June 28, 2005

Seoul, Korea –
We finished third behind The Netherlands and China in the Ningbo, China leg of the Grand Prix Tournament last week. China’s team is really good. Most of them have been training together for a couple of years, so it’s a little easier for them to play together. The offense they run is extremely fast, and it keeps their opponents on their toes, which is why I think they beat so many teams. Not only is their offense fast, but their ball control and defense is one of the best in the world. They defend so many balls, which allows them to run their quick offense.

I was very excited to be able to play against them, even though the outcome wasn’t what we wanted. Our coach told us that the tickets for our match against China were $200 per ticket and $350 for box seats. For the amount of money people were paying to watch China vs. USA, she said she didn’t want the match to be over in 30 minutes.

The seats were filled from top to bottom. It was kind of weird to have the people cheering for China and us too. I think they were mainly cheering for us because of who our coach is.

We’re in Seoul, Korea right now for the second leg of the Grand Prix Tournament. The teams in this leg are: Dominican Republic, Korea, Japan, and us. We’re looking to place first or second in this leg. Japan is the favorite right now. They run an offense similar to China.

We were able to do a little shopping after our second practice today at this enormous mall that had about five or six floors in it. I love shopping, so I got a few things here and there. I bought this really cool shirt, that only my teammates at SC will understand when they see it. It is sort of an inside joke between us. They are going to love it.

The hotel we are staying at is off the chain! The rooms are so big and the shower is the best part. Big, flat screen TV’s, and the whole shebang. The food here isn’t bad either. I have been trying some new things too. It is just a matter of me actually trying it, and putting it in my mouth.

Tomorrow we are going sightseeing. I am excited about that too. I really want to get a lot of pictures, because this is an amazing experience, and the stuff here is worth seeing. I wish we would have gone sightseeing in China, but with our coach around, we wouldn’t have been able to do much because of her celebrity status there.

That’s about it for now, but I’ll keep you updated on how we turn out in this leg.

Go Cocks!