Rhian Wilkinson's Official Website

RHIAN'S SOCCER JOURNALS:

TEKCOMINCO, CROSS TRAINING AND TRAVEL 11th June 2008

I have begun writing this journal half way across the Pacific, midway between Korea and Vancouver. There is some in-flight turbulence and I need to keep my mind on other things.

This past week, or perhaps the past two weeks, the weather has been horrible in Vancouver, so I am almost looking forward to South Korea and the sunshine. The rain has been pouring down in British Columbia, but of course, we have still been training hard and the sessions of late have been good ones" I think the team looks sharp. This will be an important tournament for us in terms of measuring where we are, and where we need to be, come August and the Olympic Games.

Before we left Canada, our new sponsor Teckcominco held a barbecue for the squad last week. We were all pretty excited about getting to meet the people who have so generously donated financial support to our team, but we had no idea what we were really in for. The location for the event was not far away from where we live, so a bunch of us decided to head down to the event on our bikes. We did this even in the knowledge that Amy would have to carry a ball bag on her back as she pedaled.

When we arrived at the park which was meant to be the venue for the event, there was no one in sight. At first, we were a little concerned that we might have mistaken the place, but then the Tekcominco employees started to arrive. This was not the barbeque bq we had imagined at all. This was a full fledged 5 versus 5 soccer tournament with some pretty serious competitors taking part. Even though we had not dressed appropriately for the occasion, I think we pulled through, and we even received a nice little unplanned workout.

The players in the mini tournament were great and I had an amazing time kicking butt with my team, affectionately called “Team C.” We went undefeated. I thought the whole event went really well and we appreciated the fact that we met some of the people who are doing so much for us. I hope they found the experience as much fun as we did, and that they enjoyed meeting this women's team that they have taken under their wing.

Yesterday, the 10^th of June, Even gave the squad the day off from soccer training. We had to have a personal fitness day instead. So, Amy, Diana, Taryn Swiatek and I decided, after we had run our sprints, to head to the climbing gym in Vancouver for a cross training workout. My sister Sara came along with us and helped belay (hold the rope) so that we could all climb. She also gave us a few tips along the way, as she is a much more experienced climber than any of us. For my last birthday, Sara paid for me to have belaying lessons, which have turned out to be an amazing gift as I love this new sport. We are twin sisters, and now we can both climb and belay each other - tied together by the rope!

Both Sara and I grew up rock climbing in Quebec, because our father climbed as well. It is fantastic to come back to the sport, even if I had to be dragged a little way. I also loved the fact that these other girls were so willing to give the sport a go and I think they enjoyed the experience. Sara kept yelling at all of us to use our legs and good balance. However, because we are all so strong in our upper bodies, we had the tendency to haul ourselves up the wall - not very graceful. However, this climbing tactic worked well until about the third climb when all our arms started to give out on us. It is a strange experience to be be so exhausted and burning in the arms, that you literally cannot hold onto the wall any longer.

Now, the focus is back to soccer, and we are traveling to the Peace Queen Cup in Korea once again. So far, the flight has been a good one, or at least as good as an eleven-and-a-half hour trip which includes clear air turbulence can be. I managed to play Mindsweeper on the computer for at least 2 hours, and never won the game once. D meanwhile, played for about ten minutes and beat the game hands down .... I was not happy about this.

About 2 hours out from arrival in Seoul the pilot announced that we had passed over the international date line, and of course, this meant that it was Sincy’s birthday. A very happy birthday to her, but I am sure she has had better ones.

Once we landed in Seoul, the amazing Peace Cup organizing committee took over. These people are wonderful. As soon as we take our bags out of baggage claim, we just hand them over to a waiting truck and we don’t see them again until we reach the hotel. We take some photographs with them, a few of us do interviews, and then we load the bus and relax for the two hours it takes to reach Suwon. Most of us now felt so relaxed that we went straight to sleep.

Upon arrival at our hotel a welcoming committee was set up outside the front doors, and we were greeted with applause as we got off the bus. Then, in the lobby an official from the Suwon district made a speech to welcome us and handed out flowers and pins to all of us. Even though it’s always nice to be greeted like this, we were more than ready for bed and we were delighted to see that our bags had arrived before us.

We were soon in our rooms getting ready for bed, and rarely have i been more excited to end a day and a night.