Jan. 26, 2012

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Chelsea Buckland Blog 5: Ticket is Booked!

Wow, I never thought this day would come. Canada beat Mexico 3-1 in the semi-final game. My ticket to London is booked. 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, you will see Canada in Action!!!!!

These last few days have been crazy. We got time off to recover and all we really did was sleep, get treatments and watch film on Mexico. It was great to be able to get in the right mindset, and be “calm, cool and collected,” which is what coach always says. We all have the right mind set, skill set, and structure of a team that is prepared. So all morning, we got focused and prepared for the task at hand. As you can see, the outcome was great.

This moment is what every person lives for. Chills ran up my back as we prepared in the locker room and every time the door opened we could hear the fans. We walked out for the warm up, and wow, the noise coming from the stadium was amazing. Hearing every single person screaming was unreal. I looked up to the right of the stadium as we entered and I saw my little boy, (cousin Colton) yell down, “Chels I love you, good luck”. OH my! That brought the biggest smile to my face, I felt so blessed to be representing that kid, my family, friends, fans and country. It was an unbelievable feeling. After our warm up, you could hear the crowed getting stronger and stronger. Let the games begin!

We all got dressed and ready and the subs walked out on the pitch. What do I see and hear? It was like silence, rushing so fast and loud through my ears and all I could hear was cheering people yelling Canada and see a huge sea of red surrounding the entire BC place. (On that note, sold out, Olympic Qualifying record crowd of over 22,000 people!) What a feeling I had, so proud. As we stood there, holding each other on the bench, we watched our starters walk out and it was so surreal. As soon as the national anthem started, we held each other so tight and sang.

“The best way of spreading [Canadian] cheer, is singing loud and clear for all to hear” –Elf movie

And yes we sure did, the hole stadium was amazing, brought tears to my and my teammate Melanie Booth’s eyes, as we hold tightly in passion and pride. What a thrilling game and the excitement of the crowd and the noise was absolutely electrifying. As the final whistle blew, the benched jumped in joy and sprinted to our keeper Karina LeBlanc, and had a huge dog pile. It was an incredible feeling, being a part of a group of ladies that have worked so hard for this goal and dream. It was marvelous to see how connected we were jumping in our mosh pit cheering. Then we made one big lap around the field and thanked all of our fans. Wow, was it loud in there. After we got changed and ready to go we did a huge song and dance in the locker room (good times) then had media stuff. The cutest part was arriving back at the hotel where everyone’s parents, friends and 100 fans where standing outside of our hotel cheering and greeting us all back from an amazing victory.

Off to bed for another recovery day and to prepare for the final. Wow, was today busy, training, meetings and treatment all in preparation for the final. Can’t wait, Canada vs. USA (yes that’s you guys!) Be ready, because it’s going be a good one! Stay tuned for this life time experience blog.

Cheers,
Chelsea Buckland, #20 Canadian Women's National Team



Chelsea Buckland Blog 4: Leading up to the Big Game

Wow, time really does fly. Having a game, day off, game, day off, then a game, over and over again, it takes a toll on you after a while. But this is such an amazing experience. This has been the best birthday month ever. Having the opportunity to play, let alone start for my country was an amazing feeling. Our game against Cuba was awesome. It was on Saturday night, and I started in front of over 12,000 people in my home town. It was unbelievable and it was an amazing feeling and a great win. Walking out to the FIFA theme song and then standing there holding my teammates singing the national anthem was unreal. “Loud and proud” is what I felt. Hearing my family and friends in the crowd was awesome and it made me feel so honored and proud to be wearing red and white. After the game we got to stick around to sign autographs and take pictures. I saw so many people I haven’t seen in years. My entire graduating class of 2008 was there from Sands Secondary School. I also saw teachers, principals and hometown supporters. It was great to see the support and love from everyone.

The next day we got up and, of course, had our Starbucks and then had team meetings. In the afternoon, we had a pool session for recovery. Throughout the day, the team just hung out and watched game film and relaxed. In the evening, we went over some team tactical things in our meetings and got our day treatments in and headed to bed for another big day against Costa Rica.

“Rise and Shine game day”, like I always say. It is the third game of the tournament and this win will secure our top spot in our group. What did we do? We came out on top! Canada won 5-1. I also got to play in this game. I was a sub that came in at half. I got to play the whole second half and we had some good chances. One of the chances even went in, but it was called offside. It was a great run and we were very satisfied with our first two goals that we accomplished as a team. We wanted to win all three games and come out first during the group stage.

It has been such a great ride, but now we have a few days off until it the big game. That Tuesday night, USA played Mexico and beat them 4-0. So that means, we play Mexico in the semi finals, where its “do or die” time. Stay tuned for a recap of these next few days leading into one of the biggest games I have yet to play in my soccer Career.

Cheers,
Chelsea Buckland, #12



Chelsea Buckland Blog 3: A Day to Remember

So January 19^th was a day to remember. That morning was great. We woke up, had our Starbucks of course, then we went for a team walk. We walked outside around the downtown neighborhood to stretch out our legs. It was freezing outside, so when we came back inside we did a little bit of a stretch and mobility work to get loosened up for the game. Right after that, we had team lunch and a great little snack. After lunch, we got some down time, which is when most of us like to nap and get in our mental zone. At about 3:45 p.m., we had our team meeting where we go over game info and set pieces. After our team meeting, we got an awesome pregame meal. Surprisingly yet again, I got a phone call down from the front desk. I came out of our team meal, and my whole family was in the lobby. Everyone from my mom, dad, cousins, aunties, grandmas, and wow, they were all decked out in Canada gear. They all came to give the team a huge shout out and came to say hi and wish us all good luck. It was great seeing the Buckland family before the game. Now the party was about to get started….

Every single room in the hotel on our floor was bumping music and we had about an hour to get ready before departing for the stadium. So like the ladies do, we all got our game day hair and makeup did! Yes I said did!

“Gota look good on game day, you never know who is watching or if you’re on camera” –Unknown.

Once we were all ready we started to make our way down to the bus. As we entered BC Place Stadium, we got off the bus and cameras were rolling. We entered the “BC Lions” Locker room and all our stuff was laid out and in game day format in our lockers. Once we were in the locker room, we got the music blaring and we started getting “juiced” for the game. Our manager was keeping us on track with the time, and we started getting ready to walk out and start our warm-up. All I can remember is the crowd. They were already there cheering as we entered the pitch and they were already singing chants about Christine Sinclair and team Canada. It was a great environment. Then we went back in the locker room to prepare for the match. After we came out of the locker room, first the subs came out and stood together to wait for the starting lineups. I had an amazing rush of pride going through my body, and I was feeling so blessed to be there, holding my teammates and singing the national anthem out loud.

Then it happened after the first half. Coach said “Bucks, go on, make sure you’re ready in 10minutes”. What a game. It was such a great thrill to be out there, and to play in front of a home crowd was even better. After the game, we had to do a little cool down and recover. Then we did a walk around the field and gave thanks and celebrated for our fans. We also walked around and signed autographs and took pictures. It was great looking up at all the fans in the stands and seeing little girls eye’s a glow. Seeing how big of a role models we all are and how much kids look up to us was just an amazing feeling. I was so honored to represent my country and wear the red and white. It was an amazing feeling to see half of my high school graduating class there (Former golfer at OSU Jonnie Motomochie will understand, we grew up in small little Delta). They were all there, loud and clear, as well as the family and the awesome supporters group @southsider. We then got back in the locker room and changed, headed back to the bus when we were stopped for some quick interviews. Once we got back to the hotel, we got to eat and yet again, cold plunge and off to bed. What an amazing game day.

Then today, January 20^th, aka My Birthday, we woke up, had breakfast and followed that with our recovery session at the YMCA pool. After coming back to the hotel, we had our team meeting with coach and then team lunch. Afterword, we had the rest of the afternoon off, so my teammate Desire Scott and I went and got our hair did, (you’ll see on TV). Des says it looks fresh and lined up. Subsequently, we had the rest of the day to chill out and watch game film until our team meeting before dinner. The Meeting went well, not only is today my birthday, but I was also I am starting in the next game against Cuba. Wow, I can’t ask for a better present then that. After that was our team dinner and we have this great team tradition where we all sing happy birthday. So the cook brought out two cakes with 22 candles and the team all sang happy birthday to me, but oh just wait….Karina LeBlanc had to get a napkin full of whipped cream and get me square in the face. Yeah huge birthday tradition, but for some reason I thought it was over for this year. Clearly it wasn’t, because apparently they missed last year and was short on my birthday date while we were in Europe. Great memories! I will definitely be uploading the video so you can see how great of a team this is. What an awesome night! Now off to bed to prepare for another run at a big game for Canada vs. Cuba!

Follow me on twitter @c_buckland for life game day updates, or follow me on my fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chelsea-Bucklands-Fan-Page/200178700018362?ref=ts

Cheers,
Chelsea Buckland #12



Chelsea Buckland Blog 2: Big Week of Training Before the Big Game

Hey Beaver Nation!
It is again another beautiful snowy day here in Vancouver. The last two days have been great, other than the fact that it has been negative eight degrees Celsius or 18 degrees Fahrenheit, for you Americans that is. Our first training session on Tuesday was great, we walked across the street into BC Place, and the building is huge. We then got settled in and had a solid training session. The field is pretty massive actually and it’s all artificial grass, but beautiful turf, all FIFA approved.  After training, we walked back to the hotel and had dinner.

The next morning was the day before the big game so with FIFA Rules, we are only allowed to be on the field for an hour so we had training at 7:00 p.m. So we woke up, completed our daily measures, which means weighing ourselves and making sure we are hydrated, then headed down to breakfast and of course, we can’t forget our daily ritual, Starbucks coffee. We hung out in the morning and watched some game film from training the night before, and then we had team lunch together. The best part of the day was NAP TIME! We finally had some down time, so everyone napped for an hour or so, while some of the players get treatments from our wonderful working hard medical staff.

As time went on, we had our team meeting about training and talked about preparation for the game and then headed out to the pitch. This time we didn’t do a walk-through because we had to go through our game routine, so we loaded the bus, drove over and entered BC Place under the tunnel. The best part so far is our locker room for the tournament. I should tweet Geroy Simon a picture (If anyone knows who he is. He plays for our BC Lions and won the 2011 Grey Cup this year). We are using the BC Lion Locker Room, which is pretty awesome ehh? Anyway, we got out on the pitch and had a great training session.

After we headed back to the hotel, we ate dinner and ice-bathed again. I hate cold plunging because it’s already freezing here. I showered and then got ready for bed and then randomly got a phone call from my best friend Devon Warf (The goalkeeper for Arizona in the Pac-10, 2006-2009). She came to surprise me and wish me good luck before a big game, so that was super nice.

Well, “Rise and Shine Beaver Nation, Its Game Day.” This is my favorite tweet to tweet and of course, I have to HashTag #gobeavs. I will let you know how today goes, after I’m done focusing on the task at hand.

Cheers,
Chelsea Buckland, #12



Chelsea Buckland Blog 1: The Road to the 2012 Olympics

Hey Beaver Nation, It’s Chelsea Buckland here on the start of an amazing journey. On this journey, I will be blogging my entire experience so you can all get a good glimpse of the path of a Beaver training to be an Olympian.

To start out my journey I must give you a little inside information. First, we have been training in Arizona and in California for the months of December and January in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament. We finally arrived in Vancouver, B.C. on January 14, which coincidently is my hometown. The team arrived at YVR airport and we were greeted by friends and family and some Canadian Supporters. It was an awesome feeling coming out with our luggage and being cheered on by our fans. Not only were fans there, but I was surprised by my Grandma Gail, Auntie Tara, Uncle Tony and my 10-year-old Cousin Colton. They were all decked out in Canada gear, but of course my little cousin had to be wearing his beaver shorts, oh and by the way, he is the biggest football fan ever. It was great to see my family even though it was only for a short while.

Then we loaded up the bus and drove downtown to our hotel. Going over the Oak Street Bridge was the cutest part. As we drove over the bridge, we could see this amazing beam of red light. Wow, it was BC Place all lit up in red and had our “We Were Made For This” campaign advertisement all over the building. All of us on the bus started cheering and clapping. Right then, I had a little rush through my body and I said to myself, “wow, is this really happening? Am I really home right now?” So we got settled in the fancy hotel and a couple of my teammates and I headed out for dinner on the town.

The next morning, we had the day off. So, of course we started our day off right with some Starbucks in hand and a fun filled day of shopping. Then for dinner, the Buckland Family had a family dinner put on for me and my teammates, Christina Julian and Desire Scott. Then we headed home for a good night’s rest for a busy morning.

Rise and Shine its Media time! We went and visited our top sponsor of the Candaian Women’s National Team “teck” (google them, they are a huge mining company), we signed autographs and mingled and took pictures and had interviews. It was a great experience. Then we got back to the hotel and had a huge press conference. The press conference went great. We took pictures and had the celebration of the 100th year of the CSA program. Then a few of us hometown players had to stay and do interviews and take pictures. It was an amazing experience and very well done.

After all the media stuff we had the rest of the day off, so a few of us went for our traditional Starbucks run and then came back to hotel, hung out, and watched game film. We kind of took it easy and started to focus in for the next few days ahead. Thanks for reading Beaver Nation.

Stay tuned here for more blogs during my journey through Olympic Qualifying!

Cheers,
Chelsea Buckland, #12