Day 7
Both Tina and I were cutting it close on breakfast – the alarm went off at 7:10 and we stayed in bed until 7:30. We ran to breakfast and found another fancy sit-down situation. There was a waiter to take our order along with a buffet of fresh fruit, juices, and pastries. I ordered an omelette with cheddar and bacon which was amazing. The coffee was so great that I had to pry the cup out of my hand. The drawback with breakfast being so fancy is that it takes a while to make so Tina, Laura MacDonald and I were the last ones eating (funny thing – Laura and Annie both ordered just one egg and Laura got this large perfectly shaped mound of eggs (probably 3) and annie got 2. This is just too decadent for us, especially when we feel badly about wasting food!
After running back up to our rooms and quickly packing our gear for 2 sessions, we leave the hotel. Sidenote – everyday’s schedule is posted on the manager’s and captain’s door the night before to tell us exactly where we have to go, when, and what to wear for everything (including meals). It’s really awesome to be able to go into autopilot and just follow a schedule.
We walk to the practice field that is at a nearby university and have a pretty physical first session with a lot of contact (in contact suits) and drills to help us improve our point of contact and getting the ball wide. I liked warming up in sub-units (so the SHs could warm up our pass), but we didn’t get a chance to do much actual stretching. The early drills helped us remember to be fierce in contact and forced us to work on technique when we take contact. The later drills really simulated game play and helped with “seeing the field” and some decision-making. I could basically do that breakdown drill all day (there are 3 defenders in contact suits and 3 “offenders” come through the gate and ruck over the ball that I pass to the 5 backs running free play). I tried to attack more when I could and I think my vision improved a bit (or at least I felt it did).
Unfortunately, there were a few injuries and some people having to step out (I think Jamie Burke had something with her arm, Ham was resting her leg from the game, and Susanna Barth heard a pop in her shoulder/clavicle area). I guess that’s expected over the course of so many practices with players going really hard. We break for lunch and go to the cafeteria to eat. I ate the lasagna and it ended up not agreeing with me and made my stomach feel uneasy. Not the best way to go into a rough-and-tumble afternoon session. We get about an hour to digest our food (because we practically inhaled the meal when it was served at noon) and make our way back to the pitch to be cleated by 1:30. We warm up again in sub-units and the SHs practice passing out to the FHs which was surprisingly fun. Because it was warm up and we didn’t have anyone watching us closely, we got to lighten the mood a bit (having the other SH pose as an OC will do that ☺). Then we did more of the breakdown drill that we did in the morning. In one of them, I was trying to support someone doing a power-up because we didn’t have enough fwds or they were all in the breakdown and I banged heads with someone (Carter) really hard. I think it surprised me and hurt a bit, so I walked it off. I think I hit Carter and she took a knee and got checked by Doc. She sat our for the rest of the drill and said that I had a really hard head. I was very glad that I was wearing a scrum cap.
After that drill, we went into scrums and line outs with the squad that was preparing for the match. This portion of practice didn’t go as smoothly. It was a bit tough because none of us had really worked with each other or walked through the plays on offense because we had been playing defense mostly before the Scotland match. This made for sloppier execution and a lot more chatter than Kathy wanted. I know I was trying to run some ass-passes to the back line but I couldn’t really get it down. I think it would have helped if we slowed it down a bit and maybe walked through some of the positioning, especially on line outs. I think part of the problem was that I was calling some of our fancier plays, not realizing that some people had never jumped and many people didn’t know where they were going as the play developed. We started devolving and losing focus and getting frustrated; Kathy was sensitive to this and ask us to get together on Crouse, our captain, for a minute to re-focus. Crouse took the reins and did a good job calming us down and helping us re-focus. This situation was handled well and it helped us end on a better note. I want to remember to do that when things get panicky on the field or in any situation – take a moment to check in with each other and re-focus. Very important.
The weather held up and I was wearing my standard layers of thermal underwear (top and bottom), wicking shirt, shoulderpads, and waterproof vortex pants and top as the top layer. Hat or scrumcap of course, but no dying need for gloves. The neckwarmer is a nice thing to have and I was wearing double socks, mostly for my cleats (the studs I bought in Scotland are a tad too big). My rainboots were the best purchase ($30) for walking to and from the field (they also double as my “dress shoes”).
We walk home (Keenya, Laura MacDonald and I) and the walk seems much longer than on the way there this morning. The wind picked up in the afternoon and it was getting really chilly. We get back to the hotel and do a pool recovery stretch for 20 minutes (Heather Hale and Tina are good at this!) and run upstairs to shower and get ready for dinner. The dinner, again, is wonderful with salad, fresh steamed string beans and baby corn, chicken and most importantly…garlic toast (of which I had 4 pieces!).
As we finish dinner, we are asked to say our limerick that we wrote about someone else’s pet (Shouse assigned it when we were having video problems the day before). I had a picture of Crouse’s dream dog and my limerick wasn’t very good. Carter and Mari are especially good limerick writers, along with some others. I was impressed and entertained by our group!
After dinner, we all hung out a bit. Claudia was looking for her luggage that had disappeared, there was a large group watching The Day After Tomorrow, people getting treated by Bartoli, people using my computer for internet, and an Epsom bath going on. I took an Epsom bath and it’s the most relaxing thing in the world. I should take baths more often – they’re very calming. After that, I watched a bit of the scrabble game between Shouse, Hedwig, and Annie in the “conservatory” and came back to check my email (wrote a note to Chuck, James, and Meredith back at work) and found that Rob was online. I’ve now spent another solid hour doing my journal and IM’ing with Rob. I was very happy to be able to get to talk to him in real time. We had exchanged a few emails, but IM is much better. Hopefully I’ll get to ichat with him either tomorrow or the next day. My battery is running low and I’m tired. Tomorrow morning we have the morning free to venture into Limerick. And we get to have a later breakfast that isn’t hurried and I can order Eggs Benedict without worrying about how it will stay in my system during practice.
Oh, I almost forgot to talk about the cards that were sent to us by our NY teammates. Each one was handmade, personalized, and quite amazing (especially the lewd one for Phaidra). It was such a nice thought and all the NY players were so impressed as Annie and I handed them out going from room to room. Another great thing about the package they sent was that it included a card for Shouse (our manager, and a former NYRC player) and one for the entire team that used yarn to spell out USA on a flag with all the Eagles’ names on it. It was awesome to get so much love from across the pond.
Both Tina and I were cutting it close on breakfast – the alarm went off at 7:10 and we stayed in bed until 7:30. We ran to breakfast and found another fancy sit-down situation. There was a waiter to take our order along with a buffet of fresh fruit, juices, and pastries. I ordered an omelette with cheddar and bacon which was amazing. The coffee was so great that I had to pry the cup out of my hand. The drawback with breakfast being so fancy is that it takes a while to make so Tina, Laura MacDonald and I were the last ones eating (funny thing – Laura and Annie both ordered just one egg and Laura got this large perfectly shaped mound of eggs (probably 3) and annie got 2. This is just too decadent for us, especially when we feel badly about wasting food!
After running back up to our rooms and quickly packing our gear for 2 sessions, we leave the hotel. Sidenote – everyday’s schedule is posted on the manager’s and captain’s door the night before to tell us exactly where we have to go, when, and what to wear for everything (including meals). It’s really awesome to be able to go into autopilot and just follow a schedule.
We walk to the practice field that is at a nearby university and have a pretty physical first session with a lot of contact (in contact suits) and drills to help us improve our point of contact and getting the ball wide. I liked warming up in sub-units (so the SHs could warm up our pass), but we didn’t get a chance to do much actual stretching. The early drills helped us remember to be fierce in contact and forced us to work on technique when we take contact. The later drills really simulated game play and helped with “seeing the field” and some decision-making. I could basically do that breakdown drill all day (there are 3 defenders in contact suits and 3 “offenders” come through the gate and ruck over the ball that I pass to the 5 backs running free play). I tried to attack more when I could and I think my vision improved a bit (or at least I felt it did).
Unfortunately, there were a few injuries and some people having to step out (I think Jamie Burke had something with her arm, Ham was resting her leg from the game, and Susanna Barth heard a pop in her shoulder/clavicle area). I guess that’s expected over the course of so many practices with players going really hard. We break for lunch and go to the cafeteria to eat. I ate the lasagna and it ended up not agreeing with me and made my stomach feel uneasy. Not the best way to go into a rough-and-tumble afternoon session. We get about an hour to digest our food (because we practically inhaled the meal when it was served at noon) and make our way back to the pitch to be cleated by 1:30. We warm up again in sub-units and the SHs practice passing out to the FHs which was surprisingly fun. Because it was warm up and we didn’t have anyone watching us closely, we got to lighten the mood a bit (having the other SH pose as an OC will do that ☺). Then we did more of the breakdown drill that we did in the morning. In one of them, I was trying to support someone doing a power-up because we didn’t have enough fwds or they were all in the breakdown and I banged heads with someone (Carter) really hard. I think it surprised me and hurt a bit, so I walked it off. I think I hit Carter and she took a knee and got checked by Doc. She sat our for the rest of the drill and said that I had a really hard head. I was very glad that I was wearing a scrum cap.
After that drill, we went into scrums and line outs with the squad that was preparing for the match. This portion of practice didn’t go as smoothly. It was a bit tough because none of us had really worked with each other or walked through the plays on offense because we had been playing defense mostly before the Scotland match. This made for sloppier execution and a lot more chatter than Kathy wanted. I know I was trying to run some ass-passes to the back line but I couldn’t really get it down. I think it would have helped if we slowed it down a bit and maybe walked through some of the positioning, especially on line outs. I think part of the problem was that I was calling some of our fancier plays, not realizing that some people had never jumped and many people didn’t know where they were going as the play developed. We started devolving and losing focus and getting frustrated; Kathy was sensitive to this and ask us to get together on Crouse, our captain, for a minute to re-focus. Crouse took the reins and did a good job calming us down and helping us re-focus. This situation was handled well and it helped us end on a better note. I want to remember to do that when things get panicky on the field or in any situation – take a moment to check in with each other and re-focus. Very important.
The weather held up and I was wearing my standard layers of thermal underwear (top and bottom), wicking shirt, shoulderpads, and waterproof vortex pants and top as the top layer. Hat or scrumcap of course, but no dying need for gloves. The neckwarmer is a nice thing to have and I was wearing double socks, mostly for my cleats (the studs I bought in Scotland are a tad too big). My rainboots were the best purchase ($30) for walking to and from the field (they also double as my “dress shoes”).
We walk home (Keenya, Laura MacDonald and I) and the walk seems much longer than on the way there this morning. The wind picked up in the afternoon and it was getting really chilly. We get back to the hotel and do a pool recovery stretch for 20 minutes (Heather Hale and Tina are good at this!) and run upstairs to shower and get ready for dinner. The dinner, again, is wonderful with salad, fresh steamed string beans and baby corn, chicken and most importantly…garlic toast (of which I had 4 pieces!).
As we finish dinner, we are asked to say our limerick that we wrote about someone else’s pet (Shouse assigned it when we were having video problems the day before). I had a picture of Crouse’s dream dog and my limerick wasn’t very good. Carter and Mari are especially good limerick writers, along with some others. I was impressed and entertained by our group!
After dinner, we all hung out a bit. Claudia was looking for her luggage that had disappeared, there was a large group watching The Day After Tomorrow, people getting treated by Bartoli, people using my computer for internet, and an Epsom bath going on. I took an Epsom bath and it’s the most relaxing thing in the world. I should take baths more often – they’re very calming. After that, I watched a bit of the scrabble game between Shouse, Hedwig, and Annie in the “conservatory” and came back to check my email (wrote a note to Chuck, James, and Meredith back at work) and found that Rob was online. I’ve now spent another solid hour doing my journal and IM’ing with Rob. I was very happy to be able to get to talk to him in real time. We had exchanged a few emails, but IM is much better. Hopefully I’ll get to ichat with him either tomorrow or the next day. My battery is running low and I’m tired. Tomorrow morning we have the morning free to venture into Limerick. And we get to have a later breakfast that isn’t hurried and I can order Eggs Benedict without worrying about how it will stay in my system during practice.
Oh, I almost forgot to talk about the cards that were sent to us by our NY teammates. Each one was handmade, personalized, and quite amazing (especially the lewd one for Phaidra). It was such a nice thought and all the NY players were so impressed as Annie and I handed them out going from room to room. Another great thing about the package they sent was that it included a card for Shouse (our manager, and a former NYRC player) and one for the entire team that used yarn to spell out USA on a flag with all the Eagles’ names on it. It was awesome to get so much love from across the pond.
posted by Lee Knight at 8:24 PM
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