Family Vaca on the Gold Coast

This past weekend the girls and I traveled with the team up to Brisbane in Queensland for our game against one of the top teams in the league. We played the Brisbane Roar, the W-league champions from last year, who were nipping at our tails at the top of the table in this year standings. We knew it was going to be a battle. The Roar has a great deal of experience on their side as their defense consists of the starters for the Australian national team. Our team being young and fairly inexperienced found ourselves coming into the match at the top of the standings after two games. We felt ready and were up for the challenge. After defending most of the first half, we were able to find our rhythm in the second half and had multiple opportunities to put ourselves in front. Unfortunately with about ten minutes to go Brisbane was able to score on a counter attack and edged us out for the win. It was a hard fought game, one in which many of the Brisbane players admitted they were happy they were able to scrape by with a win. It was a disappointing loss, however it was a great match for our young squad and I think will give us a great deal of confidence moving forward in the rest of the season as well as wetting our appetite for another chance at the team from Queensland in the play offs.

Even though we weren’t able to get the win on our trip up to Brisbane, the girls and I were able to get a few days of vacation out of the trip. After our game on Sunday, the team was going to be leaving early Monday morning. The girls and I decided to ask if the three of us could stay a couple extra days up in Brisbane to sight-see as we did not have training until Wednesday evening. The team was able to change our flights and we were all set to stay for a couple extra days. When the rest of the family found out about our opportunity stay up in Brisbane, they decided it was the perfect opportunity for a family vaca! “Who is this family?” you might be asking yourself. Well, I’m glad you asked. It gives me a chance to introduce the Australian family that Jill, Lydia, and I were so fortunate to find down under.

The family members are Kele and Rollo, both teammates of ours on the Mariners, Jen and Fos, two Australian coppers, the three Americans and one very special individual who we call “HM” pronounced “Hhh-ach M” down here in Australia. Kele, Rolo, Jen, Fos and I all live together in a house near Parklea where the team trains. Jill and Lydia live 5 minutes away with our assistant Coach Lisa Warrener, and Hhh-ach M also known as Alex lives in an apartment across town with a roommate and a piano. We are all uniquely different and make up one big happy family. Jill, Lydia, and I would be lost without them!

This is Kele or “Smithy” if you like, she is the first family member we met, actually she is the first Australian we met in Australia, as she found us in the crowd of people coming out of customs when we arrived early Monday morning in Sydney. She came with our coach Roachy to pick us up from the airport. I rode with Kele back from the airport and we hit things off right away. Kele has played for many years in the US, so she knows what it is like to come to a different country and has been amazing in helping the three of us adjust to life down under. Kele has been there for Jill, Lydia, and I literally since we got of the plane and if we need anything she is the first in line to help. She has more energy than anyone I have ever met, including myself and for those of you who know me, that is saying something. Kele has never met a conversation she didn’t like and keeps Jill, Lydia, and I on our toes with all of her different sayings. I would give you some examples, but they can make for an entire blog entry all their own.

Next up is Rollo or Renee or “the kid” or Nae or Barbra, just pick one, she’ll answer to all of them. She is the poster girl for the Central Coast Mariners, literally. The W-league did a photo shoot with one girl from each team in the league and little Nee was our shinning star…haha. She is also a shinning star on the field as she is a member of the women’s Australian National team. Rene was the first player to impress Jill, Lydia, and I at practice the first night and it’s impressive that we remember anything about that first practice as we were jet-lag and sleep deprived. At home “the kid” keeps us organized, is a magician with the Wii, and if you ever need to talk about anything, Barbra is always there waiting with 6 little words, “Do you wanna talk about it?”

You can’t talk about Rene without Jen, as they come as a pair. More recently Jen has affectionately become known as Mom, mostly due to the fact that she drove the Mom van during our vacation, but also because if you have a question about something, ask Jen. If you are hungry, ask Jen. If you just need a hug, ask Jen. Jen is super woman, but her day job is being a Cop and from what I can tell, she’s Betty Big time. As if that isn’t enough, Jen will also have a hot meal waiting for Kel, Rollo, and I when we come home from training on Wednesday, and Thursday night and for that “the beast” and I are forever in her debt. It’s even better that Jen is an amazing cook. My favorite is her stir fry…I had three bowls tonight, I just couldn’t stop…YUMMMMM!

We don’t just have one cop in our family, we have TWO! Fos is our other housemate. She lives two doors down from my room and her best friend is Carla. Fos has a first name, but it’s not important, it’s just Fos or Fossy and sometimes Silent Bob when she is taking up too much of the conversation. If you have a question about Australia, ask Fos, she knows everything there is to know. Fos recently became an Aunt and we are happy to welcome her new nephew, Domenic, to the family. Fos also has the coolest car in the family and you haven’t truly “punched it” until you’ve ridden in the car with her. However I was just informed that she might be trading in her Subaru WRX for a jeep wrangler, but don’t worry even though she’s trading in the car, she keeping the flare. Fos also has the coolest job in the family, mostly because she gets to wear blue overalls to work everyday, but also cause sometimes she gets to bring the police car home. What else can I say about Fos, she’s a woman of few words, so in following her lead, I guess I’m done here.

Jill, Lydia, and I round out the rest of the family, but there is still one more member left.

Alex, more affectionately known to us as Hhh-ach M, is the final member of our family and you can’t help but smile when she is around. HM is a school teacher, loves making biscuits, gluten free of course, and enjoys playing netball and the piano. I had the pleasure of watching her play net ball, and she tore up the court, gloves and all. We like to tease HM about being “High Maintenance,” but can you blame a girl for knowing what she likes and how she likes it? For example, she likes her windows down in the car, but only three quarters the way down. And she loves coming to watch our soccer games, especially if Jen and Fossy pick her up and bring her coffee and hash browns too. Our family definitely wouldn’t be complete with out HM! We love you ALEX!

So now that you have met our wonderful Australian family, it is time to take you on our family vaca!!

As I said before once the team was able to change the flights for Jill, Lydia, and I to stay in Brisbane a couple extra days, the rest of the family decided they were going to come up, watch our game and make a family vacation out of it. Kele and Rollo had their tickets changed just like ours and Jen and Fos booked tickets to come up as well as a red Tarago mini van (aka the mom van) for all 7 of us to cruise around in while we were up there the couple extra days. (Unfortunately HM wasn’t able to make the trip, but we thought about her and missed having her with us.) Our team trainer, Lorenzo, hooked us up with his brother-and-law who runs a motel on the Gold Coast in Queensland, which was about an hours drive from Brisbane. So Monday morning we got up, had breaky with the team, and saw them off to the airport before Jen and Fos came and picked up Kel, Rollo, Jill, Lydia, and I from our hotel in the Tarago Mom Van and off we went to the Gold Coast for two days of fun in the sun on the beaches of Australia. The trip was cozy as Kele, Fos, and I were sat in the very back of the van, Jill and Lydia sat in the middle seats with most of our luggage and Jen and Rollo sat comfortably upfront navigating us to the coast. We made it to the Gold Coast in good time, which made it too early to check into the hotel, so we decided we would kill some times and go to the shops before heading to the hotel and the beach. Going to the shops ended up being a great idea as Jill found a swim suit and board shorts, Lydia and Kele found a good deal on some adidas cleats, Fos got some pants, not sure what Barbra ended up with, but I found myself a straw Australian vacation hat, that I’m pretty sure I didn’t take off from the time I bought it until I got back home to Sydney two days later. After the shops we revived ourselves with a little subway before we set off to check into the motel.

The Motel was called the Cheshire Cat and it was everything you would expect a Cheshire Cat Motel to be a block away from the beach, but it got the job done. Kele, Fos, and I stayed in Room 3 and Rollo, Jen, Lids, and Jill stayed in Room 1. Room 3 was clearly more superior. Once we checked in, we didn’t waste anytime getting to the beach. We threw on our swimsuits, board shorts, thongs, sunscreen, and off we went. Jen of course knew of a great beach not to far from where we were staying called Coolangatta. So we drove down there and spent the afternoon on the beach. Well Jill, Lydia, Rollo, and Kel spent the afternoon on the beach napping, while Jen, Fos, and I ventured out into the water to splash around and ride some waves. We did a lot more splashing than riding as the good waves were far and few between, but it was enjoyable none the less. Satisfied with our first day at the beach we decided to head back to the hotel so we could shower up and find some food! Find some food we did. While we had been down at the beach we saw a restaurant called Crust, that served gourmet pizza with outdoor seating right by the beach, and decided that was the place for us. We each ordered a pizza and then everyone shared. Foss ordered a philly cheese stake pizza, Jen ordered a pumpkin and potato, Kel ordered a spicy chicken, Rollo ordered a Hawaiian pizza, Lydia ordered a sweet potato pizza, I ordered a roasted veggie pizza, and Jill went and found us something to drink. It was delicious. We finished a good deal of it and saved the rest for breakfast the next morning. After we stuffed ourselves with pizza and ice-cream we rolled ourselves back to the hotel where everyone sat down for a little game of Texas Hold’em, everyone that is except for me. I made the mistake of sitting down on one of the chairs outside our room to read on the balcony and broke through the bottom of the chair. Feeling a little embarrassed and slightly stuck, I decided to keep my seat, or what was left of it, and read my book outside while the rest of the girls played some poker. Kele and Fos (aka room 3) had never played before but that didn’t stop them from showing their poker faces a few times and showing up the poker playing pros in room 1. It was a triumphant victory for Kel and Fos and it made me proud to be apart of room 3 that night.

The next morning the plan was to be ready to check out of the hotel and head to the beach around 9am. Most of us were up well before then and we all decided to get in some exercise. Jen went for a swim, Kel went for a run around town to find us some public showers to use before we went to the airport that afternoon because we had to check out of the motel (she also happened to find Carl), I went for a run down the shoreline and Jill and Lydia ran the opposite way down the beach. By 9:00am or sometime there after we were all packed up and ready for our second day at the beach. We enjoyed the spot we had found the day before so we decided to head back down that way. When we got there we all went our separate ways each on their own mission. Jill and Lydia headed straight for the coffee shop, Kel and Rollo went to the grocery store in search of fruit and a ball for us to play with in the water, Jen wanted to check out some surf board, so Fos accompanied her to the store on the way to getting some chocolate leaving me and “the beast” with a veggie omlete and acai bowl for breakfast overlooking the ocean. LIFE IS GOOD!

Once everyone regrouped after being successful in their endeavors we headed to the beach to camp out for the day. Kel and Rollo found an amazing water proof footie ball at the store that was perfect for our beach activities. The 4 Australian girls had hopes of challenging the 3 American girls to a game of footie thinking they could win back some points after losing heavily to us in a Pictionary game a week earlier, but after showing us how to properly throw and kick the footie, the Americans some how ended up in the water showing the Australians how to play a game of taps, which was all well and good because everyone enjoyed themselves and the Americans didn’t have to embarrass the Australians yet again.

Slowly one by one each of us made our way out of the water and back onto the beach to dry off and take a little nap in the sun. Rollo and Jen went and got everyone subway for lunch, while the rest of us fell asleep on the warm sand. For the most part we were pretty good with the sunscreen, but I think Kel and Jill got the worst of it and were a little crispy coming off the beach that afternoon. After lunch and a little more fun in the sun, we decided to head to the showers and head back to the Brisbane airport. We had to return the mom van by 4:00pm and we still had an hours drive ahead of us. Getting back to the airport, returning the van, and checking in all our bags went pretty smooth except for figuring out how to get Chompers Jr. and The Little Fella home safely. Chompers Jr. and The Little Fella are the two skate boards that Jen and Fos decided to purchase their first day in Brisbane before our game. Jen wanted to get some skater shoes and Fos pointed out the obvious fact that she couldn’t get skater shoes and not have a skate board, so clearly the only thing to do was to buy a board, so when everything was said and done both Fossy and Jen had a skateboard, but ironically enough, neither ended up with skater shoes. Well it all worked out in the end as both Chompers Jr. and The Little Fella made it home safe and sound to live with Chompers, Rollos skateboard, in our garage at home. They weren’t the only ones that found their way home safely. All seven of us packed ourselves into one car at the airport. Lydia on Jills lap, Kel on mine, Rollo in the middle and Jen and Fos sitting comfortably upfront. We listened to Love Song Dedications with Richard all the way home. It was the perfect ending to a perfect family vacation. I LOVE OUR FAMILY!

-Kendall

Game Day!!

Hey everyone!! Its Jillian, I wanted to write about our first game in Australia.

Ever since we got off the plane and landed in Australia, all we could hear about was our first game. Our first game was in a week's time and it was against big time rival Sydney FC. During that week we heard everything about our upcoming opponent, and when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. It was all anyone could talk about, their thoughts and feelings on different players, potential starting lineups, and what we needed to do in order to be successful. The days building up to the game were just mad, nevertheless, we, the Americans, had four or five training sessions with the team. In those five practices we were trying to feel out our team's style, get used to the tendencies of the players around us, and learn all the set pieces, both offensively and defensively; all the while we were still trying to learn everyone's names and adjust to the fourteen hour time change (practice was at 630 pm AUS time, 430 am US time.)

Finally, game day was here!! I woke up in the morning, made breakfast, got all my things packed and ready to go, read the bible, and then it was time to go meet the team at the bus. Thankfully it was only a 30 minute bus ride to the Sydney stadium, I don't think I would have lasted my longer, by the time we got there I was so pumped up I wanted to take the feel straight away. Unfortunately we got there about two hours early, so we walked the field, inspecting the grass and feeling so small in a stadium that could hold 80,000.

After a short warm-up and a final pregame discussion it was finally time to take the field. We were dressed and ready to go, just waiting on the refs to walk us out to the field from our locker room. Too focused on my over sized goalkeeper jersey and my tight long swim trunks that I had on, I wasn't paying attention and tripped walking up the stairs and fell flat on my face, it was quite embarrassing; I fell in front of not only my new teammates but also the entire other team and the refs, typical Jill though.

We took the field, the whistle blew, and the battle began. It was a hard fought match from both teams from beginning to end, all ninety minutes were absolutely chaotic. Twelve minutes into the match, Michelle connected on a header that floated over the keepers head to make the score 1-0. For the rest of the half it was back and forth, both teams having solid scoring opportunities, however we went into halftime still up by a goal. Halftime passed quickly and we were thrown right back into battle. Unfortunately, my former roommate in St. Louis Sara Walsh, finished a breakaway two minutes into the second half to make it 1-1. Twenty minutes later Michelle scored once again and in the last moments of the game Kele added another, making it a 3-1 victory over Sydney FC.

As the final whistle blew, all the girls ran on the field and congratulated each other on a great win, they were all so excited, I was mainly excited just that the game was finally over, I really just wanted to lay down on the field I was so exhausted. I made my way over to the team where hugs, high fives, and cheers of excitement were shared. We got back to the locker room and I immediately sat down and got ice, yes I'm getting old. As I impatiently waited for the ice to freeze off my leg, I sat there and soaked up the moment. Songs were blaring from the stereo as the girls sang and danced around, emotions were still running high from the recent victory ; we were all still dressed in our uniforms that were coated with mud and filled with grass stains from the hard fought battle, still dressed with smiles from ear to ear. It was a great moment.

Before the game, we (the Americans), spoke of wanting to play well just for the girls on our team. The game meant so much to them, it seemed as though they had been preparing for the whole preseason month just for this game, that's how important it was to them. They wanted to prove all the nay sayers wrong, all the people that said they were an automatic win wrong, all the people that ever doubted them wrong. Despite what anyone said, every single one of them knew we were going to win; every player knew that they would do absolutely anything to win that game, they all believed we were going to win, and we did just that, the underdog prevailed. So after the game, even though we were all so tired and exhausted, and I couldn't feel my legs, the feeling was purely incredible; being able to fight together, giving every bit of ourselves to that game, winning, accomplishing it all together... was amazing.

Welcome to Australia

Hi how ya going? Thats how everyone greets us here in australia! Its a funny phrase even for a southerner i must say but nonetheless its cheery! Australia is great ...cold at the moment but great. It actually reminds me a lot of south africa. The plane ride was long and uneventful. I think I watched about five movies and even Ice Age III in Portuguese because i was so bored. We arrived at 730am, Sydney time, 530pm our time. Our coach and one of our teammates came to pick us up from the airport. They took us right away to Bondi beach, which is one of the tourist spots, but on this cold windy day it was empty. The waves were amazing and rather large. We had a nice breakfast right along side the ocean. Jill ordered first and without even looking at the menu said just give me coffee! (and for those of you that are wondering, no there has not been a sighting of dunkin!) Then the waitress looked are her funny and said what kind? she said coffee. The waitress then laughed. Come to find out there are several ways to order your brewed beans ...ha. Flat white. Tall white. Short white. Lattes. and the list went on. So happy to just have some coffee when a little 1/2c cup comes out. Jill took it down in one sip. She was disappointed at the normal sizes (not the usual american sizes) but was evermore happy. Then after she had 12 more ...ha just kidding. We then had to head to the office, sign papers, get gear, etc. We all hit a wall and were exhausted but come to find out we had to train that night. It was fun meeting the team even though i felt like i was in a coma from the lack of sleep.

Things are going well so far. We have already played one game and won 3-1. More details on that to come. We have our first home game this sunday and im so excited. Our stadium is amazing. Its the only stadium that is enclosed just on three sides. The other side is open and has palm trees and looks out over the water!!! It is incredible.

Oh and we watched our first ever rugby league grand final the other night. It is equivalent to our super bowl i guess you could say. It was cool learning the different rules and trying to follow it but overall it was pretty boring. The underdogs, the Eels gave the Storm their run for the money for about ten minutes which was pretty much the only entertaining bit. And they say Goooo the Eels ...THE eels sounds so funny!

Tomorrow night we are headed off to watch Australia play the Netherlands in the Sydney Stadium we played at last game! Robben, Van Nistelroy, Van Persie, Kuyt ...i cant wait!!

Here are some pictures from our latest excursion :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2160766&id=6105242&l=1be30803a1

Until next time ....

Lydia