Greetings from Athens, to all of you stateside. I realize I have a little catching up to do, sorry about being delinquent in writing, but we are a little busy—as we train and play every other day. I’m going to give ya’all a quick day by day update about how things have gone since we’ve touched down.
Wednesday August 11th
After winning two preparation games in Salamanca, Spain—we finally arrived to the birthplace of the Olympics games. As soon as we walked off the plane, we were greeted by the decorative Olympic rings everywhere. They proved to be an exciting reminder of why we were there. After all, it isn’t every day that you step off the plane and get ready to compete for a gold medal!! Most of this day was filling out paperwork, sitting in on informative meetings, and getting organized for the next two weeks ahead.
Checking into the athlete’s village was an exciting and unique experience. Food seems to be the universal bond that ties us together, as all the countries meet in the large dinning hall in search of anything that resembles what they would eat in their respective countries. My first impression was simply to be overwhelmed by it all. As you eat, you can’t help but watch the different athletes in wonderment about what country they are from and try to guess what sport they might play.
August 12th
This was simply a day to get acclimated. We had our first practice, press conference, and then a little time to try and unpack.
August 13th
This proved to be a long, but eventful day. We practiced, bussed back to the village, and got ready for opening ceremonies. As a first time Olympian, I must admit I was looking forward to this event. Of course the women’s team was extremely excited and proud to have our three time Olympian, Dawn Staley, carry the flag for us. There was a lot of down time as they organized the countries to march, which allowed us a chance to walk around and meet athletes from the United States and numerous other countries.
August 14th
Let the games begin!!! USA defeated New Zealand in our first Olympic competition. This proved to be a very physical game for us. It was exciting to finally get the games underway. There has been so much talk, planning, and preparation—it’s good to finally be in action.
August 15th
Our schedule is set in a way that we play every other day, and the men play every other day. So today was a practice day, and then we were off to watch the men’s opening game. There has been a lot of talk about how our men’s and women’s teams are favored to win the gold. This is great, because they respect the talent and experience on our teams, but at the same time a game/match/race isn’t won by a ranking. The most talented team doesn’t always win, the fastest runner doesn’t always come in first, and the number one ranked player doesn’t win every match. Puerto Rico came in and played with everything they had, and on this night appeared to be the better team. Every night is a battle, because the stakes are high and the room for error is slim.
August 16th- 20th
I realize my entry is getting long, so I’m going to consolidate a few days. Every day, practice and game, our team has improved. After our victory over a very good Spanish team today, we are now 4-0 in our pool play with a remaining game vs. China on Sunday. I have to tell ya one quick story before I go. After arriving in the lockeroom, as we are putting on our shoes Diana, our superstar rookie, pulls a true rookie move—as she notices that not only does she have one right shoe, but she actually has two!! Although I would probably still put my money on her jumper, playing in two right shoes, it was good that someone grab the match for her before tip off! With almost half of the Olympics over, we are continuing to work towards our ultimate goal—to bring home the Gold!!!
