After a good game against North Korea two days ago, we were given yesterday off to rest and recover. It was a beautiful day and many of my teammates who like to suntan, used the time to touch up their tans. I shielded my fair skinned complexion and stayed indoors. 

 

 

This morning, it was back to work and on the program we had a morning upper body workout. These sessions are usually fun, much less serious than a training session on the field. Hence, I enjoyed partnering Canada's twiggy armed captain. Having made this comparison to my own solid arms which could each swallow both her arms whole ... if they wanted to, she still lifted the same weights as me. To be very honest, she even appeared less winded by the workout than me.

 

 

Following this morning session, we had time to rest and relax before our afternoon practice session on the field. The practice was a good one, and everyone was really sharp, which made the day enjoyable for everyone involved. However, we did sweat. It was a prickly hot day, just like every other day in Rome. However, today it felt as if someone had turned up the humidity on us. I lost serious weight.

 

 

After training, Andrea Neil, our assistant coach,  gave us a box that had been sent to us from Ontario. The Ontario Association had gone around to a ton of their teams and gotten them to write us letters, send in their shirts, some flags, pins, stickers, it was a box of amazingness. I know I was not alone in being really touched seeing everything that these young players had sent to us. I can't imagine how the Ontario girls must have felt, nor the girls who received personalized messages.

 

 

Because we train for long periods of time overseas, we sometimes forget how many young women back in Canada are following our careers and looking up to us. This was a fantastic occasion to be reminded of this, right before our departure for Berlin.