Today, this morning we had an early practice. Boys' practice was cancelled so some of the guys wanted to come with us to help us get ready for the game. It was very helpful for me. In practice I was mostly working with the boy goalkeeper and other two guys shooting the balls at us. It was very useful to me because they had stronger legs than girls would in soccer game so if I could stop their shots, then I can stop anybody's!!! =)

After practice, the captain wanted to have a quick meeting with the team before lunch. She was a little nervous about the game and worried that most of the girls weren't focused and are thinking that the final game will be an easy game since we killed Germany 4-0. But they can take it from us if we play like crap like the game against Great Britain. I felt the same way our captain did. She challenged us to prove her that we really want to win this GOLD medal and how much we care about this game. So I think everybody will be more calm and focused on the game tomorrow. 

When the meeting was over, half of the team decided to go to the men's semi-final basketball game and other half went to the final volleyball game. I didn't really want to go out so I was the only staying at the hotel relaxing till it was time to go to the track meet to support our girl. Our girl did great job but unfortunately few other teams were too fast. But we will win the GOLD medal with her tomorrow night!!!

I cannot wait for tomorrow night. It's going to be a very long restless day but I will do my best to try and relax and maybe get a nap in the afternoon before game. We will be going to the boys' game in the morning where they will be playing for 7th place, I believe. Then after that, we probably will have a meeting with the coaches to go over everything and rest for the rest of the day. 

Again, the final game is at 7:00 PM in Taiwan time on Monday so that mean it will be 7:00 AM on Monday in Eastern time. This is the correct link, deaflympics.tv 

no dot com or anything like that. Just the way I typed it, you can just copy and paste it if that's the best way. Tomorrow, I think I might write a new blog a few hours before the game. It won't be much but I might have something to say =)!!!

Today, we had a day off (not what I was expecting after yesterday's game). But I guess it was needed for those who need to heal from the game, we have two girls that can barely walk without pain. But I know they are taking it easy and doing everything they can do to help it heal faster. I woke up earlier than most of the girls since three other girls and I wanted to do laundry before we go support one of our girls in track. We walked over to the big laundry place, there weren't very many people there. So the three girls and I got to know each other more and talked about what we want to do in our future. 

After laundry, we had to take a cab back to the hotel since we were running late and had to meet with the rest of the team to go support our track girl. We made it on time, luckily. But two other track teams had dropped out and there was only 8 other teams. All of them made it  to the finals without a race. So there was no race today, the finals race is tomorrow in the afternoon. Not sure if we would be able to support her since I have no idea what time is practice for tomorrow. 

We went to the Deaflympics store which I had already gone with my family other day. I bought some more stuff for other friends that I just thought of. I hope they will be happy with it =). Then we went back to the hotel to relax and wait for our assistant coach to go to Taipei 101. Since I had already gone, I decided to stay in with one of the girls who had gotten injured in the last game. The trainer told her not to walk as much so I kept her accompany. We decided to go meet my family at a jade market that is only open on the weekend. The jade market is like black market in New York City where you see series of tables with bunch of valuables things on tables waiting to be sold. It was amazing and most of the stuff were made of jade stone!!! Some were very cheap and some were expensive. Got myself some cool stuff for my small statues collection.

We were getting hungry so we decided to go to a resturantt that's famous. Modern Toilet Restaurant. That's the name of it. And it is exactly what it is in the name. There were toilet seats as chairs, bathtubs with glass on top of it as tables, and small toilets as plates. I thought it was sooo funny and I was a little weird out eating my meal out of a toilet, haha! There was even dessert. Can you guess what kind of dessert it was? Ice cream that shapes like poop. Yes, no joke here, haha. I'm being serious. I took pictures of everything. I will post them as soon as I download the pictures =).

Finally we get back to the hotel to regroup with the team. We found out that they were already getting ready to go back out to watch the women's basketball game. I decided not to go and hopped into a cold water pool to cool my legs and bad thumb off with one of the girls who's injured. It felt pretty good, similar to hot tub but cold and it was nice. 

Nothing else special happened today, we haven't seen the coach all day. Probably because the boys had a really bad game this morning. They had a game against Argentina. From what I hear, a few players got hurt badly in the game, many cards including red card, and terrible refs. There were several elbows or tackles and the refs would not call them against Argentina but make the worst call against US team when they had done nothing. Here's the link to the article if you are interested in reading about it. http://www.usdeaflympics.org/articles/article/2009/sep/12/argentina-elbows-us-2-0/

As for the final game for us women. It is on Monday September 14 at 7:00 PM. That's what the schedule is saying. It's bound to change, if it does, I will let you know as soon as possible. I just found out some of the girls' family back home were able to watch the last game against Great Britain online, I hope it worked for you guys too!!. The final game will be live online or at least 30 seconds delay =). I'm positive this is the correct link to be able to watch the game.

 deaflympics.tv

No .com or anything like that, just .tv

That's it. Trust me, I have tested just few hours ago watching the women's basketball game online, it was actually pretty exciting game!!! Go USA!!!

This morning, I said in the last blog I was dedicating the game to 9/11/01. I wrote 9/11/01 on my water bottle and the tape on my hand. I will never forget 9/11/01.

So the game against Great Britain. How do I explain this? We won but not in a way I thought we would win. The score was 2-1. Yes, I didn't get my 3rd shut-out. I was very disappointed in myself and upset. Overall the team, USA, played slow and like crap the entire game. I could see oppinurities the girls had to steal the ball or pass the ball or score but they didn't take it. I was yelling at the girls so loud that the stands could hear me. I know the team is deaf but I had to try. Nobody was looking behind to communicate with me but that's not their fault. It's just part of the deaf game. 

How did I lose my shut-out? It happened so fast. One of our girls had fouled a Great Britain player just outside of the box on my left side. They get a free kick, I called for 3-person wall to block the ball. They lined up and I told some of the girls inside the box to man up everyone and not let the ball bounce once. The kicker strike the ball and one of the girls from Great Britain headed toward to the ball and tried to head it in the goal but it was too far for her so she kicked it with her knee. I saw the ball was going left so I dove left and had my left hand on the ball. I thought I had blocked it out but the force I gave wasn't enough. The ball didn't go outside the post, it went in. I was devastated. But I knew the game wasn't over just yet. 

For the rest of 15 minutes after the goal I had missed, I made sure I didn't give them a chance to get another goal to tied the game. After the game, I gave everybody on Great Britain team a hug and that they played a good game. Then as we cooled down as a team, I wasn't smiling or joking around with the girls. I know we had won and that we are going to the finals but I wanted to achieve my goal of 4 shut-outs. Now I can only get 3 if I get one at the final game. 

And the worst timing ever, I had been randomly selected for drug testing. Come on, right after the game? And when I was just too upset to do anything? But I didn't have any choices so one of the girls and I went to the staduim where they held drug testing. It took them 3 hours to finally let us go after giving them cup of pee. One of the girls and I were very hungry and tired, we had gotten back to the hotel to find out the rest of the team had pizza. So we ordered ourselves pizza for lunch.

The rest of the day was not anything I would want to mention in the blog. It's not worth it. But tomorrow, we will be supporting one of our girls in track. Yes, we have a girl that compete in two sports in Deaflympics. She's amazing and have so much energy. We will support her then we probably will have practice in the afternoon.

Before I get ready for the big game against Great Britain, I just wanted to say one more thing  in case I forget later.

Today is September 11 in Taiwan time. I will never forget that day, 9/11/01. Since my team and I represent our country, USA, I have decided to dedicate my game today for those who have lost their lives, family, friends, and heros. I will do my best and get my 3rd shut-outs for them. Go USA and may everyone from 9/11/01 rest in peace.

Today was a really weird and hard day for me because I woke up with a even worse cold. I didn't even get to sleep much. My entire head was hurting and stuffed up. Few of the girls told me to wake up because I looked like I was tired as heck. I couldn't really open my eyes because I was really stuffed up. I would've gotten some cold medicine but we are in Taiwan so I had to deal with it and drink plenty of liquid. 

We had an early practice at 8:00 this morning before the boys' game against Russia. Practice was pretty good, I noticed everyone was focused and working very hard. I finally got the chance to practice, YAY!!! I told myself that whenever I play soccer, I just turn off my sickness and turn on my game face. Because I'm not planning to let my team down just cause I'm sick. It's the damn GOLD medal that's on the line here!!!

We went to the boys' game, it was already 20 minutes into and they were down by 0-2. I was a little surprised so were the rest of the girls. We tried to support them by pumping them up and cheer them on like we have been doing the last 2 games for them. It was not their day. They had lost 0-5 to Russia. They will still have 1 or two more games to fight for 5th place. Hopefully they will work hard to get there.

After we got back to the hotel from the game, I was feeling even worse and we were supposed to go to lunch as a team. I talked to one of the captains on the team and asked if it was ok that I stayed in and sleep to get better for the second practice. She understood so I went to my room and sleep for 2 hours. I wasn't feeling any better, just even more tired. But I would suck it up and go to 2nd practice in the gym. I ran for 25 minutes on the treadmill and did some abs workouts like we did yesterday. Finally we were done for the day, I cleaned up myself and went to take another nap for 3 hours. I felt a little bit better at dinner but couldn't eat as much as I used to. 

After dinner, we had a team meeting with the coaches about the big game tomorrow morning against Great Britain. The coaches made some changes in offenses and defenses. It seems like it is a lot but I have faith in my teammates and that we will win if we just work hard for 90 minutes of the game. Coaches said that everybody should breathing hard during the game and after the game. He also said I might be able to get away with that but should have some mud on my sleeve. I told him that he got it. I'm going to give it my best, 150%, not 100% just cause I'm a little sick. Please, I want the GOLD, not Silver, not Bronze. The nice shiny GOLD medal. Go USA!!!

Game is September 11 at 9:30 AM meaning SEPTEMBER 10 AT 9:30 PM IN OHIO. 

I have no idea what link is working, you can try all three. I think, I think there will be a live blog of the game at usdeaflympics.org. Sorry, I don't have any more information about it.

This morning was full of confusion and drama. First I finally got to see a doctor about my throat, I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to prevent it getting worse. Just drink plenty of liquids and he gave some cough drops, that really helped, thanks doc!!! We went to the game between Russia and Great Britain. On the bus on the way there, we had a meeting with the team and coaches. Apparently, few of the girls "abused" the freedom we had been given the last two days. I wasn't happy to hear that. So the coaches were disappointed and upset, I would be if I was the coach so I can't blame them. Since we are a team, just couple individuals, there were some consequences. We won't be having as much freedom as much we used to and had two practices today.

We watched the game and paid attention to the players that we need to watch out for from whichever team we will be playing on Friday at 9:30 AM (Thursday September 10 at 9:30 PM). I was paying a lot of attention on how some players took their shots at the goal or the way they showed aggression to the goalkeeper. Wanted to be ready for some tough one-on-one if there's any!!! I made some notes and talked to the coaches about what I felt we should think about trying something different to dominate either teams. The coaches told me they will analyze the game and team tonight and hopefully we will be able to work on it tomorrow morning practice. Russia beat Great Britain 6-2 so we will be playing Great Britain on Friday and Russia on Monday. I say we play Russia on Monday because I believe we will beat Great Britain and advance to the FINAL!!! 

Our first practice was in the gym at the hotel, 8 players on a cardio machines and other 8 on abs workouts. I felt pretty good after running for 25 minutes and series of abs workouts. Then we had an hour and half break before the 2nd practice. The 2nd practice, we didn't have a practice field to practice on since our schedule practice was yesterday and we were supposed to have game today so I was kinda disappointed about that, I wanted to practice yesterday but can't have everything, can I? So we walked to the nearby park, it wasn't a great park but it had a very small soccer field with no goal and hard ground. I knew I wasn't going to be able to work on my goalkeeping. We mostly worked on our footwork and protecting the ball. I gave it all I got even thought I wasn't that much of a field player but nobody can say I didn't try my best =).

After practices and dinner, we had a quick meeting with the coaches. The coaches wanted to remind us to stay focused and not be influenced by any outside negative vibe (family or close friends who heard about drama and complain about it). I thought the coaches were right. Before the games started, we were on a roll and very focused and didn't see them at all. When the games started, family and friends came to support us and we were able to see them and talk to them anytime we aren't playing soccer. I know I need to limit my time with my family because I really, really want to focus and get that GOLD medal. 

Tomorrow morning, we got an early practice at 8 then go support our boys as they will take on Russia in their first ever Quarter-final game in the Deaflympics history for USA!!! Go USA!!!!

This morning was a very interesting morning, let me tell you about it. The boys had a game against the 6-time world championship team, the gold medalist from 2005, Great Britain. Yesterday, I was talking to one of the boys on the team and he was not thinking positive and thought they might not do well. I told him that he needed to be positive and believe, a miracle can happen. The score was 3-1...USA won!!!! They came from behind in first half after trailing by 0-1. After the boys scored to break the tie 1-1 into 2-1, everyone went wild, even the boys on the field!!! It was so awesome seeing such a great comeback and beating the gold medalist from 2005 and advancing to the next round!!! They made history this morning, the USA men's soccer never made it to the 2nd round before. So there was a lot to celebrate today!

After the boys game, most of the girls decided to go out and watch some other games such as volleyball, track, and basketball. I decided not to go anywhere since I wasn't feeling very well. This morning I woke up with no voice, yea that wasn't so good. So I just ended up taking it easy today. Went to the Deaflympics store with one of the girls to get some gifts for friends and family. Hope they will love it when I give it to them!

We didn't have practice today, just a day off since we will have tomorrow and the next day before our semi-final game. From what I know about our schedule for tomorrow, we will be watching a soccer game between Great Britain and Russia since we will be playing either of the team in the semi-final and final game. It will be very useful and helpful for me because then I will know which player from each team is very good forward. I will be taking some mental notes of them =). I really want the GOLD so I gotta do what I need to do to get it!!!