‘Twas early in the morning from whence thy team rose. Starting with breakie at 8, the team scoffed down some much needed energy that would be necessary for their upcoming game against Germany.

The team spent some time with their roommates. Discussing the game, strategies, and which colour Powerade to take for the game. Blue was the obvious answer.

The team rested until 11:30 when they had their team meeting. Having now played New Zealand, the team was eager to face another new opponent. The coaches discussed our starting line up and our feedback from the last game. Although we knew New Zealand would be a tough game, we had also intended to win. Spirits were high and the team was hungrier than ever for their first win.

After a quick lunch and wardrobe change, the team was on the bus and headed to the stadium for their 5th and final group B match.

The Aussies were up and about, we’d gotten the majority of our pre-game nerves out now and it was only a matter of process for us to win. We focused on shooting in the warm up to help convert our missed opportunities from the last few games.

We started strong. Tom scored in the first few seconds of the match from almost the side line. From there, it was an arm wrestle to see who could keep their attacks going to provide more shots. We believed in our process and each other to bring the game to 6-10 Germany’s way at half time.

A notable standout was Mia with 6 goals in the end, an amazing effort and kept us with the Germans for the majority of the match. With scores from Nick, Alyssa, Liberty, Ned, Mia and Tom, we put up a brilliant effort till the end to go down 13-25.

We eagerly got back to the hotel for a much needed pool session, starting with our regular stretches. After the necessary stretching was done, we had a game of keep away. Good old Girls vs Boys and the plan was simple, pass the handball 5 times without it touching the water or being intercepted.

After a few rounds, the height advantage of the boys proved too much for the girls, handing the boys a cheeky win. We split the group up, Taylah and Mia as the captains, to play some water rugby? (Not quite sure what to call it) the game was even as the teams were now split… except for the team with Will, who had a big enough wingspan to put catch every ball without having to worry about intercepts. It came down to golden goal, Mia’s team had the ball, it was all or nothing. Pass one makes it to its target, pass two as well, but pass three saw a turn over as it hit the water just short of the intended player. Taylah’s team (even though Taylah had switch teams by now) was back on it, capitalising on the chaos of players getting back across the pool, the team was able to get the ball to Tom to win it all.

We eventually decided we needed some food, and after some encouragement to get out of the pool by the hotel staff, the team dried off and changed clothes for dinner. As it was our day off tomorrow we were allowed some time to hang out and play some games until a bit later. We played games ranging from would you rather, to red flags. The team and coaches enjoyed a night of games and laughter together as we head into a much anticipated day off. 11pm we headed to bed to catch some zzz and dream of shooting the match winning goal for Australia.