Intermezzo III

Monday morning began with a training session with the Fortuna Hjorring coaching staff. We were hoping to meet head coach Odd Fossum, who has turned the club into a Danish national powerhouse, (with 5 players expected to play for Denmark in the Women's World Cup later this summer), and is rumoured to be the next head coach of the Norwegian national women's team. He unfortunately was not available, but we had a lively session with his assistant Lasse Stensgaard. The parents all came to watch, and the girls quickly worked off the rust accumulated from a couple day's inactivity. Lasse put us through our paces with a lot of ball work, foot skills, turning techniques, followed by 1v1 and 2v2. The girls enjoyed it thoroughly and impressed Lasse with their attentiveness and zeal. They presented him with an LISC tee shirt signed by the players and coaching staff. Look for him at the Women's World Cup on the Danish staff - maybe some orange and blue will be peeking out from beneath his maroon Danish track suit!

The economy of his training session was impressive: so much was done in such little time using such a small space. I wanted to impress upon the girls how hard they had worked, and how comfortable they were with the skills Lasse was trying to bring out, but when I asked them if they felt that anything was really different between how they train in Europe and how they've been trained back home, they responded enthusiastically "Yes, this was much more fun. We never knew how much having a good-looking coach with a sexy accent could motivate us!"

Fortunately, we still had a few minutes left on the training pitch with which to repair my now-battered ego, so I put them through a few shooting drills which gave me a chance to contort my face, wrinkle my brow (further), and cackle criticisms in my mundane American drawl. At the same time, it gave Jordan a chance (as you can see above) to pull off some of the great saves we have come to rely on her for over the past two weeks.

After the session, we acclimated ourselves with the tournament set-up and shuttle bus system, had a meal, shopped (I will from this point on assume you know this to be a continuous activity no longer worthy of mentioning) and prepared for the opening parade. We marched proudly throughout Hjorring just behind the American flag. I have no pictures of this event myself, but others do and will be adding them to the blog in due time. The girls enjoyed the festivities greatly, and remarked how different the atmosphere seemed from the Gothia Cup the week before. This was a more personal and intimate celebration, and they made many new friends along the way.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) it's back to business.