Two rest days – visiting the Great Wall of China and exploring Beijing a little more ended the 1^st half of our tour to China.
8 Days – 6 matches remaining.

Thursday 10 June and the girls were ready to start the second half of what they came to do – train, train and train some more. A lot of game related exercises and a lot of running! But this is what we need if we want to become number 6 and compete with the teams in the top half of the rankings.

Friday – a training session in the morning and then the 1^st test of the last 6. Half time score 4 – 0 and with a full time score of 7 – 1 not one we would want to dwell on too long.

Back at home the long awaited opening ceremony of the Soccer World Cup. The Ambassador organized for the SA students in Beijing to watch the opening ceremony and 1^st game on big screen and we joined them. It was very nice to be among fellow South Africans watching your National team participating in such an event.

With the time difference and the game only starting at 22:00 in China the girls did not have a training session this morning. Individual sessions were held and each player made aware of their strong and weak points.

Then the game and what a game! Half time score was 0 – 0. They only managed to score their first goal in the 14^th minute of the second half. At some stages we played very good hockey and created a few scoring opportunities. An area we are sure to become better at as a lot of work is being put into goal scoring and this will definitely pay dividends in the long run. Final score 3 – 0 and I am sure some of the big names in China’s team will come out firing tomorrow.

By: Kokkie Sieling