Oh Todo, we aren't in America anymore!

Well we have all heard of the success of USA in the Olympics.  I think a big part of that success comes with the resources all the athletes have available to them.  For nations that don't have those kind of resources, I assure you it is more difficult to achieve success!

For 4 years I played Division 1 soccer.  I had full scholarship which included housing, food, and of course an education.  Though full ride or not, the team had its perks too.  We were completely outfitted with gear including: 2 pairs of cleats, practice gear, 2 full uniform kits, travel outfit, warm-up jacket and pants, rain gear, winter jacket, duffel bag, travel bag, school backpack, team hoodie and sweatpants, and more!  When we had away games we took a coach bus and stayed in nice hotels.  We got allowances for food and snacks and had team dinners at restaurants like Olive Garden and Cheesecake Factory.  Everything was provided for us.  It's almost sickening thinking of the money that goes into our program when I think about how things are different elsewhere, mainly the Philippines.

So here I am now playing for the Philippine National Team.  We certainly don't have even close to the resources I had in college, but honestly for football I would do nearly anything (I just might complain a lot!).  Though my time here really does but things in perspective and it makes me feel grateful for all the resources I did have growing up.  And while I whine about the few days we stay in the dorms at "Ultra," some of the girls are living there the whole time we train!

Right now we are preparing for the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Tournament in Vietnam Sept 13-22.  We will play Myanmar, Vietnam, and Singapore.  The other group consists of Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.  Then there will be semifinals and a final.  Because we have teammates coming in from all over the Philippines and the world, we are doing mini camps where the whole team stays at one place:  "Ultra."

Ultra is a place where all national athletes of all sports can stay during times of training and for other reasons.  Some of our girls stay there when we are preparing for tournament. Others stay at their college dorms or with their families.  People also trying out for the team will some times stay here.  Last year as well as this year I stay with my teammate and her family as well as some other teammates.  It's an AWESOME set up and makes me think I could definitely have a life here!  Minimal stress!  I am talking maids, drivers, home massage, home manis and pedis.  I must admit it is very nice and I am so thankful for staying here.  Then there is "Ultra." 

I could not stay at Ultra for more than I would ever have to!  Anyone that does I give them serious props!  The dorms apparently used to be worse, but even now.. I think I have just been spoiled!  We have two rooms there for mini camp, each with 5 sets of bunk beds (10 beds each room).  We have a bathroom with one sink and mirror and 3 stalls of toilets/showers (refer to pictures below!). I think being told stories before my stay here also freaked me out.  Apparently it is haunted with a ghost.. I do not do well with that!!!  It also is apparently decorated with dog and cat crap.. well the place is definitely infested with cats that are freakin creapy! They roam the hallways and stare and hiss or run away.  I am not a cat person and now I hate cats more! lol.  We do have closet space/cabinets, a nice lil rug, couch, and desk.  The bunk beds are patriotically painted red and blue.  I think if I could get over the cats and bathroom I'd be more comfortable, but there is also no fridge and microwave in our room.  The other room does have a microwave and rice cooker and water dispenser, but imagine leaving there for 3 months with no refrigerator or kitchen. I forgot to mention that my laundry is washed and folded at the house! Ultra.. not so much. We only stay for a few days so most of the time just washing a sports bra or something, but the other girls who live there! Lot of times they are just doing their own laundry old fashioned style! God bless my teammates! They really do it all! School, work, taking care of themselves, all while playing on a national team!  I came here with nothing to do but football and I already know what goes into that! 

Being on this team has probably been the best thing in my life.  I am so blessed to have an opportunity like this.  Growing up I always wondered what it would be like to live in the Philippines. I wondered what it was like for my family here.  Now I get a taste of it all.  How lucky I am to represent a part of me and especially my mom!  The things I am learning and experiencing here are irreplaceable. I really am finding my whole self here and I love it.  The people here are awesome and my teammates are some of my best friends.  They teach me a lot about life and I notice all these similarities between us that I don't always get in the United States as I grew up in a predominantly white town. Very few people get a chance like this, and I am making sure to make the most of it!  A lot of my friends are settled in their jobs, applying for school, are in school, or looking for jobs.  I am plain football half way across the world!  This is insane!  There is so much opportunity for me here and I am definitely gonna ride this out as long as possible :)! 
#philippineslove 

<3 always,
cooke

welcome to ultra

marice and patrice!

usually the girls in ultra have to take taxis to practice, but now we stuff 9 of us in a ford escape :)

our bunks

yeaaa anybody that complains about dorm beds in the US.. trying sleeping on these.. haha btw i went to loyola university maryland.. our dorms were ranked in the top ten of that nation.. i had a full kitchen my freshmen to senior year.  now we have a microwave and a rice cooker :) hey its all u need! hmm but i could use a fridge.. lol. 

why must the shower head be so close to the toilet!! i barely fit in the stall to begin with.  but hey at least we don't have tabo style aka a bucket of water and a bowl to scoop.. lol 

ten girls and one sink... yea i just decided to not care what i looked like for the duration of mini camp. 

well one weekend of mini camp down.. another to go!! we go friday-tuesday.

and one more thing that could just make Ultra bearable!!!! ... INTERNET!!! I hate being cut off from the world! My family, friends, and my babeee! At least we are getting some team bonding in and when it comes down to it.. WHATEVER IT TAKES!!! #malditas #teampilipinas #footballforlife

  

Life of an athlete

Wow! It definitely feels longer than two weeks!  What we do in a day (3 sessions) is what I was doing in a week in America!  I actually love our schedule though.  It really helps me maintain focus and stay healthy.  When the rain and other unpredictable disruptions come, that is when I become weak!  You want to have a good diet, but when a session is cancelled you end up eating even more or worse than if you had a session to burn those bad calories!  But everyone needs a cheat day.. sometimes two!  I am pretty good Monday-Friday, but when the weekend comes I definitely splurge.  When you are at malls with endless food options, you simply cannot help it!  Also, being exhausted you do just want to eat the bad stuff!  Our day goes from hot weather and sunshine to torrential downpour to hot again!  We cope though! :)

my splurge!! i love these green tea fraps or anything green tea!! so yummy!

my besties picking me up at the airport

what a trio!

we are always sweatingggg!!!

this is during pick-up on "football friday"... these foreigners can be so rudeee!! hating on girl footballers.. have their shorts hiked up.. for real?? oh and btw we ended up beating them haha.  i love proving people wrong esp haterssss!

our team is sponsored by a local restaurant called "giligans." we always get free food here! they have lots of filipino food and my teammates are always fighting for it haha.  

oh the rainy season!

these donuts are AMAZING!! all different flavors.  yes there is green tea!! i like the avocado flavored one!  also tiramasu, hazelnut, mascarpone, oreo, and more!! terrible for our diet but so good! gotta have a cheat day lol!

don't worry i didn't finish this all myself! we are all guilty!

and then i decided to stock up on the good stuff! the essentials! MAX product, protein, electrolytes, carbs/energy!

our whole house is trying to be healthy and increase performance!! haha though one teammate rather have stick-o's than whey.. lol.. whatever works!

that's it for now!! 

<3 cooke

Eat, Sleep, Soccer.

Well finally have a chance to blog!  Have only been here for 3 days, but have been non stop!  Sunday we had a game 8 hours after I arrived in the country. Then yesterday we had morning training session from 6-8am, a gym session after, and then fitness session from 4pm-6pm.  This feels like college preseason all over again! I loves it!  No homework, no job, just soccer!  

Other than training we went to "GreenHills" and saw The Dark Knight Rises.  GreenHills is a big shopping area where you can buy all the fake and real name brands.  Upstairs has the real stuff and then the huge flea market like downstairs has stands and stands for fake stuff.  This place is always pretty crowded so expect brushing up against a lot of people!  Also expect my teammates randomly dancing in crowds when we are there (cough cough Patrice).  As for the movie theater, you can reserve seats which is nice and you can also bring any food in there.  The close food places outside include the movie theater concession stand, bubble tea, and Starbucks.  The popcorn there is soooo good! They have over 5 flavors including butter, wasabi, sour cream and chives, cheddar, shrimp tempura, and my favorite texas bbq.  They also sell the seasoning so I am going to have to bring some back to America!  And you can't have popcorn without soda, but have you had a lychee 7up? So delish!! I love the flavors here especially because I cannot get them in America I really try to savor them!  

What else.. oh we have a new coach from Korea!  This has been interesting.  First I cannot speak filipino, but they do speak A LOT of english here so I am okay for the most part.  Now, I have to try to understand my coach!  Thank goodness for english being the common language!  I think it's really interesting to see the different ways countries and people approach soccer.  Doctor Pee (pronounced like "pay" -our coach) is so funny.  My first interaction with him was hysterical. He was telling our team our number one problem was our fitness level but the way he told was "Your number one problem is that your fat."  Haha.  Oh different cultures!  And Miss bold and confident me said alright punch my stomach and he blindsides me grabs my back fat with a death grip pinch that I seriously cannot escape and tells me "ohh no fat?" lol.  Embarrassing. So now we are working on our fitness slash not being as fat!  

Have had a great 3 days even though my body is already sore and exhausted.  Must get through this week!  More to come! 

<3 Cookie 

Philippine National Team Round 2!

Wow! I'm so excited for this trip again! I am so blessed to have this opportunity to play soccer and represent my mother's homeland! I can't wait for this experience and this time around I hope to delve even deeper into this culture which I have missed out on. This time I am flying Korean Air. Service so far had been phenomenal and on point! The stewardists are adorable!!! Petite and gorgeous with cute outfits! It's like Asian Panam! Hopefully my flights go well!

<3 Cookie

Post-Lao

So the tournament is officially over. I had high expectations and unfortunately they came short, but looking at the big picture I think it was a great start. 

As many may or may not know, the womens national team has been inactive for the last few years. The preparation for this tournament began in January; however a lot happened until that point. Teammates got injured and some got sick. The foreigners didn't come til les than a month before with three never even playing for the team. And some players had to take care of their daily life first I.e. Jobs so they couldn't participate. All those factors affected us though we still put a great fight and shocked many teams and their coaches. On top of that are disputes of whether the AFF purposely gave us the game tape of myanmar after the first goal they scored (which was conveniently offsides) and then enriching tape short for Malaysia (where their goal was also offsides). Those goals were game changers. Lastly, a handball in the box was not called. Though, I had a coach tell me once that of u are good enuf u make ur own luck. U never want to blame the refs. I think it is just frustrating that we could have even done better. Though with minimal support and our personal lives to attend to (most are still in school or have jobs) we did pretty darn good. We learned a lot from this tournament which will only help us in the future. And the most important part we grew as team and as a family. I am in awe of how close a team could be coming from different areas, backgrounds, ages. It is web more fulfilling to be on a team with people u love to be around and have fun with. There is much work to be done but all of it is tangiable. I cannot wait to see this team improve more and more. I think many will be surprised :)
Love,
Cookie

SA-BY-DEE LAO! (Hello Laos!)

We are finally here! This is IT!!!! I have been preparing for the last few weeks now with these girls.  They have been training since the beginning of this year!  Now here we are here at the ASEAN Football Federation Tournament that we have all been training for.

A little info on the tournament:
The tournament is being held in the Laos capital, Vientiane.  The teams are broken into two groups.
Group A:  Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Laos
Group B:  Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines

Our schedule:
Monday- Myanmar
Wednesday- Thailand
Friday- Malaysia

Sunday- Semifinals
N. Tuesday- Finals

All are teams are beatable but our competition is definitely Myanmar and Thailand.  Though, we have heard Malaysia has lots of new players as well as Myanmar.  Myanmar also has a new coach form Japan.  And this and that team have been preparing for this and that long.  In my eyes this is anyones tournament.  We have already been a favorite for last in our group.  I think that is the best position we could be in.  Everyone underestimating us.  Perfect.  Thailand will struggle to be stay on top.  They have everything riding on them.  We, on the other hand, have all the opportunity.  I told my teammates today, "Nothing to lose, and everything to WIN!"  We have a chance to make history here! It's gonna come down who wants it the most.  Who going to battle!?  Who will rise to the occasion? We are a young team and we should use that to our advantage.  We have energy and spirit.  No need for nerves!  We don't have all the pressure.  I know we can do this we just have to believe in ourselves and each other.  At the end of it all, I know all of us will grow from this.  I already have.  Never have I been so close to a team in such a little period of time too!  I have known these girls for a month and they already feel like sisters to me.  So many teams before had all this drama!  This team is so different! We have so much fun! And everyones like me for me.  No one telling me who to be.  Im just myself!  Such a good vibe!  Everyone wants the best for each other.  I love it!

Anyway, we do have a chance and a good one!  We will take it one game at a time!!

GO MALDITAS!!!

<3,
Cooke

jeepneys, typhoons, banyos, and perms

 so i finally had a day of commuting!!! i have been blessed with having a driver take me everywhere around town, but when i visited with my cousins i was at their mercy! lol. it was actually fun and very interesting.  we took a jeepney, a bus, and a van all in one day! i am glad i was with all them, because they actually knew what they were doing.  it's pretty crazy how it works around here. i would be so lost!. basically the jeepneys run a certain route and its 8 pesos to get on and sometimes u pay more if you end of going really far. i still don't get how u know which one to get on. u sort of ask around and look at where the jeepney says its going (usually painted on the actually jeepney-picture pending!).  after we hopped on the jeepney we ran to get a bus, and I have no idea how we knew that was the right one, but i guess it was easier since we were going to Mall of Asia which is a popular spot.  on the way home we took a van and it wasn't as quick as going to the mall because we literally waited til a normally 12 passenger van had 16 passengers. we sat in this van for over an hour to fill up!!! so u definitely have to have patience and tons of time to spare if you are commuting. and even when you have a driver there is a lot of traffic so u still need to factor that into ur day.  errands that take a morning in the states, could take two days here.  it's okay though since i don't have school or a job to worry about; just soccer :). also, to alleviate traffic, everyday there is restrictions on who can be on the rode depending on the last digit of ur license plate. for example, say on tuesdays, 5's and 6's can't be on the road, so if ur car ends in a 5 or 6 u either have to commute or use another car.  i thought that was pretty interesting. manila is a lot different than the last time i was here! thank goodness for skyway ( the main toll road that we end up using everyday!) tho the tolls are high! but thats my experience with the transportation so far. i will probably experience the tricycles soon when i visit my cousins in the province!

 so there has also been two typhoons here. they actually weren't that bad. the first one was worse. it was really just windy and rainy and that put a damper on our training.  the fields are always wet and so they never really recover.  its sooooo muddy and it is hard to even enjoy playing when the fields are so bad.  though u learn to adjust to it.  chipping the ball over the mud puddle or having to dribble around it.  it makes u think and adjust so i guess ill give it that. but ill take turf any day :) anyway the picture above it a pic of a billboard. u kno its gonna be bad weather when they roll them up.  its pretty neat that they just roll up their billboards for the storm, tho when u ride on the skyway manila looks dead and dismal.  i def like the billboards up and on that note i like "what's in" here. i feel less pressure to be a certain image, maybe because Iin reality I'm closer to the image in the philippines.  i think its weird tho how everyone wants to be white! all these creams and products to make u whiter! and all the girls on the billboards are mostly filipinas! they are healthy looking and not frail. they have dark hair and are just naturally pretty.  i just like the overall vibe here!

haha i had to take a picture of this!!! these banyo (comfort room) signs are everywhere! the rice hat man and the female wearing the traditional dress in the philippines i.e. the one with puffy sleeves :) haha really i just think this sign is cute, fun, and unique. the little quirks that i love in asian culture ^^

and finally i got a perm!!! it was a long process!! as i never get my hair done and i had to sit still for a longgg timeee (not my tired eyes lol) so goodbye super straight asian hair! i want some curls and volume! i like it! i don't get to wear my hair curly enough! so yay!!!

well! thats it for nowww! its been hard to blog just because I've been so tired!! but i love this!! i literally just play soccer and go to the gym everyday.  when we have time we walk around the malls.  we get home service manis/pedis, waxes, and massages!! i feel so blessed to have this adventure! i could get used to this!! i kno for sure that i will be back here more often! I'm so happy here! :)