Long Day of Travel

Spent ALLLLLLL day Sunday traveling. Here is a pic of my team at Newark Airport just before we boarded the plane. The flight was long and uneventful except that I got to watch Grand Torino. Great movie. In fact I that I watched 3 Clint Eastwood movies on the plane. Hmmmm, I'd didn't realize before about the EL AL "Clint Eastwood Film Festival".

We arrived at Kfar Maccabiah, the sport center/hotel run by Maccabi. Great Facility in Ramat Gan which is a suburb of Tel Aviv. The girls soon realized with a "Wonderful Coach" they have when I told them they were free to spend a couple of hours hanging out at the pool that afternoon.

At 4:00 pm, we headed over the the Hakoach field around the corner from Kfar Maccabiah for an hour of light training. (Hakoach is the training field for one of the clubs here) We did a little fitness and technical training as a way of both getting our bodies moving after the long trip and to set a tone as to the level of expectation I have. I wanted the players to begin to start thinking about their game at a different level and pace they are used to. To be successful on the international level we need to play (and think) the game much quicker. I was very pleased at our work rate and willingness to push ourselves while we were quite fatigued from the travel.

After training, we had an orientation with the other teams here for Training Camp, the other soccer teams, Baseball, Basketball, Volleyball, Rowing are here as well.

It's now 9:00 pm and we are about to have a quick team meeting to review tomorrow's schedule and CRASH! I don't think anyone will have trouble sleeping at this point. Good first day!

Packed and Ready

I've got everything for the next 4weeks into 1 large suitcase and my adidas backpack. I've either gotten very good at this travel thing or I may be buying Israeli underware. (sorry I know thats not a pretty picture)

Travel plans for tomorrow are as follows:
6:30 am Albany, GA to Atlanta
8:35 am Atlanta, GA to Newark
(Preston Goldfarb - Jr. Boys Coach & his son Sean are on this same flight)
10:58 am Arrive in Newark and meet up with my team.
2:30 pm Depart El Al for Tel Aviv.
7:45 am Monday, Arrive Tel Aviv and transport to Kfar Maccabiah which will be our Training Camp home until July 9th.

I'll speak to ya'll from Training Camp after we get settled.

Roster of Players

Here is the roster of Players for the Maccabi USA Jr. Girls Soccer Team. I'll tell you more about each over the next couple of days.

MF Blumenstyk, Julia Morristown NJ
D Cohen, Liza Cincinnati OH
D Epstein, Amanda Jericho NY
D Goodman, Bethany Clearwater FL
D Kalik, Jaclyn Riverview FL
GK Kaufman, Gabrielle West Hills CA
D Knue, Ariana Cincinnati OH
F Knue, Carly Cincinnati OH
GK Levick, Alexandra Cincinnati OH
F Levin, Hannah Chevy Chase MD
D Nelson, Rachel New Hyde Park NY
MF Paz, Danielle Roswell GA
MF Rabushka, Audrey Deerfield IL
D Ragins, Allison Deerfield IL
MF Schrier, Shelby Scarsdale NY
MF Schwartz, Dana Sunnyvale CA
D Zietz, Margaret Bellaire TX
MF Zigelsky, Morgan Franklin TN
MF Zwecker, Haley Atlanta GA

Game Schedules Released

The schedule for matches for our group is as follows;
7/14 11am vs Israel (the National U17 Team)
7/15 4pm vs Great Britain
7/16 9am vs Finland
7/19 11am vs Canada

The Canadians sent us a request today to switch opening matches with them. Funny thing is, they open 7/13 with Israel. Considering how much smack they talked when I met them in Israel in Feb. this request feels a bit like gamesmanship to me. I'm guessing 1 or 2 of their top players may not be arriving in time. Sorry Canada, welcome to International Soccer!

I guess this will make the US v Canada match a little more interesting now.

We haven't even boarded the plane yet and I'm already having fun ;)

Preparations to Leave for Israel

Time to make final preparations to head to Israel for the 18th World Maccabiah Games.

There will be over 5,000 athletes from over 60 countries participating in the 3rd largest sporting event in the world.

For those interested you can find out more at www.maccabiah.com I believe they will be posting videos and results of all of the events on that site.

Sent the final training schedule for the US soccer teams to Israel. We are going over ahead of the US Delegation to hold our training camp at Kfar Maccabiah.

I'm currently making and going through my packing lists for the 4 weeks that I'll be in Israel.

I'll try to keep you all informed as the "happenings" with me, my team (the US Jr. Girls) and the rest of the US Delegation.