Canada versus the Hockeyroos

We are only one day away from the opening ceremonies and I can't believe that we have already been here for so many days. We are getting used to the village "lifestyle" and getting a lot more acclimatized to the heat here. We had a game Thursday against India which really showed us how hot it can get here and how hot it can get in the stadium. Yesterday was our third jet-lag day and hopefully the last of the hard days. We played a game against Australia (who just placed 5th at the World Cup) and it was evident as to why they were in the top 10 in the world. Their fitness, speed and awareness alone blew us away after our fatigue kicked in. They might be more adjusted to the heat too but regardless, it gives us something to really work towards now that we have played against them. It's quite a steep learning curve playing a top 10 team and so, we need to get more games against these kinds of team. Having said that, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and actually, we lost 4-1 and on video we can really see our mistakes and there are a lot of solutions. So, hopefully we take the right information and make better decisions going into our first game.

Our team has some how been quite busy just with organized meal times, meetings, practices, transport and work outs so there isn't as much down time as I thought there would be. Silly me, I brought my correspondance school work with me thinking that I would actually do some home work. Obviously that's not going to happen anytime soon. I am really enjoying the experience here and I look forward to the game starting. Our team has decided that it would be wise to skip the opening ceremonies march because they can't guarantee us that we will be back before midnight. We have our first game the next day and we came here to compete and so, we must prepare the same way we would for any big game. I am very dissapointed, don't get me wrong, but we have our priorities and being here is already a huge deal for me!

Hopefully, we will be able to have the feed on TV and watch it from the village. We also have wireless internet (it's still touch-and-go) in our rooms, in particular on my bed. Somehow right on my bed the internet works really well but no where else in the room or in the suite. Anyway, I'm not complaining. Life is good when you still have connectivity to the world via internet!

I hope the weather is decent back home and I'm sending good vibes to the Vikes ladies as they continue through their Canada West season!

Field Hockey Canada's Facebook has some great photos up that we are taking while in Delhi so be sure to look them up. Also, some great photos by my favourite photo blogh as some good photos of Delhi and the Commonwealth games.. Check it out here.

That's all for now. There are some pretty strict blogging guidelines here so cross your fingers I haven't violated any but ... keep checking back and eventualy I'll get some video or photos up.