Up for the challenge

This weekend we had an away game verse Jyväskylä. I heard they were a good team but I knew we were ready for the fight!  There was a decent crowd at the game but the weather was crazy! At the start of the game the sun was out and then it started down pouring. Its fun to play in the rain but the field was really slick and the ball was extremly slippery.  The weather did not effect our play; everyone adapted well and I thought we were connecting well and even had some decent chances.

 On another hand I have to say the refs were by far the worst refs I have ever had!  Refs are part of the game and we did have chances to finnish but, I have never seen anything like this.  Tessa (one of our forwards) is from Nigeria was getting bladed and pulled to the ground numerous times throughout the game; she did not get one call.  She had a few breakaways as well and she was clearly onsides but the ref called her offsides.  If we even touched the girls on the other team the whistle was blown.  The ref was not protecting Tessa or anyone on the team.  I have felt like the refs have been against us in every away game ive played in so far.  I asked some of the girls if other people did not like our club and the girls said people are against us because we have so many "foreigners."  It was extremely obvious that the refs were against us during the game.

 

Despite the adversity We played well and we fought hard; overall I felt we dominated the game, had most of the possession and deserved to win. Jyväskylä was a kick and run team that always looked to play the long ball.  In the first half it was 0-0; we had a few good looks and our defense had a strong performance.  In the second half we had to switch some things around because a few of the girls were sick.  In the last 80 minutes Jyväskylä scored two goals in five minutes and then in the last four minutes I took a corner; it slipped through the keepers hands and Kerstin (another american) finished it off.  The game was exciting but we ended up losing 2-1.  It was not the result we wanted and definitely not the result we deserved.

  If the refs and the other teams dont like us because we are foreign then I am up for the challenge! People have been against me and the teams Ive played for all my life.  I could write so many examples from my experiences.  My freshman year at Florida Southern; the coaches in the conference predicted us to place close to last place and we turned it around and ended up making the confernce tournament all four years, two conference final appearances, we made it to the NCAA's three years in a row and we had found ourselves numerous times ranked top 25 in the country. I also cant tell you how many times I have heard you will never make it because "you are to small", "your not strong enough" or " you are not healthy enough" and now I have proved the doubters wrong and I am doing something that I love in Finland.  I feel like people will always be against you no matter who you are or what you do, its all about how you deal with it.  We have a good team here and a really good group of girls; we are all clicking and really starting to bond.  I was proud of how my team fought in the game and I can not wait to play Jyväskylä again. Our next game is on Thurday and it is home.  Im excited for the next game!

Hejda!

"Music is the universal language of mankind"

Music is one of my favorite things, besides soccer that is.  I am a DJ and coming from a family full of DJ's I love all types of music.  Here are my two favorite songs that I have heard so far;  Pienissa Haissa is a Finnish song and Fanta & Rose is a Swedish song. These are definitely team favorites and we jam out to them in the locker room before games.  The chorus is really catchy and I am going to learn all the words soon enough! 

                                                                         

 

                   

On another note, I learned how to count in Finnish at practice yesterday.  Lotta (one of  my teammates) was teaching me while we were doing "muscles" aka sit ups and push ups. 

1 yksi
2 kaksi
3 kolme
4 neljä
5 viisi
6 kuusi
7 seitsemän
8 kahdeksan
9 yhdeksän
10 kymmenen

Some of the numbers are tough to pronounce but I will keep practicing!

Much love,

DJ Jackie B

 

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving” Albert Einstein





The American way of transportation and the Finnish way of transportation are very different. The Finnish bike everywhere, whereas Americans go everywhere by car.  I really miss my car back home.  It is a honda passport and his name is torito bravo. (brave little bull in spainish) I gave him to Melanie (my little sister) to take care of while im gone.  Hopefully he will be in one piece when I get back... Just kidding, I know she is taking good care of it.

 
    The team gave me a bike and I really like it. People of all ages are riding around town. There are bike paths everywhere. Everything is really close and the rides are never far.   Im starting to know my way around, but I am still getting lost in this new place, but overall it is really easy to get everywhere.  I have been exploring the area on my bike. It is really refreshing and  I feel like a little kid again.  

 

  Another popular form of transportation is motor bikes or mopeds. In Finland you can get your license to drive one of these motor bikes when you are 15, but you can not get your license to drive a car until you are 18.   These motor bikes are awesome and can be driven on the bike path or the road. I really want one!  At practice one of the girls took me on a ride and said she will let me drive it. :) 

  Overall, I think the drivers are really safe here but, the rules of the road are a lot different.  There are no stop signs, it is illegal to turn right on red and no one beeps here.  If you go pick someone up at their house, you are just supposed to wait in your car until they come out; not beep or if you see someone on the street you know, you are just supposed to wave. Beeping here is almost a sign of disrespect .

  I have to say the traffic is never bad and no one speeds here. I have not seen one police car on the road.  In Finland, the police do not give speeding tickets, they have these boxes with radar dectors in them all over the place; if you are going too fast the box will take your picture and you will get a ticket in the mail.

 I have not driven here yet but today Max took me out on the street for a driving lesson. He taught me how to drive a standard car.  I did well shifting the gears and only stalled once.  I drove a standard car once in a mall parking lot last summer in Boston, but I never made it out of the lot. I think I got the feel quicker this time because of my previous lesson.  Now I am on the street. Its baby steps, but I have had two very good driving instructors and I think I will be a pro and on the main roads soon enough! 

 I feel like I am learning so much everyday.  We had this past weekend off and now it is back to training to get ready for our game on Saturday! Hejda

So far so good in Finland

Välkomnande, Tervetullut, and Welcome to my blog.  So far everything is going really well in Finland! I landed in Kokkola and literally went straight from the plane to practice.  It went really well and the team looks good.  Most of the girls on my team can speak some english but almost all of them speak swedish; there are only a few girls that do not know any english and only speak Finnish. The head coach speaks finnish at practices and knows very little english.  Practices have been fun, but I am lost at times, I never know what the coach  is saying, but the girls are really good at translating for me. Overall it is a professional environment. Its funny if we wear the wrong thing to practice or if we are not early to practice the club can fine us!  The newest rule is that if we do not celebrate after we score a goal then we will be fined. (I like this rule) It is definitly a different world over here. I am always around foreigners in the U.S., now it is weird being the foreigner! I think I now know how they felt when they first came to the U.S. 

Jamie, Lawerence and I had to do a photo shoot for the Kokkola cup brochure. 

 My first game was a home game.  It was indoors; the Fins play their games inside until the fields are ready outside.  We have a full field indoor facility we play at; it has stands on one side and we had a decent crowd come out. I did not know what to expect in  my first game.  The warm up was differnt than what I am used to. We started in the locker room; jamming out to some finnish/swedish music, then we go out to the field to jog a little.  After, we go back into the locker room and the coach announces the starting lineup (I was on the list and I was little nervous but really excited) The coach goes over what he expects out of the team and each player starting.  Then we go back out onto the field and do some speed ladders and passing sequences.   Once we are done with that, it is back to the locker room to put on our game jerseys.  Warm up is really short here!  The starters then line up and we walk out with the other team.  As we are walking out onto the field they play our team song. The song is pretty sweet and when I get it on my computer I will post it. There seems to be a ton of different formalities and traditions here.  I love them all. 

 So far in the season we are 3-1-0. I feel like im really starting to click with the girls on and off the field.  Everyone is really coming along and I think we are going to have a great season! Our last game was a cup game and it was on my birthday.  We won 5-0.  It was a great birthday present :) Here is the team website. http://www.gbk.fi/    I will be posting more updates about the games soon.

  On an off the field note, I am living with another American on my team. :)  Her name is Jamie. She is awesome and is our goalkeeper; she is really good! When I first got here we lived with a host family until we got our appartment. They have five kids.  Their names our Max, Ebba, Elis, Otto, and Mindy. (Ebba, Otto, and Elis are in the picture)  They are all great and they can speak english really well.  I am very impressed with them and they have even taught me more swedish! The whole family is really into soccer; everyone here is really into soccer...  Instead of basketball courts on the playgrounds, there are soccer goals everywhere. I love it! The kids are always playing. 

 The family is so nice and they are always making me eat; which is not a bad thing ;) The food and meals are very differnt compared to the U.S. but its a good thing I was always around Swedes in Florida and that I lived with one :)  I am used to sandwhiches for breakfast, lots of cheese, cucumbers, coffee, different types of fish, meat sauses, and amazing chocolate and candy.  Also, Finnish people love ice cream! It's everywhere. I read in the newspaper here that Finnish people eat the most icecream out of all of Europe.  Crazy!  

 Now we are living in the apartment.  It is pretty big and really nice.  The team had almost all of the furniture in storage but Ulla (the team mom) brought us shopping to get everything else we needed.  She is the best! Ulla cant speak any english; it was confusing in the store at times...  One time I thought she asked if I wanted a tea pot, so I said yes and then she brougt Jamie and I to the front of the store and we had lunch. haha I never knew what was going on but I had so much fun  and now I have a very broad furniture swedish vocabulary. It was a great and a very successful day.  



              



                                       







This is our living room and we have a balcony :)



There have been so many new experiences already and I feel like I have so much more to write.  In just the little time Ive been here I have already played three games, got a bike, a Finnish phone, a bank account, moved into an apartment, went to ikea in sweden, and I saw four raindeer and a moose. Everything is really starting to come together.  That is all for now but there will be many more updates coming soon! 

Hejda! 

A pirate's life for Jackie

I'm so happy for you. What better girl than my Jackie Sparrow to live out her dream {and most of our forgotten futbol dreams}. I can't wait to hear all your stories of victory, travel, new friends and commandeering young, male Finnish hearts ;)

jag alskar dig!

Much love, 

Captain Crooks