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Letters from Norway
Friday August 3, 2007
Santa Barbara United lost the quarter final, but won the tournament.
We think this heading in many ways summarize our team's participation in Norway Cup 2007. What a week!
Thursday morning we played the quarter final against Hosle, and the first half was so even and exciting!
However, some times a team has just bad luck. With one player sent off early in the second half,
the 10 left players never gave up. We had blood, sweat and tears, and an unforgettable shirt swap.
We lost the game 0-2, and of course the girls were disappointed.
Maybe not only because this loss marked the end of our participation in the tournament,
but also because they now realized that the whole adventure had come to an end?
Link to photos.
Even if the semi final was within reach, Santa Barbara United has every reason to be delighted with the results. We also watched the final in our class yesterday evening (Beijing, China against the U14 team Maveriks from Oakland), and we must admit that our young team has a way to go before we are in that league… link to photos
The very last game for Santa Barbara United was played Friday August 3rd. It was a friendly game against Vietnam. We didn't understand why so much press attended the game, including the two largest TV stations in Norway, until one of the reporters told us that this actually was the first official game ever between a team from the U.S and from Vietnam after the Vietnam war!
What a great, symbolic and peace-building way to end the Santa Barbara United adventure :-)
Wednesday August 1, 2007
Hi!
We had a very exciting, even and tough game tonight, against the Vind team, and finally Santa Barbara United won 2-1. So we are playing quarter final tomorrow morning against a very strong team, Hosle…
An English version of the SBU news was published today on Norway Cup's home page:
“A whole soccer team in the luggage”
Brit :-)
Tuesday July 31, 2007
Dear all,
Santa Barbara United won their pool—a runaway victory! 7-0, 7-0, 7-1.
They are also—at least at the moment—the top news in the Norwegian part of the Norway Cup site:
(http://www.norway-cup.no/t2.aspx?p=26352&x=1&a=202828)—I
hope a translation soon will come. We will also be in the Norway Cup newspaper tomorrow.
Yesterday, we visited the American Embassy and got an impressive reception
(see link to photos
that the Embassy sent us today). However, so far—at least for me—the No. 1 highlight was the friendly game with Mathare, Kenya, this afternoon.
An unforgettable experience—let the photos talk
(included other photos from the two last days).
If we win the game against Vind tomorrow (actually a team from Åges home town Gjøvik, who has also won all the games in their pool), we are qualified for the quarter final early Thursday morning. And if we win that as well, we play the semi final in the afternoon (and perhaps meet the Maverick team from the Bay area). The final will be on Friday, most likely against China. However, we have to take one game at the time, because from now, we have to win every game to still be in the tournament.
Whatever happen in the tournament, on Friday we have invited Vietnam to a friendly game. This is the first time Vietnam participates in Norway Cup, and the US-Vietnam game has attracted attention also outside Norway Cup.
Brit :-)
Sunday July 29, 2007
From Meghan Maguire
So far my trip to Norway has been a blast! Even though I arrived there on the 29th (aka: Yesterday). My dad and I flew from Maryland and Iceland to Norway. The flights and delays were very long and exhausting, but in a matter of time we made it!
In the morning we got up at 7:30 am and got ready for the game and we were on our way!
The game was against a Norwegian team and we ended up beating them 7-0. When the game was over we went to eat and shop around a little bit. When it was time to go we went back on our bus and headed back to the buildings.
We all had a long break, giving us time to relax, sight see, and eat dinner. When we were done, we all shuffled out the door to the parade. There were many different teams from other countires there! We even ran into 2 other American soccer teams. One was girls and the other was boys.
We marched all the way from the parade to a huge concert. Many different people sang and some even prefored! It was a GREAT experience!
When we got back every one was exhausted and ready to have a good night's sleep! My experience in Norway has been a BIG adventure so far and I am so glad I was fortunate enough to go on this wonderful trip!
—Meghan Maguire #15
From Claire Mathews
LILLEHAMMER
After my first glimpse of Lillehammer, I knew I was going to enjoy my time there. It is so green and everyone was extremely friendly. I had the privilege of staying with a gracious host family. Over the week I was there, I saw the Olympic Ski jump, a family theme park, and an awesome pool! Not only did we scrimmage against local teams, but we had a taste of Norwegian food.
NORWAY CUP
When our bus first pulled up to the Norway Cup soccer field, I was amazed at how big it was. It seemed to go on forever! Even though we got creamed by the Chinese team we were scrimmaging against, it was a great experience. After, we ate dinner together and the team picked up some Chinese. We had our first official game today and had a blast. We also got the chance to explore the different booths. I'm really looking forward to play more games in the Norway and see more of Oslo.
TUSEN TAKK, (“Thousands of Thanks”, I'm not sure how to spell it)
Claire Mathews
From Ashley Jackson
Norway has been so much fun! I stayed with a very nice host family and they took us to a really fun waterpark. I went to a themepark with the whole team called Hunderfossen. I also went to see the Olympic ski jump, from the 1994 Winter Olympics. We hiked up all the way to the top and saw the Norway ski jumping team practice. It's really beautiful and green in Lillehammer. We won two practice games in Lillehammer. We played a practice game against China, and then after we ate dinner with them and I learned to speak some Chinese. We had our first game in the Norway Cup and we won 7-0. I'm having a great time in Norway.
From Scout Frank
The experiences I've had over the past week have been amazing. The Lillehammer teams that we played were strong but we did our best & beat them both. When we weren't playing soccer we did a bunch of other activities and my favourite was hiking up the ski jump which was used in the 94 winter Olympics. I wasn't expecting to see skiers jumping when there wasn't any show! It was incredible.
After being in such a small quiet town for a week, it was strange coming into a large city like Oslo. Our first scrimmage here was against a Chinese team. We were all pretty nervous but we did our best and didn't lose too bad. Today we had our first official game of the tournament and everyone played great. We won 7-0! I will never forget the time I've spent in Norway.
From Mari Eisenbeisz
Lillehammer was a lot of fun. When we first arrived we had a barbeque and everyone got to meet their house families. We went on a hike to a ski jump, and went up 876 steps to get to the top. Instead of walking back down we took the ski lift. We had a few practices with the Norwegian kids we met. And instead of going on another hike, we went to a pool. The pool had a lot of slides and platforms to jump off of. After the pool, our next visit was to a park with lots of fun activities and rides.
We have begun our journey of playing in the Norway Cup Tournament! We have also scrimmaged a couple teams such as Norway and China, and in a few days we will be scrimmaging Kenya! Our first game was on Sunday July 29. We won our game, and the score was 7 to 0. There was a parade after the games on Sunday, and Coolio, a rapper, played for the opening of the tournament. We are doing very well and I hope we will continue to advance.
From Savanna Jordan
I am having a BLAST in Norway! This experience is definitively one to remember! Staying with my host family in Lillehammer was really cool because you really got the feeling of how the people here live. We hiked up the Olympic ski jump (which was a total of 876 stairs), and were amazed at the skiers coming down. Oslo is very different from Lillehammer. We played China yesterday! It was a bum at first because of the loss, but having dinner with the Chinese girls really cheered things up. Today was our first game of the tournament and we WON! Hope we go far!!!
From Jordan Corry
Norway has been so much fun! For the first week, I stayed with a host family. I had a really great time. When we were with them, we went on a hike to a ski jump, went swimming and walked around main street. While we were there in Lillehammer, we also scrimmaged 2 Norwegian teams. We beat the 1st team 7-2. The second team we played, we beat 6-3. We then went to Oslo and played a Chinese team. Even though we lost, it was really fun to play against a different country. We had our first real Norway Cup game today, and won 7-0. So far I am having a fantastic time here in Norway.
From Erin Graf
I really liked Lillehammer, because all the beautiful houses. I stayed in a log cabin with my host family and Tiana. It was so much fun. We ate a lot of really good food, that was probably my favourite thing. We had a porridge that I think was Indian food. Staying with my host family I had a great time. Lillehammer was so much fun but I wish I could see more of it. The next time I go to Europe I'll try to stay there.
From Maddie Mathews
Norway is so different from home! Everyone in Lillehammer was so nice! Lillehammer is a small town, even for Norway standards. It was so green after Southern California. Instead of long downpours and long breaks, there was around 2-3 min of rain, and then a short break (and all over again!). That was really weird! Also, we played 2 scrimmages against local Lillehammer teams, and we won both (the 1st score was 7-2, the 2nd 6-3)! That was mostly the end of our Lillehammer experience.
After our wins in Lillehammer, we were psyched up for our next scrimmage in Oslo. Then we played China. China had the best team I'll ever see, probably! At their home they played 7 days a week, 2-3 hours a day. China pushed us to some of our best soccer. I play defense and none of us back there could keep up with them, when they sprinted! We also got our apartments that day. I'm with my family (my sister, brother, mom and dad) and our goalie, Scout. We played our 1st pool game, and won 7-0. Going to Norway is an unforgettable experience!
From Coral Brom
I'm Coral Brom and during my all star year we went to the Norway Cup. The first week, I went to Lillehammer with most of the team, and we flew from Santa Barbara to New Jersey to Oslo. When we arrived to Une's house we met our host families. We explored the Olympic Ski Jump, the family theme park, and the hip happen pool! We also scrimmaged two local Norway teams, we beat the first team 6 to 2, the second team we beat 6 to 3. It was an AWESOME EXPERIENCE!
As we arrived into Oslo, we got set into our apartments. We had our first scrimmage in Oslo against China, they bet us 7 to 0, it was sad. Today the 29th we played our first Norway Cup game and won 7 to 0.
Norway is an experience of a lifetime and I'm so glad I have the experience I have.
From Tiana Bonn
The first week we were in Lillehammer we did sooo many things. First we rented a bus. We hiked up a ski jump. When we went to main street I got so much candy. The first team we played, was Åsmarka. We beat them 7 to 2. The second team we played was Lillehammer Club team. We beat them 6 to 3.
The first two days in Oslo was so cool. The first day we got there we played China. The China team won by 4, it was 5 to 1. The second day we beat Norway 7 to 0 in the Norway Cup.
Talk to you later,
Tiana Bonn
From Une Solheim
The days in Lillehammer were super fun! I had Mari sleeping in my house, even though I talked all night cause I was so excited about my whole team coming to Norway to play soccer. We played Åsmarka (Aasmarka), they had 2 teams, and the first one was pretty hard. We won 7-2. We also played my old team, and they're good, we won them 6-3. Then we went to Oslo. In Oslo we played China the same day we got there. The Chinese people were really nice, we ate lunch with them. I learned how to count to 10 in Chinese! Our first game in Norway Cup went well, we won them 7-0!
Tonight we're going to the parade (it's gonna be fun)!
Une Solheim.
From Tessa Dewell
Having fun in Norway!!! We just won a game 7-0 us, against Hadeland Norway! The scrimmage against China was fun yesterday and we learned how to count in Chinese (up to 10)! There is sooooooooooo much to do at the fields. I didn't go to Lillehammer but I've heard the stories. Talk to your later!
Tessa.
Friday July 27, 2007
Dear parents at home and players not yet here,
So much has happened these days, so I am not able to give you a complete update. Most important is that both the girls and the supporters seem to have a really great (and busy) time!
On Wednesday we all visited the Olympic Ski Jump Arena in Lillehammer,
and were so lucky that the Norwegian national ski jump team was practicing (no, we don't have snow yet, only artificial grass…).
The girls (and their parents) were so fascinated that it was difficult to leave—for the girls' first practice.
The county newspaper (similar to SB News Press) made a story from that practice, and the result is a
whole page in the newspaper today.
The headline is “Brought the soccer team back home”… (a limited online version can also be read on
http://www.gd.no/sport/article2897465.ece).
Of course we have provided a copy for all the team members.
10 of the supporters (that means all except Åge, Edward and Scott) have been doing the “Norway in a nutshell”
yesterday and today, and we were lucky again—and got very nice weather.
I think everybody found the nature—the mountains and the fjords—quite overwhelming, and maybe also my tight schedule…!
(Daniel wants to buy a T-shirt that says “I survived Brit's Norway in a nutshell tour”…).
While we were away, the girls were having their first scrimmage against a good U14 team in a small village not far from Lillehammer, called Åsmarka.
They got a great welcome, and a reception afterwards, and even won the game (6-2).
Also here, the regional press (Ringsaker blad) are going to make a story, so check back soon.
And today, just after we returned, they had their second friendly game—against Une's local club; the Lillehammer Women soccer club.
Both teams played very good, and United won also this time (6-3).
The mayor in Lillehammer was there, and she gave the girls Olympic pins and other gifts as a memory from Lillehammer.
All the host families were there, and we all were having a very good time!
And—also from today there will be a newspaper story—in a weekly newspaper called Byavisa (coming next Thursday).
Tomorrow we are heading towards Oslo, and on our way we will pick up Tessa/Liz and Meghan/Mike at the Oslo airport. Also Cynthia will join us in Oslo. The calendar of activities for the first days is posted here, and only time will show what will happen for United after that…! But, following the local audience today, United will do a great tournament in this year's Norway Cup…!
Cheers,
Brit Svoen
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