FTC Video Blog

The Women's National Full-Time Training centre commenced on Monday, January 10th in Winnipeg Manitoba. There are 5 girls currently training in the centre. One of them, Claire Hanna, has decided to document her experience in FTC as part of her journey in trying to make it to the 2012 London Olympics. Click here to see her exciting blog!

Men's National Team Blog - Fred Winters

Blogger: Fred Winters
Hometown: Vancouver, B.C
Position: Left Side
Current Location: Friedrichshafen , Germany

 

My mom ALWAYS told me to go with my gut. I should have listened. Being from the Pacific Northwest pre-disposed me to route for the ‘local’ teams. Before the Grizzlies, that meant the Sonics, Mariners, Canucks, Lions, and Seahawks. Of the four major sports, I know the least about football but I’m learning fast. Football is something you get hooked on and once you know what is going on and know the players you start to really enjoy the chess match. It becomes less like fat men barreling into each other, and more like uber-athletic, fearless warriors literally risking their mental health for a pay cheque. Freakin’ awesome. That brings me to the Seahawks last Saturday. I had NO reason to bet against them other than that’s what the public wanted. I had no strong allegiance to New Orleans other than a few sympathy tears because of Katrina. They have recovered from that beautifully so that’s out the window. I guess the one thing I had was doubt. There’s no way the Seahawks, at 7-9 on the season, double digit underdogs, could take out the defending super bowl champions….could there? Everything told me to bet for the Saints, except for my gut. My gut told me to bet for those hawks.

Marshawn Lynch takes it to the house
Gut check.
Best believe I’m riding those Hawks next week. Maybe I don’t think they can win, but at least it will be a nice payday if they do right? And I’m not going to second guess my gut again. Gut is king.
I had a ‘gut’ feeling we were going to win our game in Romania. Turned out I was right. One player on the opposing team thought their 3-0 defeat was so noteworthy that he decided to propose to his girlfriend after the handshakes. He probably could have done better but then again I don’t know him.

My gut feeling for our game against SCC Berlin was that the money line odds were off. They were paying out 4-1 for a win and we were sitting at 1.15. It didn’t seem right, after all, they had beaten the team we lost to already and were in first place. I guess it really is hard to play here in Friedrichshafen as we cruised to a 3-0 win. We got a couple of their starters subbed out and it was hard for them to recover. It was by far, one of our best performances of the year, and my tiny friend Michael Scutt got to watch.

Our next match is Wednesday against Trentino. Trentino is playing for pride, as they have nothing to play for. They are guaranteed a spot in the next round. We are playing for a spot and need to win but need some help from some other teams as well. We’ll see what happens. The game will be streamed live on http://www.laola1.tv/.
Ciao for now

Fred Winters
Check out the full blog at : http://suitcaselife.ca/

Women's National Team Blog - Tiffany Dodds

こんにちは、日本から！Konichiwa from Japan!

I write to you from my 10th floor apartment, in Ageo, Japan. It is a clear, sunny day & I can see Mount Fuji from my balcony. What a sight to see! I feel pretty lucky, that's for sure.

I joined my team on Nov.5, after departing from Osaka, where I played World Championships with Team Canada. It was sad to leave the team & think about another summer finished..but I was excited to start my new Pro experience in Ageo. I only got three days "off", where I was to workout, travel to IKEA & Costco to buy necessary things for my apartment, & go to the Immigration bureau to fill out paperwork for my working VISA.

The name of our team is the Ageo Medics. My teammates are super friendly, and I felt very welcomed right from the start. We have 20 players with ages ranging from 19 to 29. But with the hierarchy in Japan, the majority of the younger players only shag balls, referee or keep score during team play. The girls work hard, but also enjoy the game & the challenges in practices so I really like that. The facilities that we play & practice in here are very nice, however, they are SO COLD! They don't understand how I find it strange to warm up in a t-shirt, two long sleeves, arm sleeves, a t-shirt windbreaker, capris or sweats, knee warmers AND mitts with all my gear. They think since I'm from Canada, I live & practice in an igloo so I should be used to these temperatures. Not so much!

Currently we are 4-0 in league play, and have beat our opponents 3-0 every game. Our team placed 2nd last year, but have a lot of potential to win the league this year. We have an awesome fan club, who come to every game and even have choreographed dances. The best part is that they wear giant Mickey Mouse gloves to go with their Medics jerseys...it's so great!

Besides being in my apartment for FOUR mini earthquakes already, I have had some other not-so-traumitizing experiences in Japan so far. A few of my teammates took me to a Japanese style BBQ the other day. They insisted that I try tongue & intestines because it was "so good, so good Tiffa!!" I beg to differ. The tongue had a funky taste & the intestines were more like chewing gum that I had the privilege of tossing around for a solid 4 minutes. That's a long time when you're not enjoying it! Maybe that experience was a little traumatizing, too. I have been able to experience the Japanese trains on a couple days off here. Pretty interesting! Have had to buy new tickets after putting them through the wrong turnstiles, but it's all a learning experience right? Visited a really neat area called Shibuya, as well as the Asakusa Shrine & Sensoji Temple. Pretty amazing.

Unfortunatley we have games on Dec.25 & 26, as well as a training camp from Dec.28-Jan.2, so Christmas & New Years won't be celebrated quite like back home. Good thing for skype! My parents plan to come over here near the end of January, & my fiance, Gavin, is here right now for the remainder of the season so I'm definitely grateful for that!

So basically.......loving Japan. Loving sushi. Loving my job. Loving life.

Until next time,

Tiffany Dodds