SHOPPING, SINGING AND TRAINING  22nd May 2010

Yesterday was another quiet morning at the Women's National Team training camp in Washington DC, as we only had one training session in the afternoon. Yesterday, with the same schedule, I was good, and I used the down time to catch up on my maths assignments from my distance learning courses. Today, I was not quite as disciplined. Instead, I headed to the mall with Sincy, KK, and Erin and did a bit of shopping. Of course when I say that, "we did a bit of shopping," what I really mean is that I made a couple of purchases, and I forced these poor suckers to follow me. I had meant to buy a few things for my friends in Norway, And, I did get a few things for them, although I have to admit that most 9f my purchases were for me - sad! I don't consider myself a big shopper, but judging by the damage I did to my credit card today, times may just be a-changing. Of course, there is also the fact that Norway is so insanely expensive, and I couldn't stop myself. I saw deals everywhere.

After lunch, a few players treated themselves to a lie down, a chance to recover from an exhausting morning of doing nothing. Other headed to the medical room for treatment. We have an amazing medical and therapy staff, and they work non-stop for us. Their treatment room has turned into a hub of the players' lives on tour. Players just hang out there if they have nothing to do. Leo, one of our physios, is Italian and he loves to suddenly break out into song. Players are not just given company in the treatment room, but they also receive an amazing, musical show. A big thanks to all our medics.

Training in the afternoon was nothing out of the ordinary. We did some hard work with Mario before moving into some full field drills on shape and movement. The best part of training was probably ending with a 5 v 5 game with walls. It is a scrimmage, of sorts, but it is also a closed space game, so things can get very intense. I enjoyed the matches, as my team won the tourney. However, I also enjoyed it , because right at the end of a match, Sophie mistimed her kick and accidentally stood on the ball. Of course, this caused her to fall flat on her back. Fortunately, she was fine, but the rest of the team was not. Everyone was rolling around in fits of laughter for ages afterwards. Honestly, I have never seen anything like it.

A few people of the squad took the time to visit Trader Joes, , a grocery store, this evening. However, the rest of us stayed back and headed to our rooms for an early night. Even though our days are not being taken up my much, the training is intense and tough. None of us has much trouble in falling asleep.

Our team's 10-day training camp started on 18th May and runs until 27th May. The camp culminates this Sunday with a first-ever exhibition match between a WPSL team, the Washington Freedom vs a National team. The Sunday 23 May match kicks off at 17.00 ET in Fairfax, VA. Fans can follow the match live via www.twitter.com/CanadaSoccerEN and www.twitter.com/CanadaSoccerFR.

The Canadian women are preparing for a big international fixture on 3rd June in Hamar, Norway against the one-time FIFA Women's World Cup and Women's Olympic champion Norway. The international match is part of Canada's preparations for the 2010 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup - the North American qualification route to the FIFA Women's World Cup Germany 2011.