Game Day -- Recovery Day

We started game day with a walk through led by our captain, Kate Daley. It was short and sharp and focused our minds on the task ahead. After an hour long bus ride to the pitch we started to settle in and do our individual game day prep. Headphones on, I got in the zone then started to link up with my teammates in the locker room. 

Our warmup begins with a short gym session to get our muscles firing. I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS! I get so amped and love throwing up weights! The music is blasting and the energy is high. We crank our 30 minutes of lifting then take to the field to start individual warmups. It was raining, naturally, during our entire warmup. The overall team vibe was incredibly focused and on point. It felt so great! The rain felt great and seemed to focus us. 

Game time. I felt my usual pre-game nerves kick in somewhere between the national anthems and the first whistle. Once we got going the nerves left, but I didn’t get myself into a good swing for another 40-50 minutes-ugh. Both teams were playing really hard! There was a lot of back and forth play, often due to slippery ball. I ran in a ball to the corner for the first try of the game somewhere around the 38 minute mark - a very necessary boost needed before the half! 

We made a few tactical changes at the half and tightened up our defensive focus. The rain stopped just long enough for us to sit in the locker rooms and started up again as we kicked off the second half. Perfect ;) The first minutes of the half felt promising, but we slipped defensively and let in an early try. The battle raged on from both sides! We made some critical errors, but also some amazing breaks. It was a very hotly contested match-so hard, but so fun. We went out on top with a penalty kick from Kimber. Our first match on tour, our first win. Happy with the result, but not necessarily with the overall performance. We have some work to put in before the next match and eventually World Cup. 

Cheers for Bui!

Bui played her very first USA 15s match and we celebrated with the Welsh over dinner (along with their newly capped player)!

Now we focus on recovery. Today was a day off (besides our mobility gym session). Most of the team headed into Cardiff for sight seeing. I stuck to the hotel for a long nap, reading and some major chill time! :) Tonight we meet to bring our focus together for our upcoming matches against England. And tomorrow we start the physical work to get us to another win! 

Jersey Ceremony!

Tonight's jersey ceremony was my first 15s ceremony in over 2 years. It was an incredibly special moment filled with smiles, tears and lots of laughs. Something I love about this team is that the connections we build are forever shaping us. We grow together everyday and learn more and more about each other everyday. Today we each gave a jersey to a teammate-another way to show our connectedness and appreciation.


I received my jersey from Kimber :) It was perfect. Kimber and I have been through a lot in our relatively short history as friends & teammates and I am happy she was the one to officially welcome me onto the roster. I presented a jersey to Meya and although we have never played 15s together I am so so excited to play next to her!

Tomorrow we play against Wales..tonight we accepted the USA jersey that will outfit us through that battle. Bring it on..we're more than ready!

Learning Day +

Gym time

Yesterday was a two session training day. We didn’t have a lot of down time during the day. We lift before going out to the field and have meetings, so the day fills up pretty quickly. Between sessions I got in a pretty decent nap-so thankful for that hour! Our sessions were very physical and we learned some new information to take into our first match against Wales. Honestly, I was a bit overwhelmed at one point, but by the end of the day I felt more confident about our new skills and mentality. 

My roommates are Lauren & Deven - we had some chill convos lying in our three respective beds. After some friend time with others and some reading I was off to sleep and recover. The day went by really quickly and it’s hard for me to remember a lot that happened now (I’ll blame jet lag). 

This morning we had another practice focusing on tactical decision making around the field and execution. It was fast paced and incredibly productive. We did a lot in a about an hour and executed really well! Go team go! :) 

We took a trip to the match field early this afternoon. It’s about a 45 minute drive from our hotel at Cross Keys. Cross Keys is in the valley in the northern region of southern Wales. It used to be a big coal mining area and apparently Americans took a bunch of people from this region and had them work the mines in the US. Soooo...yeah, back to rugby ;) The field is surrounded by beautiful hills..in fact, the field itself has a bit of a slope to it as well. Rugby is a huge community event in the area, so it’s a pretty big deal that we get to play there. The vibe is good within the team and the energy is increasing as we get closer to game time! 

Time Travel

6 AM wake up in Denver! I wish I could say I woke feeling rested and ready, but I was so anxious about traveling that I only slept 3.5 hours. I was on a high of excited energy as I packed my last items and met up with the other Denver girls to go to the airport.

Cars loaded, goodbyes said to the few loved ones who were around to say them and we set off! Thanks to Evan & Kandis for transporting us on the first leg of our trip! 

Given that we had 8 team bags (including coolers, suitcases and med kits) in addition to our own luggage check-in went quite smoothly. We only had about an hour to kill before the first flights set off. I was on a flight by myself, so after hanging for a bit with the others I went to my gate and thought about how I was going to manage keeping myself awake for the next 3 hours. 

Fortunately, I downloaded some awesome music the night before. My playlist was rockin and my brand new headphones were boomin! I listened to jams, read a little and walked up and down the tiny aisle...SUCCESS! I stayed awake the entire flight, which was supposed to put me in good position to be on UK time with a good sleep on the next flight. If any of you have ever been a part of previous over seas trips with me you can guess how successful this went.

My layover in Toronto was a fail in productivity, happiness and an overall feeling of being alive. I was so far beyond tired that my functionality took a rapid decline and stayed pretty far under the bottom for the entirety of the 3 hours I spent in Canada. Oh dear...let’s move on. 

Cafe Nero takeover 

The 7 hour flight to London was mostly uneventful. I was asleep before we took off and was fortunate enough to get a seat on this massive plane with no row in front of me-cheers for leg space! I encountered a road block named Customs once I got to London. Apparently being unemployed means you need proof of..well everything when entering another country. Oops! It took me 20 minutes to convince the agent that I wasn’t going to rob the UK of lawful employment..and really she only let me through because she saw Kittery early that morning and knew what was happening-thanks Kitt for being an employed rugby player ;) 

I met up with the other Eagles who had arrived early in London. We took up shelter in the back of a coffee shop lounge area and awaited the arrival of everyone else. Happiness all around! I was so happy to see everyone, to be reunited with love and rugby energy :) 

After a 3 hour bus ride (and lots of chatting time with Nathalie!) we made it to Wales. Everything in Wales is so green and lush! Beautiful :) We had a short practice, a small dinner (at least for this vegetarian-which I guess isn’t a thing here) followed by an hour long meeting filled with sleeping teammates. 

Wales!

By the time I made it to my room and sat on the bed it was already 9:30pm. Somehow the time between leaving Denver and getting to sleep “that night” was over 24 hours long. I am officially a time traveler. 

Water Adventures

FIBArk: First in Boating on the Arkansas

FIBArk is a 4 day celebration of water adventures and races. The event began in 1949 (that's 66 years of water fun) and has been going strong ever since. There are foot races, like the 10k trail run I did a few years back-never again, and every kind of water event you can think of..at least every one I could think of.


Of course the main attraction is the river and all the events held there. However, this year there was a full on carnival in the park and on the streets. Sketchy rides that took an hour to put up and fried food that takes a lifetime to burn off were in mass quantities. There was even a stage hosting a karaoke contest and 'Salida's Got Talent'. "Unfortunately" we missed the talent portion, but I now fully understand why karaoke is meant to be held in a dark bar, late at night, after having many drinks...

We ate lunch at a restaurant overlooking the river and watched the freestyle kayakers and stand-up paddle boarders compete. Stand-up paddle boarding on a river of rapids is crazy! They race to be the fastest to the finish line, but there are rapids in the way! Needless to say there were a lot of wipe outs, but more impressively a few people who managed to stay up the entire ride down. Awesome.


By the end of lunch I had my fill of outdoor enthusiasts and river watching, so I headed for the local coffee shop where I enjoyed one of the smoothest dirty chai lattes I have ever had-thanks Brown Dog Coffee! After an hour of reading I headed back to the river's edge to watch the much anticipated Hooligan race.

The Hooligan race is for water lovers without a special talent. They race down the river on anything that is NOT a boat. These contraptions are made out of everything from cardboard (yeah because that floats) to plastic oil drums. Everyone wears costumes and the crowd loves it! The winner is apparently the 2nd place team and debauchery is highly encouraged. This year they tied envelopes filled with money (or so they say) across the river. People in the "boats" were encouraged to jump out in an attempt to grab some dollas on the way down the river. The first team sent one man into the air and he took down the entire line of envelopes. He wiped out so hard that the envelopes floated away in front of him..oops!



FIBArk is entertainment like nothing else. From climbing up the face of a mountain to slalom races and karaoke...this festival is meant to entertain. I learned my lesson about participating the last time I came here and was happy to be a spectator this time around :) 

"Beach" day!!

Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve

We decided to venture out for an exploration day! You can see the sand dunes from the ranch-far off, set against the mountains. During any rainy times, Medano creek at the bottom of the dunes swells and it's like a mini beach.

The dunes are about an hour drive from the ranch. We set off after a yummy breakfast of fresh eggs and coffee. Of course I got car sick on the way, but at least the view was worth it!

There were families, children playing in the water..like they were at the beach. We walked upstream in the receding creek and surprisingly it made me feel a bit of vertigo, like I wasn't standing on solid ground..very weird.


People hike up the dunes and there were many people, dots really, walking up and down the scorching hot sand dunes. We kept to the bottom of the dunes, watched people lay out in beach chairs, kids play on skim boards, and tourists take pictures.

What a place to enjoy the pleasures of coastal life in a land-locked state!

Ranch Life!

(Moffat, CO) June 2nd+ 
I'm staying on a ranch about 3 hours from Denver. Moffat is a very small town made up of mostly ranch families. The next nearest town is about 45 minutes away, although there are a few small shops along the way.

The ranch is owned by long-time friends Lisa & Ginger. They are always willing to offer their home up to me, but this is only my second visit here in three or so years. The first time I visited was the summer of 2011 and it was fabulous. So much has changed on the ranch since then and it's nice to be back.

The main cabin has a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and loft. I sleep in the loft :) There is an outdoor gym on the property as well. This is one of my favorite parts of the ranch. The gym has everything you need AND incredible views of the mountains! The gym is the basis for the Colorado Sports Ranch. "The Colorado Sports Ranch is a fully off grid, high altitude, athlete training facility located in southern Colorado."

part of the chicken yard

There are SO many animals on the ranch! I LOVE LOVE LOVE animals :) 4 dogs, 1 cat, 1 bee colony, 2 horses, 1 donkey, 1 rooster, 4 turkeys, 4 ducks (10 little ones on the way), 4 chickens....okay A LOT of fowl...19 in total! We are never short of animal interactions around here!

The ranch is located in a valley, so the view from all angles is of mountains...beautiful, majestic, grande mountains! The view never gets old! Breakfast looking at the mountains, lifting weights looking at the mountains, lunch looking at the mountains, sprints with mountains in the background, mountains out the window while eating dinner..always mountains-always amazing!

I have been on the ranch for about a week now and will be here for at least another week. It is a great middle ground from the ecoyoga farm in Colombia and the high intensity environment of international rugby. So far-so good! Loving life on the ranch :)

We did it!!

Team USA announced the traveling squad for the upcoming tour to the UK. 30 women made the cut and will play in 3 matches against Wales(1) and England(2). These matches will help to prepare the team for the upcoming World Cup in France.

USA Rugby announcement article

Over the next 3 weeks the team will train intensely to better prepare our bodies for the UK tour. Celebrations are in order for the women who get to travel and represent Team USA! And of course many thanks to all the players involved in the program over the entire cycle leading up to this summer, as well as family & friends who have given-and continue to give-endless amounts of love and support! 

UK Tour | Women’s Eagles 

Bui Akilani 

Sadie Anderson 

Katy Augustyn 

Meya Bizer 

Sharon Blaney 

Sylvia Braaten 

Stacey Bridges 

Jamie Burke 

Emilie Bydwell 

Erica Cavanaugh 

Sarah Chobot 

Kate Daley 

Lauren Daly 

Carmen Farmer 

Lynelle Kugler 

Nathalie Marchino 

Vanesha McGee 

Deven Owsiany 

Samantha Pankey 

Jillion Potter 

Naima Reddick 

Hope Rogers 

Kimberly Rozier 

Hannah Stolba 

Jocelyn Tseng 

Shaina Turley 

Kittery Wagner 

Sarah Walsh 

Caroline White 

Sarah Wilson

Non-Traveling Reserves | Women’s Eagles 

Jessica Davis 

Katie Dowty 

Amanda Kingzett 

Ashley Kmiecik 

Tess Kohanski 

Jennifer Lui 

Amy Naber 

Anne Peterson 

Christy Ringgenberg 

Amanda Street

Flashback!

Santi!

Emily

(Pereira, Colombia-endish of April) With a few other farm volunteers, I made a weekend trip to a nearby city in Colombia. This was not my first visit to Pereira, but would it be my last. I stayed with Emily, the farm owner's sister, at her house with her super adorable son-Santi.


The other volunteers opted for a hostel on night one, so Emily and I enjoyed some delicious meat on a stick from a nearby truck (my almost first taste of meat in 2 months)! We met up with some of Emily's friends at a bar designed with all recycled materials-way cool! The chairs were made from stacked egg crates, a little wobbly but still awesome, and the lamp fixtures were made from various pieces of metal. I had my first alcoholic beverage in 2 months, a brief pause in a very cleansing period of sobriety.

Saturday-We met up with the others and hiked up the side of the San Jose river (not sure if my memory is correct on the name). It was freaking beautiful!! Everything was green, lush and fresh! We stopped at the top and all swam in the river. The freezing cold river! Amazing! We stood under a mini waterfall, swam against the current, and took turns jumping from the rocks.

After a picnic on the stones and some sun time we headed back down the path. The only scary part of the trek were the bridges we had to cross along the way :/ It's a good thing I was mentally in a place to face my fears and stay positive otherwise I may have never crossed to the other side.. 

Sunday-Emily's friend invited us to his house about 30 mins up the mountainside. Gorgeous! The land was vast, green and incredibly beautiful. Mountain air feels so good to breathe! 

Me & Miles

We toured the property, which he is selling and I was really tempted to buy, before we started on the grub..lots of veggies and what turned out to be my last piece of meat. It was a wonderful end to a really wonderful weekend.