Danone World Cup in Miami!

So, the Danone World Cup has come and gone. Suffice it to say that it was 2 days of soccer-filled exhaustion. On average we should have played about 6 or 7 games....we ended up playing 10 games with 7 of those games being in one day! As soon as I took off my cleats on the last day, my calves cramped up and yelled, "I'm done."

We played 3 games on Saturday. It was hot and very humid and wonder of wonders, I got sun burnt. We didn't start out very well. We lost to Hungry right off the bat, followed by a tie with France (the defending world cup champions). We rounded out the morning with a loss to the United Kingdom. None of these games were out of our reach to win....but somehow we managed to loose or only tie. Despite the dismal performance, we qualified to continue to play the next day.

This picture is of all 4 teams in our group: UK, Hungary, France, USA.

Sunday came much too fast. We started out playing the top seed from another bracket, Spain....and of course, we lost. In a way we were relieved because that meant we could enjoy the rest of the day and support the US men's team and get some sun on our shin-guard clad legs....but alas, we found out that if you loose in the first game, you go to the secondary bracket, of which you can still win. So, we had a brief break before we had to start yet more pool play with Canada, Italy and Turkey. Our coach switched up the positions...put me back at defense, which I prefer, and we were all pretty relaxed...who cares if we win or loose, let's just have fun.

In our first game, I was lucky enough to score off a free kick from mid-field....no one was more surprised than I was....well, that got us off to a good start. We ended up winning all 3 of those games which qualified us to advance into the quarterfinals. We played Malaysia and won that game and then went onto the semi-finals with Bulgaria. We won that game as well...which meant we were in the finals against the other French team. We ended the final game in a 0-0 tie. Now, baring in mind that in the 2 previous world cups, the US women's team lost in shootouts.....and alas, this was no exception. We lost in a shoot out, but still got a pretty awesome trophy! Here I am giving it a nice big KISS!Here is my soccer team. Back (from left to right): Jenny Hainsworth, June Endersen, Martha Johnson, Holly Fordham and Karen Sama; Front (from left to right): Sari Stagg, Heather Hamblin and TC Mulhenstein; Sitting: Maggie Kruse

All in all it was a really fun time. They keep you very busy from the beginning of the tournament to the end. You start at 7am and don't get back to go to sleep until midnight. On Sunday, the party continued until 4am!

So, here is a breakdown of what we did. We arrived on Thursday night. The tournament festivities started Friday night with a dinner at each of the 7 hotels the teams were staying in. There were a total of 43 countries that participated...almost 1,000 participants! On Saturday, we started at 7am. After we played, the buses....SCHOOL BUSES....took us back to the hotels to shower and change and jump right back on them for a 45 minute ride to South Beach for dinner. The restaurant was on the beach and we were able to walk to the Atlantic Ocean. There was a full moon-I tried to capture it here. We got back to the hotel at about midnight.

Sunday started at 7am. We didn't get back to the hotel until 7:30pm and back on the buses for dinner by 9. We went to a swanky night club for dinner that night. The first shuttle to take people back to the hotel from the night club left at 12am and the last one was to leave at 4am. I was tired and ready for bed, so me and a few teammates went back to the hotel at 12. On Monday, we went to a huge 90,000 mall before leaving to the airport. We didn't get back to Salt Lake until 12am and I didn't get home and into bed until 2am. I had to work the next day.....so I have been pretty exhausted all week.

It was amazing to talk and associate with other countries. Learning more about other cultures is fascinating...and I was able to use some of my french. :)

It is such a neat experience representing your country. I love this country and as the song says, "I'm proud to be an American." :)

Not only did this provide me with some great experiences, but sad ones as well.

It was rather sad to see all the alcohol that was consumed and the "worldly" way of living. I also missed Brett and Addison horribly. It's experiences like this that really test you to see if you really will hold to your values under any circumstances. I am so thankful for the gospel and the clarity it gives me. You don't need the things the world says you do to have a good time and enjoy yourself.

I am very glad to be back. It is always good to come home after being away. You start out the journey excited to for all the possibilities that lie ahead of you, but as you get into it, you realize how much you miss the mundane and ordinary parts of your life. It was great to play a game I love with friends and get to know other people from other parts of the world....but it's even better to be back with my family.