Tuesday 10 March 2009

The whole tournament was amazing, but it was physically and emotionally draining.

Day one went really well for us with a really good win against USA which got us off to a winning start. That was followed by two other successful wins against Russia and Japan.

Day two unfortunately did not go the way we had planned and we lost in the quarter-finals to the second seeds Australia, which basically ended our world cup campaign there and then. That was devastating.

To mentally be able to bounce back from such a loss was hard but we had to as we then had a semi-final plate game to contest against Spain. It was a testament to all the girls that we got on with it and got the job done and had a successful win against a good Spanish side.

That then gave us the chance to still take home some silverware, as we were through to the Plate final where we would play Canada in front of a capacity crowd of 50,000 people.

And we did it! We all played with 100 percent determination, commitment and honour, and that saw us clinch a 12-0 victory against a tough Canadian outfit.

To not be world champions when we knew we definitely had the ability and all the support on offer was, and is, hard to take but in the end we showed what we can do in front of a lot of people. We showed that we are strong enough to bounce back from a devastating defeat, and we can still hold our heads up high as Plate winners.

Overall the whole experience was truly tremendous and I personally learnt a great deal. I am also confident enough to say that when the next world cup or Olympic Games comes around the result will certainly not be the same.