Senior Women European Championships: Indoor

Almeria, Spain.

Diary Day 1: Tuesday 22 January 2008:  Carmin Dow and Lindsay Glass

After the success enjoyed at the Burlington Cup in Vienna we were all looking forward to the journey to the Europeans in Spain. 

As usual the day started early for those living in Dundee, but the early morning blow was softened by a warm luxurious trip on the Dundee Wanderers minibus expertly driven by Mr Ward.  Despite this early morning start some members of the party (Shepherd, Lyon) required a final boarding and “your bags will be removed” call.

After a rather bumpy flight and landing we arrived in Malaga where we were to embark on a long and dangerous road trip along the Andalucian coastline.  With members of the management team at the wheel of three people carriers we were surely in safe hands!  It’s just as well we had a TomTom to navigate the way...

After a few toilet stops, some spilt milk and a third of the convoy going AWOL for a period, we finally arrived.  The next task was to conquer the hotel car park, the entrance to which resembled the “tower of terror”.  After assistant coach Strachan puzzled over gaining access to the car park for the best part of twenty minutes we realised that a lift took the car down to the car park.  The second car in line was not looking forward to the lift journey when the first car dropped a foot on entering and the doors shut while the occupants were still screaming!

After our adventures we were of course starving so we made our way to Almeria’s finest tapas bar.  A fine display of quality lingo from Miss Bryce allowed the team to feast well.  Of course the GKs were lost without the usual translation provided by our GK coach Mr Farnan and ended up with a couple of toasties. 

We are looking forward to getting on to the court tomorrow and can’t wait for our first game on Friday morning against Ukraine.

Day 2: Wednesday 23rd January: Amy Rowan and Emma Rochlin

Today began with a respectable 9am breakfast.  Little did we know it was going to turn into a marathon day!  With training planned for the afternoon we set off for the beach for a running session to get yesterday’s journey out of our legs. 

After Marg successfully manoeuvred her car back up the lift, we gathered for a run along the promenade with Kiddo setting the tempo and Shep bringing up the rear. This was followed by some highly competitive team races on the beach that was to test co-ordination and balance but left some members of the squad eating sand.

With the ‘wacky-races’ over some of the braver members opted for a swim in the not so hot Mediterranean while the rest watched on from the safety of the shore – or so birthday girl Lindsay Glass thought!  There was no chance of ‘little’ Lindsay escaping Kareena Marshall’s bear hug and she was unceremoniously dunked in the sea (revenge is being plotted).

Training in the afternoon gave us time to scope out the venue, which is a 10 minute walk from our hotel.  We are all happy with the venue which has a great floor for indoor hockey.

We thought our work for the day was done and were beginning to wind down and glam up for dinner when we received a last minute change of plan.  Austria requested a game at 9.30pm!

The squad delivered and defeated Austria a convincing 6-2.  Shattered we fell into bed finally around midnight.

Day 3: Thursday 24th January: Jaime Lyon and Becky Ward

On what was meant to be our quietest day of the week, we started our day like any other with a morning mobility session followed by breakfast. Most people took the opportunity to stuff their faces, knowing there was nothing pencilled in until our training session at 1pm.

During the morning most people decided to use their time wisely to either study or rest up after the nightshift game versus Austria the previous evening. There was a steady flow of human traffic into our room all using the phrase of “can I check my emails” hence no sleep for us!!!

When 12.30 came around we set off for training all wearing our Kukri t-shirts wafting with the aroma of sweat from last night’s game, apart from Kiddo and Jules who turned their room into a launderette after suffering insomnia from THAT game.

Training was competitive as always, mainly working on tactics for our opening game against Ukraine.

We arrived back at the hotel for showers and a buffet lunch at café M&M (Marg & Mags) before settling down for some “swot” analysis video work, where we were split into two teams and asked to comment on previous Ukrainian encounters.

Some of the girls received news that the travelling tartan army hockey fan club had arrived, and some even managed to blag their way into the team hotel! (Mr & Mrs Bryce)

The final duty of the day was attending the official welcoming reception led by the organizers (which had its usual stimulating effect, although we did get some freebies consisting of a t-shirt, badges and a key-ring). This was followed by dinner and film club for the young ones and coffee club for the “more experienced campaigners”.

Tomorrow is a big day and the squad are under no illusion of the task that lies ahead and are all ready to pull on the blue jersey and do Scotland proud.

Day 4: Friday 25th January: Julie Bryce and Nikki Kidd

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…

After 2 days of preparation and acclimatisation (no sunbathing though!) the competition finally gets under-way. 

We got going with the morning routine – mobility and breakfast, followed by the all important team meeting.  As Sheppy talked tactics, the team received an unexpected bonus with a good luck phone call from Kev ‘the Video Monkey’ Farnan, as always keeping us upbeat and amused, even from far away sunny Dundee. 

Knowing the first game against the Ukraine was critical due to the cutthroat nature of the tournament, we all felt well prepared, confident and determined to continue our 9 game unbeaten run.

After a great warm up we were all fired up and ready to go.  A goal in the first 30 seconds set us up nicely for a 3-2 lead at half time.  With the Scottish support (and the majority of the Spanish support!) cheering us on we continued with our high pace and high tempo game cumulating in a 7-4 win – what a start to the tournament! 

Captain Carmin kept us in the game with 2 outstanding penalty flick saves.   After the game we enjoyed some well-earned R&R and a good feed. 

Job half done.

Italy , however, was a different story.  Again we were well prepared and confident of getting a result we felt we deserved. 

Throughout the game our work rate was second to none. However we spurned opportunities and a few defensive errors cost us dearly, with Italy scoring 2 in the last 5 minutes resulting in a 4-3 score line.  Our spirits were obviously low, but we knew all was not lost so we approached the post match analysis in a positive frame of mind in order to give us the best chance of reaching the semis.

As tradition goes, Scotland never make it easy for themselves.  So, tomorrow against Germany, the European Champions, we will have to dig deep and give the performance of our lives in what is the most important game of the tournament.

Day 5: Saturday 26th January: Cat Forrest and Vikki Bunce

Our day began as usual with a morning walk and stretch followed by another excellent breakfast at the hotel.   Team briefing was next on the agenda as our 1st game was scheduled for 11.10 against the reigning European Champions – Germany. 

Spirits were high, having bounced back well after the Italian defeat.  The youngsters of the squad led the way with buoyant chat having watched the inspirational movie “Miracle” the night before, topped with some encouraging texts from parents. So we head off for the game armed with our tactics, but still with half an eye on the previous result, determining what we needed to do against the Germans. 

During the warm up the coaching staff confidently addressed the team to emphasise that the game was to be centred around our performance and not what had just gone with the Ukrainians and Italians, meaning that we did not know our situation with goals for, goals against – leaving us with a clear mind set, no distractions.  It was all about us!

We’ve never been so happy to lose a game 8-2 in our lives!  Job done – we’re in the semi finals – exactly where we deserve to be!  It’s not often that you get a second chance after a slip up the previous day, but hey, we’re Scottish, we never do it the easy way and sometimes we deserve a bit of luck. 

A gutsy performance by the girls, led by Captain Dow and some excellent tactical decisions allowed us to do what had to be done.

After lunch we had an hour or so to regain our focus from the previous game and start concentrating on what was to come.  The Belarusian’s seemed overjoyed to be facing us in the semi-final; little did they know that our coaching team had set out an excellent game plan for the girls to put into action. 

We started the game well, going a goal ahead, much to the Belarusians’ frustration.  What followed was a game played from the heart with outstanding performances throughout.  The girls gave it their all, the tactics were spot on.   

Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be, we feel that we could not have done anymore and certainly did not get the run of a few umpiring decisions.  The game finished 4-3 and to say that the whole squad was gutted is an understatement.  Had we stepped off the pitch losing to a better side we would have taken it on the chin, however losing as a result of a few crucial decisions is so hard to take. 

Spirits in the camp have been low since the end of the game, but now it’s time to regroup and pull ourselves together to face the Current World Champions, Holland tomorrow. 

Today we put in not one, but two great performances, performances that we are all proud of.

Day 6: Sunday 27th January 2008: Kareena Marshall & Amy Gibson

After the disappointment of our game against Belarus, it was important that we put it behind us and focused on our second chance of a European medal. Preparation was, as normal, with early morning mobility and breakfast, and again the superb coaching team were able to devise a game plan to hopefully penetrate the “orange machine” that is Holland.

With some great team work and a fantastic finish at a corner by Vikki Bunce, we were only a goal behind at half time, with a 2-1 score. Unfortunately the Dutch line was difficult to penetrate and the game was lost 4-1, this was not before youngster Amy Gibson made her debut in the tournament and kept a clean sheet.

With the gold medal going to Germany, silver to Belarus and bronze to Holland, it was not all doom and gloom. We had plenty to celebrate when our outstanding captain Carmin Dow was presented with goalkeeper of the tournament, an award undoubtedly deserved for a brilliant performance all weekend.

So, with one trophy in hand it was time to prepare for what was to be a very special night, my (Kareena or better known as Kaz) 21st birthday! The theme was ‘sparkle’ and the effort put into outfits was much appreciated.

In particular to the men, Coach Shepherd with his golden stars, Davie Stott looking camp as Christmas, Callum McLeod with spectacular floral collets and red afro, and Mr Strachan was looking like something from a horror drag movie.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the supporters that made their way out to Almeria; we couldn’t have done it without you.  Also, once again thanks the coaching and management team for doing such a great job. A successful trip was had and it is evident that Scotland is and will remain a force to be reckoned with in the near future.

The Scottish Ladies Indoor Hockey Team 2008.