Here we come Japan…

Well if you were in the South Bay (CA) around 5am on Wednesday morning, you would have been either at the door cheering with us or wishing that you had some peace and quiet.

I joined Abby to catch the game and it was very interesting experience for us. There was nothing we could do, just scream and cheer at the TV. Sometimes it felt like we thought the girls could actually hear us!

(And, Tash…I mean was she really trying to get me emotional before the whistle even blew. The first thing I saw was a big number 4 and 20, I looked at Abby and said “Oh my gosh, that is amazing!!!” Abby looked at me funny and realized that I didn’t see the number 12. Seriously that was so special for me!! Thank you Tash and the team for thinking about us three!)

I learned a lot watching Wednesday’s game from both player and coach aspects. This would be a challenging situation for any coach or player…

For coaches…If your team was in this must-win situation, what would you be telling your team and how would you handle the situation?

For players….Would you as a player want to focus on going over tactics and the instances where the team broke down, or would you want to focus on the positive and only look forward going into the next game?

There is now a huge challenge in front of us, but we wouldn’t be where we are now if we hadn’t shown over many years our strength within. A loss is not the ideal way to start an Olympics but it is our reality. Sometimes you can train and prepare as much as you possibly can, but it’s how you deal with it in the moment. Our team has shown over and over that we can overcome any challenge put in front of us.

As Diane De Poitiers said, “Courage is as often the outcome of despair as of hope: in the one case we have nothing to lose, in the other, everything to gain.” Now the team will have to dig even deeper and come together. I’m sure they can do it and I’m sending Pia and all my teammates the best of luck!

Now hopefully everyone can go and get some sleep before the late night (or early morning for you East Coasters) begins!