I'm giving Cat Whitehill instructions!!!

I drove back to the Maryland SoccerPlex Sunday morning and arrived with about 30 mins to spare. Once I parked, I walked in and after awhile, the girls were showing up. The locker room (not the locker room they'll use during the season) was opened, and as I walked in, there were chairs around the perimeter with our names and numbers on the chair-backs. It was crazy seeing Abby Wambach #20, Cat Whitehill #4, and Briana Scurry #1... and then my name, Joy Shaiebly #31. Wow!

We had our gear sitting on our chairs--jersey top, shorts, socks, GK shirt, warm-ups, and a training top. Puma is the brand sponsoring all 7 of the WPS teams, so we had Puma everything! However, I can't say I'm sold on Puma yet... Some of our stuff was women's fit. Some was men's fit. And all of them fit a little differently because of it. (but, when we came in for Monday's training, after our gear was washed for us, everything shrunk--jerseys (some are flirting with belly shirts), shorts (yikes!), and socks (tight)). The only thing I absolutely LOVE so far is the long-sleeve training top! The warm-ups are great too, except that they're men's. Whatever. It's free : )

At each training session so far (there have been 3), we've gotten a good 45 mins with the GK coach. The drills are new and require very quick bursts of speed, then setting my feet and then saving shots. A LOT faster and better quality than I've EVER received before--I mean, it is the pros!

But the biggest difference is the faster speed of play. I mean, high school is a step up from middle school. College is a few (depending on where you go) steps up from high school. And the WPSL (Lancaster Inferno) was a few steps up from college (again, depending where you went and the quality of the players on the team). However, from WPSL to the PROS?!?!!? It feels like 100 steps up there. The quick passing, the organization, the vision of the women at this level. Having women out there who actually know what they're doing is so nice!

And now, having gone through 3 training sessions... and knowing that there are only 18 roster spots, plus 4 developmental spots... and knowing that there are some drafted girls who aren't here yet... I've been enjoying my time here, but I've also gotta think about reality. While it would be so great to play on this team this summer, I know, and can tell, that I'm not ready for this level. I need to play near this level for awhile--season, year--before I'd be able to play professionally. And one way to do that would be to play in the W-League (a step above the WPSL, which I played in last summer) or to be one of the developmental players--to learn under Briana Scurry. And to improve my technique, my quickness, my footwork, and my communication.

Don't get me wrong, I'm working hard, trying to do my best. But in reality, I'm not at that level yet. But I'll keep going and let things pan out. I have no idea if the third GK is coming or is on the team or not (Canada's WNT GK, Erin McLeod). She wasn't listed in the latest press release of the current preseason roster (), but maybe that's because she's with Canada in the Algarve Cup (where the USA is also). Who knows. I have no idea how things work at this level.

Well, it's about time to get to bed. We have two sessions tomorrow again, and fitness testing on Wed... YIKES! We're playing inside due to the unexpected freak amount of snow we got (6 inches!!). The floor is concrete, with a VERY THIN piece of turf on top (turf is rolled up when they have basketball games). So, it's starting to hurt and be painful while diving... and we did a LOT of hitting the ground today.

In all, this has been such a phenomenal experience and one I will NEVER forget. I'm going to continue to work as hard as I can, improve with each drill, give it my best, and continue to give my inadequacies and uncertainties to God to handle for me.

Oh, and I'm totally sick of eating out. I want a homecooked meal. Who's gonna come cook for me???? : )

Tryouts, Round #2

Got back from 2 days of tryouts last night around 10pm. We had two training sessions each day, with a little bit of relaxation in a hotel overnight Thursday night. I'll start at the beginning...

First of all, I really missed Wednesday night's pre-game party with Katie. And the drive up to DC was longer and more boring without her : (

When I showed up on Thursday, and everyone else showed up, there were 30 of us altogether--28 field players and 2 goalkeepers. GK training (well...warm-ups) were only slightly more intense. The rest of the first session was spent in 7v7 games and an 11v11 game at the end. The afternoon session was warm-up followed by 11v11 for the rest of the session.

At the end of the day, the coaches got us together and said that tomorrow would be more 11v11 than we did today... Some players wanted to play different positions, and the coaches wanted to see more decision-making.

Friday, we came out and did all that, playing more 11v11, as I continued to play well.

*A neat little side-fact... the other GK was the starting GK for the Long Island Fury of the WPSL last summer!! We played against each other in the game where we played them at our place. And...we beat 'em 2-1!!!

Anyway... after our last training session Friday, we all headed over to the indoor soccer complex and sat on the bleachers for the coaches to talk to us. Head Coach Jim Gabarra told us about their W-League team, and about their WPSL-affiliate, Hampton Roads Piranhas. He also mentioned that, obviously, they are looking for a few key positions to fill, so even if "you" were the best player at the tryouts the past two days, doesn't mean that we need you.

After all that, he read off 8 numbers that were moving on to next week's preseason camp. And my number was called!!!!!! I was shocked and so excited!!! No one showed emotion though. It was weird. I wanted to smile really really big, but felt like I couldn't.

So, us 8 went off to the side, the coaches congratulated us, and told us to report at 9am Sunday morning to get our training gear, and then for our first training session with the full team from 10am-12pm. I'm gonna be training with Brianna Scurry; Abby Wambach's gonna be shooting on me; and Cat Whitehill will be my defender!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh!!! I have pictures of them hanging in my room at home (USA WNT calendar) and in my office at school (calendar pictures)!!!!!!!!!

I'm simply speechless...

What an experience!!

So, today's tryouts rocked!! We (Katie and me) were expecting about 50 girls (from the mass email list we received Friday), but there were only 32 there. The level of play wasn't as high as we had anticipated. Some of it was due to the lack of fitness for most girls (thank goodness we've been training for 2 months!), but there was just a wide range of talent.

Both sessions were identical. Field players warmed-up while the goalkeepers (GKs) warmed-up separately. Then, all the girls were divided into four teams, and we played 3 games of 7v7/8v8. After a quick break, we played 40 mins of 11v11 (2, 20-mins halves). Then, we were finished.

I felt completely satisfied with how I did in the warm-up drills and throughout the games. "I held onto balls. I gave up very few rebounds. I communicated clearly, concisely and loudly. I got to know and used girls' names (defenders). I stopped and completely stuffed 2 of 3 breakaways. I was pumped and totally stepped up when I had to... Katie rocked it up too! She had brilliant crosses and great decision-making in the run-of-play. (journal entry).

Tonight, the email came... I've been called back!!!!!! Katie wasn't called back, but the only reason I can think of why, is that they didn't need an outside mid. I love you, Katie! You rocked it!! Keep working and trying out for teams. You will have a successful career one day!!!

I'm so excited!!!! Invite-only tryouts will be held Thursday and Friday! Yea, baby!!!!!!! : )

PreGame Rituals

Katie and I can't believe that tomorrow is finally here!!! Tomorrow, we'll be driving up to DC and training for the day with a bunch of professional soccer hopefuls like ourselves!

Tonight, we got together and did our usual pre-game rituals that we would perform before games in high school and college, since the occasion was similar. Katie came over and we ate some Stouffer's Italian Lasagna!! Then, while we put in the movie "Miracle", Katie was looking up some songs to put on two pump-up CD's to listen to on the way up to DC, while I mixed up and baked oatmeal raisin and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. And can I just say... those were the best cookies I ever made!!! And Katie agreed! The last thing we did, then, was to polish our cleats until they shined!!! It was a great night of relaxing and getting our focus for tomorrow's tryouts.

So, here's to hoping that pasta, an incredible sports movie, energy cookies (for the trip), good pump-up CD's, and polishing our shoes leads us to a great tryout and some great memories!!

An excerpt from my journal tonight...

It's finally here! All the long-distant running, the sprints, agility, push-ups, abs workouts, lifting and footwork will be on display in less than 12 hours from now.

This is what I've been dreaming about ever since I was in elementary school. This is what's kept me going through middle school, high school, and college. This is what keeps me going now.

Somehow I thought I would "feel" something. Sheer excitement. Unbridled joy (no pun intended). The enormity of this opportunity. Something... And even as I was talking with Katie tonight (who feels the same), maybe it's because we are the underdogs. We have nothing to lose. And everything to prove. We're coming from tiny high schools and a small college. We're virtually unknown. No one at tryouts will have ever seen us play. We have the opportunity to go out there and impress.

When I go out there tomorrow, and I go throughout the two tryout sessions, I will be 100% focused on my goal at hand--to show off the talent God has blessed me with.

I'm going to be the brick wall. Strikers' worst nightmare. I'm gonna be me. I'm gonna give it my all. I'm gonna be positive. I'm gonna talk. I'm gonna dominate. I'm gonna command my box--MY HOUSE!!! And I'm gonna have fun!! Woohoo!!!

The question Katie and I keep coming back to over and over and over and over again, is...

WHY NOT?!

training...

Training is going well! Some days are (and feel) better than others, while some days are ones in which you look outside, see how cold it is, FEEL how cold it is, and you just want to crawl back in bed. Others are full of other daily activities in which I'm involved, thus making training shorter than needed or nonexistent on the rare occasion.

With Katie student-teaching (go katie!) and me teaching, it's hard to find time to get together to push each other in sprints, or to just get some good touches on the ball. It's so hard working out by myself. I think I'd rather roll around in pig manure than workout on my own (oh wait, been there, done that)! But I keep counting down the days until tryouts, and reminding myself that someone out there is training and working out, and if I don't do it, someone will take my spot on a roster somewhere.

"Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming..."

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