Team Daily Reports
Girls U-14 -- CS -- Slammers FC
|
Reports will be
posted when received. We are also expecting |
||||||||||||||||||
|
July 27: Today we woke up a little later than yesterday. We went upstairs and ate a scrumdidliumptious breakfast and went downstairs. We listened to our Ipods in the car and made our way to the fields. We watched a little bit of the 18’s game before us and then warmed up with Ed. Our game today was against Stars of Massachusetts. Early in the game, Jazzy put a nice ball into the back of the net. A few minutes later, Emily chipped a nice ball into the far corner. The game ended 2-0 Slammers and we were off to the finals! We are so excited for tomorrow its crazy! Tonight we did some stretching with Ed and the 18’s. In a few minutes we will be off to bed to dream about the upcoming of our adventure ahead of us. By: Gen Banks and Mary Green July 26: Today we woke up super early (appox. 5:15) and get dressed in the darkness. We then ventured upstairs to get breakfast and then made our way to the lobby. We left in our 2 vans to the fields. We arrived to our field and started to warm up. The ground was very slick and moist which caused the ball the move fast. We started the game against Carmel United from Indiana. We scored two nice goals at the very end of the game to finalize the score 2-0. We then went back to the hotel and showered. Later, we got together with the 18’s and went to a BBQ (which was delicious… put on by the Daughetee’s) and filled up our grumbling bellies. After we left and had a team meeting. After that, we went to bed to prepare for the next game. By: Jordan Dillion and Lindsey Luke July 25: Today we woke up to the suns rays shining in our faces. We went upstairs for breakfast and then quickly hurried down to get ready for our first game. We were super excited to play and hurried off to the fields where we watched the 18’s win 1-0. We examined the slippery fields and adjusted in our warm up. The whistle blew and we took the field for our first game against Dallas Sting Royal. We huddled and then did the walk out holding hands. After shaking their hands and wishing good luck, we all energetically went into a circle and yelled our cheer, did our handshakes and took our positions. The game was phenomenal on both sides and both teams showed why they are in the national championships. In the first half, Tessa gave a cross to Em and it hit off her foot and pinged the back of the net. We then settled down and played our own style of Slammers soccer. We learned some valuable key points at half time and put them to good use in the 2nd half. We possessed the ball all the way down the field. After Emily’s shot hit the top crossbar, we connected back to Frannie who firmly placed the ball in the upper right corner with her left foot. After a beautiful cross, Renee floated a nice header to Emily’s feet where she calmly collected it and placed the ball nicely into the net. The final score was 3-0 Slammers. At the end of the game, we shook the Sting Girls hands and handed them the bracelets we had made them prior and walked off the field accomplished. We then went to the hotel, showered, went to the mall, bought some new clothes, ate at TGI Fridays, and now we are off to bed because we have a 7:30 game tomorrow morning! July 24: Today was the luncheon! We were super excited to put on our dresses as we made our way to the Fallons room for breakfast. We were then bummed to hear that we had to do stretching and get sweaty in the 2 hours until we had to leave. We quickly convinced George to stretch when we got back and then we were off to get ready. We all did our hair, makeup and put on our dresses as we headed downstairs to take some pictures. We then took a picture with the West Coast Boys U14 team and took many pictures amongst ourselves. We then headed to the luncheon with time to spare. As we arrived at the luncheon, we saw tons of teams gathered inside. We had two specific tables for Region IV GU14 and we all grabbed our seats and sat politely for the exciting event to begin. Many people spoke, the national anthem was sung, and all the teams were welcomed to the 2007 National Championships. Everyone took their seat as we were served scrumptious salad, we are all on our best behavior. They then announced all the teams. As our team got called, we stood up and screamed and clapped as loud as we could. We also did that when the Slammers GU18 name was called. We were then served our delicious lunch, chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables. We then looked up to see the 4 clubs for each age group on the big screen. Our Regional champion picture was shown and we again cheered with joy. We all began to eat our lunch and observed the wonderful surroundings. At the end of lunch, we were shown 4 different videos of highlights from each of the different regions finals. We saw ourselves a few times and spotted Tes in a couple of them. After lunch, we went back to the hotel, relaxed for a while and then put on our cleats and practiced at Pizza Hut Park. We came back to the hotel, showered, and went to sleep. July 23: Some of us woke up super early as some of us slept in. We were excited to find out that the Fallons had a wonderful assortment of breakfast foods in their room. We went up to the room, ate some breakfast, and then relaxed for most of the day. In the afternoon, we went on a walk outside and did some good stretching in the parking lot with Walid. We then went back inside to take showers and headed to Tricia’s room for Spagetti and Salad. We then went back to our rooms and went to sleep. July 22: Our flight left from Sweden to Germany and then back to our home, USA. Most of us slept on both of the flights and we finally arrived in Texas in the afternoon. We then got our 2 vans for this week and headed to our wonderful hotel. We each split up into our rooms and were shocked when we walked into our rooms. The rooms are amazing! There is a room with a TV and couch and then a room with 2 beds. We just chilled today and took showers and got used to the time change.
July 20th: We played our first game at 8 AM against Stars and Stripes from the US. It was a good game and we came out on top winning 2-0. Our second game was against Torslanda IK from Sweden and we won 7-1. Yet we weren’t done for the day yet. We went back to our parents hotel rooms and ate another snack in between our 3rd and final game for the day. We got to go back to Heden Center and were super excited! We loved having the crowds of people watching and hearing all the different cheers and songs from different teams. We ended up meeting RSF Attack in the Semifinals at Heden. It was an amazing game by both teams and we played our best soccer we have ever played. Everybody was focused and we all played with tremendous heart and teamwork. The score ended up to be 3-0 Slammers and we were off to the finals! Before we left, we stayed to watch the other semifinal’s PKS and enjoyed some frozen popsicles. We then traveled back to our hotel and had a good nights rest for our upcoming game. July 19th: We woke up, ate breakfast, and headed to the fields. We played 2 games. Our first game was against Vasteras BK 30 from Sweden and our second game was against St. Johnstone Girls from Scotland, who are the Scottish National Champions. We won our first game 5-0 and then headed back to the parents hotel for some lunch. After lunch, we took the tram to our 2nd game and had a very good warmup with everyone touching the ball and playing some keep away. We were bummed to find out that our game was delayed 1 hour, so we then put our jackets back on and sat and watched the game before us. To pass time, some girls joined in a large juggling circle to get some more touches. The whistle blew for the game before us signaling us to take the field for some passing and a prayer. As we kneeled down, we heard the sounds of a bagpipe as the St. Johnstone Girls walked onto the field. We prayed and did handshakes as the wind blew and the ref blew our starting whistle to begin a very good game. In the first half we scored the first goal by hard work by Tessa and a nice cross to Emily to start the game off good. A few minutes later, St. Johnstone Girls came back with an equalizer. Now we were super hungry to get it back. We stepped it up to another level having tons of shots that the Scottish keeper had to make great saves for. We finally got another into the back of the net making it 2-1 Slammers. As the 2nd half went on, we had some more chances and were super close to putting another one in. Then, Frannie served a great cross to Tessa who kicked it back into the net. The final score was 3-1 Slammers and it was a great game of soccer played by both teams. After the game ended, the Scottish girls personally came over to us and complemented us as well as wishing us luck for the games to come. St. Johnstone Girls had a lot of class and we enjoyed playing a good game of soccer with them. We then went back to our hotel and went to sleep.
July 18th: Today we woke up earlier than before and some of the girls ate breakfast while some slept in by accident. We left for our field on the tram but then we got to the middle of nowhere and had to stop and look for directions. Then we got on another tram to the correct complex only to find out that we were at the wrong field numbers (some girls already put their cleats on). Then, we had to walk a bazillion miles to our real fields to find all the parents waiting and cheering our names as we approached. We played yet another team from sweden. At first, we had on our new white nike jerseys only to find out that they were white. So we then put on our maroons only to find out they were wearing red. So then we had to switch back to our whites. We ended up winning 9-0 and almost everyone scored except for about 5 people. We then went out to dinner and ate scrumptious meals. After, we went outside and did our slammer stepdance for about 20 minutes it seemed. We attracted a large crowd in 20 minutes while the air outside was freezing so we rushed to get on the tram to get back to our hotel. Then we showered, washed our jerseys and went to sleep because we have to wake up early tomorrow for our game.gen is amazing-gen. but renee is delicious-renee. nawt to both-lindsey Sike!-gen and renee
July 17th: Today we got to sleep in and we're finally used to the dramatic time change! We went on a Tram today to go get lunch, and a very large (giant if you ask me) bug landed on Emily and she jumped and screamed as loud as she possibly could and all the Swedish people looked at her as if she was crazy. We then went to a cute deli and then went shopping on this old-style street with bricks as the road and the buildings looked as if they were out of a book. We then took a bus to our game and we played a team from Sweden. There were hundreds pf people watching our game. We played on a field that was like turf but sandy. It was a very fast field but we adjusted to it with our teams quickness. We won 5-0. Emily scored two goals, Frannie scored one goal, Jordan Dillion scored one goal, and Kassidy scored one as well. At night, we all got all dressed up and went to the Gothia Disco. We waited in a huge line, but it was worth the wait. We had the time of our lives dancing in the same place as at least 1000 people all from different countries. A wide variety of music played, some songs we couldnt understand or never even heard of in our life. We met some interesting people. Drenched in sweat we all had to leave the disco around 11:30. We met up with George and rode the tram back to our hotel. We took showers and crashed soon after.
July 16th: Today, we woke up at 10:00 and went downstairs to have breakfast. They had a variety of fruits, crepes, eggs, meatballs, yogurt, meat, and bread. We ate breakfast and then made sandwhiches with the meat and bread. We packed these in our soccer bags to have later for lunch. We then came up to our rooms and got dressed. While waiting for our parents one of our teammates (we all know who) was running to a bank while she tripped over her sweats and fell on her elbow and knee. She fell on cobblestone and hurt her knee and elbow very badly and had to be taken to the nearest hospital......haha just kidding. She didnt have to be taken to the hospital but she did sit out for the first game to rest her knee. We then headed out to take the tram to our parents hotel where we dropped off our bags and headed off to a canal ride. On the canal ride we had a lady talking to us about all of the different sites that are in Gothenburg. She spoke in English and Swedish. We then walked through the mall back to our parents hotel and ate our lunches. We rested then headed off to our game. We walked to our fields because they were only 5 minutes from our parents hotel. We played at Heden fields. We watched a South African team and cheered them on. We then started to warm up in the mud with our one soccer ball. After we warmed up we thought we had lost our only ball but luckily it was hidden under one of our teammates feet. Finally, it was time for our game to begin. We exchanged flags with the other team and began to play our first game of the Gothia Cup. The final score was slammers-3 Ersboda-0. The goals were scored by Emily Dillon-2 and Frannie Coxe-1. We then shook their hand saying Good Game but the other team spoke in a different language, so it was very interesting hearing how their country said good game. We then had to rush off to the opening ceremony, where we ended up having the best seats 3 rows from the front. The stadium was packed with over 45,000 spectators from all over the world. It was very amazing to be able to hear every team chanting and singing in different languages. There were fireworks and each country got welcomed in and took a walk around the field. It was incredible to see every country in the stadium. There was singing and dancing and a man even proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of the stadium. The opening ceremony was one of the best experiences of my life. After, we piled out of the stadium and headed off to McDonalds for dinner. After dinner we got onto a tram and rode back to our hotel where we all showered and washed our uniforms in our sinks. Then, we all went to sleep! It was a excellent first day!
|
||||||||||||||||||
July 21st: Today was the finals! We were super excited
to play in the stadium we had recently sat in for the opening
ceremonies. We were super pumped to play Baton Rouge SA from
Louisiana. When we arrived to the stadium, we got our own
dressing room to change into our jerseys. Then we had a quick
warm up underneath the stadium on artificial track. It gave us
a quick sweat since it was starting to rain outside and we
wanted to be warmed. We prepared ourselves mentally and
physically for the upcoming match with stretches and a talk.
Soon, the moment came and we all held hands and walked out
onto the glossy stadium field to see all of our fans in the
stands above us. We then sprinted in to a huddle and kneeled
down to pray. After our prayer we pumped each other up and
took the field. But before we took the field we had to do our
handshakes. The game started out with a firm shot by Baton
Rouge, yet we defended it well and kicked it back into the
midfield. In around the 10th minute, Frannie nailed
a hard shot into the lower right corner. Slammer cheer broke
out as we went up 1-0. Later, the team passed some good balls
and Tessa finished a nice shot into the back of the net. By
the end of the 2nd half, we were up 2-0. Half way
into the 2nd half, Emily put a nice foot into the
ball and slammed another shot into the net. A few minutes
later, Tessa capitalized yet another opportunity and made the
final score 4-0. The final whistle blew and we all screamed
with joy and gave numerous hugs. We were honored to walk upon
the stage in front of our fans to receive our medals and the
Gothia Cup trophy. We then took a team picture and never
stopped smiling even though our cheeks hurt. We looked to our
right and there was a car with seats on the top for the winner
to ride around the city. We yelled songs and chants to all the
townspeople and fellow teams. We rode back to the stadium
where our parents and supporters waited as we sung a song to
our wonderful manager and thanked her for everything. We then
walked back to our parents hotel to have our last lunch in
Gothenburg and walk around the large mall. We are so grateful
to be honored to go to Sweden for this amazing tournament and
we most definently enjoyed the various cultural differences
and had a wonderful experience.
By:
Lindsey Luke, Gen Banks, and Renee Mendiola
By:
Emily Dillon, Mary Green and Jazmine Rhodes
By:
Kaitlin Hellmann, Jordan Dillion and Jordan O'Brien
Today
July 15, the Slammer girls arrived in Gothenburg, Sweden after
long and tiring plane rides. On July 13th, the Slammers were
so excited for the trip, some couldn't go to sleep. Some girls
created a chat room for the Slammers and talked all night
until it was time to leave for LAX. On July 14th, the girls
strolled through security at around 4:30 AM with their new
Nike outfits. At around 6:00 AM, the first flight took off
towards Dallas, Texas in a loud rumble. Most girls wanted to
sleep but couldn't because that would mess up their sleeping
patterns for the upcoming week in Sweden. 4 hours later, the
team arrived in Dallas, Texas only to wait another 4 hours for
their next flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Those 4 hours did go
by fast. The team was occupied with silly clapping, card games
and lounging. Our section of the terminal was quiet until
screams started to break out from our intense card game of
Peaches. Soon, the whole team joined, yet Rachael and Frannie
were the most victorious with their secret jestures to one
another. Our next stop was Germany and our flight boarded at
3:30PM (Dallas Time). The girls were able to sleep as much as
they could on that flight because of the time difference. The
flight took 9 hours and 45 minutes to cross the cool Atlantic
Ocean, and ended with another 3 hour lay-over. During those 3
hours, the Slammers met a boys team traveling from Spain for
the Gothia Cup aswell and had some very interesting
conversations. Emily was our main translator and could
understand the Spanish and translate it to English. Time flew
buy during our next flight from Frankfurt to Gothenburg as the
Spain Boys and another older team from Northern California
were on the same flight and were alot of fun to talk to. We
arrived in Sweden at around 3:00 PM (Sweden time... which is
5:00 AM Cali time) and took a bus to our new home for the next
week. When we arrived their were more than 3 different teams
all gathered outside the hotel hanging out and waiting for
their rooms to be ready. The Slammers entertained themselves
by playing hardcore games of hacky sack and being amazed by
great footskills of a boy on another team. Later, we went on a
peaceful walk through the town where our hotel is located and
took time to take fun team photos. Right now it is 9:30 PM and
the girls are pretty tired and ready for bed. 
Teams | Team Daily Reports | Schedule/Results | Photos | Press Releases | Referees | Fair Play Awards | 2007 Champions