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RHIAN'S SOCCER JOURNALS:

WINTER OLYMPICS, CYPRUS AND NORWAY 8th February 2010

It has been a busy few weeks. I arrived home late last Sunday night from a three day flying visit to Vancouver. The occasion was a meeting on behalf of the Women's National Team with the CSA Executive Committee. I think the meeting went well, and I was pleased to be there to make our case. However, the traveling was far from ideal.

The good news is that I got to see my twin sister Sara again. She is a pediatric nurse in Vancouver, and we had already said our goodbyes at the end of January. This was when I had spent a week on the west coast visiting her. To have a few extra days of Sara time was a wonderful surprise for the both of us. Like many twin sisters, we have stayed very close:

On my previous visit to Vancouver in mid January, the Olympic spirit was only just beginning. Many of the venues were in the throes of last minute construction and the hordes of Olympic visitors had yet to descend. Sara and I had a great little vacation. We just hung out together which was perfect! Of course, it goes without saying that we did do some physical activity while I was there, including some yoga and some snowshoeing on Cypress mountain.

The yoga was interesting, not so much the asanas, but the yoga leader. Is he called a"Yogi?" He kept ringing a bell that sounded awfully like an ice cream truck to me. I found it slightly distracting, but I have to admit that I was feeling a little hungry. Even more distracting was the woman in front of Sara and I who was wearing a corset. I freely admit that I know very little about yoga, but surely a corset is rather restricting? Corsets can't be appropriate yoga wear.

The snowshoeing on Cypress was quite an experience. We were there well before the Olympic crew started their panicky snow and straw deposits on the mountain. We were snowshoeing around on the slopes a good month before the big event. Even then, there was less than an inch of snow on the ground in some places. I found it rather worrying, even though I know the COC will make everything work. Thank goodness for giant helicopters and big snow trucks. Later, when walking around Vancouver in January, sporting only a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, while the city prepared to host the Winter Olympics, everything seemed a little surreal.

This January trip to Vancouver, although brief, was fun. Everywhere you looked, you could see flags and the blue jackets of the Olympic volunteers. The city was shining and glowing as it prepared for the world to descend on it. And, I found it a strange experience to see Olympic athletes village just at the bottom of my sister’s street. This time, I knew that I was not allowed in there. It brought home the fleeting nature of success and the fact that one's time in the spotlight comes and goes very quickly.

One way I have found to get a good sneak peek at what the Canadians are up to at the winter Games, is to follow them through Marnie McBean’s website. Marnie was our mentor extrodinaire throughout the Beijing Olympics, and now in Vancouver, she is mentoring her seventh Olympics. She is a fantastic woman, and she has been writing a great blog. Check it out at: http://web.me.com/bean6/Site/Welcome.html

In other news, I leave Montreal on 14^th February, to join the Women's National team squad for the Cyprus Cup. This will be the third time in a row we have attended this tournament and I am really looking forward to the event. This year I will hope to avoid the stomach flu that laid me low in 2009. The squad is heading to Cyprus for almost a month. This means we will have plenty of time for training, practice and team patterns before the tournament gets under way. There will be plenty of running and the preparation sounds painful.

Even though I find the Valentine's Day departure date a little insensitive for we romantics, I know I am going to enjoy the camp and tourney. This will be even though we are out of Canada for the Olympic winet Games. Hopefully the Cypriots will have some interest in winter sports and we will be able to watch a few events on television.

After the tournament in Cyprus, I shall be flying to Norway to meet up with my old soccer Club in Oslo. Last year, this Club was called Team Strømmen, but this year the team has been renamed LSK Women (Lillestrøm Soccer Club - Women.) and we will be playing in yellow, not red and grey.

I am looking forward to seeing all my friends there and enjoying another successful season in the North. Norway is full of great people and they enjoy a climate similar to Canada's east coast. I cannot ask for more.

I should apologize for the fact that my return to the LSK club for 2010 was announced on their website some time ago, and I made no comments on my website. The reality is that the Club rather jumped the gun. I was still in negotiations and had not yet signed or agreed to a contract. I shall be signing it when I return to Oslo from Cyprus. In the meantime, I look forward to sending updates from a much warmer Mediterranean climate. Ha det (bye in Norwegian)