This is my first post since joining the Portland Thorns of the NWSL. If you weren't aware that I changed teams, now you know. I made the daring move from my "comfortable" life overseas back to the country I was born in. I imagine people have been dying for a post about the Thorns. I feel like they want to read about how Christine Sinclair never misses a shot in training or how Alex Morgan has a professional hairstylist straighten her pony tail every day for training. Or maybe how Rachel Buehler randomly tackles complete strangers while walking down the street. Haha - what? None of those things are true.
Read MoreI read today on Twitter that you should have the last sentence of your novel finished before you have your first sentence. I think that's true whenever I start to write. I know how it will end up, but i's always the most difficult to begin. So, now that you know you're with me through the most difficult part, maybe we have made some sort of connection. The beginning, of anything, is always the toughest. You are in a transition phase. You're learning. You don't quite understand the people around you or the process that is required. It's a lot like starting with a new team. What worked for one coach won't work for another. And you'll have a different assortment of teammates no matter where you go, especially different countries.
Read MoreIt usually takes a lot of thinking to get to this point. The point where I'm sitting at my desk listening to some song that has no words by a dude born in the 1700s, looking at a blank post, eagerly awaiting those first few words. It takes even more actually to type though. Sometimes themes are more obvious than others. Sometimes it's just one instance that triggers a thought; sometimes it's a series of different instances with the same idea behind it. And that's what it has been like this time.
Read MoreWhat does it really mean to nutmeg someone in soccer? After doing extensive (typing the word “nutmeg” into Google) research, I found this on Wikipedia:
“The most likely source, however, was postulated by Peter Seddon in his book "Football Talk - The Language And Folklore Of The World's Greatest Game".[3] The word arose because of a sharp practice used in nutmeg exports between America and England. "Nutmegs were such a valuable commodity that unscrupulous exporters were to pull a fast one by mixing a helping of wooden replicas into the sacks being shipped to England," writes Seddon. "Being nutmegged soon came to imply stupidity on the part of the duped victim and cleverness on the part of the trickster." It soon caught on in football, implying that the player whose legs the ball had been played through had been tricked, or, nutmegged.”
Read MoreIf you're familiar with 80s music then maybe you know where my title came from. I had my iTunes on shuffle and this Olivia Newton-John song came on. I didn't even know it was on my iTunes at all. This line "you have to believe we are magic" really got me thinking. The idea that we are "magic" is more true than any other I have heard about the human race.
Magic: Dictionary DefinitionNoun: The power of influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces Adjective: Used in magic or working by magic; having or apparently having supernatural powers
Read MoreAs we drove up the winding, snowy hills to our destination, a few things were immediately obvious. 1. We weren’t going shopping in any kind of downtown Helsinki coffee shop infested areas 2. It was borderline creepy how smoothly we were driving on so much snow and 3. Any minute now we would run into a huge candy cane sign that said “North Pole”. But whatever. We didn’t care. We just wanted to get to our beds ASAP. We had left Hjørring at 2pm and arrived to the training center at 2am. Twelve-hour travel days are the best.
Read MoreAs I was sitting on the plane from Newark to Amsterdam, beginning my journey back to Hjørring for the second part of the season, so many thoughts went through my head. I was having what I like to call unorganized thoughts, or mixed emotions.
For the most part in my life, I know what I feel when I feel it, and usually my emotions have been on par to the situation at hand. If I score a goal or we win a game, I'm happy; if I lose something I'm frustrated with myself; if I don't finish a workout I'm disappointed in myself etc.
Read MoreA couple weeks ago I listened to my first audio book while I was driving in the car to pick up a friend at the airport. The book was called "What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast" (it's $2 in iTunes). It sparked a ton of ideas, but none more important to me than timing the things I do each day. How long does it take to get ready?
How long does it take to drive to the gym?
How long does it take to chop vegetables for the week
Read MoreI finally finished reading Soccer Tough by Dan Abrahams this week. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Abrahams, he is a sports psychologist who focuses on soccer and golf. He has worked with some top players in the English Premier League and lower leagues in England to improve performance. As with most psychologists, he had a lot of great things to say that we “already know” but rarely practice. It’s amazing in sports how much of performance is mental and how little time is spent on that area
Read MoreSince the holiday season is among us, I thought it be best to provide a List of Holiday Ridiculousness so that everyone can join in on the ridiculousness together. Forever!
1. Don't go shopping on the weekends. There are ways around it
2. If you don't know what to buy someone, maybe just talk to them once a month or something
3. If you're a radio station and your ratings have dropped... not all the music has to be holiday music. Just sprinkle it in.
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