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| Warming up- 7 meters |
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| Half Time-Bjerringbro Blue! |
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| Despite how it looks, I am NOT arguing with the ref (dommer) |
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| Defense |
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Pictures of our game vs. Overlund
Bjerringbro FH for the win! 13-9
We had our first 'practice match' as Bjerringbro FH U16 Team 2, and it went quite well. With the help of the Team 1 goalie and right back, we pulled ourselves together in the second half to pull aherad in a close game. Due to personal conflicts for Jennie Bergsma and Chanel Turner, and lack of a goalie, we borrowed from Team 1 to field the minimum 7 players needed for a game (6 field players-1 goalie.) It was a rough first half personally, as there was some adaption needed-I'm so used to playing a team my size! Our team had a small problem with 2-minute suspensions, two players-including myself-rounding up two in the first half. The second half, however was much better. The 'first game jitters' seemed to calm down and I was able to settle into my game, despite lack of substitutes. I managed to score 3 or 4 goals, drew two 7-meter penalty shots and definitely felt an improvement in my game. I found myself moving or "peevotting"(Julio!) much quicker, and my positioning in the circle (Stregspiller) was much better. My favorite moments of the game we probably catching the ball with my left hand, spinning while transitioning to my right, and shooting (it went in, but was wrongfully called a turnover,) and a few 'American-on-American' plays between Amber Turner and I.
The Danish game is much different from what both Amber & I were used to, as Danes tend to prefer setting up a play than looking for a fast break, and offensive & defensive play was much less aggressive. On the offensive side, it is much less likely for a Danish U16 player to come past the 7 meter line to hit you or wrap you up, if at all. My Danish mother explained that the younger players focus much more on the technical skills, and the physical aggresiveness comes later on. Defense, on the other hand, had many more similarities to the play we were used to, differing mostly in the speed of attack and not moving much past the 7 meter, if straying from the 6 at all. We did learn a LOT in our game, though, and overall it was a success-especially the second half, when it all seemed to come together.
Now, it's time to relax the swollen knees & elbows (and NOT SWOLLEN ankles, I love modern medical braces!) and watch Norway play Romania in the GF World Cup final. NORGE! NORGE! NORGE!
The Danish game is much different from what both Amber & I were used to, as Danes tend to prefer setting up a play than looking for a fast break, and offensive & defensive play was much less aggressive. On the offensive side, it is much less likely for a Danish U16 player to come past the 7 meter line to hit you or wrap you up, if at all. My Danish mother explained that the younger players focus much more on the technical skills, and the physical aggresiveness comes later on. Defense, on the other hand, had many more similarities to the play we were used to, differing mostly in the speed of attack and not moving much past the 7 meter, if straying from the 6 at all. We did learn a LOT in our game, though, and overall it was a success-especially the second half, when it all seemed to come together.
Now, it's time to relax the swollen knees & elbows (and NOT SWOLLEN ankles, I love modern medical braces!) and watch Norway play Romania in the GF World Cup final. NORGE! NORGE! NORGE!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Handball Update
We found out tonight at training that we will have our first match this Sunday in Viborg. Our first 'real' Danish handball game! Wish us luck!
Canoeing and Handball and Shopping, oh my!
After quite the weekend, and a busy start to the week, we're back into our normal schedules. Saturday marked a fun team bonding event when the 5 U16 girls from the USA went canoeing with many U16 Danish girls from Bjerringbro FH. Despite typical Denmark weather conditions - cold wind & rain - we bundled up in rain jackets and sweatpants underneath our lifejackets and were on our way. We put in at a small town above Bjerringbro, and paddled about for a little over an hour-putting us right into the heart of Bjerringbro. It was a really fun trip, and gave all of us a chance to bond and meet the Danish girls outside of Handball.
After canoeing, we had a less than an hour to relax before meeting at the train station for a bus to Silkeborg to watch Bjerringbro's professional team-BSV, play against Kipling IF in Silkeborg. It was an awesome experience, as much of the arena was full of fans of both teams, and a GREAT game. BSV and Kipling stayed close throughout the game, but in the end BSV pulled ahead to snatch the win. It was fun to watch, and I'd wager that there were more people in the arena watching handball than in the entire United States.
The rest of the weekend gave way to relaxing & school work, and Monday was back into Handball and School. Tuesday, however, began another adventure of Team USA in Denmark. Århus is hosting the GF World Cup of Womens handball this week, and we were lucky enough to travel to Århus in the morning and watch the opening games. The first game, at 14:00, was Russia against Sweden. After a small mishap in walking from the train station to the NRGI Arena, we arrived about 10 minutes into the game-just in time for things to get interesting. After settling down into our seats, I received a huge shock-I RECOGNIZED the goalie playing for Russia! She had also participated with Russian 1st Division team Rostov-Don at the Robert Schumann tournament in Oldenburg, playing against the USA Women's Select team. I was thoroughly suprised and, of course, found myself rooting for Russia throughout the game. Russia and Sweden found themselves locked goal for goal through the 2nd half, and Sweden scored off the left wing as time ran out to secure the win. After that, we watched Hungary pull away from Germany, much to my dismay, and Norway give away an early lead to fall to Romania. But those were the small games. We were there to watch Denmark play France. Natascha King and I had our Denmark jerseys on, and Gaby Rapp and myself had found someone to paint Danish flags on our cheeks- oh yeah, we were ready. People began to pour into the arena, leaving few seats open, and red & white enveloped the crowd. After introductions and an acapella Danish National Anthem sung by the crowd, the game was on. Denmark scored early, but France held up through the first half. The second half, however, was completely controlled by Denmark who, despite France's best efforts, pulled ahead for the biggest win of the day 32-29.
After canoeing, we had a less than an hour to relax before meeting at the train station for a bus to Silkeborg to watch Bjerringbro's professional team-BSV, play against Kipling IF in Silkeborg. It was an awesome experience, as much of the arena was full of fans of both teams, and a GREAT game. BSV and Kipling stayed close throughout the game, but in the end BSV pulled ahead to snatch the win. It was fun to watch, and I'd wager that there were more people in the arena watching handball than in the entire United States.
The rest of the weekend gave way to relaxing & school work, and Monday was back into Handball and School. Tuesday, however, began another adventure of Team USA in Denmark. Århus is hosting the GF World Cup of Womens handball this week, and we were lucky enough to travel to Århus in the morning and watch the opening games. The first game, at 14:00, was Russia against Sweden. After a small mishap in walking from the train station to the NRGI Arena, we arrived about 10 minutes into the game-just in time for things to get interesting. After settling down into our seats, I received a huge shock-I RECOGNIZED the goalie playing for Russia! She had also participated with Russian 1st Division team Rostov-Don at the Robert Schumann tournament in Oldenburg, playing against the USA Women's Select team. I was thoroughly suprised and, of course, found myself rooting for Russia throughout the game. Russia and Sweden found themselves locked goal for goal through the 2nd half, and Sweden scored off the left wing as time ran out to secure the win. After that, we watched Hungary pull away from Germany, much to my dismay, and Norway give away an early lead to fall to Romania. But those were the small games. We were there to watch Denmark play France. Natascha King and I had our Denmark jerseys on, and Gaby Rapp and myself had found someone to paint Danish flags on our cheeks- oh yeah, we were ready. People began to pour into the arena, leaving few seats open, and red & white enveloped the crowd. After introductions and an acapella Danish National Anthem sung by the crowd, the game was on. Denmark scored early, but France held up through the first half. The second half, however, was completely controlled by Denmark who, despite France's best efforts, pulled ahead for the biggest win of the day 32-29.
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| Myself with the Danish National Team Mascots |
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| Myself with the Russia National Team Goalie-Inna Suslina |
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| Danish and French Teams warming up |
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| Team USA in Denmark Left to Right: Myself, Natascha King, Gaby Rapp, Chanel Turner, Amber Turner, and Jennie Bergsma |
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Settling into a routine
The Americans in Denmark have finally started settling down and getting into the swing of things here in Bjerringbro. Our school schedules are nearly finalized (pending the possibility of being involved in English classes), including intensive Danish lessons every other day. We are training 5 days a week, lifting on Thursdays and Cross-training on Tuesdays.
This Saturday will be busy for all of us, as the Bjerringbro FH U16 girls are taking us on a canoeing adventure through Bjerringbro. Bjerringbro was built around the largest river in Jutland, and if you drive about 20 km out, you can take a canoe all the way through Bjerringbro. After canoeing, we will go to Silkeborg to watch Bjerringbro-Silkeborg [our clubs professional team] play against Kolding IF. Our canoe trip will begin at 12, however my day will start at 2 am, as I will be watching my beloved Longhorns massacre the Texas Tech Red Raiders online at 7 pm central time. Hook'em horns!
More after our weekend!
This Saturday will be busy for all of us, as the Bjerringbro FH U16 girls are taking us on a canoeing adventure through Bjerringbro. Bjerringbro was built around the largest river in Jutland, and if you drive about 20 km out, you can take a canoe all the way through Bjerringbro. After canoeing, we will go to Silkeborg to watch Bjerringbro-Silkeborg [our clubs professional team] play against Kolding IF. Our canoe trip will begin at 12, however my day will start at 2 am, as I will be watching my beloved Longhorns massacre the Texas Tech Red Raiders online at 7 pm central time. Hook'em horns!
More after our weekend!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Billeder!!
It seems that Facebook and Denmark do not get along well, so I've attached some pictures here...
Chanel Turner, Gaby Rapp, Myself, and Jennie Bergsma at the Bjerringbro train station before our trip to Århus
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| Giant..Giants? Big Overly-Friendly Giants in downtown Århus |
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| The Mexican Food section at the local grocery store. |
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| Church in Downtown Århus |
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The Biggest Å in Bjerringbro-the letter 'Å' is also the Danish word for 'river.'   More to Come, soon!!! |
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Hjernerystelse
Hjernerystelse is the Danish word for concussion. This Monday, early in our training, I somehow managed to miss a weight ball being tossed down to me during an excercise in which you do a sit-up with a weight ball above your head, throwing it to your partner on your way up. On the way down, your partner would toss the wieght ball back. On the very last rep, I missed the weight ball, which smashed into my face, forcing my head to crack the wooden floor. It's believed that I incurred a minor concussion, and after a day of rest, I'm back at school and feeling much better.
We've had our first offical Danish lessons, and it's become quite apparent that the pronunciation [or lack thereof] will be the biggest thing to overcome, along with the extra letters [Æ, Ø, and Å] I'm sure we'll learn quickly, but if we could not laugh at ourselves, we would be in a very different position.
Online classes are tough! We are given about 4 class periods a day to do work, but those periods are interrupted by Danish lessons, Math & Science support [more Danish lessons], and Sports. We're trying our best, but it will definitely take us a few more weeks to get the hang of things. Reading lectures and responding to the occasional discussion topic, along with assignments, are much more difficult than you would imagine.
Last night was my first practice after my knock on the noggin', and ooh-rah! It felt good! I can really tell the training out here is going to be amazing. Last night began with 30-minutes of cardio, followed by some ball work, offensive drills, more fast-breaks than i can count, and finally scrimmaging. The girls and I learned alot of positioning, catching with one-hand, picked up on not dribbling, and really learned the importance of strong communication on defense-despite the language barrier. These next 90 days will be extremely beneficial for all of us.
We've had our first offical Danish lessons, and it's become quite apparent that the pronunciation [or lack thereof] will be the biggest thing to overcome, along with the extra letters [Æ, Ø, and Å] I'm sure we'll learn quickly, but if we could not laugh at ourselves, we would be in a very different position.
Online classes are tough! We are given about 4 class periods a day to do work, but those periods are interrupted by Danish lessons, Math & Science support [more Danish lessons], and Sports. We're trying our best, but it will definitely take us a few more weeks to get the hang of things. Reading lectures and responding to the occasional discussion topic, along with assignments, are much more difficult than you would imagine.
Last night was my first practice after my knock on the noggin', and ooh-rah! It felt good! I can really tell the training out here is going to be amazing. Last night began with 30-minutes of cardio, followed by some ball work, offensive drills, more fast-breaks than i can count, and finally scrimmaging. The girls and I learned alot of positioning, catching with one-hand, picked up on not dribbling, and really learned the importance of strong communication on defense-despite the language barrier. These next 90 days will be extremely beneficial for all of us.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Jeg taler ikke Dansk
It seems the only Danish I've seemed to pick up as of late has been "Jeg teller ikke Dansk" or "I don't speak Danish." Yesterday was Bjerringbro Gymnaium's "Sportenfest" or "Sports Day." All classes-or homerooms- picked a theme to dress up as and play in a small tournament of 3 sports- Football(soccer), Volleyball('wolleyball' in Danish), and something similar to 'Whackbat' from "The Fantastic Mr. Fox." We were assigned to class 2a, who dressed up as cyclists. It was only our second day at the school, so none of us were all too keen to show up in helmets and spandex, but the team had extra supplies for us when we showed up. We managed to sneak off and have our computers set up, but our team did well without us-winning first place in Whackbat. The prize? A case of beer. After Sportenfest there was a school party- which consisted of extremely loud, thumping European techno music and cafeteria ladies serving beer on tap to students for 20 kr- about $3.50. We got out of there relatively quick-it was MUCH different than a US school dance!
Today we watched the Bjerringbro FH U-16 team play 2 matches in Viborg. They won both, qualifying them to move up to the next highest division. The girls were all very excited-at least we assumer so, with the language barrier and all..
Sunday will be our 'no alarm clock' day, as we are all EXHAUSTED. I'll stay tonight in the apartment, and head back to the farm tomorrow afternoon. As for now, it's nap time!
Today we watched the Bjerringbro FH U-16 team play 2 matches in Viborg. They won both, qualifying them to move up to the next highest division. The girls were all very excited-at least we assumer so, with the language barrier and all..
Sunday will be our 'no alarm clock' day, as we are all EXHAUSTED. I'll stay tonight in the apartment, and head back to the farm tomorrow afternoon. As for now, it's nap time!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Rødgrød med Fløde
We had our first danish lesson today [informal], and we found that currant pudding with cream, or rødgrød med fløde, is one thing we will NOT be ordering any time soon! Danish schools are extremely casual, something that will take some time getting used to. Teachers are called by their first names, and students are told to leave the room quietly without interrupting class for bathroom breaks, water fountain visits, or if they feel the need to leave class for any reason. We were really suprised to find that kids are not required to have a note to skip class if they have to go to the library and work on a project-just explain it to the teacher later.
Today was also a move-in day for the girls in the apartment or 'flat' as the Danes call it. We all met Natascha King, who is a lovely person whom we are all glad has finally arrived. Natascha is an Army Sergeant who was recently accepted into the World Class Athlete Program, and has agreed to share her living situation with 2 of the girls playing with the youth teams. The apartment seems nice, and will serve as a place for us in-town for us to hang-out in town between school and practices.
We spent the day in Århus yesterday, exploring, shopping, and celebrating what Allan called our 'Last Handball-Free day for a long time.' There was some sort of festival going on, which included what would best be described as Big Over-Friendly Giants. They were crudely constructed costumes, controlled by people inside, that were 15-20 ft high. These BO-FG's absolutely LOVED to start chasing anyone who made eye contact with them, and had creepy wooden hands that would reach down and grab you-quite the shock when you one sneaks up behind you! With the festival, many of the shops were decorated with Danish Flags, and many claimed to be having 'sales'-everything was the same price at nearly every store. The overall presence of Hummel gear [http://www.hummel.dk/Sport.aspx], which is practically unknown in the US, was ASTOUNDING. Everyone had Hummel gear, and we raided every store that seemed promising of low prices. We finally found a department store in which we found the deal of a lifetime-16 pairs of Hummel socks{a handball must-have}, a pair of Hummel shorts, a Hummel jersey, AND a Hummel bag for 300 kr; slightly more than $50.00 USD!
Tomorrow we will attend the Gymnasium's "Sports Day." This is a day in which the whole school takes off and classes compete against each other in Soccer [football], Volleyball, and "Something like Softball." The class to which we have been assigned is dressing up as bicyclists, and I've got my helmet ready!
Also, the qualifying matches for our youth teams to move up in divisions are this weekend. U-16 will play in Viborg, but U-18 will be at home in Bjerringbro. We are very lucky to have learned that extra parents have volunteered to drive us 'American Girls' to watch the match. Go Bjerringbro!!!
Today was also a move-in day for the girls in the apartment or 'flat' as the Danes call it. We all met Natascha King, who is a lovely person whom we are all glad has finally arrived. Natascha is an Army Sergeant who was recently accepted into the World Class Athlete Program, and has agreed to share her living situation with 2 of the girls playing with the youth teams. The apartment seems nice, and will serve as a place for us in-town for us to hang-out in town between school and practices.
We spent the day in Århus yesterday, exploring, shopping, and celebrating what Allan called our 'Last Handball-Free day for a long time.' There was some sort of festival going on, which included what would best be described as Big Over-Friendly Giants. They were crudely constructed costumes, controlled by people inside, that were 15-20 ft high. These BO-FG's absolutely LOVED to start chasing anyone who made eye contact with them, and had creepy wooden hands that would reach down and grab you-quite the shock when you one sneaks up behind you! With the festival, many of the shops were decorated with Danish Flags, and many claimed to be having 'sales'-everything was the same price at nearly every store. The overall presence of Hummel gear [http://www.hummel.dk/Sport.aspx], which is practically unknown in the US, was ASTOUNDING. Everyone had Hummel gear, and we raided every store that seemed promising of low prices. We finally found a department store in which we found the deal of a lifetime-16 pairs of Hummel socks{a handball must-have}, a pair of Hummel shorts, a Hummel jersey, AND a Hummel bag for 300 kr; slightly more than $50.00 USD!
Tomorrow we will attend the Gymnasium's "Sports Day." This is a day in which the whole school takes off and classes compete against each other in Soccer [football], Volleyball, and "Something like Softball." The class to which we have been assigned is dressing up as bicyclists, and I've got my helmet ready!
Also, the qualifying matches for our youth teams to move up in divisions are this weekend. U-16 will play in Viborg, but U-18 will be at home in Bjerringbro. We are very lucky to have learned that extra parents have volunteered to drive us 'American Girls' to watch the match. Go Bjerringbro!!!
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