Field Hockey's Kim Goh Blogs from Argentina
Kim (front, center) and her teammates enjoy some free time in Buenos Aires.
Harvard field hockey player Kim Goh is traveling in Argentina with the U.S. Women's Under-19 National Team and has checked in with some updates on the trip and her team's progress.
Blog Entry #3 - Friday, April 9, 2010
Since our first game, we've played the Argentinian U19s again as
well as one of the top clubs, GEBA. Unfortunately both games ended
in losses, 3-0 to the U19s and 5-0 to GEBA. Against the U19s, we
were able to control the game during the first quarter, but
Argentina was able to monopolize on a penalty corner, following
with another goal in the first half and one in the second.
Despite the hard loss, we came the next day to play GEBA ready to learn from our first two games and give a strong performance. GEBA is one of the best clubs in Argentina and is home to Luciana Aymar--voted best female player in the world six times in her career. The team we played was one of the club's best (even though Aymar, who is injured, didn't play). Although the end result wasn't spectacular, the team gained a good experience that will help us in our final game against Banfield club tomorrow.
Today we also had our first off day, which we spent getting to know the city of Buenos Aires. Some of the highlights included a visit to Evita's grave site in Recoleta Cemetery and exploring La Boca, the harbor region of the city where the tango was first invented. In La Boca, we also got a view of the stadium where the Boca Juniors play. The Boca Juniors are one of the best soccer clubs in Argentina, and their cross-town rivalry with the River Plate club nearly divides Argentina's fans in two. The Superclásico (when the two clubs play each other) is considered by many to be a must-have experience in a lifetime, and it's not hard to say why after seeing the fans in La Boca, where the streets are literally painted blue and gold--the colors of the Boca Juniors.
Blog Entry #2 - Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Yesterday, the U.S. started off our tour by beating the
Argentinian U19 national team, 2-1. We were a little nervous in the
first half and let them take the first goal off a penalty corner;
however, in the second half things started to come together and we
managed to come up with two goals and a win.
We'll play them again later today so we'll see if we can go 2-0 in these first two days of play. Off the field, most of our time is spent wandering beautiful Buenos Aires, trying local food and shops. Argentinian desserts are a big favorite with the team, and it seems like the tour managers over-budgeted our meals so we have extra money to stock up on chocolates and ice cream after breakfast and lunch...we've apparently convinced the coaches that these "victory meals" are good luck so long as we keep winning. Go USA.
Blog Entry #1 - Sunday, April 4, 2010
So, we're officially on our way to Argentina after two days of
training at UMD. For most of the team, this will be their first
time out of the country, as well as our first time
representing the U.S. Most of our time thus far has been devoted to
getting everybody on the same page as far as game tactics and
structure, and we'll have to keep working on that during our
training sessions early next week before we play the Argentinian
national team on Tuesday.
One of our teammates grew up in Argentina, so she's been teaching us Spanish and telling us about all the things we'll have to try once we get to Buenos Aires. Needless to say, excitement is high and everyone's ready to finally get the trip underway!
