South Africa
After arriving in Pretoria, South Africa at 5am in the morning the girls were all feeling a bit tired and jet lagged but due to our early arrival the coaches wanted us to stay awake so we could adjust to the time difference, so they organised a tour to a Lion and Cheetah park. The girls all sparked up a bit when we got to the park and we were seated in 3 mini vans for the tour of the park.

We were told to keep our arms and heads inside the vehicle at all times to avoid having them bitten off by a hungry lion, and after much consideration we decided this was a good idea. We drove through the park taking photos of all the wild animals including Giraffes, lions, cheetahs and other not so scary animals. All was well until the bus I was in got bogged in a muddy ditch. After much confusion as to what to do next myself and 4 others got out of the vehicle after much looking around to check for lurking lions and proceeded to hastily push the vehicle until it was able to move freely again and then scampered as quick as possible back to the safety of the bus and locked the doors and thanked the heavens for not being eaten.

We were then lucky enough to get to pat some lion cubs and I must say I had a bit of a laugh as when it was my turn to pat the cubs I could not help myself and put my hand over one of their faces and roughed it up a bit to which the cub spat the dummy and swatted me with its massive paw and that was enough for me to apologise and promise not to rough up the lion cubs any more!!! It was a bit different to the kind of reaction I used to get when I roughed up my pet Jack Russell to have some fun with it. We had a great day and got plenty of photos of the animals.
 
It was then time to play some hockey as that was the reason for our visit to South Africa.  Unfortunately after the first training session I pulled up sore with an injury that has plagued me for the past few months which is a chronic groin injury. After consultations with both the team physio and doctor I was ruled out for the rest of the tournament as the injury would have continued to get worse and the recovery time would then be to long. I was a bit down with not being able to train or play matches but it's very important for me to get myself right for the Olympic preparations for next year. Frank wanted me to stay on tour to provide some leadership for the team and I was happy to be able to stay and enjoy the tour and also support the girls in the matches.
 
The results for the matches against South Africa were a bit mixed with the girls winning the first match but then losing the second match which meant the third and final match was very important as the score was level and the girls won the last match which meant we won the series against South Africa. The team played well but at times looked a bit flat which worried coach Murray. I think it has just been a long year and the girls probably need a rest.