Day 3

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Today was the first day of intense training, as the girls had 2 sessions and a game. The sun was out all day, with blue skies and temperatures in the mid 60's.

Following breakfast, we rented bikes, crossed our fingers, and pedaled to training. We were greeted by Ber, our KNVB trainer for the week, who has been working with Far Post groups for nearly two decades. He showed up in a 'Far Post 2006' hat to prove it!

Behr put the girls through their paces, starting with the infamous Rondo game and a warm-up that the girls felt was more of a fitness exercise. He was impressed: "Very well, BUT tomorrow we'll make the pitch a little bit smaller, and I'll look again" he said with a smile on his face.

The session continued, with a heavy emphasis on possession and ball retention (sound familiar Far Posters??).

On our way to afternoon training, Jos took the group on a slight detour and we ended up in Belgium! Border jokes were rife... "I feel uncomfortable that my coaches are in a different country" and "It's warmer in Belgium, can we stay here??" were some of the more memorable.

Following the afternoon session, a group of young Dutch kids (9 and 10 years old) stormed the field and challenged our girls to a little game of pick-up. The girls obliged, but I'm not sure they knew what they were getting themselves into! We eventually had to drag them from the field, with the score locked firmly at 2-2.

Our first match of the trip kicked off at 6:30pm against local team RKHSV. It was a bumpy grass field, which took the girls a while to settle on, but late first half goals from Elizah and Ava proved to be the difference as we came out 2-0 winners, with a Woman of the Match performance in goal by Jordon. Our girls looked to be the stronger side throughout, and dominated possession, but both teams had a number of chances.

Following the match, both teams shook hands with smiles on their faces, and headed upstairs to the club canteen. They had no problem chatting about soccer, shopping, and music with the Dutch girls. The opposing coach even struck a deal behind the backs of our coaching staff where the girls would skip training tomorrow and go shopping in Maastricht instead! They were all about it, but needless to say this will not be happening.

After we said our goodbyes, we headed back to the hostel for a late dinner and team meetings. After 6 hours of soccer today, the girls will be sleeping well tonight, with the same itinerary set for tomorrow.