Maria and Marissa Mohammed have agreed to share their experience with the Trinidad & Tobago national women's team as they attempt to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. They will provide regular reports from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Day 1: March 28, 2008
A long day of traveling for us. We had three different flights until we landed here in Ciudad Juarez. Our trip started out with a flight departing from Tampa and arriving in Miami. It was the quickest flights out of all of them! Then we flew from Miami to Mexico City. It was longer but we slept most of the flight. Once we landed in Mexico City we had a four hour layover. It was a little unsettling for us not knowing our surroundings and English not being the main language. However, four of our other teammates met up with us to wait for our next flight so we felt a little more comfortable once they arrived. Our last flight was from Mexico City to Ciudad Juarez. We arrived there at 11pm but we are three hours behind here so it was about 2am Eastern Standard time in the U.S. It had been such a tiring day that we went to sleep as soon as we got to our hotel and was given our room.
Day 2: March 29, 2008
We got up nice and early for breakfast at 7:30am. After breakfast we had our first training session 9:30-11:30am. Training went well, we finally have the entire team together so we can mesh before the tournament begins. All the girls are extremely nice and we have a good time together. The coaching staff is also very supportive and is taking good care of us. Also, we are very much protected here because we have police cars that surround us as we travel to and from the fields. After lunch we had some time to relax before our 2nd training session. It was lighter than the first one, just keeping our legs warm and working on formations. We got back to the hotel around 7:00ish, ate dinner and then were able to relax the rest of the night.
Day 3: March 30, 2008
Breakfast was again at 7:30am. Just like yesterday we had our first training session at 9:30-11:30am and then lunch. We had a break in which we took a nap. Instead of a 2nd regular training session we scrimmaged a men's pro team that is 2nd in their division here in Mexico. They were very fast and skillful but our team played well and for playing against men we held our own. After the game, it seemed like we were in some kind of a photo shoot! Natives of Mexico as well as the men's team were asking for our autographs and asking if we would take pictures with them. It was nice getting attention from people that we did not even know. We returned back to the hotel, everyone showered and then we had dinner. Once dinner was over we had to get our I'd. passes for the tournament. We had a short meeting with the coaching staff and then we were let go for the rest of the night.