Greetings From England

Hardin-Simmons head women's soccer coach Marcus Wood and senior Regan Cappella are blogging from their trip to England. Here is their first installment.

Marcus Wood
The 10 hour flight was one of the better long flights I have experienced. The flight was not full so we had some room to spread out. I had plenty of time to read and the in flight movies were very good. At 4:00 am I watched 2 of the best episdoes of The Office: The Dundee Awards and The Office Olympics both had me laughing outloud.

When we arrived at London Gatwick Airport everything went pretty smooth. We got right on our coach (charter bus) and headed to The Chigwell School. At the Chigwell School we headed out to the pitch and had a practice session that allowed us to work the bugs out. I am sad to report that my team (the Veterans) lost to the Youngsters.

Walking off the practice field we planned on catching the tube into London but jet lag caught up so my group stayed in Chigwell. The Pub (Ye Old Kings Head) where we ate is where Charles Dickens wrote one of his books. Winston Churchill often ate at Ye Old Kings Head. Several of the girls went into London and I admire their ability to stay awake. I was asleep by 9:00 pm.

Today we practice with the staff of Tottenham Hotspur FC. We expect Martin Jol will have a nice session for us on the eve of their opening match of the EPL season. We then head into London for a ride on the London Eye and all the sightseeing. Our first match is Sunday against Fulham.

My most memorable moment of day one was when we first arrived at the Chigwell school and seeing the kids playing cricket. They all had on their "football" uniforms especially West Ham which seems to be the club of choice in Chigwell. As the girls got off the bus, all the kids stopped what they were doing and watched our every move. A couple brave ones even came over and greeted us. It is fun experiencing a new culture, especially seeing the game over here. Brilliant!

Regan Cappella
Cheers mate! Lets just say that our first day has been interesting...The flight was loooonngg and bumpy making it very hard to get decent sleep, but we did get pretty good food and movies. We then went ahead to our first practice with eyes half shut and did pretty good to beat the old farts as usual.

Although we were excited to be there and playing soccer most of us were just dying to get out and have a look around. After practice, we hurried to get ready then headed out into the so called big village of Chigwell. Most of the girls went to the local pubs around town, a few decided to make the hour trek into London. Beth and I headed with my parents to the same pub that Woody went too where we chowed down on the local fish and chips. You also had your choice of graden peas or mushy peas to go with the meal, but we were told that most englanders opted for the mushy peas. They looked and tasted like baby food peas...never again. It was a good experience.

Tonight we will make our way out into London where we will get to ride on the London Eye and start our adventure in the city..Hopefully we get to see Prince William....but probably not! :)