Taking on the Holland Junior National Team

In front are Sunny, Lindy, and DJ. Hiding between our legs are Danielle and Marcella

Today I played my first game with Fortissimo against Holland's Junior National Team. The evening didn't start too well because we forgot to bring the game shirts. So we pulled a New York City and borrowed jerseys from the junior team. Then we spent 10 minutes looking for a locker room we could use. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the junior team. They were quick and strong, nothing like playing the juniors in Canada. Fortissimo started out playing pretty well and took an early lead. But that didn't last too long. For the first half, one goal was immediately followed by another from the opposing team. By the end of the first half, the score was tied 13-13. I scored once from the wing. Christian would be proud of me, I totally committed to my shot! By the end of the first half and for the rest of the second half, things kind of fell apart. We didn't have the flow that we saw in the Fortissimo team at the USA Cup. Which drives home the point that we can't win a handball game with just one person, we really need to play together as a team. That one was a little tough for me because I wasn't sure what the back court wanted from the left wing. Seems like most of the time with USA, the backs are yelling at us to stay in the corner. With Fortissimo, the wings did a lot of crossing and wing-in plays. I did manage to steal one ball and go on a fast break. Scored with a lob! I almost ran the goalie over because I was concentrating so hard on finding the six meter line so I don't step on it (the floor had a bunch of criss crossing lines from several other sports). Final score was a dissappointing 29-23. Next time will be better!

We drove to Holland's national training center where there's actually a handball academy. The students who study at the academy live there full time and train with the national team. Then on the weekends they go home and play with their local club teams. The Junior National Team lives and trains full time at this center. Kind of like what we did at Lake Placid. Most of the senior national team members are playing with handball clubs in other countries.

Below are some of the pictures I took today:

Does this look familiar?

When you see this sign, watch out for doggie doogie. I don't know how, but I still managed to step on a fresh one even though I was on my bike most of the time.