I know the WNT is in Charleston for 5 days, but i am not sure if the 5 days includes tues, or wed...etc. Ie i am not sure which 5 days. So anyway, even though i was very very busy today, i did manage to steal away to the training field for a bit. Last year I would go at 10am because that is when they started. Well, today i arrived at about 10:30ish. The field was occupied at that time by only goalkeepers Bri, Siri, Beene, and Solo. The keeper coach Wheddon, and some assistants. April was off in the distance with a group of other coach type people. (the presence of April tipped me off that the team was yet to arrive rather than already had departed.) I watched the goalkeepers do some pretty cool drills...yes solo is lacking even in practice. "my kingdom for a kicking game" i guess is the philosophy for her presence. But as long as siri, bri, and beene were invited to camp i can't complain. Well, the reason that i just had to sneak off to the field TODAY...was soon to arrive. At about 11:00 am the rest of the team rolled up, including MIA HAMM. And since she did not come last year to charleston I had to see her practice at least once before i died. And in these crazy times...that could have been today. So this had to be done ASAP. It was worth the wait. I watched a few drills and was quite satisfied that she is the most skilled and gifted player on the team. Even though Kristine Lilly clearly rules...hamm has so much finesse , delicate touch, deception, etc.....that it truly was fun to watch. Anyway, I hope to have more later, when I get a chance to see the entire practice session. With luck this should happen tomorrow. Saturday from 2-3pm the team will be downtown at Ansonborough field at the Southeastern Wildlife Festival. It is a kicking demonstration, and i suspect an autograph session. Also Saturday is a practice session, which a friend of mine has some VIP access to. (frankly i don't think that is much better than the public gets...i mean i was the ONLY spectator out there today....but supposedly she will let me go with her .) Maybe I will have some cool things to report. It is really time to get psyched !!!!!!!!
Regarding Abby W. I didn't stay for the entire session. She was in Mia's group for a drill session so I did get a few looks at her. She got a bit frustrated at first, and let out and audible scream/yell at one point. Then she shed her warmup pants and tried to refocus. But then April called them in for a little sidebar. April does this constantly...it is kind of irritating for me the viewer . I think if she continues to do this she should let me in the huddle. After that I didn't get that many looks at her to see if she got her groove on so to speak.
local article on camp This article from the post and courier answers my own query about when camp started etc... U.S. women open camp; American men win SOCCER Staff and wire reports Eleven days after returning to home from its major tournament triumph in China, the U.S. Women's National Team regrouped in Charleston to prepare for Sunday's 6 p.m. match against Iceland at Blackbaud Stadium. Coach April Heinrichs has put the 24 players in camp through three practice sessions since Tuesday, including its only two-a-day of the week Wednesday, at the A-League Battery's training facility on Daniel Island. The team welcomed the milder weather, a contrast to the temperatures in the low 40s the reigning Women's World Cup champions faced throughout the Four Nations tourney in China. The training started with a fitness test and finished with a 5-on-5 tournament, as the players were split into four teams of five field players and a keeper. The championship was won on a sudden-death overtime goal by 19-year-old Lindsay Tarpley. Tarpley also scored the OT winner that won the 2002 FIFA U-19 world championship for the USA last September. The team continues training through Saturday, when Heinrichs will name her 18 players to face against Iceland on Daniel Island. Iceland finished second in its 2003 Women's World Cup qualifying group and then had its bid for a China '03 berth ended with a loss to England in a two-game semifinal playoff series. The U.S., whose lineup here includes all-time international scoring leader Mia Hamm, the two-time reigning FIFA World Player of the Year, is playing it second match at Blackbaud. Last Jan. 12, the Americans beat Mexico, 7-0, before more than 5,600 fans. Tickets, ranging from $18 to $35, are on sale at all Carolinas Ticketmaster outlets (including Publix and Cat's Music Stores), at the stadium during business hours, by phone (843-554-6060), and online at www.ussoccer.com. Groups of 20 and up can order through U.S. Soccer at (312) 528-1290. -- Sunday's match will be the U.S. women's second domestic match of 2003. Wednesday, it was announced the team will face South Korea June 14 in Salt Lake City. The game will be held at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah. It will be the first time the women's team has played in Utah. The U.S. won the three prior games against South Korea: 7-0 and 6-1 in 1997 and a 5-0 in 1999.
So what has promotion for this game been like in Charleston the past couple of days? Any media appearances by the players? Clinics for youth soccer players? Advertisements in various forms of media? I spoke with melbrown earlier this evening and she said that the forecast calls for rain this weekend. Hope y'all don't get another monsoon. Is this game already sold out?
I suppose it's going to be much more difficult for Ape to keep bringing Solo into nat camps when she fails to start for a WUSA team.
Hmmm , I forgot how to use the quote feature, but to answer your questions about promotions etc,... The game has not sold out. Last year all they needed to do was announce the game and the tickets sold like wildfire. Very little was needed in the way of promotion. This year though, a few reasons probably contribute to slower sales. Firstly, I think people generally have to tighten the belt this year and make tougher choices. I know some fierce fans who simply can't afford to go. Secondly, last year there was a lot of pent up demand for any type of wnt game since it had been so long since they had a game. And finally, the demographics. Mexico was an opponent that got a lot of the mexican locals fired up with pride. I know of uh...one Icelandic woman who is so excited to go to the game. We don't have a huge Icelandic demographic here So they have promoted this game a bit harder.... a lot more print ads, US soccer even sent me a flyer through snail mail....But not much in other forums that I have seen. There is some rain in the forecast...ugh. I kind of enjoyed the monsoon last year...but i would like to not repeat it!
Valentines Day Camp... Okay...so what follows is what i observed today at the women's national team camp....this is my story and I am sticking to it. I arrived at the field at 10:30 am. I hedged my bets. If training was at 10am like last year..hey I basically miss the warm up. If it was at 11am, like yesterday, I am early. I drive up to the field, Passing i might add, the Icelandic team practicing a stone'sthrow away, separated only from our Nats by a High school football stadium. Well, the field is empty, except for a Solo Hope and a Wheddon. There is something ironic about her name...i mean she surely is not the sole hope. I mean , if she is, God help us. But I digress. Just Hope Solo and Wheddon are working on her ...hmmm whats the elusive and generous word i am looking for...."skills". Okay okay...i am sorry...she is not THAT bad...but come on with inviting her to these camps. So, I could watch her work out or I could go get some coffee. I come back about 15 minutes later, coffee in hand to see that the team vans have arrived. The team is sprawled out on the benches. The mood is giddy and everyone is chattering away and laughing. Very very giddy today. The first drill is for Valentines Day. The players must have a partner and they must hold their partners hand. They cannot let go of the hand of their player, even though they are engaged in a game versus opponents. It is about a 6 v 6 game of pairs of players. The mood gets giddier as the players laugh at how hard it is the manuever whilst in most cases physically dragging someone around with them. The second drill is a passing drill. The players are divided into groups of about 5. The group closest to me is jamm packed full o' talent so they had my focus. It was Brandi, Abi, hucles, hmmm and i forgot the others..but now that i think of it, their were two others. So maybe 6 per group. They basically just did passing and moving drill. NOt very exciting. Mia was off in a distant group with Lil. I sort of kept and eye on them too. After about 10 minutes , April added a modification to the drill. Only every other pass could have two touches, and the intervening passes had to be one touch. Still not exciting to watch, and apparently not to play either. Sound carried well today, and I could hear snippets of gossip and explentives all day. Okay, now the good part came. It was a 12 v 12 game. The team wearing yellow pennies comprised of Mia, Lilly, Foudy, Brandi, CP, Sobs hehe get the picture? Abi was on the other team, ummm i can't recall what team wagner was on. Maybe the non yellow team. The yellow team controlled possession. It was so much fun to watch this game. Since the players were so giddy, they were really loose and a lot of cool plays were made. Mia, Mia, Mia,...how i have come to appreciate you more than ever! The yellow team simply dominated play. The next drill......did not as one player put it "suck". I didn't get to see who said it...all i heard was " this game sucks". I turned my head to see but i couldnt deduce this one. But alas, the game did not suck at all. I thouroughly enjoyed it. From the corners , the 18, and two midfield spots, players were positioned to serve balls into the box (or shoot). The 4 goalkeepers rotated turns in goal. They dictated who would serve, where their two defenders would stand and how many balls they would take. Two attackers were positioned in the box to receive the serves and try to score. The ball was live until the goalkeeper either put it out of play with a good punch, or caught the ball, or the opponents scored. Mia and CP were the first pair of attackers. This was soooooo much fun to watch. CP had this behind the back , back heal flick that she employed no less than 4 times. Bri was the goalie...and although all of CP's little flicks were so awesome and deceptive...somehow Bri kept covering them. The pressure kept building with each one...i mean "oohs"and "ahhhs"were heard. Finally on one, Bri was unable to hold on and the ball bounced back to CP...out of frustration she really ripped the rebound ....amazing shot...and amazingly still, Bri covered it and caught it....CP collapsed with laughter at her bad fortune....and i could not help laughing either. Mia would not...even under such pressure with all of these people in the box, just be content to rip a ball point blank. All of her touches were opportunistic. She would be totally composed and, where most players would think "okay, i see this opening..let it rip" she would take a touch or two back and put some finesse spin on the ball and score. I was trying so hard not to yell "SWEET!!!!!!" Finally Brandi, who was of course playing her Nat role as defender, said..."April can I please Please attack in the box" April looked back at her and laughed....and Brandi said..."Pleeeeeeeeeeez" and so April said okay. So she got to play attacker in the box for a bit. I don't recall much about it now, I know she scored some, but I don't recall anything super human cool right now. And then at 12:22 it was over, except for maybe some fitness. But I had to leave so I don't know what if any fitness they did. Today almost every player looked awesome and in top form. There are a couple who don't belong at camp, but when everyone is done resting , we wont see them again so i won't dis them here. Sorry about typos etc in this post -- everytime i try to fix something I am getting this freaking typover effect, so i just give up! Maybe tomorrow I can see more. I have a game though so i dunno.
Hey during the Valentines Drill was Lilly paired with Mia, when I went to a USWNT practice last year, I noticed that they always were drill partners.
I didn't get to go to see the training camp yesterday. D'oh. And I have not even gone shopping yet for the tailgating today. Where does the time go?? During the valentine's Day drill mia and lilly were not paired together. I don't think i saw them in the same group in any of the drills, on the days that I went. I took a picture of that drill to post....i have to crop it to try to zoom in a little closer to see the players. They did that drill on the far side of the field from where i was. Also my digital camera has a crack in the battery case so sometimes i take a picture and i actually keep it...other times i think i am taking pictures and i capture nothing. I thought i took an awesome picture of mia, only too discover later that i just clicked a button while mia was doing something really cool -- with nothing to show for it. Anyhoo i will try to work on those pictures and post them. they aren't great...but they will give you the gist. Some of the snippets of conversation...well a lot of them were in a context that i didn't understand, so my brain really didn't process them to memory. An example of this happened when Mia and Foudy were in the attacking box together in the final drill. A few players were yelling "come on Foudy" "fouuuuuddyyyyyeeeee" trying to jokingly heckle her at the same time as cheering her on." And then she would do some comical dances sort of like she was conjering up her mojo, so to speak. And then Mia kept bumping her and they were saying something that i now can't remember because is seemed like an ongoing joke...and then they would break out into a little dance. Another snippet i do remember, was in the abby w, b chastain group. One of the players was chattering about "oh..and then he just left her this note that said 'i just can't take the pressure anymore' and then he...blah blah blah" Abby and Brandi were just nodding like they were listening...But BUT...something in the conversation made it feel she was not talking about a real person...but maybe catching them up on a tv show plot. Soooooooo maybe someone knows if they saw a show like this and can post it. Hmmm...i will try to jog my memory for more snippets. For now...time to get ready FOR THE BIG GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I AM SO PSYCHED.!!!! oh and ps...yesterday i know the players had to love the 70 something degree weather we had. So perfect. I am glad that northern dwellers got a respite from the harsh winter this year. Look for me on ESPN2 i have these two big hearts i am going to paint espn signs on so i can get on tv heheheheh
Breaking news ... things hardcore fans want to know news flash... A friend of mine who is going to the game with me just called and said that this am (game day) at 10ish she ran into Brandi Chastain and about 4 other players which she did not know names of at Starbucks.