The last day of regional camp… This morning we got up and watched the World Cup game and I am sad to say that Brazil has lost. Some of my friends were wearing Brazil shirts to breakfast and it was hilarious to see the look on their faces when Netherlands scored their second goal. The entire region was in watching the game and hearing the cheers and gasps of everyone was pretty amusing. After breakfast we headed out to the fields to play Oregon. We didn’t play our best and ended up losing 1-2. It was a disappointing but we were hoping that some of our players would be selected for the invite. And we were happy to learn that Ayana, Coryn, Jessica, and Dom all made the selection again! We headed back to the rooms and gathered our t-shirts for the trading session. For those of you who don’t know what this is, the trading session is with all the states. Every state brings their ODP gear that they want to trade with other states. It is a total mad house and I was happy because I have wanted a navy Arizona shirt for the past two years, and I finally got one! After the trading, those of us who weren’t selected for the invite game participated in the training and worked hard to prove ourselves to the coaches. After training we went back to the rooms and walked across the street to Zips. For the first time in the last couple days, I am happy to announce that I did not have pasta! Everyone enjoyed the food and were ready to support our teammates who were about to play in the game. We watched them play and I am excited for those girls! They played so well! After laughing and sharing good stories with each other in a team meeting, we decided to go outside and play a game. Its way too complicated to explain, but just know that our coaches went out to hide and groups of us were supposed to go out and find them. After giving them time to hide, we were about to go find them but were told by the administrator that we were supposed to be in bed, so sadly the night has ended early. I have had a great time with this team and I am truly going to miss my friends and coaches who have pushed everyone to reach their full potential. I wish luck to those who will be announced in the pool tomorrow morning and a big thank you to Washington Youth Soccer for this amazing opportunity for all of us! Good luck to all of you who will be attending regional camp, I hope you have had as much fun as I have.

 

               

The last day of Regional camp was the by far my favorite. We played Oregon and sadly we lost 2-1 but we kicked butt and we were coming back at the end and I felt that our hard work and our fight made it feel like a win. We got to trade shirts and jackets today and I was so happy to get my Hawaii rain coat and Northern California “swishy”. The Alaska shirt, Oregon zip-up and Northern California shirt were just the icing on the cake! We got all of our stuff then headed to training. After training we went to the invite and it was great to see Ayana, Coryn, Jess, and Dom play again! I hope that tomorrow during the half time of the Argentina vs. Germany game, their names are on the Regional Pool team list. Tomorrow I am waking up at 6:30am to go watch the entire game and then I get to go back home! This trip to Regional camp is something I will never forget. Ayana, Kelly, and Sandy are the best roommates ever and my times with them during this event will never be forgotten! I am going to miss everyone and I thank them for making my first time here special and memorable! THANK YOU WASHINGTON ODP 94’ GIRLS TEAM!                           

 

Posted at 12:54pm Permalink ∞

 

               

Washington had a rough day today. We played Colorado and were ready to get the ball in the back of the net! We started very strong and ended the first half 2-0. We were passing well and switching the point of attack very well. The second half definitely took a different turn… We got very disconnected and got frustrated on the field and the score reflected the complications we had. I’m not going to say what the score was, but let’s just say that it was not in favor of us. After the game we all talked with Zahra and Marty, our coaches, and they told us everything that we did wrong and how we can improve for tomorrow. We then went to the lecture hall and Jerry Smith, the Region IV ’94 head coach, gave us an overview of the national events that are coming up. I’m am very excited for a fellow Washington ODP player, Isabel Farrell, who will be leaving on July 2^nd to travel with the U17 Women’s national team to Denmark. We are all rooting for her and the rest of the players! The training today was fun and we got to see how we compared to the rest of the players on our team. We did many small tasks and recorded our scores. It was fun and we all had a good time. The invite pool was announced and I was excited to learn that I would be playing! I just got back from the game and thought that I played pretty well. It was great to be able to learn from the regional coaches and play with people that I don’t really know. I’m now headed off to bed for we have an early start tomorrow. The World Cup game will be playing in the cafeteria tomorrow so I’m getting up at 7 to go watch. GO BRAZIL!!

 

                 

Today could have definitely gone better. We played our second game against Colorado and during the first half we dominated. We scored two and before the halftime whistle, we were knocking at their door. Second half didn’t go as planned. We started getting frazzled and we couldn’t get back in our groove. We didn’t perform to our ability in the second half and the score is not going to be said. Throughout the day we did the same usual routine; lunch, lecture, training, invites game. During the lecture we watched the first 25 minutes of the women’s All-Star game. It was really exciting to watch that and think I am sitting in the same room as players that will be in that game someday. It was even more exhilarating thinking that I wanted to be one of those people. Our training was a bit unusual because we were introduced to a new program called iSoccer. We tested our abilities such as change of pace, touches, and shooting from different ranges. After you get your scores you add them to your profile and you get to see where you are ranked with all the people in the nation. I was really impressed with how soccer is becoming a part of technology as well as everything else. Tomorrow we play Oregon and we always love playing them because we know many people on that team. The Regional staff decided to move our games back a little because of the interference of the Brazil game. I am getting up to go watch with the majority of my team tomorrow. Go Brazil! Also the Germany vs. Argentina game is finally here and I can’t wait to see that game! Hopefully tomorrow has a better turn out then todays. Go Germany!

 

Posted at 12:17pm Permalink ∞

 

               

Day one at Regional Camp was a busy day. We started the day early at 6:30 eating breakfast and having a game at 8:30. We played Utah and took control of the game in the second half. The first half was shaky and then we finally started connecting and finding each other. We took a number of shots but were unlucky and the game ended scoreless. A tie to Utah was not what we wanted, but we are glad to get our play back together. We had meetings with our coaches, Zahra and Marty, to discuss what could have gone better in the game and things to work on for the future. Lunch and dinner were the same as yesterday, and we are already getting tired of pasta. We are lucky to have such a good manager who has a stock of food for us in her room. The training we participated in was called a functional training where all the teams split into defenders, midfielders, flank players, and forwards. I went with the defender group and I must say that Washington definitely set the bar high! We went through a lot of the basics but also learned a few new things. It was a very good practice. They announced the girls who will play in the invite game and now we are headed off to cheer on our teammates! Good luck Ayana, Sandy, Cassidy, Dom, Coryn, and Jessica!

 

               

Ahhhh! The wonderful first day. What to expect but hard work, ice baths, training, and half an hour of rest time in between it all. My very first day at Regional Camp was very tiring. We got up at 6 o’clock sharp and played our game versus Utah. We did very well and passed it around a lot better in the second half than the first. We had so many opportunities to score but I will give credit to the Utah team for their excellent defending. We ended up tying and shortly after, we headed to the cafeteria. Later in the day we went to a practice called “functional training”. The functional training is where all the states in the region practice together. All the coach’s, including Brandi Chastain’s husband, sat us down and told us who was in the invitational game. We had 6 people invited from our State Team which was awesome so they just watched us as we trained. Great job Ayana, Cassidy, Coryn, Jessica, Sandy, and Dom. We split up into groups so we didn’t have as many people’ forwards –center mids, outside mids, and defenders. My group was super fun with the midfielders because we all knew what we needed to do. Us girls from Washington really showed, but not because of our bright neon shirts but because of how well we know our position. I just got back from the invite game and it was really exciting to see our players play in front of all the college coaches, and they performed really well! My first day was a success and tomorrow we play Colorado at 10 which means an awesome game and more time to sleep in! All of us are excited about that! We are going to 4-4-2 it up!

 

Posted at 12:52pm Permalink ∞

 

Kelly

               

This is my third year now coming to Regional Camp and I’m excited for another fun and exhausting week. We arrived at the University of Idaho this afternoon after a long drive. We are staying in the dorms and these are the best ones we have stayed at so far. It is pretty hot here but we are looking forward to the forecast of rain on Thursday! We all unpacked and then met in the lobby for a meeting of basic rules and guidelines with our coach. We walked to dinner and I must say that I am definitely not excited for another week of college food. The selection of food at the cafeteria was very, very slim and I know that I will be having pasta for lunch and dinner every day. Yay! We then walked over to an orientation and I was awesome to see some of my friends from other states. The Region IV  coach, Plantini Soaf, showed us an short video and got us pumped for the games tomorrow. We met our age group coaches and I was excited to learn that our training coach, Lisa Sari, is from Washington and played on the same club and had the same coach that I do! We are now all winding down and are getting ready for a big game tomorrow. We play Utah and the last time that we played them was in Phoenix where we lost to them in semi-finals. We were down to 10 players and it was a good challenge for all of us. We are all looking forward to a tough battle tomorrow. Wish us luck!

 

               

This being my first year at camp, everything was new and very exciting. I arrived early with two fellow teammates but didn’t have the opportunity to see the rooms and get settled because the rest of the team came shortly after. We then found out what teammates were assigned to the same room and then had a team meeting before dinner. By the way the rooms are a lot more spacious and roomy then what I was prepared for. Each person has their own bedroom inside of the one big room and we all share a bathroom. During the team meeting we got our itinerary for tomorrow and found out that our first game is against Utah, which is very ironic because we played them in our last game in Phoenix (the ODP championships). The game should be really fun! I didn’t get to play in the game a few months ago due to the fact of I kind of had a broken face. Special thanks to Cal North! Speaking of Cal North, we have a training everyday with a regional staff coach and Washington and Cal North get to train together with Lisa, the trainer. That should be really fun especially because they all are super nice. Dinner was very good because I love pasta! They cooked a variety of foods, from pasta and pizza to teriyaki chicken and rice. It was really good! I came back to my room and turned in my phone and now I am ready for a fun day ahead tomorrow. Go Washington!

 

Posted at 12:48pm