We pulled up to the field and sure enough, Korea was already warming up on the grass fields beside the turf because Mexico was practicing on the turf. Of course we were at the pitch earl so we were hoping that Korea understood the start time of the game. Of course they did. They were just warming up ... a little earlier... not to mention their team run this morning. Nevermind.
We had a good, quick warm up and then headed out on the pitch for our first real game on the "USA Olympic Training turf." The ball was moving quite well minus a few bounces here and there - hence our adoptive "it's not our fault, it's the turf's." Apparently Korea wanted to play only two 20 minute periods but because no one ended up keeping time accept Sheena (our manager) it ended up being more like 23 minute halves. Regardless, the game started out well with the ball pace being high and we were able to transfer through our middle via Anna and Tyla quite well - something we've been working on.
I feel like Korea was holding back at some points since, as a left D, I felt a little less pressure then previous games. It was a great start to the preparation for the tournament since we got a feel for the speed of Korea's stick skills and their switching of forwards non stop. At one point I thought I was marking my player who had run into the middle of the field and then looked out to the sideline and there were 2 more players out there. Hmm... They sure overload well.
Oh well, all in all it was actually a good game with neither team really showcasing any of their key tactics for the tournament and it was just good to get a touch on the ball in a game scenario. Sun was out shining and it was a good finish and effort. After the game we did a 20 minute interval run to simulate the remainder of our efforts in a full 70 minute game or something close to that anyway. I forgot to take photos at the field but I did video tape an interview with our captain, Katie Baker, and that's available on Youtube under FieldHockeycanada or the fieldhockey canada website
We are doing a run and weights session in the morning tomorrow before we face Mexico in an exhibition match. Keep you posted.
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