This month I am writing to you from my flat in Manchester again, on a wet weekend morning. My body is exhausted as we’re in the middle of three months of serious base fitness training. Not only are we really pushing ourselves in the pool (swimming with T-shirts on to create extra drag!), but in the gym we’re lifting heavier weights than ever before. Next week we are doing our ‘One Rep Max’ in which we keep increasing the weight by 2.5kgs until we physically can’t lift anymore. We’ve also just started a different type of dry land training… wrestling! Champion wrestler, Dean Amasinger, is teaching us some of the basics such as getting out of different holds and moving your opponent around. Because such a big part of water polo is fighting with your opponent, we will definitely be able to transfer our new skills to the pool and I have no doubt they will come in handy when we face some of our bigger rivals from eastern Europe.
A few weeks ago some of the girls headed off to Israel to compete in our last Euro Qualifier match (although we have already qualified, we still had to compete in this last game). Sly, our coach, used the opportunity to take some of the younger girls in the squad which meant that Chloe, Rosie and I didn’t travel. It was the first GB trip in seven years that Rosie hadn’t been on, but the team did brilliantly with an easy win, 21-3.
Because I didn’t go to Israel I had an unexpected free weekend, so I headed down to Loughborough to watch the Penguin men take on Lancaster in a cracker of a game. Aside from two misconducts, one brutality and about 30 kick-outs, this nail biting match saw the teams battling goal-for-goal until Penguin pulled away in the last minute to win 12-10. Victory ensure Penguin’s place in the Super 5s which I think annoyed the Lancaster lads even more!
On a completely different note we found out last night that USA have secured their place at next year’s Olympic Games. They beat Canada in the final at the Pan American Games, 19-18, and that was just the penalty shoot out! (The final score was 27-26.) Canada will have one more chance to qualify at the Olympic Qualification Tournament early next year.
Before I sign-off, I want to tell you about the short video that Chloe and I have put together from our trip to the World Uni Games in China earlier this year. Click on the link below, and relive the experience with us:
See you soon
Francesca