wiped off my face for the rest of the day. What was even more exciting was that there were three selected from Chelmsford HC in the team. Katie Roberts and Chloe Rogers were also selected. A great achievement for the club.

The team having been selected were straight into training the weekend after selection, then two days home and we flew off to Madrid for a recce. I am now writing this having just flown back into the country. Madrid is a great setting for the World Cup its a beautiful city and the venue 'Club de Campo' is fantastic it's a mammoth sports club with polo, golf, swimming, hockey and tennis all within the same grounds. The pitch is lovely to play on. We have had five training sessions on the pitch over the course of the last few days and experienced the beautiful summer heat of Spain of forty odd degrees!!! (We are hoping for a little cooler later in the month! Apparently its supposed to be around 23 degrees a good temperature to play in!) The grounds seem no where near ready to host a World Cup yet but always the way it gets closer and closer and suddenly stands are built, signs and banners are erected and the place changes in atmosphere. I can't wait to be back. It was a great feeling just walking onto the pitch we will be playing on in the world cup and that was just for training, i can't wait for the feeling I'm gonna get when walking out for our first match.

So in exactly 17 days we will be flying back to Madrid for the holding camp and 23 days we'll be playing our first game. In these next few weeks we are really going to have to focus on world cup and everything will be about preparing to play my best hockey by the end of the month.

I hope to write a little more often now and having checked out the hotel I should be fine to keep in contact whilst I'm in Madrid.

So till the next time.

Adiós.

England 2 Germany (Olympic & Champion Trophy Champs) 1

The camp at Cannock this past weekend didn't exactly run to plan but the final result of our game on home turf against the Olympic Gold Medallists was extremely promising.

The typical English summer weather played a great part in the amount of hockey we played during our four day camp at Cannock this past week. We arrived on Wednesday last week and after 40 minutes on the pitch were faced with an extreme downpour and thunder storm and a waterlogged pitch, hampering our training and being tackled by water so we abandoned training and headed back to the hotel. The session the next day followed a similar pattern but at least we were able to get a full hour on the pitch this time!

Our first game against Germany on the Thursday night ended in a one all draw. We were reasonably happy with our play and felt we were playing much better than we had when we played Japan - at least we actually held the ball for more than a couple of passes! We scored first though a great rebound on a corner from Mel Clelow (Canterbury) but unfortunately Germany equalised through a deflection with seconds on the clock.

Again Friday's training was a wash out and we trained indoors with an hours Pilate's session taken by Rachel Walker (Olton). We also had a meeting from UK Doping about the 'whereabouts' system. This system has been designed to test all elite athletes outside of competition. So drug testers can turn up anywhere to test us at home, at work, whilst we are training! anywhere basically there is no escape and to aid this process we have to tell them through an online system where we are each day for at least one hour a day five days a week. If we don't comply we get three strikes and were out and deemed as a drug user with the consequences that go with that accusation. Its an extremely important aspect of being an elite athlete and we have to take responsibility for ourselves.

Saturday saw our two one win over Germany. The first half was particularly poor from us but we stayed in the game and gave ourselves the opportunity to turn it around in the second half. Kerry Williams (Leicester) opened the scoring for us from a Mel Clelow cross and then Jo Ellis (Doncaster) or Figo also known as scored an awesome reverse stick goal after some great team inter-passing. Germany then came back and scored a corner but couldn't find the second equaliser and we were determined not to let in a goal in the dying seconds again!

I thankfully am getting back into it and managed to play the majority of both games. Despite feeling particularly match unfit! I didn't have my best games in the world but surely if selected it's all about peaking at the World Cup!

We are back to Bisham today for training again and selection is towards the latter stages of the week. So fingers crossed.

Thanks to those that came up to Cannock to watch - Olly Rogers and Taff!

For now - byeeeeee!

Welcome Back to The Blog

Hello, avid blog readers!

I have agreed in preparation for the World Cup to continue my blog and obviously selection pending I will continue the blog throughout the World Cup, providing there is an easy Internet service.

Preparation really started the day we qualified for the World Cup back in May. We were given a hockey break back after the league finished, which is as important as the pitch time really as it gives your mind and body a small window of recovery before the hard work starts again, and oh boy did the hard work start!

At the end of this short break we played Australia and Argentina in a couple of tests. They were preparing for the Champions Trophy and we were just coming back from sometime away from the hockey pitch, so all teams were at different stages of the preparation for the World Cup, and it showed with how we played. We were in all quite disappointed with our performances but equally there were key players missing and we hadn't picked up a stick for a month. It doesn't excuse not applying what our coach had asked of us which was the case in one game but in all, the games taught us a few lessons which was best to be learnt there and not at the World Cup, and it proved we were still a long way off from number one in the world!!!!!

After those matches and camp it was again into a hockey break for a month but July was a hard physical month of simply strength and conditioning training (fitness sessions!). Two - three sessions a day of real intense hard work which whilst painful and sickening to complete made you feel great once you had finished them and gave you a great sense of well-being and achievement. Each week I felt stronger and stronger mentally and physically but I knew my body was beginning to fatigue as I drew closer to the end of this month. It's one of those battles that an athlete has to play in their head - continue to train as hard or feel guilty and take an extra rest day, mind says one thing, heart says another and legs and lungs certainly say another! Eventually, oh dear I tweaked my hamstring (should have taken that extra rest day! and as much as those around you supporting you tell you you don't hear them!) but unfortunately that was to be just the start of a bit of a downward spiral and soon after tweaking my hamstring I fell ill.

So a forced two week break off training was hard to cope with. I felt useless a month of hard work felt it was just slipping by into the distant past whilst the pending selection for the World Cup was looming ever closer. Each day felt like a lifetime and it took me a good week to come to terms with the fact that actually if I sat and did nothing it would be better and quicker for my recovery, but more importantly fortunately for those closest to me a little less annoying as they didn't hear me whinging constantly all day! Once I got my head round the fact that what was in the past was in the past and I could only affect the future I began to be far more positive and in all was the turning point as I finally gave myself the rest my mind and body needed and deserved and surprise surprise began to feel a whole lot better. Thanks to the strong support network from the EIS (England Institute of Sport) and the England Hockey Management and Players I began my road to recovery in the best fashion at the end of last week, and now under careful supervision have started training again to ensure I'm at my best for selection and fingers crossed the World Cup.

Everything I'm doing right now from the number of hours sleep in the night and day! (yippee yes that's right I've been advised to have a wld [wee lie down] every afternoon for half an hour to aid recovery) to the type of food I have for breakfast, before and after each training sessions and for each meal is essential for the most effective and efficient road to restore myself back to full fitness and surpass fitness levels of before, and learn/improve anything on the hockey pitch I possibly can before the World Cup.

I'm sure you will have all heard by now that Katy Roberts (Chelm 1st XI GK for those who don't know Chelm Ladies) has returned to International Hockey and is also vying for a place in the World Cup Squad along with Chloe Rogers.

Watch this space - as we may have three Chelm girlies in the World Cup!

For now I'm afraid I'm going to sign off. I will be back. We have matches against Germany next week so will update after those.

Get those positive vibes building we'll be needing every one of them in 44 days!

England 2 v Korea 1

We Won, We won, We Won. What a great feeling, like this winning habit lets keep it up. Well its the morning after the night before! We had a great night and I'm sure I'll get some pics up later. The hats and hooters were a hit last night and seemed the new fashion craze as everyone wanted to get their hands on a hat or hooter!

The day started with a match of Volleyball against the management team. They were taking the game very seriously and turned up to the court in sweatbands, knee pads and the same kit, they did have an imported player from Italy - Jose our liaison officer. They had all the gear but no idea the Oldies thrashed the Veterans 11-4. We were on fire. They obviously gave the excuse that they wanted to make sure we were psychologically in the right frame of mind! It was great banter and did set us up well for the day ahead.

The match was extremely tiring, but very enjoyable. It was very end to end but not much happening in either circle for the first half. Once the Koreans had scored in the second half we had to up our game, and thankfully it paid off when we scored two goals in open play the first from Becky Herbert with a deflection off a free hit outside the circle and then Lucilla Wright with a cracking strike from the top of the D that fooled all players and thankfully their GK and it dribbled into the bottom left corner.


Now its onto the World Cup. We can't wait to get to Madrid in the summer now, who knows what might happen, another 4/5 months development 'the worlds our oyster!' If we all show the same passion and drive that we have out here then watch out world - here come England!


Love to all that have supported us from back home, a big thank you to the Chelm girls (and men - seeing as our new coach is of the male variety) for your support and cheering last night. Will be back next week on the pitch with the green goddesses! We are at home playing Canterbury on the Sunday.

England 1 v USA 0

Can't believe it wrote this up last night but didn't save it properly. So sorry to those who have tried to read all about the game.

The match was as expected very physical. I have the bruises and a dead leg to show for it! We started tentatively and couldn't seem to string any passes together. We kept making silly mistakes and couldn't trap the damn ball. The States were playing hurry u hockey and trying to run us down, literally, which to their credit worked in the first ten/fifteen minutes.

We eventually started to create more pressure but couldn't convert the pressure into any worthy chances at goal. We won a few corners but they weren't on form yesterday. The second half saw pretty much the same as the first, the States pressured the ball carrier all the time, and whilst we created more chances and penalty corners we just couldn't score.

Their GK played well (ex Canterbury player) and they defended for their lives. So into extra time we went. We were confident of extra time if it came to strokes having played through the same in the Commonwealths. We still created chances in both halves of extra time but still couldn't take the opportunities. Being Golden Goal (the first team to score) it creates an edge of excitement as the ball gets closer to either goal. They did have one chance when Reidy had to make a crucial save. Other than that they created few chances and no penalty corners.

Thankfully in the dying seconds of the match we won a corner through great play between Chloe Rogers and Jennie Bimson as there were 8 seconds to go the clock was run down so the very last corner of the match if we didn't score it was to go to penalty strokes. It was slip left drag flick Crista got hold of the flick but the line player made a great save but in her haste and panic to clear it she swept it straight to Chloe. Chloe took it round the player closing her down then realised 5 yards from goal that she had a lot of time and space and absolutely tonked it past the GK. I was stood right behind Chloe and was first to give her hug. We were all so relieved we deserved it.

Sorry if we gave those watching online a heart attack i know mum couldn't bear to watch the written script and to go gardening! Bless her!

Now onto the final against Korea. Should be a good match. 3pm Saturday our time. Mum and Dad are flying out to watch I found out after the game, it is such a lovely thought from them. Sister Em and boyf Phil wished to come out too but unfortunately Phil is working and Em has her new little baby to look after. Having Stansted airport on the doorstep is definitely a bonus!

Thanks for everyone's support especially those from Little Canfield Village, it is much appreciated. Keep it up because I can feel your positive thoughts coming across the continent. They are obviously helping! Love to all.

The Big Show Down! - oh and Semi-Final Day.

The score in Volleyball youngsters v oldies was two all leading into today's deciding match. The matches are three games first to 11 points and two points clear. Excitement had been building all morning to the big match. With a full stadium (the management, with cameras!) the atmosphere was electric.

The Oldies dealt the first blow to the youngsters by turning up all in the same kit (red vests, white socks pulled to knees and sweatbands [wrist protectors!]) I think that gave us the psychological edge and they were on the back foot from the first serve. The Oldies took an early lead but the youngsters made the miraculous recovery to win the first game. Oldies composed under the pressure came back to win the second game.

So all resting on the last game the title of Volleyball Queens, an aggressive start from the youngsters and some good play by both teams saw quite a tight match. There were a few tough but good calls by the ref - Helen Richardson who dealt with the pressure of back chat and kept the game clean. The Oldies took the last four points of the match relatively easily as the youngsters lacked the experience of cracking under the immense pressure that rested on them. Their tall blockers weren't on the form of the previous game and we took advantage.

The photo shows the point at which the match was won you can see the anguish on their faces as they realise they have succumbed to the Older more wiser team members. What a feeling for us - we are not past it yet!!!! Will take them a little longer to nab our positions in the team! So victorious we walked from the pitch leaving the youngsters to return the net.

And onto the more important match - the Semi-Final v USA. I can't wait for the game this evening. Should be very physical so I'm mentally preparing and sharpening my elbows for a rough tough match.

Don't forget to check back later for the result.
x

Cirque de Solei

OK hands up who has seen the Cirque de Solei? What a show I was absolutely dumbfounded at what they were doing. PK is a star for organising us to go there. For those who don't know what it is like, the main show is acrobats doing various acts with clowns breaking up the acts in between.

The acrobats consist of things such as : the high swings, a man balancing on one arm and putting his body into all sorts of positions that I'm sure is impossible, flame throwers, high parallel bars and I mean like tens of metres off the ground! Yes thankfully there was a safety net, men being thrown up and down on planks of wood, contortionists (brings a whole meaning to the KS!), a woman and her hoops! She was truly amazing, I can't spin one hoop round my hips for more that 2 seconds she had 5 or 6 going on different body parts all the same time the control of her muscles was immense.

All of us just sat there absolutely silent, and then all of a sudden we would explode into applause and would scream like banshees every few minutes. I have to say I did laugh at the clowns probably too much and too loud but it's my sort of humour, Dad would have loved them too seeing as I get my humour from him!

Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures but I have got a few pics from around and outside the circus and will upload them later.

It's definitely something I recommend people go to see live!

Bye for now, got to go and weigh in and get brekkie!

I'm back! Had to share with you all the parcel that I received today from Mum and my Big Sis. A box full to the brim of England hats, hooters and chocolate!! and some beautiful pics of my gorgeous niece - Evie G. Very exciting, thanks Mum and Emm.

England 3 v Japan 0 and my 50th Cap

What a game to win my 50th England Senior Cap. My roomie Al Danson also won her 50th and Lucilla Wright her 150th we were all presented with flowers at the start of the match. It was a great moment for me and felt very proud receiving the bouquet. Lets hope there are many more to come.

We played some of our best hockey and although a tough game and end to end we had the better of Japan for the majority of the game. They are feisty players and would never let up. It was important we concentrated for the full 70 minutes and we did, we kept stamping our authority on the game and it paid off.

I played at right half and centre half during the game. I even managed an open play shot in the second half from centre half position, driving round a Japanese defender to the right at the top of the 'D'. I don't get many chances and thankfully didn't get a nose bleed!

The game was so early this morning it is only 1pm now and it feels like 6pm. We have the arvo off so we are planning a team 'W.L.D' (wee lie down). It is an absolutely stunning day today here so we are hoping to get out for a bit as well. Al and I will be playing our tunes from yesterday at top volume for the arvo. I have had a few requests to know what our tunes are so here goes: River Deep Mountain High - Tina Turner; Holding out for a hero - Frou Frou; Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day; She's the one - Robbie Williams; Falling Sun - Anouk; Iris - Goo Goo Dolls; What;s love got to do with it - Tina Turner; Don't Look Back in Anger - Oasis; Drops of Jupiter - Train; Ain't no Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross; Slide - Goo Goo Dolls; Search for the Hero - M People; Storms in Africa - Enya; Good Riddance - Green Day; Heaven - DJ Sammy; Wonderwall - Oasis; Michel - Anouk; No Promises - Shayne Ward; Put your Records on - Corinne Bailey; I don't want to miss a thing - Aerosmith. As you can see a complete mixture but all TUNES!

Another interesting fact - I have never played in an England Team that have won every match in their pool until now!!!

Make sure you check the website of the tournament for the TV listings on Eurosport for our next set of games.

Keep those positive vibes all we can obviously feel them!!

Take care and will write again tom to let you know how the circus is tonight.
x

Rest Day

Been a busy day of meetings, eating, watching oppo and playing silly games!

The day started at 0830 with breakfast, followed quickly with a meeting on where we go from here in the tournament. An hour off then a jog (well fast walk) in the park for half hour followed by what has no become a regular feature in the day - team Volleyball, youngsters v oldies. Yes sadly I'm now classified as an oldie! We are all square in matches at two all after losing today's match. I think we were suffering from tiredness from the walk the Oldies hadn't oiled their joints with cod liver oil before the match!! The youngsters were getting a little to cocky though so will have to show them tomorrow! We play on the hotel tennis court with a make shift net of chairs, it is so much fun and the team loves it so much banter gets us all very excited! I'm sure Eurosport will want us televised at the sport soon!!!!! some class shots being pulled out!

After our aggressive volleyball match it was into lunch followed by another meeting - a review on how Japan play. Then a few hours off. The first was spent picking tunes off itunes for a play list created for my new ipod that will always remind my Roomie Al Danson and I of this tournament. We have some class tunes a real mixture of new and old that keep us very entertained!

Then for the second hour being big kids that we are Sally Walton, Al and I played hide and seek in the grounds of the hotel with the walkie talkies used by the management during the tournament. A great great game that caused much laughter for the three of us! Then as time passed so quickly it was back for more food then off to the ground to watch Korea v NZ. Korea beat NZ 5-3. Meaning Korea and USA are qualified and NZ have to win tomorrow to reach the playoffs for 5-8, not a great position for them. For those that watched the Commonwealths they are missing quite a few players due to injury mainly.

Now we are back into room and getting ready for bed. It's an early night tonight as we are up at 0530 for toms game at 9am, we have to fit in a wake up jog, breakfast and team meeting before we have to leave or ground at 7.45am, hence the very early start!!

Tomorrow we go to see Circus de solei (can't spell sorry!) in the evening in Rome which should be fun. We have a job against Japan to do first which should be a very good match and we all really look forward to stepping up our game another notch to keep improving. We are after all in preparation for a World Cup now!!

We're going to the World Cup!

So England 4 Scotland 1 and Japan 3 China 0 yipeeeeeeeee results mean we are playing for 1-4 and we have qualified for the World Cup - what a feeling. Now we go for Gold! We are all really excited, elated and relieved we have already qualified for the World Cup now we just have to relax, and enjoy playing hockey to see if we can finish as high up as possible in the rankings. It looks like USA and Korea will be the other straight qualifiers from the other pool but it is much closer and who knows.

Our win today meant that Scotland are now playing for the 9-12 positions as France will finish above them.

The game started fast and we had a few very good chances but unfortunately didn't take them, we gradually started to turn the screw and we knew it would have to pay off eventually. We did make some silly errors throughout the game and overall it wasn't a great performance by us but that makes it sweeter in some ways as we still won playing badly!

Well book your flights to Spain - Madrid I think in September!!!

Take care all. x

England 10 v France 0

As you can see from the score our mindset was spot on! I won't be able to describe all the goals as there are too many to remember the ins and outs. We started well, played well throughout and finished well! I put my penalty stroke demons to bed and scored the seventh goal. I don't think the French actually got in our 'D' so they didn't really come out to play. They sat deep most of the game and just couldn't penetrate through our press. Occasionally the ball would be whacked through to nobody and Beth (GK) managed to keep a few in play (the only touches she had of the game!) so in all a great performance and one that we had planned.

Tomorrow we have a rest day again and once again its about getting our bodies and our mindset right to play Scotland. They will be playing Braveheart and will come out fighting so it will important to get ourselves in the right frame of mind again. It isn't job done yet.

If any of you are interested you can watch live written commentary on the web at http://www.fihockey.org and follow the link to the Samsung World Cup Qualifier and then the link to live commentary when we are playing.

For the girls of the first eleven - I heard you all had a good training session on Wednesday for those that turned up, you worked very hard I understand and Bolly is still top of the fitness - is that right? Well done Bolly! Take care all.

England 2 v China 1

What a game! If you ever wanted to watch a good game of hockey that was it. Very exciting end to end consistently over the whole match. Our line up started with Carolyn Reid in goal, then from left to the right at the back - Jennie Bimson, Mel Clewlow, Crista Cullen, Me, then Hels Richardson in at Centre half, Rachel Walker inside left forward and Lucilla Wright Inside right forward, Cath Gilliat Smith left forward, Helen Grant centre forward and Becky Herbert right forward.

The game started at a ferocious pace and we were on our back foot for the first ten minutes, they scored from a free hit taken outside the 'D' and deflected it into the goal on the back post, but we grinded away and gradually got back into the game and dominated for long periods, they hit us on a few counter attacks. We scored from a penalty corner that we'd been working on in training leading up to this tournament which was a good feeling for coach and players alike.

Danny's, Karen and Mag's tactics were spot on and we applied some great pressure. They hated it, what a good feeling. So we went into the break at 1-1. A few slight adjustments and it was more of the same in the second half. We knew they would come out again at terrific pace after a good telling off at half time from their coach so we had to match and better their pace, passion and velocity. We did. They played a very expansive game leaving numbers up in attack making our risk management and organisation at the back crucial. We dealt with a number of their attacks as they dealt with ours. Reidy made a fine save at a penalty corner and they made a couple of saves off the line albeit with their arm - penalty ref!!!!! they gave a silly penalty corner away with a minute or so left on the clock which we Hels Richardson scored from. Fantastic! Twelve seconds on the clock we knew we just had to win the ball back, we did and with four seconds to go we belted the ball off to see the time quickly sink and the hooter sound. What a good feeling.

Whilst it was an exuberant feeling we have the rest of the games to go and we have to approach these with the correct mental attitude, it is vitally important we do a professional job from now on it including rest days.

Must dash got to get changed and ready to go out to dinner.
Bye

England 3 v Ukraine 0

A three nil win a good start but a very dull game. Still job done. Ukraine didn't come out to play, they defended with 11 behind the ball the majority of the game with an occasional counter attack if made a mistake. We had to try and maintain some sort of pace to the game which isn't always the easiest thing when you get more and more frustrated with not getting any outcomes for the pressure.

Jo Ellis scored the first goal with a cute touch around the GK. Mel struck the second with a well executed corner and Sally Walton the third from an awesome tip-in off a free hit outside the 'D' taken by Hels Richardson. The goals were quite equally spaced apart in the game.

Overall it was little lackadaisical performance by us but as we say job done, and on with the next. Tomorrow should be a very different story against China. They are ranked 4th in the world at mo and number one at this tournament so will be a fantastic opportunity for us.

A quick update on Kate - she is still in hospital and comes out on Thursday, they are monitoring the swelling in her throat but she should be fine and we look forward to seeing her back with us. She was sending positive vibes the whole match.

I'll be back tom with a round up on the China match.
Till then Chow. x

The Roman Sights

Last night we drew two two with NZ in the warm-up match, it was a tough well fought battle that got us up to speed but unfortunately Kate (captain) Walsh got a ball in throat from a deflection at a Penalty Corner defence. It hit her with some pace so we were obviously very concerned from the outset. She didn't obviously continue but was well enough to walk off the pitch. Half way through the last section of the match we won a penalty corner attack and the ref was on the phone (we all complained to start with!) until he told us he was phoning for an ambulance. So Kate was whisked off to hospital more precautionary then anything. She is still there now and we are waiting on the verdict, she is in good spirits though and thinking positively.

Today has been fairly active we have had a gym session this morning, team meet after lunch and this arvo we have had off to be able to get into Rome. I have a funny bus tour story to tell but too long winded for here. We managed to get a guided tour of the Colosseum which was extremely fascinating and well worth a visit to Rome just to see that - for anyone thinking of hopping on a plane! We followed the guided tour with a meal out for the nine off us that came into town, which was very pleasant.

Tomorrow we're back to the pitch for a session and then preparing for the Ukraine match.

Probably won't be back until after the first match now, so until then

CHOW!!!

Hello from Rome

Yes the world of technology does expand into 5 star hotels in Rome! Although I'm not sure really we can classify this hotel as 5* in my book, I'm sure I've stayed in better 3*'s!!

We have now been here for 4 days, and so far trained each day. Training has been fun and quite hard work, we need a little sweat to feel like we are preparing for the most important tournament to date. The mood in the camp is excited whilst a little nervous but confident that we can put some performances together.

The Leicester girls only returned from the European Cup (where they won bronze - well done girlies) on Tuesday to then drive down to Bisham for the night to get up very early on Wednesday morning to make the flight so they have been far from their normal selves for the first few days of the camp, but they are just coming back to norm in time. They have been given a little time off you'll be thankful to hear before they had to step back on the pitch again and they will be raring to again come Tuesday and our first game against Ukraine.

Just so you are all aware we are one hour ahead of you here, and our games are as follows (Rome time!):
Tues 25th Ukraine - 11.15am
Wed 26th China - 3.30pm
REST DAY
Fri 28th France - 6pm
REST DAY
Sunday 30th Scotland - 6.30pm
REST DAY
Tuesday 2nd May Japan - 9am

Then depending how we get on will depend where we play the cross over games. It's a gruelling schedule 7 games in 11 days.

We play New Zealand tonight at 9pm in a warm up match, yes, NZ again! but it's good to play them as they are tough opposition.

Hope everyone is well back home and the first eleven are training hard!
Take care. x

Here goes again - Prepare for Rome!

We fly to Rome the 19th (Wednesday) very early in the morning in preparation for the World Cup Qualifiers. I am hoping to be able to have access to the Internet during our three weeks out there so I can once again update this blog for you all to be able to keep up-to-date in real time! Unfortunately I can't imagine it being on TV not even SKY, although this time they wouldn't have been at such ridiculous times of night!

The world cup qualifier (WCQ) is our most important tournament to date under Danny we have to be in the top 5 out of 12 to qualify for the world cup in Spain in September. Our group includes Scotland, France, Ukraine, China and Japan. China and Japan are both ranked above us in the world and overall in the tournament we are ranked 5th with New Zealand, and Korea also ranked above us from the other pool. It is a gruelling seven games in 11 days - at least we shouldn't have the heat to contend with like Australia!

I hope you all continue to keep reading - as they say - watch this space!

The Last Entry from Down Under

Well I know you must all be sad knowing this is my last entry from Down Under. I have a lot to tell you but not loads of time!

Yesterday the last day of the tournament was the Bronze and Gold medal matches for the men. Like us our England men were playing for Bronze against Malaysia. All of us girls had been out the night before to celebrate our medal with parents in tow. We desperately wanted our men to do the same so we could celebrate together in style after the closing ceremony. The men played well and had so many chances it just wasn't going to be their day. Malaysia had a couple of attacks and scored two goals. They were gutted. We really felt for them, it was hard to know how to approach them after such a devastating result and we were sat with a bronze already. Still it didn't stop them celebrating.

The closing ceremony was awesome, as we were so close to the ground level we couldn't appreciate the full effects of the performances but the atmosphere was great. The best part was being invited down into the arena for the athletes party. We were getting all the memento's we could from the performers, flowers, glasses and tiara's it was hilarious. I managed to get myself a tiara and became a princess for the evening.

After the closing ceremony we all headed into town to the Pommie Palace - it was a great evening.

Today we have had a day of packing and buying those last minute gifts for peeps back home. In our debrief meeting we were reminded it is 29 days till we play our first match at the World Cup Qualifier against Ukraine, not long. This is the most important tournament for the team as we have to qualify for the World Cup to ensure we get funding.

I have been to take a picture of the wall of fame this afternoon - a wall where all the athletes that have won a medal are placed.

I'd like to say lastly, a very big thank you to all that have been reading my blog and sending positive thoughts. I'll be home very shortly and I'm sure Chloe and I will have our medals with us all the time I'm sure so please ask if you want to have a look, we may even let you touch!

A Day to Remember

Firstly, A Big Thank you everyone for all those positive vibes we could feel them zooming across the world to us here down under in their thousands.

Secondly, YIIIIPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! We are all over the moon. What a game, what a finish and what a feeling. I hope we didn't cause you all too many nail biting moments sat in your armchairs.

I guess many of you want to ask about my stroke that I took - Sorry guys! Those who know me were probably already second guessing the corner I was to aim for, and I didn't change my mind, same old! I felt really confident as always stepping up to take the stroke. Danny asked the five of us if we wanted them, we all obviously jumped at the chance, he named his order so up I stepped. Kate won the toss and I said confidently to take first if we got the opportunity. So up I step, I recall a long walk from the half way line, took the ball from the umpire put it in place, stepped back looked at the goal, got into my ready position, the next thing the umpire asks if we are both read I reply with a confident yes, then as normal took to dummy the right and then caught the ball with too much stick which powers the ball past the post - oh dear! floods of emotions rushed through me, absolutely gutted, so confident, practised a thousand times, just one wrong movement - I think I wanted to put it in with too much power, lost the thought process for a second and chance was blown. GUTTED doesn't quite encapsulate how I was feeling. On jogging back to team mates they were really good, gave me a hug and told me not to worry Reidy was in goal and on fire - I didn't weirdly. I just knew, we all did. It was to be our day, those positive thoughts were riffling round and Reidy our hero pulled it out the bag - two saves. Awesome! What a feeling from then on - it couldn't have been more overwhelming. From gutted to elated within minutes.


Celebrating in style we then had to calm down and finish our warm down professionally with our normal ten minutes in the ice bath, which I have to say were exceptionally cold today! then was out to see Mum and Dad and then prepare for medal ceremony. And that too was a great moment, standing on podium with medal in hand, lets just hope we can emulate that in 2008 Bejing!


Now its a little relaxation then out to party with the team, friends and family. Soak up some Melbourne sun and have a nice rest day off tomorrow. Lets hope the men win Bronze tomorrow too then it will be an even better closing ceremony tomorrow night.

I can't wait to be home now - and don't forget - 2nd April @ Reading Chelm v Hightown in the cup. (Have I plugged it enough yet!)

Love to all

Another Rest Day

As promised the time of the game tomorrow is 10.30am Sat 25th our time so 11.30pm 24th your time. So have a late night, glass of wine or beer or two in hand, get comfy in the armchair and scream and shout at the TV with support. Only shout positive things none of this "should have done this", "should of done that" 'cos it's not that easy on the pitch! Purely positive vibes is what we need. OK!

Today is about getting our feet up, draining the lactic acid build up from our legs and preparing ourselves for tomorrow's efforts.

We had an evening off yesterday, so Chloe and I made the most of escaping from the village and having an evening in Melbourne with our parents and Becky Herbert's parents. It was nice to get away for a short period refresh and come back revitalised.

I can't believe I have been away for nearly a month. It really doesn't feel that long. Time flies when your having fun. I look forward to coming home, seeing all friends and family and then preparing for the cup final on Sunday 2nd in Reading. It should be a great game and Chelm need your support for that too. So if you've enjoyed reading about the teams efforts out here then please continue your support and follow the Ladies 1st XI in the cup final, Chloe and I will be both be playing, its a game not to be missed.

REMEMBER +ve vibes!!!!!!!!!

We gave it a good go - just not quite good enough!

The day began in a very jovial mood. We felt really confident that we could give the Aussie's a great game. When we prepare for a game it's like we are preparing to go for a night on the town. The music goes on and we dance around hairbrush in hand whilst we put on our playing kit, do our hair, tattoos and some apply make up. It's a great way of building ourselves up. That feeling you get when your off out for the night and time is getting on you have a glass of wine in hand and you put the tunes on to try and build yourself up for the evening, it's a very similar just minus the wine, adrenaline takes it's place. We have one tune in particular that we play over and over and it works a treat. By the time we are already to leave the house we are all focused and prepared to take on our oppo.

This morning was no different, everyone was pumped and set to go. Looking round the team I could sense that everyone was motivated and confident and were full of belief. Once we got to the pitch we have some faff time then its into the physical warm up. We jog four half laps of the pitch as you pass the crowd they clap, wave and scream which is always a great feeling. The jog round this morning was comical as we were given a bit of Aussie banter, they absolutely love sport out here and it was great to hear some of their banter directed at us it just makes you want to stun them into silence with our play - the more the better. Moving onto the stick and ball warm up which we all looked pretty sharp in gave me that feeling that we were onto a winner. It wasn't to be.

The first half was tight but I felt we controlled the game far more than they did. We had some good chances and some penalty corners just nothing went for us. Even the umpiring wasn't atrocious! They unfortunately scored a scrappy goal with 7 minutes to go in the first half, that really annoyed us as we felt we had been playing the better hockey. With 5 minutes to go of the first half I felt like I was ready to pass out. It was soooo hot, and I'd been up and back, up and back down the line. Thankful of the half time break we came our raring to go, energy gel boosted us back up and the thought of that gold medal really gave us that energy kick that we needed. Their second goal came from a well executed penalty corner DAMN! We knew we only had to get one goal back to make them start to panic.

Again we kept possession really well we just couldn't penetrate their defence. When we did and won pc's we couldn't put them away. It was frustrating. Then with the last few minutes on the clock we allowed Aus to take a quick long corner, a bit of scrap again and the ball crept under Beth our GK. So 3-0 down the time went. The scoreline doesn't reflect how we played but at the end of the day (it gets dark!) its the team that puts the ball in the back of the net - we just need to learn how to stay composed in that crucial area because that's the difference between winning and losing. We will be working on this aspect from now on - imagine two years worth of working on this where we will be!

So for all those supporting back home - don't lose faith we haven't. If we can out play a team for periods of a game then sooner or later we will reap benefit.

We will NOT come home empty handed if any of us have anything to do with it. You win the Bronze or lose the Gold. We've already lost the gold so we certainly aren't gonna lose the Bronze.

We play Saturday will let you know the time back home - make sure your watching we need all positive vibes being sent through - the more the merrier!

Thanks to those who have being keeping me up-to-date so far and been supporting us from the other side of the world, been thinking about you all and we will keep working hard out here to put some smiles on faces back home.

Love to all. x

A bad day at the office!

Well bring on the Aussie's is the way we see it this morning! We put the game to bed last night after a debrief. We didn't play our best but still created opportunities just didn't take them. The Kiwi's created less chances but took them extremely well, very clinical so who can take their win away from them. They deserved the four goals lets hope we meet them again in the final! So it wasn't to be the dream tournament where we don't lose a game - when are they ever, we are in the Semi and that we made sure of with our first three excellent performances.

We are on a rest day today although we are getting out to the pitch later to brush up on a couple of things.

Hope you are all well. Will be back later I'm sure.

England 10 Barbados 0 - sorry Pixie!

Lets say a solid performance from us today. Not exactly a thrilling match but good enough to stake a place in the semi-finals and to top the table going into the last match against New Zealand. NZ and us will be equal on points but we will have the better goal difference. We have the ability to shape our own destiny we just have to do the job on the pitch tomorrow.

Pixie had to come off injured today I think it is problems with her ankle still. We need to make sure she is well for the cup final.

Talking of the cup final - well done ladies on qualifying for the final against Hightown I understand.(Who scored? When? etc... Who took strokes and scored?), on 2nd April in Reading I believe? (Supporters welcome of course, the more the merrier to join our growing supporters club - Team Chelm.)

It was extremely hot playing today and my tan line is becoming rather amusing, looks like I still have a body suit on even when naked! Hilarious white marks! It is supposed to be getting warmer as we get into the week also so hot hot hot!!! I'm not sure that is too healthy when trying to sprint up and down the sideline at RH.

I'm sure I will be back again after toms game we play at 4.30pm I think which is 5.30am your time so for those early birds with interactive I believe it will be live! Lets hope we do shape our own destiny and we win tomorrow without causing too many nervous moments for all those watching.

Take care all

PS - I hope you all like the photos I have added. More to follow.

Rest Day

Most of our rest day was spent with feet up resting surprisingly! Those of us with family out here did manage to get out for a couple of hours to see them. I met up with Mum and Dad and in the short time we had together we managed to get a sight of the whole of Melbourne - from the Rialto Viewing Tower the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere apparently. We also had the pleasure of a family portrait with Dame Kelly Holmes. We were just buying a juice smoothie when I had a tap on my shoulder and Kelly Holmes introducing herself to me. We had a chat about the hockey and then Mum proceeded to chat about the Ice Dancing Competition with her, Mum was in her element!

England bowl over the Tartan Army!

Well I'm hoping that I don't really need to give you a run down of the game as I'm sure you all watched it live!
If you didn't it went something along the lines of....

The first 20 minutes or so the Scottish hardly touched the ball. We dominated well and Ginge the little start slotted the first goal away very neatly over the sliding GK. Very composed she was it was a very well taken goal. We continued to apply pressure and score another to take us in 2-0 at half time. After the break it was pretty much the same again more tartan bashing and Ginge again scored the next goal, this time thumping it past the Scottish GK. We went on to score another two goals. Whilst the Scottish did win a few corners in the second half they didn't use them well we had done our homework. So a second clean sheet for us and 10 goals in total on the board. Lets just keep that up and we will be happy girlie's.

Ginge was absolutely awesome throughout the game if you didn't see it, she has quietly been taking in all of Danny's tips, hints and coaching points and brought them all to fruition at the right time. Long may it continue and she even ran back every single time for tackle back pressure - awesome! We have a great Chelm possie going on, on the right hand side of the pitch.

We have a day off tom I'm hoping to spend a little time with Mum n Dad.

Unfortunately not been able to see many other sports play yet but we seem to be doing OK in the medals. I'm not sure how we compare to Manchester yet. The Rugby 7's did well, would have loved to have watched that live.

I will be back again may be not tom but definitely after the Barbados game.

Take care all xx

Ginge and I just want to wish the 1st XI Good Luck against Donnie. We both want to play in the final and get us into the top 4 play off at the end of the season. Just remember those three things I say before every match - the way Chelmsford Play, Green Blood girls, Green Blood! We'd also like to wish the U15, U18 and the 2nd XI Best of Luck in their matches this weekend. Play well girls we're thinking of you. x

England's opening match v Canada

Yippee yippee 5-0. First job done now onto Scotland.

I have to say I'm really annoyed as I had written an entry but for some reason it didn't save and I'm having to write it all again. I can't remember what I said and there was so much of it!

Basically we played really well. Very fast and the Canadians couldn't cope with the pace of the game. They did cause us a couple of problems and won a few corners but nothing to note. We scored from corners and rebounds from corners. Kate (Walsh) scored a hat-trick. There are a few areas to tighten up for tomorrows match.

Its really important we get some good rest and recovery now as it is less than 24hrs after last game before next. We will endeavour to repeat our performance from today but we know it will be a tough battle it always against the Scots and their Braveheart attitudes!

Sorry I haven't written much about the game but I really can't write it all out again. Took too long the last time.

Take care all and will be back again tom.
x

The Opening Ceremony and the Start of the Games

Once again I'm taken for words. My overall opinion on the opening ceremony was WOW! It is like nothing else you can experience.

At 5.40pm Team England started congregating to begin their way to the opening ceremony. Team England were on first as we hosted the last Commonwealth Games. Having got us all together we then started to make our ways into the pens they had organised for the bus journeys to the Rod Laver Arena which is where they were holding all the athletes before we would make our entrance. So we were on the first buses to leave the village at about 6pm. By 6.30pm we were at the Rod Laver Arena having arrived in style under police escort being waved to from the street along the whole journey.

On arrival we could help ourselves to a goodie bag of food to help us last through the evening. Luckily I was the third person to enter into the Rod Laver Arena which was presently occupied only by the volunteer staff full of smiles and cheering. They clapped and screamed as we made an entrance which was a funny feeling in itself I couldn't begin to imagine the feelings that I would have in front of an 80,000 crowd in a few hours time.

We were shown to our seats and then waited for the rest of the countries to enter this took about 2.5 hours. Finally Australia entered and all the countries were in which almost filled the Rod Laver Arena. After a quick run down of what was going to happen during the ceremony and how we were going to walk there Team England were off again, out the Rod Laver Arena, along the bridge between the two stadiums and into the holding bay of the MCG.
The noises could be heard from inside and the atmosphere just grew and grew it really is indescribable. Again hockey were quite near the front more from luck than judgement. We were supposed to walk out as 12th sport but in the rush of getting everyone from the Rod Laver to the MCG all sports just started making it a free for all. So near the front and on the camera side we were herded into waiting pens to make an entrance. Each time getting closer to the entrance door as it became closer and closer to the time in which we would be led on.

Then the screen opened and all you could hear was screams from the people in front as they crossed out of the darkness into the spotlights of the arena. Then OH MY GOD it was my turn and you could see what all the fuss had been about. It was truly amazing! 80,000 people flashing cameras everywhere you just didn't know where to look. It was great - all the reasons why!
The ceremony was simply awesome, I've some great pictures and video clips of all that had happened which kind of capture the atmosphere. I got so engrossed in taking video I missed the ladies hockey team depart and had to make my way back with John Hurst who kindly ushered me along with him. Ooops!
So with the games officially open we went to watch our opposition for our first game this morning - Canada v Barbados - yes Pixie was playing. Unfortunately Barbados lost 4-0 but were only down by one goal in the first half. Pixie still looks like she is suffering from her ankle injury, I will find out how she is when i see her later.

Kate Walsh (captain) had lunch with the Queen today which is fantastic i haven't seen her yet to find out how it went. The Queen was wearing an all green outfit as we peeped through the foliage to see her. A couple of the girls happened to be in the right place at the right time and also got to chat with the Queen.

I hope that gives a little flavour of the opening ceremony. I have to do some mental prep for toms game now, so will write again later, or probably after toms game now.

Take care all. x