I have the pleasure of writing the first ever Women’s National Team blog post. Our men’s team writes a daily blog every tour and since we are both at the Commonwealth Games XX we are joining in on the fun!
Today was a big day. Our first match of the tournament against India was at 4pm. We went for our morning walk to a new spot in the village where our physio Elliott “Usher Usher” Usher led us through some morning stretches. After a few downward dogs, hip clocks and les pigeons we headed off to breakfast.
The team was buzzing at breakfast recapping all of the fun Opening Ceremonies memories that were made last night. Marching into the packed 45,000 seat stadium is very inspirational. As highly competitive athletes we (the men’s and women’s teams) naturally had tactics to secure the best position to score TV time in the march. Executed flawlessly we managed to be front row behind our flag bearer Susan Nattrass.
The rest of the morning was fairly quiet, mostly rest time to focus on the game ahead. After lunch and a couple of meetings the girls were ready to head to the pitch to play our first game against India.
Our team battled hard, India opened the scoring but we answered with a great goal by Brienne Stairs. India was able to put one more away and we found ourselves down 2-1 at half time.
In the second half, India attacked and scored early to make it 3-1. We bounced back and I scored a goal deflecting a well-placed drag flick from Karli Johansen on a penalty corner to close the gap. Unfortunately, we were unable to generate any more goals and lost the match 4-2.
After the match, many of us were reunited with family and friends who have travelled to Glasgow to support us. A huge thanks to the Canadian crowd at the match and at home cheering us on! We are striving to put on an even better performance tomorrow vs. South Africa.
Back at the village we ate dinner, had a quick debrief meeting and Elliott tended to his favourite patient Kate “Physio Pet” Gillis. The girls settled in with some snacks to watch our men’s team take on New Zealand.
After a few technical difficulties bouncing back and forth from TV coverage to live stream projected on the wall and one noise complaint we finally found a good spot to cheer them on loudly.
Thanks again to everyone supporting us from all over the world. All the tweets, likes, comments and Facebook shout outs mean the world to us.
To support the Canadian Women’s National Team by donating to their fundraising efforts, click here.
