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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Postcards From Brazil, Part 3: Ivi's World Cup Adventure
June 18, 2014 | Women's Soccer
LINKS
PHOTO GALLERY: Ivi Casagrande at the World Cup
Ivi at the World Cup: First Update (Monday, June 16)
Ivi at the World Cup: Second Update (Tuesday, June 17)
June 14
The morning of June 14th was our first morning off when we could sleep until late to get some rest. Match Day was probably one of the most exciting events I have been part of. The atmosphere was amazing and seeing the families happy to watch their family was something rewarding. We could see that all our hard work to make everything run smoothly on game day was worth it. I took the afternoon off to go to the beach and enjoy the awesome weather. Then, at 6 pm we planned a dinner for the families in one of the local restaurants with a beautiful view to the beach. There, the families would have the opportunity to watch the England vs Italy game, have dinner and have some traditional Brazilian drinks such as Caipirinha. Everyone was happy and we had a great time together.
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participated in a beach soccer tournament...
Sunday in a place like Vitoria is probably the best day of the week. Everyone goes to the beach, you can see a lot of people riding their bikes, running on the beach and swimming. I woke up, had breakfast and went for a run on the beach. I didn't have enough time to work out in the last two days so I needed that run a lot! Our staff had lunch together and then we went to the beach again to swim and relax a little bit. In the afternoon, the Australian players came to the hotel where they would have some time to spend with their families. Meanwhile, we went to a Japanese place for dinner.
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June 16
Today was personally the day I have been waiting for this entire time in Vitoria. Beach Soccer tournament with the families! The families were divided into 4 teams, chosen by them. Mike Milligan's family (one of the Australia National Team players) asked me to play with them. I was so happy and honored to be part of their team! I have never played beach soccer before so I was excited to see how different it would be from regular soccer. We won our first game and lost our second game to Tim Cahill's family. Then, we made it to the championship game and won on penalty kicks! We got Australian hats as our prize and also the World Cup trophy in form of chocolate. The families had so much fun and for most of them, like myself, it was our first time playing beach soccer. Quite a challenge, but a lot of fun. From the beach, we came back to the hotel and we went out for some dinner.
June 17
Today we scheduled paddle boarding with the families in the morning. Katrina (one of our awesome staff members), Scott (another awesome staff member) and I went to the little beach in front of our hotel to set it up with one of the local companies. We started at 7 am, but it took some time for the families to arrive so Katrina and I started practicing our paddle boarding skills. It was my first time doing it and I was kind of scared since I have always feared the ocean. It took me some time to get the hang of it, but once I got my confidence, I was paddling far away from the beach, trying to enjoy the view and my new favorite hobby. The families started arriving around 8:30 am and we all went paddle boarding together and the owner of the company went in the water to take some awesome pictures for us. The families enjoyed it a lot! Then, I came back to the hotel to get ready for the BRAZIL GAME!!!!!! I was so excited because all of us were going to watch the game on a really famous street in Vitoria that have a bunch of different bars and restaurants. We got there and the atmosphere was amazing. Everyone wearing the green and yellow shirt all excited to cheer for our country. When the Brazilian Team started to sing the national anthem I felt so much pride and chills. Still can't believe this is happening in our country. I can't help but feel blessed every day to be a Brazilian, to be working with the Australia National Team's families and to be in Brazil in such a special time. Tomorrow we leave early to Porto Alegre for our second game against Netherlands. Tough game but we are all really excited to be part of this journey with Australia. GO SOCCEROOS!
Australia's match vs. the Netherlands is Wednesday (June 18) at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Check back to BGSUFalcons.com in the near future for more updates from Ivi!
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