Thursday, June 9, 2011

Final Send Off Match - USA vs. Mexico

This last Sunday, in New Jersey, we had our last and final match as a crew before leaving to Germany. We are so fortunate to have worked various matches as a trio to prepare and improve our communication as a team. We are extremely thankful to US Soccer, which has been very supportive from the moment we were selected as candidates for the WWC.

It is always exciting to have an opportunity to work matches with national teams. In this case, the fact that both teams are gearing up for the World Cup, made our appointment to this match even more special. Just like the teams who use these friendly matches as an opportunity to fine-tune their game, so do the referees as we critically analyze and review these matches to discuss areas of improvement.

In addition, traveling for matches and experiencing different temperatures and levels of humidity are also ideal settings for preparation. As all three of us are from California, which has had a rather cool and rainy spring and is known for having a dry heat climate, we were delighted with the heat and humidity in New Jersey (which normally we would find unpleasant). We are likely to have to deal with some humidity in Germany, so these conditions gave us a taste of what it may feel like having to work really hard physically in an uncommon environment so that it does not affect us mentally. Training in different settings helps us prepare for some of the challenges we may encounter based on environmental factors.

Check out some of the highlights from the match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZB0MoNHF1U

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