The Team - USA Football's Women's National Team is getting ready to compete in the first ever Women's World Championship tournament to be held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 26, 2010 through July 3, 2010. Of the 1,800 women who play professional tackle football in the IWFL (Independent Women's Football League - the North American professional football league), 45 were selected to represent the United States on Team USA. I was selected as a defensive back (safety). No one else made it from Iowa, but I know a handful of players from teams that we've played and some from the all-star game last summer. It will be interesting getting to know them over the next few weeks. I'll fill you in on some of the characters I meet.
Uniform - I leave for training camp in less than 4 days! I think I have all of my football equipment taken care of: I bought a new pair of cleats yesterday because they have to be black and mine were white.
Old Shoes
New Shoes
I threw in a couple photos just to see how this thing works. Hope you like them! I also bought gray receiver gloves to be in compliance with the color restrictions (who has gray gloves?). The rest of the uniform is provided for us. We are going to be wearing navy pants and socks with white or navy uniforms. We're also getting Riddell helmets, but I'm not sure on the color. Custom molded mouthguards are coming from Shock Doctor. We'll also have warm ups, polos, hats, visors and bags provided when we get to training camp. How many bags can we check?
Training Camp - Training camp begins in Austin on the 19th and we have only 6 days to turn 45 players into a team. We're hoping that will only take two outdoor practices, a position specific practice, and a team building activity each day... I'm tired already! They feed us all of our meals and provide practice uniforms (I hope that means they'll wash them too). Training camp is closed to the public, so friends and family are not allowed to visit. It sounds like there will be a scrimmage on the last day that will be open to the public, but I don't have any more information than that.
Women's World Championship - The new, well bonded, team will fly to Sweden together on the 24th to get ready for our first game against Austria.
Team USA Schedule:
Sunday, June 27th Austria
Thursday, July 1st Finland
Saturday, July 3rd Final
The final game will be against either Canada, Germany or Sweden. If we win our first two games, we'll play the best of the other 3 teams for the gold medal. There are also consolation games for the bronze and fifth place, so everyone will play on the 3rd regardless of how they do in their first two games. My parents and Holly are going to meet me in Sweden to watch the games. I'm not sure if any of the games will be televised or broadcast online, but I'll let you know if I find out.
We've never been to Sweden, but these pictures look great. Highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. Perfect football weather!
USA Football website: http://www.usafootball.com/articles/displayArticle/7469/9596
