Chasing Leather in BOCHUM


Football FREEEE afternoon in Bochum involves wandering aimlessly in the city centre and stumbling upon a cute little cafe tucked inside a side street just away from the main drag. You know your in luck when they have soy milk (have not been able to locate any all trip)... Poor me right ;) Ahhhhh a soy latte. Such a treat. You know you lead a pretty simple life in camp when a coffee is your escape. Bliss. The company helps also…... Thanks ladies.

Our excursion in to the city was cut short, getting back to the hotel was a must for a meeting. Your mind & body is snapped back in to football mode. I'm intrigued as to how we all manage to 'switch on' when it's required- at times in a matter of minutes.

Speaking of "switching on", since my return to football I've been encouraged by my Sports Psychologist to engage with a certain technique they call imagery. It's quite common for athletes to use visualization - when they picture in their minds making a certain pass, striking the ball, or jumping a certain distance, but I've been encouraged to use imagery.

This technique encompasses the use of your immediate senses, FEELING and SEEING. You imagine FEELING the way you anticipate your body reacting to the crowd - the intensity of the game- making mistakes. You imagine SEEING yourself making a forward run, tackle, how you want to react if you make a mistake.

If you set a couple of minutes aside for this then, without playing the entire game out in your head, you will actually feel as if you've experienced situations throughout the game. Then the task at hand doesn't feel so daunting. Like most mental techniques this is all good in theory, but application is the tricky bit!!

We have been together as a squad now for several weeks and this is the time where little things begin to bother you. From previous experiences this environment can swallow you whole, unless one can reconnect with reality. Chatting with family and friends away from the immediate environment helps, but diversions like reading a book, or consciously stepping away and having a football free afternoon work best. Exploring the city of Bochum has been a nice outlet, travelling through unfamiliar cities adds an important element to the journey.

There is something uniquely special about your family being able to travel as a result of your football - or at least knowing that it has provided the motivation for them to become international travelers.

Family and friends coming along for the journey enhances the excitement and experience ten-fold. The buzz I get from interacting with family post game is hard to describe in words and most of the girls feel the same way. I would best describe it as feeling like love in it's rawest form but, while the majority of us have family over here supporting, we need to remember the family and friends back home….. someone has to hold the fort!!!!

Looking ahead, we need also to make use of the disappointment and frustration we felt after the Brazil match. We have had a lot of support and positive feedback regarding our performances but this is no longer in our thoughts…..We have now re-focused...

You know you're in the thick of a tournament when teams are being eliminated. You pass them in the hotel foyer and feel their despair and disappointment. In no way you want to experience that feeling anytime soon.

My advice from all this - "In order to discover the un-known you must choose the path less travelled". This view can be taken as seriously or as flippantly as you'd like…... In my case (for today) it paid off, I had my soy latte :)