I haven't been blogging these last few months. I've been busy, for sure. Rugby took up most of my time. There was a World Cup thing I did. Of course, it only makes sense that I write about the World Cup thing in this, my first blog in months, and of course, that's just what I plan to do.
When I sat down, five minutes ago, to plug away at this blog, the first thing I typed was some maudlin cliche about a journey. Certainly, this World Cup thing was a journey. We athletes, we people, are always on one sort of journey or another. Hell, life is the grand journey. I don't want to start in on the whole concept of a journey. I write something like, "Now that the journey that was World Cup is over..." and already, you know where it's going. I know where it's going. I say, "World Cup was a journey," and you know the rest of the story--it was hard in the beginning, at some point things changed, something clicked, we learned, we met setbacks, we endured, things probably didn't go as planned, but there was a lesson and everyone was better for it. I suppose you could probably fit most experience into that mold.
So, now that the journey that was World Cup is over, and I have had time to reflect, I'm still not sure what it all meant, or if it meant anything, or if meaning is necessary at all. I'm not sure of the lesson. And I'm not sticking to the journey mold. I see it as something particularly important in my life.
It was very important in my world, but a little over three months later and it seems like a dissipating vapor of a memory. Part of me wants to write about it so that I may relive it all. It was, after all one of the most gratifying, toughest, most enjoyable, and most draining experiences of my life.
So here we go: Part 1 in my World Cup Musings. Since it was indeed a journey, despite my reservations about tapping into that cliche, I plan on giving my readers a brief synopsis of the journey in this blog, and then in subsequent blogs, I plan to get into all of the happenings on this wonderful journey.
This last World Cup cycle started three years ago, when the 2014 World Cup ended (the USA WNT finished in 6th place in 2014). I was a reserve on that 2014 squad. Personally, there was unfinished business to handle, so my journey started in 2011. But then I'm getting behind here. There's a Buddhist saying that goes, "You are the sum total of everything it has taken to produce you since before the beginning of beginningless time," but if we take that approach, we'll have to go back to before beginningless time. So, for brevity's sake, we're going to start the journey with 15s residency.
Our first Women's 15s residency ever started in September 2016. Myself, Hope Rogers, Jordan Gray, and Molly Kinsella were the first class. We all lived in an apartment adjacent to the training center, and we all played for the San Diego Surfers in 2016.
In November the 15s WNT played France in a two-match series, and in January 2017, we had a 15s camp. We also got new housemates in January, with Jordan and Molly pursuing other rugby and life goals. Nicole Strasko and Megan Foster then moved in with Hope and me. Caitlin Singletary, our video analyst also moved in.
We continued training with the 7s team at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center until March, when all of our 15s friends came out to Southern California for a CanAm series. In June, we had another camp. In July, we started our month-long World Cup Prep Camp, and World Cup rolled around in August.
Needless to say, it was a whirlwind of a year, and as with any journey, it was full of good times and not-so-good times. In my upcoming blogs, I'll get into those good times and not-so-good times. Hopefully, I'll get my fix with reliving it all and my readers will get a little insight on the USA WNT's road to a 4th place finish at the 2017 World Cup. Stay tuned!!
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