By:  Christina and Ashley

We woke up to the phone at 5:15 am and rolled out of bed. After collecting our gear for the game, we headed downstairs for our buffet breakfast consisting of fruit, yogurt, and cereals thanks to Mrs. Bak. Once we filled our stomachs, we piled into the vans and headed for the fields. Pump Up the Music sounded through each of the vans. We were all ready and pumped up for the game. Even with our valiant effort, we came up a bit short and lost 2-1 to Eclipse.Unfortunately, the best team doesn't always win. Our faces showed our shock and disappointment of our loss, but we held our heads high throughout the ceremony. Once the ceremony was over, we quickly drove back to the hotel to shower, pack and get to the airport to come home. Overall the plane rides were good, except for some turbulence here and there and a certain player letting out stink bombs ("I was waiting for the air masks to fall") HAHAHA. We all arrived home safely, collected our bags, and said good-byes that concluded our long trip.

A special thank you to our Coach Walid and Manager Mrs. Bak for all you have done for us. Thanks to Ziad and Fabian for your support.

Our Love and Special thank you goes to the Alvarez, Alvis, Bak, Bowyer, Engen, Farah, Harrison, Jain, Kevorkian, Klippert, Mazura, Nick, O'Connor, Orand, Scannell, Thulin, Tiampo, Trenton, and Yount Families for EVERYTHING you have provided us!

Thanks to Cal South, Region IV and USYSA for the opportunity to play in Nationals.

We want to extend one last thank you to Dan (the webmaster) who has been so great in posting all of our reports and relating our experiences through the Region IV website.

Peace Out!

By: Tiffany H. and Jess

Many of us woke up to the sounds of an alarm clock or wake up calls. Several others woke up to the sound of an oversized bird, a.k.a. a vulture. Our courageous teammate, Lisa, scared off the vulture because it was guarding their training gear. After the vulture sighting, we went to an early breakfast, soon to follow a light training session. At the training session, it was so muggy and humid and all these bugs were crawling all over us. Oh well. After training, we had a little pool session, which consisted of the normal stretching and aqua workout. Too bad the pool was like warm and gross. Ok, so after that we went to the Chinese buffet. YUM… lots of good food. After we stuffed our faces, we went back to the hotel where some of us watched "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days." Great movie. At 4:00 we all met in our usual room to go over tape and have a pre game discussion. Pretty boring, but we all stuck it out. Dinner…guess where??? Of course, Macaroni Grill!! Never again will we ever want to go there. Dinner ended, at 7:00 we reached the hotel and we are all so dusted that we decided to go to bed by 8:00. Can't wait until tomorrow! Early wake up…shooot. Go slammers! LATE ECLIPSE.

By:   Kaitlin and Lisa

The time was 7:45, and the dreaded wake-up call broke the beloved silence we all had grown to love. We meandered on down to breakfast where our awesome manager (JoJo) and crew prepared a splendid meal. We then prepared for our game by enjoying our favorite song, "Uncle Effer." Then we put our game faces on and it was business. As we arrived at the fields, we went in the "cool room" for a little pep talk. We knew it was our day when Walid expressed his feelings, yada yada yada. We took the field and scored two goals in the first half (thank you, Whitney and Lisa). Then a VICIOUS attack targeted towards Whitney left her with yet another head injury. The game went on, we scored two more goals (compliments of Jamie and Lisa). We won 4-0 and in the second half, actually started playing "SLAMMERS' BALL." YES, WE ARE IN THE FINALS!!!! Despues de la partida, nosotros nadamos en la pacina. (After the game, we swam in the pool.) Then we went to LUNNER at Pebbles (verrry costly) which was danky dank! Superb key lime pie. WE came back to the hotel and watched old school. (you're crazy, man. I like you, but you're crazy.) We had to listen to our "fearless leaders" -Jo Jo guffaw loudly over the course of the cinematic feature. On our way to dinner some mullet/Mohawk boy was hitting on us, and our "fearless leader" stared him down and shook his finger and said to the car, "That's a serious no-no." A light dinner and dessert followed at the Macaroni Grill (after waiting for 40 mins, dangit.) And that leaves us here, with JoJo nagging us to get to bed. Adieu, loves. SHOUTOUTS TO: Andybear, CAM-CAM gurls…ooh heaven is a place on earth.

By:   Aarti and Tiffany A.

Before the day started we all were scared of the threat of our phones being taken away, so we all decided to put them under our pillows where they couldn't be found by Yoda. Later that night Whitney went to bed with ice on her neck until it woke her at 2 in the morning because the bag popped. She finally sat up and realized she was sleeping in ice-cold water. Then expressed some unkind words in a shout. She got up to lay towels on her bed and change her wet shirt. As she did this she also realized that know she was standing in the water. So BASICALLY Whitney didn't have a good nights rest.

The morning began at 9:30 where we got the calls that sang to us, "THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL LALALALA". Whack10 for sure. Then went to our buffet that was set up by Yoda with some half frozen milk and special k cereal. YUMMY… Surprise Surprise the next thing we did was eat some more at the macaroni grill with a whack10 waiter. Obviously we weren't allowed to get dessert so then attacked at Walid's terra masu. YUMMY… JK gewwwwwwww. We then came back to the hotel to learn the extent of our millions of mistakes in an earlier game and then jumped in the pool for some swim exercises while Walid continued to work on his tan and Ziad ran around unsuccessfully trying to find a towel. Later we watched the Arsenal team kick butt and then were told we needed to leave early so we can eat dinner. This obviously made everyone upset because there was only ten minutes left in this exciting game. So we wished them good luck and a special shoot out to number 9 on that team. After this we ate dinner at Quiznos and some went to subway. OOO and Lexi and Alvarez decided to change the dinner plans and eat at a wonderful Mexican place. It was G14 of course!!! While at Quiznos our girls were being treated by the toothless janitor/ sandwich maker. GEW… Walid and I went to the market to buy some lemons because our voices were nowhere to be found. Back at the hotel getting ready for bed, Tiffany Alvarez ruined the moment in her connecting room by saying, 'BASICALLY THIS IS MINE," making Britt and Lisa start talking again. Then Sammy says, " Hey good one tiff now they're talking again." It's ok because when Nat got annoyed she kindly said, "SHUT UP." To bed some went while others were getting their heads chewed off by Walid and Yoda for this addicted thing called a cell phone. SO SAD… After the drama for your mama ended we went to bed only to get pumped for our game the next day.

Special shout outs for: The familia, our inspiration George Lopez, # 9 from arsenal (oh yeah), The lovely Nancers, Nathalie, D, Audrey ad Leah, and the Hermes homie, o and we cant forget PSG.

We would like to say that we love all our fans and family. Thanks for your never-ending support. But the biggest shout out is for our man above (G.O.D). UMMMM ok bye…

THIS IS MINE. BASICALLY. WHY YOU CRYING. CHOCOLATE BUNNY. I COULDN"T BREAF…OK BASICALLY GOODBYE…

By:  Ashley N. and Natalie

YAAAAY…We beat PDA…YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY!!!!!
Writers block… yup still coming strong…Aha! No, but here's a little poem about today..

The alarm went off at quarter to 8
We stumbled downstairs,
Yes, that's where we ate.
We climbed the stairs to take a rest,
We knew this game would be a test.
Next came a meeting,
Which terminated with Walid fleeting.
You better believe he was hyped up for the game,
Little did he know we felt the same.
Lunch was at the Macaroni Grill,
A nameless player proceeded to spill,
While still the mildew in our room continued to kill.
Finally we got some blissful slumber,
While others reviewed previous blunders.
When 3:45 rolled around,
The "Eye of the Tiger" began to sound,
It was then we knew that it was PDA we would pound!
They fouled us early in the match,
Lucky for us the keeper could not catch.
The running score was one to zip,
And after a good half time tip,
We scored once more,
Making the score, 2-0.
After reviewing the results of our bracket,
It looked pretty good,
We began to make racket.
Lexi led us in some poolside drills,
It was 10 o'clock then,
And our tummies began to kill.
Getting brutally rejected from two places,
You should have seen our disappointed faces.
It was T.G.I Fridays where we landed,
"No dessert!" JoAnn commanded,
Defying her, it was the brownie obsession the team demanded.
That is where the night ended,
To bed we were sended.
It was such an exciting day,
We can't wait to play… again!
And we're out!!! Shout outs to the beautiful Brianna Orand and star fullback Michael Pitre!!! And to all the wonderful members of the Nick and Farah family, thanks for all the support… We Love You.

Webmaster Addition: Brianna drives a direct free kick over the wall towards
the corner of the net and the keeper could not handle it as it went through her hands.

Day 5- Lexi and Britney

2:30 a.m.: "Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring," Jamie rises in a panic and flops into the shower; meanwhile, "teammate" Jessica cackles, calling everyone in her phonebook to get a laugh at Jamie's expense. The poor girl planned on having her father call to wake her up; however, on this instant, it was simply a friend text messaging her.

5:30 a.m.: "Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring," the rest of the team wakes along with Jamie, emerging into the darkness of "morning." On the walk to the vans, we spot the highly poisonous moccasin snake.

6:30 a.m. We all go to Manhattan Bagel where we indulge in bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwiches. Sooo good!

7:20 a.m. We all piled into the vans, heading for the game when our coach cranked up the tunes of the infamous Aesha Arabic melody. Upon arriving there was a torrential down pour, or light rain (same thing), we all checked in, prepping for the upcoming match.

9:30 a.m. It was a tough game for the Slammers despite the fact we slipped in two goals early. After the first fifteen minutes we lost focus, resulting in a quick comeback by the Illinois Eclipse. However, we would like to inform you that we have regained our focus and intend to breeze through the duration of the tournament relying on our overwhelming effort and greatness. Just joshing…we were just showing a little bit of our CalSouth pride…a.k.a arrogance.

11:00 a.m.: Team meeting…slight rippage…ouch…must we say anymore?

2:00 p.m.: Next was lunch at an all you can eat Chinese buffet. To our dismay we spotted a few unidentified dishes that we decided to steer clear of…but oh well, the food was good!

4:02 p.m.: The longneck turtles and 4-ft long, Arabian speckled trout grasped our attention, scrambling for every last morsel of the Kellogg's strawberry flakes and oat clusters.

7:00 p.m.: Dinner at Perkins Diner. Of course we all indulged in the salad bar, and we shied away when Frankie, our waitress, offered us the hearty house specialty, the Chocolate Chipper Dipper…wow that was good…I mean it looked good.

8:00 p.m.: We reflected on our day and wrote what we would like to believe was a very classy daily diary. To our dismay an unfortunate "power" malfunction resulted in the devastating loss of our daily diary, so we wrote this one.

8:30 p.m.: Bedtime! And we're out! Shout outs to Nadia and McKenzie because they are totally related to the coolest girl ever, thanks Megs for being the smartest blonde ever, I love you! And to a certain someone sorry we were unable to deliver our pizza within our fifteen-minute motto.

By:   Brianna and Whitney

Today we woke up sooooo early. We were up and down in the lobby for breakfast at 6:00 AM! We went to a restaurant called Steak and Shake, and the food was really greasy. While we were there it thankfully started to rain, causing our practice that morning to be cancelled. We were very excited to go back to our rooms and sleep until we HAD to wake up for the National Luncheon. Unfortunately other teams did not welcome us in our age group, and we were labeled as "Malibu Barbie's." But don't worry we weren't offended because we took it as a compliment… "Malibu Barbie" is gorgeous in our opinion. After the luncheon we ran to our rooms to change to go get space to work out because the fields were cancelled due to rain. We all took a light jog around the hotel that ended in the pool. To our dismay members of our "Coaching Staff" reprimanded us for socializing with boys. After we got out of the pool Lexi picked up a frog and wanted to make it her pet but the "Coaching Staff" disagreed. We had FOUR HOURS to kill, so we amused ourselves by dancing and dressing like J. Lo. (big butts… with pillows) We went dinner at Zingers and had a great meal. One of the members of our "Coaching Staff" had WAY too much to eat, and we all had to walk around the outside of the hotel for thirty minutes so he could digest his food. Ashley Nick taught us about Sombula, and we all had fun playing that game. Have ya heard of it? If you haven't, then you are one of the lucky ones. Haha. Brianna and Whitney are now tired and want to go to bed so good night to all. ENJOY and AU REVOIR.

By: Jamie and Sammy

In preparation for the tournament the team woke early to eat breakfast before our training session, however, there was a problem with the wake up calls; unfortunately, one room didn't receive one and were late to practice, of course, much to our coach's delight! We practiced for about two hours and headed back to the hotel before lunch. MMMM…. Chinese buffet!! Healthy food!

In order to earn our free shorts from Nike, we helped our manager Mrs. Bak carry Gatorade bottles from the store, to the car, and then from the car to the rooms. Hurray free stuff! We spent the rest of the day relaxing, watching Anger Management (a very therapeutic movie for our team), and calling friends back home. We like to keep in touch and stay up to date with the important social matters of teenagers (Yes, our phone bills are ridiculous). It began to rain so our spitting contests from the hotel balcony were put on hold.

After the eventfulness of our day, we headed out to dinner at Pebbles. It was an interesting scene, gazing out through the large windows at Florida's natural wildlife of lizards and snowy egrets. Then the team decided to see a movie for some nighttime fun. We saw A Cinderella Story, which was filmed at Lisa's high school. It was hilarious when Lisa stood up with pride when Hillary Duff ran into a locker and she exclaimed, "That's my locker!!!" (because it really was…so cool) And so we returned to our hotel and held a team meeting to reiterate the purpose of this tournament for the third time: discipline and mental focus.

                …we didn't get to search for Julio…inside joke :)

By: Christi and Amy

We started off the day having to wake up at 8:30 and be down to the lobby by 9 o'clock. We went to IHOP for breakfast and we all had some yummy food. Then we had some down time until we had to go to practice. At around 12:30 we descended to the Disney Wide World of Sports complex. We had a two-hour practice that was very intense and very humid, but we should be able to adjust quickly. After the practice, we went straight to the hotel to shower so we could make it to the MGM Park as quick as possible. When we got to the park, we immediately went on the tower of terror which was so much fun. After we went on the tower of terror we went on the rock and roll roller coaster, which was also a lot of fun. After we went on both of the roller coasters it was time to go to our dinner reservations at the Italian place in the park. The food was mostly disappointing because it was a typical Disney place, small proportions of food and way over priced, but it still tasted all right. After dinner and dessert we thought we should go on tower of terror again because it's so neat looking at night. So we got in line because it was only 10 minutes long. We get on ride and we are all so excited to go on it. You have three drops during the ride, so the first drop comes and we are all expecting the second drop and it doesn't come. Then we start going slower and slower and we realize that we are going down to the exit. Everyone was looking around to see what happened. Little did we know that some of the fellow teammates and a certain coach lifted up their feet that caused the Disney people stop the ride and our ride was ruined. After the park we went straight back to the hotel to get some sleep and get ready for the next day.

By: Ashley and Christina

So our journey begins. We all arrived at LAX Airport at 4:30 a.m. this morning to check into our flight. Our tired bodies slowly but surely made our way through the airport to catch our first flight. The first long flight was very quiet and full of sleeping Slammers. After the vigorous and seemingly endless flight, we arrived in Nashville, Tennessee for a three-hour layover. Everyone began to fully awaken and act like her normal selves again. All of our team picked up some lunch and then waited for our final flight to Orlando. The short and final flight finally landed and we got a first look at our new home for the next 10 days. We all snatched up our luggage and piled into the vans and headed toward the Wyndham Palace Hotel. As we pulled up, the enormity and atmosphere of the hotel amazed us. After settling in our rooms and grabbing a bite to eat, we laid in our beds and dreamed about the excitement for tomorrow.

Slammers at LAX Airport