California Gloom

Lori Chalupny reports on day 2 of training camp!

Well, unfortunately we woke up to another gloomy weather day here in California but we didn’t let that get us down. The team is all smiles in this New Year as we continue our preparations for the 2008 Olympics. Its been really fun getting to know our new coaching staff. As with any new coach there are new philosophies, new drills, and the opportunity show what you can do. Today was a pretty typical day in the life of a US National Team member. We had breakfast, a training session and lunch followed by a little rest, another training session and dinner. In the training session this morning we focused on all aspects of defending. We did some 1v1s to work on individual defending, 2v2s to incorporate more of the team and 5v5 to focus on team defending and shape. It was a fairly demanding session but I think we really got some things accomplished and we each got better as players.

Between sessions there was time for some relaxation and some football watching where it became clear that this is a very competitive group. We have some die-hard Seahawks and Redskins fans on the team so it was fun giving them a hard time. The afternoon session was pretty light. We did some skill and technique drills and had a lot of fun competing with each other. A couple of us ended the day with an ice bath in order to help us recover for tomorrow when we get to do it all over again. Indeed it’s a good life!

Be sure to check out Lori's website at www.lorichalupny.com