Tarpley’s Thoughts

“Lindsay Tarpley, Come on down, you’re the next contestant on the Price is Right.” OK, so maybe that didn’t’ happen, but we did get to go to a taping of the Price is Right!

I don’t know about you, but I grew up watching the Price is Right. A few weeks ago while we were in camp in LA, we got to go to a taping and give away the show case show down.  I felt like a kid in a candy store because I was so excited to see how the show was created.  When we got there, we saw them setting everything up and tying up all the loose ends for the show.  We did a practice taping and then a few hours later we got to tape the actual show.  The contestant won a trip to Athens because that is where we won gold four years again in the Olympics.  We got to spin the wheel and see all the unique parts of the show.  I had a great time!  You can see a few pics on my website, www.lindsaytarpley.com 

Maybe next time I will actually hear, “Come on down!”  ha ha. 

The Olympic roster is finalized!  I feel very blessed to have been named to the roster.  It was officially announced yesterday on www.ussoccer.com.  I feel very fortunate to be able to represent the USA in such a unique event.  This will be my second Olympics, but I have the same feelings that I experienced four years ago.  I am really looking forward to the rest of our preparation before we get to China and, of course, when we actually get to the Olympics.  I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to represent our country. 

Sorry I did not keep you up to date with the Peace Cup.  Having games every other day made the last week fly by.  We beat Brazil 1-0, Italy 2-0 and Canada in the final 1-0.  The Peace Cup was an excellent tournament and it was a great win for our team. 

On our off day we got to visit the DMZ.  The DMZ is the line between North and South Korea.  I went two years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.  This year we did more activities and I continued to learn about the history and present state of North and South Korea.  There are currently American soldiers that are serving in Korea and we had the opportunity to eat lunch with them and spend time with them.  I really enjoyed getting to meet the soldiers and learn what their life is like.  They do so much for our country! Plus, we got to eat burgers and fries…..it doesn’t get better than that!

I am home for a few days, but we leave Friday for Norway and Sweden.  We have two games over there and then we are in our final phase before we leave for the Olympics!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

We played our first game of the Peace Cup and we beat Australia 2-1.  Australia is a very good team and it was a great win for us.  We are still adapting to the hot and humid weather here in Seoul.  We play Brazil tomorrow at 2:00. 

We have been enjoying South Korea.  We went to a fashion show on Friday night which kicked off the start of the tournament.  One person from each team modeled a dress and walked the runway.  Also, there was a Peace convention so people from all over the world were there.  It was a really neat experience. 

I did an interview at the fashion show with two Australian players and one Italian player for a newspaper in South Korea.  It was very interesting  because the question would be asked in Korean and then translated to the Australian players and me in English and another translator would translate it into Italian for the Italian player.  Then, we would say our answers and it would be translated back to Korean.  I was very impressed with all the translators! 

Big game tomorrow! 

Go USA

We arrived in South Korea last night.  We are in Seoul and there is a Coffee Bean connected to our hotel with Internet!  We are all very excited about having coffee and being on the Internet in a different country!

The flight was about 12 hours but it went by pretty fast.  I had a great opportunity to catch up on all my movies!  We had about an hour bus ride to our hotel.  Overall, the travel day went very smoothly. 

We are here for the Peace Cup Tournament which starts on Sunday.  Our group consists of Australia, Brazil and Italy.  It is a very well organized tournament and everything is top notch.  We came to this tournament two years ago and beat Canada in the final on a late goal. 

The roster is down to 22 players.  Only 18 players go to the Olympics and the 18 will be named in the next few weeks.  The Olympics are getting so close!

I’m off to get a vanilla latté to keep me awake. This jet lag is catching up to me!

Talk to you soon-

 Tarp

We qualified for the Beijing Olympics!  We beat Costa Rica 3-0 to advance and Canada beat Mexico 1-0 to earn the other birth.  It was very exciting to qualify and continue our goal of representing the USA in Beijing. 

The last few days at Olympic Qualifications we had a lot of fun.  We went bowling at a nearby bowling alley, hit up Starbucks once again and played a very competitive game of soccer tennis.  It was a lot of fun.  I actually took bowling in college for my PM.  You would think I would be better than I am! Ha ha.

Right now, I am enjoying some down time at home.  I am resting up for our domestic tour which starts in North Carolina and ends in Washington D.C.  We play three games, two against Australia and one against Canada. 

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful spring weather!

We beat Mexico 3-1 in front of almost 23,000 fans this afternoon.  It was one of the best atmospheres that I have ever played in.  The fans were shouting at us, doing the wave and cheering very loudly.  We did very well to keep our composure and win this very important game.  We play Costa Rica on Wednesday night.  Whoever wins that game will qualify for the Olympics.

Go USA!

Last night we played Jamaica and we won 6-0. They played very well and it took us a little while to figure out how to solve their system. We scored 6 nice goals in front of a very lively crowd. It was a beautiful night and it was really fun to play under the lights. Tomorrow we play Mexico and it is sold out! It will be a really fun environment to play in.

Stephanie Cox had her 22nd birthday on Thursday and we had a party for her. It was a lot of fun….we had a piñata, cake, candy and lots of singing. We all had a really good time especially for the man who was holding the piñata who kept moving it up and down so Steph couldn’t hit it. We all got a good laugh out of it!

I’m excited to watch UNC play Kansas tonight in Men’s basketball. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we get the channel down here. If not, I’ll be in the Internet watching it! Go Heels

Greetings from Juarez, Chihuahua in Mexico!  We are just across the border about 25 minutes from El Paso preparing for our first game in Olympic Qualifying.  We play Jamaica on Friday and we are really excited about it.  We arrived on Monday after training in Los Angeles at the Home Depot Center for the past week.  We can’t wait to start playing the games…..

We have been enjoying Mexico especially the nice weather!  Today on our way home from training we got to stop at Starbucks.  Our giant bus pulled over to the side of the road and we all jumped out and got our favorite Starbucks treat. I added another Starbucks mug to my collection of mugs from various cities I’ve visited.  Other than that, we are laying low preparing for our first match. 

Tonight we are going to see Mexico play Jamaica.  I’m looking forward to seeing the stadium and watching the other teams play.  I will keep you updated throughout this tournament….the top two teams advance to the Olympics!

Tarp

We won the Algarve Tournament!  We beat Denmark in the final game 2-1.  It was a tough match because we played 4 games in a short amount of time and Denmark was a very good team.  I always have a great time at the Algarve Tournament.

The flight home was, fortunately, uneventful.  It was a very long trip to get to LA! My trip started out with a 3 hour bus ride to get to the Lisbon airport, 7 ½ hour flight from Lisbon to Newark and then 5 hour flight from Newark to Los Angeles.  I was very excited to get home!

We have a week break and then we start camp on Friday.  We are preparing for the Olympic Qualifiers in early April in Mexico. 

I will write more later!