Day 9
Game day. Tonight we take on Ireland. We can have a late breakfast (9:30) and then at 10:30am we have a quick team meeting so that Shouse can tell us what the packing situation is (similar weight restrictions as when we flew from Scotland to Ireland) and how we were going to send our heavier stuff by bus ahead of us.
Also at this meeting, Kathy went over what to say to the media if they happen to ask one of us something. I think the concern was mostly for England because Shouse had already been receiving press inquiries from over there. I never thought about the importance of being prepared for the media... I know that if they asked me I wouldn't really know what to say!
After the meeting, we split backs and fwds to go through some things. The SHs usually go with the fwds, especially when going through line-outs. We did a walk through in the parking lot for about 45 minutes (calling game off whenever a car came). After walking through the plays, it was apparent that we were having some trouble with our misdirections and rolling mauls. We decided to scrap them from our toolkit for tonight’s game and just keep it simple.
We came back inside to pack our gear and to just be mellow. I’m not sure what people did because I was looking for friends in the hallway and couldn’t really find that many people. I think some people did laundry, some people had a workout with Carrone, some people went into the steam room or pool, others read or napped. I did some email and IM’d with Rob again for a while until 2:30pm when we had a fwds meeting to talk through some loose ends and to review our options. After that, we had a late lunch at 3pm which was going to hold us over until the game. I have a discussion with Kelly Mc Mahon about caffeine before a game and how I’ve learned to temper my intake because my role on the field doesn’t rely on being overly aggressive, but instead requires me to have a level-head and be calm (for which, I don’t need caffeine). It’s too bad because I really like their coffee. In our discussion, we talk about how it takes some people more to “get up” for games and it has to come from within (as a teammate, I can’t really influence their performance zone much). This is an interesting concept to discuss, especially with regard to getting a team to perform the best they can.
We go back to the rooms for about an hour and pack our bags for the field. You can tell that everyone has a bit of the pre-game jitters. We pack the bus and drive through town to Thomond Park. We get off the bus, walk to the locker room and we have plenty of time to unwind (because we planned for extra time in case of traffic – downtown Limerick can get a bit congested). We walk onto the field and the ground is pretty fast and not too muddy. I put on my longlseeve under armor and my shoulderpads, along with my big-girl cleats because I think it might give me a little bit more of an ability to cut. I go onto the field to start passing and warming up with the kickers but it feels like I’m levitating with my cleats. I go back into the locker room and change into my moldeds ($30 at Modell’s, baby) and get out there. I feed Pam (Kosanke) some balls to practice her dropkicks and do some warm up passing with Krista and then it’s time to warm up with the team. Carrone takes us through some running lines – over the head, shuffle, long passing, pop passes, rolling on the ground, high balls, over the shoulder, etc. We’re pretty warm and we do a “through the hands” type warm up with the coaches as easy defenders.
We do a few lineouts and scrums with a few phases to get us in the right mindset and it’s time to go back to the locker room. We circle it up on Crouse to get us focused. We win the toss and we’re kicking off to them. I forgot to mention that it’s funny that when the refs talk to the front row and SH, and we ask when the ball is out both refs replied “When I say it’s out”. I guess that’s what they mean when they say play to the ref – he said that he’ll tell us when it’s out if there’s a question about it. That’s a bit odd for me because who has time, in that split second that the SH is going for the ball, to turn around and ask if it’s out? Anyway, we bring it in for 1,2,3 USA cheer and run out onto the field. They play the Star-Spangled Banner first and we all sing pretty loudly. Since the last match with Hedwig singing in my ear, I realized that I want to sing and can then be contemplative during their anthem. Hedwig is behind me again and starts low (which is good) and the singing feels good. As the Irish sing their anthem (a capella), we think they’re done and start to circle it up for another cheer but after a pause, they continue singing. It turns out that the first part is in Irish and the second is in English but we didn’t know they had 2 parts and it was a bit embarrassing.
Anyway, kickoff at 7pm under the lights. First half is not so smooth – the fwds could’ve done a better job of clearing and rucking through. We created too many instances of slowball and I would have to reach in to get it and it wouldn’t be too clean. Their fwds were coming around and beating me up a bit and at one point someone high tackled me while I was running and slammed my head into the ground. I had a dejavu as it was happening as if I had dreamed it before – the green socks, the Heineken padding on the uprights, the lights, etc. I got a good whacking and called for a minute (I rarely ask for a minute). The docs rush out and asked if I was ok. I felt like they were standing on top of me and asked for some space, and was worried about a concussion. Since I’ve never had one, I wasn’t exactly sure what it would feel like and I certainly didn’t want to be that person who plays the whole game and can’t remember anything. Concussions really scare me, so once I started playing again I kept doing a running assessment – am I ok, am I feeling nauseas, do I remember what day it is today, etc. I definitely think that all these little hits somehow affect my memory, but despite feeling a little out of it I am fine. Thankfully the first half ends and we go back into the locker room.
Kathy gives us an earful, especially the fwds– we’re not clearing them out, we need to get tougher, we need to want it more, etc. We know we need to shape up and meet them head on as we run back onto the field for the second half. As I’m walking out to go back onto the field, Kathy tells me that I need to get it out faster. I think the first half I was focusing more on trying to read the field at the breakdown (I’m realizing that it has to happen as I’m approaching the breakdown, not when I get there) and being more of an attacking player. Second half I work on getting the ball out to Hedwig and she did a good job of moving it wide.
A number of substitutions were made midway through the second half and at some point Annie gets a sin-bin for raking (using her boots on a player on the ground obstructing the ball). He didn’t even give a warning or anything but Annie was getting tough which is what Kathy told us to do. Unfortunately she got caught, unlike the Irish who were pulling Crouse down in every lineout. Kathy takes out Tyshawn so we can put in a front row player (must have a complete front row in the scrums). The backs make some nice runs as we spread it wide, with Laura Cabrera chasing down some of our nice territorial kicks.
Game ends, 23-5. We go back to the locker room and Kathy is relieved that we played better in the second half. Some people ice bath, but we all jump in the communal shower with the Irish on their side. This isn’t the place for someone reserved about their body. We’re all adults, but I know that if I were still in high school, this experience would have mortified me. As we’re getting showered and changed, Tina (Nesburg) starts the trading process by asking if anyone wants to trade shorts. She gets a pair that are too small and I end up making the trade instead. I was one of the first to bring in all my trading gear (I brought some USA stuff that I could part with) and got an Irish training jersey for my polo. At the dinner, I ended up trading my USA jersey from that day because it was way too big for me, for an Irish #9 jersey. Pretty good trading!
We are in our black pants and blue shirts (our #1s) and we eat dinner. Keenya, Susanna, Laura MacDonald and I are at a table with some of the Irish players and they distribute some Heineken. I decline in favor of my emergenC, especially because some of our players are beginning to get sick and after a game my immune system is usually low. We do the traditional process of giving tokens of appreciation and thanks to the Irish team and staff and they do the same. We call up our first caps (Laura MacDonald, Kate Cox, Kirsten Aerts, Erin Carter, and Mari Wallace) and give them black plastic hats with shamrocks on them. The Irish call up their caps and make them sing. Then someone else from the team leads us in a song about a guy swimming with the sharks. It’s a fun song, especially with the grandfather shark part where we all have to make a funny grandfather sound.
Dinner ends, we go back onto the bus, run up to our rooms to drop stuff off and walk to a nearby pub. I buy the first caps a round of Guinness (Kirsten had a Heineken) and we toast. Some of the members of the Irish team come by and start playing a drinking game where you have to blow coasters off a bottle and Baja and Ham are playing with them having a great time. After 1 Guinness (I think it does taste a little better over here), I walk home and go right to sleep. I decide to leave the journal entry for tomorrow’s free time.
Schedule for today at a glance:
walk through at 11
packing
fwds mtg at 2:30
lunch at 3
leave for pitch at 4:45
warm up – kickers 5:45, official warm up 6:15
kickoff 7pm
dinner after the match 9:30pm
walk to pub 11pm for 1 guiness
I got to bed at 1pm.
Game day. Tonight we take on Ireland. We can have a late breakfast (9:30) and then at 10:30am we have a quick team meeting so that Shouse can tell us what the packing situation is (similar weight restrictions as when we flew from Scotland to Ireland) and how we were going to send our heavier stuff by bus ahead of us.
Also at this meeting, Kathy went over what to say to the media if they happen to ask one of us something. I think the concern was mostly for England because Shouse had already been receiving press inquiries from over there. I never thought about the importance of being prepared for the media... I know that if they asked me I wouldn't really know what to say!
After the meeting, we split backs and fwds to go through some things. The SHs usually go with the fwds, especially when going through line-outs. We did a walk through in the parking lot for about 45 minutes (calling game off whenever a car came). After walking through the plays, it was apparent that we were having some trouble with our misdirections and rolling mauls. We decided to scrap them from our toolkit for tonight’s game and just keep it simple.
We came back inside to pack our gear and to just be mellow. I’m not sure what people did because I was looking for friends in the hallway and couldn’t really find that many people. I think some people did laundry, some people had a workout with Carrone, some people went into the steam room or pool, others read or napped. I did some email and IM’d with Rob again for a while until 2:30pm when we had a fwds meeting to talk through some loose ends and to review our options. After that, we had a late lunch at 3pm which was going to hold us over until the game. I have a discussion with Kelly Mc Mahon about caffeine before a game and how I’ve learned to temper my intake because my role on the field doesn’t rely on being overly aggressive, but instead requires me to have a level-head and be calm (for which, I don’t need caffeine). It’s too bad because I really like their coffee. In our discussion, we talk about how it takes some people more to “get up” for games and it has to come from within (as a teammate, I can’t really influence their performance zone much). This is an interesting concept to discuss, especially with regard to getting a team to perform the best they can.
We go back to the rooms for about an hour and pack our bags for the field. You can tell that everyone has a bit of the pre-game jitters. We pack the bus and drive through town to Thomond Park. We get off the bus, walk to the locker room and we have plenty of time to unwind (because we planned for extra time in case of traffic – downtown Limerick can get a bit congested). We walk onto the field and the ground is pretty fast and not too muddy. I put on my longlseeve under armor and my shoulderpads, along with my big-girl cleats because I think it might give me a little bit more of an ability to cut. I go onto the field to start passing and warming up with the kickers but it feels like I’m levitating with my cleats. I go back into the locker room and change into my moldeds ($30 at Modell’s, baby) and get out there. I feed Pam (Kosanke) some balls to practice her dropkicks and do some warm up passing with Krista and then it’s time to warm up with the team. Carrone takes us through some running lines – over the head, shuffle, long passing, pop passes, rolling on the ground, high balls, over the shoulder, etc. We’re pretty warm and we do a “through the hands” type warm up with the coaches as easy defenders.
We do a few lineouts and scrums with a few phases to get us in the right mindset and it’s time to go back to the locker room. We circle it up on Crouse to get us focused. We win the toss and we’re kicking off to them. I forgot to mention that it’s funny that when the refs talk to the front row and SH, and we ask when the ball is out both refs replied “When I say it’s out”. I guess that’s what they mean when they say play to the ref – he said that he’ll tell us when it’s out if there’s a question about it. That’s a bit odd for me because who has time, in that split second that the SH is going for the ball, to turn around and ask if it’s out? Anyway, we bring it in for 1,2,3 USA cheer and run out onto the field. They play the Star-Spangled Banner first and we all sing pretty loudly. Since the last match with Hedwig singing in my ear, I realized that I want to sing and can then be contemplative during their anthem. Hedwig is behind me again and starts low (which is good) and the singing feels good. As the Irish sing their anthem (a capella), we think they’re done and start to circle it up for another cheer but after a pause, they continue singing. It turns out that the first part is in Irish and the second is in English but we didn’t know they had 2 parts and it was a bit embarrassing.
Anyway, kickoff at 7pm under the lights. First half is not so smooth – the fwds could’ve done a better job of clearing and rucking through. We created too many instances of slowball and I would have to reach in to get it and it wouldn’t be too clean. Their fwds were coming around and beating me up a bit and at one point someone high tackled me while I was running and slammed my head into the ground. I had a dejavu as it was happening as if I had dreamed it before – the green socks, the Heineken padding on the uprights, the lights, etc. I got a good whacking and called for a minute (I rarely ask for a minute). The docs rush out and asked if I was ok. I felt like they were standing on top of me and asked for some space, and was worried about a concussion. Since I’ve never had one, I wasn’t exactly sure what it would feel like and I certainly didn’t want to be that person who plays the whole game and can’t remember anything. Concussions really scare me, so once I started playing again I kept doing a running assessment – am I ok, am I feeling nauseas, do I remember what day it is today, etc. I definitely think that all these little hits somehow affect my memory, but despite feeling a little out of it I am fine. Thankfully the first half ends and we go back into the locker room.
Kathy gives us an earful, especially the fwds– we’re not clearing them out, we need to get tougher, we need to want it more, etc. We know we need to shape up and meet them head on as we run back onto the field for the second half. As I’m walking out to go back onto the field, Kathy tells me that I need to get it out faster. I think the first half I was focusing more on trying to read the field at the breakdown (I’m realizing that it has to happen as I’m approaching the breakdown, not when I get there) and being more of an attacking player. Second half I work on getting the ball out to Hedwig and she did a good job of moving it wide.
A number of substitutions were made midway through the second half and at some point Annie gets a sin-bin for raking (using her boots on a player on the ground obstructing the ball). He didn’t even give a warning or anything but Annie was getting tough which is what Kathy told us to do. Unfortunately she got caught, unlike the Irish who were pulling Crouse down in every lineout. Kathy takes out Tyshawn so we can put in a front row player (must have a complete front row in the scrums). The backs make some nice runs as we spread it wide, with Laura Cabrera chasing down some of our nice territorial kicks.
Game ends, 23-5. We go back to the locker room and Kathy is relieved that we played better in the second half. Some people ice bath, but we all jump in the communal shower with the Irish on their side. This isn’t the place for someone reserved about their body. We’re all adults, but I know that if I were still in high school, this experience would have mortified me. As we’re getting showered and changed, Tina (Nesburg) starts the trading process by asking if anyone wants to trade shorts. She gets a pair that are too small and I end up making the trade instead. I was one of the first to bring in all my trading gear (I brought some USA stuff that I could part with) and got an Irish training jersey for my polo. At the dinner, I ended up trading my USA jersey from that day because it was way too big for me, for an Irish #9 jersey. Pretty good trading!
We are in our black pants and blue shirts (our #1s) and we eat dinner. Keenya, Susanna, Laura MacDonald and I are at a table with some of the Irish players and they distribute some Heineken. I decline in favor of my emergenC, especially because some of our players are beginning to get sick and after a game my immune system is usually low. We do the traditional process of giving tokens of appreciation and thanks to the Irish team and staff and they do the same. We call up our first caps (Laura MacDonald, Kate Cox, Kirsten Aerts, Erin Carter, and Mari Wallace) and give them black plastic hats with shamrocks on them. The Irish call up their caps and make them sing. Then someone else from the team leads us in a song about a guy swimming with the sharks. It’s a fun song, especially with the grandfather shark part where we all have to make a funny grandfather sound.
Dinner ends, we go back onto the bus, run up to our rooms to drop stuff off and walk to a nearby pub. I buy the first caps a round of Guinness (Kirsten had a Heineken) and we toast. Some of the members of the Irish team come by and start playing a drinking game where you have to blow coasters off a bottle and Baja and Ham are playing with them having a great time. After 1 Guinness (I think it does taste a little better over here), I walk home and go right to sleep. I decide to leave the journal entry for tomorrow’s free time.
Schedule for today at a glance:
walk through at 11
packing
fwds mtg at 2:30
lunch at 3
leave for pitch at 4:45
warm up – kickers 5:45, official warm up 6:15
kickoff 7pm
dinner after the match 9:30pm
walk to pub 11pm for 1 guiness
I got to bed at 1pm.
posted by Lee Knight at 8:25 PM
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