The Olympic Venue

Weekend "off" went by fast. Saturday morning/afternoon practice, followed by a regeneration session at the local pool. I'm not a swimmer but the idea of refreshing my muscles with a stretching session in the pool hooked me to go. Well worth smelling like chlorine the rest of the day.

Sunday morning we lifted for 1 1/2 hours, a good session complete with cardio and lifting circuits. By lifting early, it gave us enough time to travel to the center of London to catch our GB men play and also see World #1 and #3, Brazil and USA, battle it out on the Olympic match court for London 2012. The game went to 5 sets, the 5th being close the whole time. Brazil took it in the end, 18-16 (I think). Amazing to watch these two teams play. They are so precise and "text book" in their skills they make volleyball look simple. It's so much better watching these teams play live than on TV. Mainly because the British fans are great at doing the Mexican wave ; ) (If you've ever watched Wimbledon, you know how rowdy the English crowds can get. This is the same at volleyball games in the UK.)

On Monday the 18th and Tuesday the 19th, we, Great Britain Womens Volleyball Team, took to Earls Court to take on Japan and the Netherlands, #3 and #10 in the World. More to follow in my next blog about these incredibly exciting days. The 4 matches we played were the test event for London 2012 in Womens Volleyball.

Saint Mary's College is AMAZING!

Here is an article written by a friend and another journalist at St.Mary's. Thank you!

http://www.smcgaels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=21400&ATCLID=205182992

Why title a blog "The only way is Essex"?

If you ever get bored of American reality TV shows, there are plenty in England to catch up on. Although Hollywood is not here to provide a basis for "The Hills" or New Jersey for "The Jersey Shore", there are places like that in the country. Newcastle in the North of England provides the backdrop for the new reality TV show "Geordie Shore". Subtitles are used regularly because of their accents and their motto is similar to the cast of "Jersey Shore"...Gym, Tan, Laundry.

There is a reality show called "The Only Way is Essex" and it is and truly will always be, the only way. Essex stereotype is girls wearing short mini skirts and high white stilettos, men wearing jeans with a polo shirt tucked in and hair swept to one side. You walk down the main street during the day and people are dressed like they are ready for the night scene (clubbing, dancing, maybe a few drinks). It's a British Award winning reality TV show for a reason. Never watched it? Catch up on youtube or find something more productive to do.

The only way is Essex

Day 2 in Essex done. A morning session of defense and an afternoon session of blocking. An intense day of competing. I love blocking but in order to get there this afternoon, we had to first focus on digging. Oh my! Defense is great an all, digging balls up high for the setter to run the offense, but it tends not to be a middles forte. It's all about the fire and desire to want to get every ball up. So although I may not be technically sound, if I throw my body around enough like our Libero, I'm sure to get something up! Easy enough. ; )

Blocking a ball has to be one of the best feelings in the world. I love just roofing another player, feeling the ball contact my hand at just the perfect place for it to go straight down! Nothing like it. A reaction after a block is clearly natural. Everyone celebrates blocks in different ways...someone might run around in a circle after a block, others throw there hands in the air, etc but no matter what the celebration is, everyone is smiling and celebrating with you. Although I love the feeling of the ball hitting my hand, if my teammate I'm blocking with or just a teammate blocking in general, gets a block, it's so exciting I feel like I celebrate more for them then when I do. Needless to say, I think it's the best part of volleyball.

Many players were challenging each other more at training today. Even if they don't notice they are, I felt like the environment was more competative than previous training sessions. We had trash talking, hitters testing the block wiping off hands, hitting seems, hitting high, etc. All in good nature the trash talking, we are ladies, and it made teammates wanting to block the ball even more. An example? One pair was challenging each other on whoever scored the least amount of points had to wash the dishes after dinner. Others, giving them the stare down through the net. Amazing how much more competition we can bring to drills.

The only way is Essex

7 days left with my GB teammates. We wait all year to be back with each other again, and the time just flies by. Mind you, some times have gone by slowly, but as a whole, we've traveled so many places in a short amount of time that you forget what day it is, the date, sometimes even the month. I found it hard at most places without internet to blog. Just an excuse, I know, but I'm not geeky enough to figure out how to post a blog online without Internet. ; ) With all of our traveling around the South American and also just in the cities we stay, I found little time to write my blogs. If I did, I honestly was too tired to concentrate at 11pm (when we were free) to sit and think.

Currently in Essex, enjoying the dorm life again. This time, the beds are much more comfortable and the room set up is handy. How? Well, the toilet is literally in between (on top of ) the sink and the shower . I'm sure I could come up with a good time saving strategy.

These next 7 days are important to the development of the team. Although we don't have any big matches to look forward to, we have found motivation within ourselves and each other to continue to work hard and towards goals. It should be an intense training period before we head out to our clubs for the next 8 months.

26-30th May

GBR or according to the Peruvians we should write it GRB, has kick started our season with a our first tournament in the Latina Cup. The Tournament started Friday and finishes today, Monday, with playoffs. We will play Chile at 4:30pm (2:30pm PST).

Thursday was a day off from matches and our first day with some down time. Enough time to nap and get addicted to the new Real World Las Vegas. Quality TV. The day was full of 1 training session and meetings.

Here is a run down to my schedule the past few days:

Friday 27 May, GB vs. Thailand

7:30am Breakfast

8:15am Leave for training

9-11am Training

12:30pm Lunch

1:15pm Video

2:30pm Leave for Match

4:30pm Match scheduled

8:30pm Dinner

Our Match was scheduled for 4:30pm. However, when we showed up, the floor was still being laid down, the net still being put up, etc. There was no prep for us to start at 4:30pm. I believe our game started around 5pm and we played on a net that was definitely not the right height. I can safely say that in Peru they are not as precise about things as we are in England.

We lost in 4 to the quick playing Thailand.

Saturday, 28 May vs. Chile

7:45am Breakfast

8:30am Leave for training

9-10:30am Training

11:45am Lunch

1:30pm Video

2:30pm Snack

3pm Leave for Game

5pm Game time!

8:30pm Dinner

We beat Chile in 3!

Sunday, 29 May vs. Peru

8:30am Breakfast

9:15am Leave for training

10-11:30am Training at game venue!

12:30pm Lunch

3:15pm Snack

3:30pm Video

4pm Leave for game

6pm Game vs. Peru

9pm Dinner

We lost in a tough game to Peru in 3. We fought and it was close but we couldn't pull it out in the end.

Monday (today), 30 May vs. Chile

Playoff day!

9:30am Breakfast

10-11:40 Pack

11:50 Video

12:30pm Lunch

2:30pm Leave for Match

4:30pm Match

I've been here in Lima since Wednesday, going on 6 days in one place! It's been nice to feel settled for a few days. I can't say I really unpacked or was organised, that would be silly. At least my roommate is ok with my organised mess. We leave tonight for a flight at 11pm for Argentina and arrive in Buenos Aires around 5 or 6am. Our time in Argentina will be similar to Peru. We will be having a tour of matches around the country, which means back to living in planes and buses. I love it but my hip flexers don't. Sitting takes a lot out of you!

I'm starting to prepare for tonights match by...relaxing. I have some good music and I'm reading Chelsea Handler's new book "Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me". It's hilarious the stories that people tell about practical jokes Chelsea Handler pulls on them. She's so incredible smart and funny!

And just so you don't worry, I'm catching up on Modern Family tonight. The episodes downloaded and ready to watch. I've missed my American TV shows.

I'll try and post an update on the game but if not, check out faceboook and our gbwomesvolleyball.co.uk website.

Peace.

Day 6, 7, 8...23-25 May

With little down time, I’ve been using what valuable time we have between traveling and matches to sleep. Just the thought of writing a blog was too much effort. And besides traveling and playing, I’ve little else to tell. Or maybe you’d like to hear about the food we eat, the food poisoning people have gotten (knock on wood, I haven’t been sick yet), our traveling conditions, etc.

Since I just heard you all say yes you’d love to hear all my random stories, I’m going to ramble on for a few paragraphs.

The airports are interesting in the fact that our boarding cards always say the departing time about 45 minutes earlier than we actually need to be at the gate. We’ve yet to take off on time, either traffic or one time there was a helicopter accident at the airport we were to be traveling to. This doesn’t help with our strict schedule since we travel the day we play. On Monday, our game was changed from 6pm to 8pm which meant that the 1,500 fans waiting 2 hours for us to show up. They were more than welcoming when arrived. Last night, Tuesday, our game was changed from 7pm to 8pm. It’s amazing that they can just change the time of the game, especially when the whole town of Moquegua was waiting to watch us. Total of 3,000 or so fans last night.

Moquegua is a city north of Tacna about 3 hours by bus. We drove through desert and more desert to get to a desert town full of green landscape surrounded by sandy mountains. Buildings are all mud/stone looking and don’t look nice outside but inside they all seem very modern. The city is provided water by a nearby river and is know for growing avocados and grapes. Fact of the day, tell your friends.

Tacna is the most patriotic city in Peru, located in the southern most part of the country 40 km from Chile. Also a desert city but not as desolate as Moquegua. I was able to sneak a photo (I should be a spy) of a Peruvian cowboy sitting drinking a beer with his sunglasses and cowboy hat on. It was exciting.

We’re heading back to Lima now. I’m sat again waiting for our flight at Tacna airport. I’ve had a great time so far being in South America, playing for Great Britain, and experiencing memories I will never forget.

To be continued...