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RHIAN'S SOCCER JOURNALS:

JAPAN PREPARATION AND SHARKS 6th March 2008

by Diana Matheson

Today was almost identical to Tuesday's preparation, with the same pre-game day schedule in place. After breakfast we lounged around a bit until a meeting for attacking players at 10:00 am. Following this, we had our usual beach walk and stretch.

The temperature today is even warmer than normal, and we were reminded to hydrate as the weather is supposed to get even warmer in the 'coming days.

Training today was fairly short, in preparation for tomorrow’s game. The highlight of the session came at the very end as Brit was carrying the water cooler back to the bus. She refused to accept any help carrying the heavy cooler from Amy Walsh. Understandably, Amy strongly objected to Brit’s stubbornness and responded by tackling her to the ground. Most of us were already on the bus at this point and saw only the aftermath of the tackle as Brit and Amy lay on the grass for several minutes, both laughing before getting up.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. People received treatment. We had another meal, and we had a meeting to prepare for Japan.

A few few of us wandered back down to the sea to put our legs in the cold water for a while. We were on the lookout though, because of the facts I personally know about sharks: 1) sharks live in the sea, and we were in the sea; 2) most shark attacks occur in 3 feet of water and we were in about 2.5 feet of water; 3) sharks usually attack at dusk and dawn, and the sun was setting as we went down to the beach; 4) JAR lied and told us she saw a shark, which we didn’t really believe, but the sighting fits in here; and 5) Amy was eating an orange and sharks really like citrus flavored people. Fortunately, all but the orange survived the trip and the cool water felt good on the legs.

A pe4rsonal note for my Mom and Dad. I hope you had a good flight! I didn’t have time to write you an e-mail, because Rhian made me write this journal entry, but the game went well!