​Hello ladies,
 
Tryout #2 is a little over a month away!  Deadline for registration is coming up on August 17th.  This is also the deadline for submitting travel information for the cost share.  We are looking forward to tryout #2 in Menlo Park, CA and we hope to see you all there! 
 
Tryout #2: 

Location: Menlo Park, CA 
Dates: September 21st and 22nd, 2019 
Times: Saturday 10 am–5 pm, Sunday 10 am–3 pm 
Cost share deadline: August 17th
 
Registration information: 
 
Regular: August 17th, $100
After August 17th, $140

PayPal tryout registration money to usawomenuwh@gmail.com. Please let us know if you have any concerns about costs or need an alternate payment method. We do not want finances to be a barrier!
 
Cost share: 
 
To receive full credit for your personal transportation costs in the cost share for tryout 2, please send the steering committee (usawomenuwh@gmail.com) your flight confirmation email (including times and cost) or your intent to drive (with estimated distance) by August 17th, the registration deadline. If you have selected a more expensive flight for personal reasons, please tell the steering committee the portion of the flight cost that reflects the cost for hockey travel. We expect everyone to be honest, respect other players, and minimize costs.
 
For more information about the cost share, please see the attached document. 
 
Tryout notes: 
 
It is your responsibility to demonstrate your skills to the coach and selectors. Attending tryout events is the best way to do this. However, other options include traveling to the coach or selectors to participate in practices or sending videos of your play. If you will miss a tryout event, we encourage you to reach out to Coach Phil to discuss other options for demonstrating your abilities.
 
Please send any other questions or concerns to the steering committee. We are here to help and facilitate high-level US women’s underwater hockey!
 
We will send more tryout specifics to the 2020 elite team training Google Group. Please join if you have not already at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/2020-uwh-womens-training or send Coach Phil an email requesting to join.
 
Thank you, 
 
Women's Elite Steering Committee (Beth Ann, Katrina, Leah, and Tyera) and Coach Phil 

Hello Team USA Fans,

We have updated our team operating rules for the next worlds cycle and beyond.  This document outlines our teams' operating procedures and selection process.  The previous version was from 2013.  This document will be posted on our website as well.

Highlights of changes in each section include:

1. Steering Committee Section:  Steering committee member could be voted out by a majority vote from the team if not meeting expectations.
2. Coach: Unchanged
3. Selection Committee: Changes to the number of people on the selection committee, instead of requiring four members, coach may use two to four people, this will allow a bit more flexibility around the selection committee.  Also, wording now discourages the use of people who are also trying out for the team to be members of selection committee.
4. Team Members: Updated to include wording around team members expectations and how to address if someone not meeting their expectations as a team member.

Thanks,

Your Steering Committee (Leah, Tyera, Beth Ann and Katrina)

Hello Hockey Family!

The USA Women's Elite Steering Committee is excited to announce Phil Hickey as the 2020 Women's Elite Team Coach. We are very excited to welcome him back as our coach after his efforts in Quebec. We look forward to another World’s cycle with Phil's strategy and guidance.

We will be having an informational meeting about the upcoming process at the women's tournament in March in Denver, CO. Bring your questions. Don't worry if you won't be there; we will share the information on our website, our Facebook page, and the various hockey email groups. If there are ladies on your team who have not received this information, please forward it to them!!

Also look forward to other announcements about training events as well to other exciting information on our website.

To stay up-to-date, follow us on social media and visit our website:
Website: http://www.teamusawomenuwh.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/USAUWHwomen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/usawomenuwh/
Email your questions: usawomenuwh@gmail.com
​
The USA Women’s Elite Steering Committee, 

Tyera, Leah, BAM, and Katrina

We woke up, still a little disappointed from the previous day's result against Colombia.  We were weary and our legs still tired as we made our final ascent up the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast.  We couldn't let that affect our final game.  We wanted to go out with a bang.  Of all the teams, the one we know best Canada.  We have played against them more than any other country.  Many of these ladies have been our friends and mentors over the years, but we still wanted to finish the tournament with a positive note.  We were excited to show what we could do in this North American showdown.

After our pre-game routine and warm up, we came out strong at the beginning of the game. We started swinging the puck early on, and made it to Canada’s end of the pool quite quickly. After a few minutes of play in the open pool, Tyera and Kim swam the puck into our offensive corner. We drove the puck at their goal over and over again, but they barely saved it each time. We were really close to their goal for the rest of the half, but never quite got it into the trough. At half time the score was still 0-0.

The second half both teams started hard. Canada began to play more in the open, but we were ready and shut down all of their runs up the middle. Canada pushed the puck into our end of the pool but they were stopped short by Tyera, who found an opening and swam it to the wall right in front of our sub box, allowing us to bring in a useful set of fresh players. Kim subbed in and drove the puck almost all the way to our offensive corner.  The battle continued until Ianna launched a monster pass into the goal! Breathing a bit easier we headed back to the wall, knowing that we were starting to wear them down.

Off the strike we drove it into Canada’s end of the pool pretty quickly. There were multiple swings done by both teams. This apparently tired out the Canadians because Tyera, after a hard drive up the wall, swam around half their team and scored us another goal! The next strike did not go as smoothly as the past few and the play ended up in our end. It was a bit scary for a while! We were tangled up in front of our goal when a Canadian shot the puck, missing our goal by a couple feet. Luckily the person there was Tyera, who swam the puck a safe distance away from our goal. After that we worked our way up the side wall and reached the offensive corner again. Eventually a Canadian tried to clear the puck across the goal, and it almost worked, except Katrina smashed the puck back towards the goal under the Canadian player. Bryna was there, ready for the pass and shoved the puck into the goal. Now the score was 3-0, with just a minute left in the game. Canada got us hard on the last strike, trying to get at least one goal in. We contained it well, and the game ended with no more goals. The entire team felt great! It was good to win a game after the disappointment of the day before. We finished 7th place overall!

You can re-watch the game here: https://youtu.be/9gnqkmh0sUY

Overall, this world championships was all that we could have asked for despite placing lower than we would have liked.  We improved and learned a lot as a team throughout this process. Since the last world championships in 2016 in South Africa, many of us have trained harder to try do better than the competition, but the competition did as well.  Each time we come to a world championships, we are a little better than the last time, but so is our competition.  We are humbled by the increasing level of play at the world championships.  That is why we play the sport, for these moments of heartbreak and exuberance, we are just hoping for a little more exuberance the next time.

We want to thank all of our family, friends, supporters and the world wide hockey community.    This sport has allowed us to compete at a high level while also making friends all over the world.  Thank you to Navisjon for helping improve the quality of video to help spread UWH, the video streaming was incredible this year.  If you enjoyed the free streaming, don't forget to donate here, to help continue to improve the quality of video.  

Thanks again, and until next time!

-Team USA Women Elite

We started the day in high spirits, ready for what we knew would be a hard battle against Colombia. The winner would continue to the top four playoffs and the loser would be stuck in the bottom five through eight. And the loser would have to play another game later that day… Wanting to avoid both, we set out to win. 

​We arrived at the pool and jumped straight into our warmup and apnea table. We marched into the locker room blaring our music and hoping to intimidate. The swim warmup went well, and we were totally prepared to jump in and win!

It was silent in the stands when the buzzer went off.  We had a huge cheering section that was ready to get going. The Colombians came out hard, pushing us into our half. We pushed it out to the wall and kicked hard, getting clear and out of the danger zone.

The entire first half both teams swam a lot and the puck ricocheted up and down the pool. The Colombians played a very strong game, getting some really solid pushes and driving as a solid mass of bodies. They mostly played a clean game, really using their own skills more than petty fouls. The refs were good, making fair calls and missing very little.

The Colombians did some really strong drives but the defensive players did and amazing job swinging it out of the middle and out around their driving players. The forwards were always there ready for a pass or ready to help disrupt their back passes. Both teams were playing well, making it a really fun game of hockey. It was a bit stressful though! 

Eight minutes left in the half; coach Phil called a timeout to give everyone a chance to breathe and get usual focused again.  Starting again, we pulled off a great swing and swam up into their half. We kept it up there for the next few minutes, never quite getting it into the trough. 

After a few fouls BAM got kicked out for a stick foul. We kept it out of the goal until BAM hopped into the pool again, scooped up a forward pass, and drove it all the way up the wall. Shortly before the corner we broke it off the wall, and Kim finally slammed it into the goal, seconds before the half ended. 

We were full of energy at half time, adrenaline running through our veins. We knew they would come out hard, and sure enough they again pushed the puck into our half right off the bat. Once again our defense was strong and we kept the Colombians out of the goal despite quite a few disadvantage pucks in front of our goal. With just under three minutes left in the half the Colombians squeaked by our defense and scored. We called a timeout again, knowing we had to score. We didn’t want overtime. Again we got the puck into their half, but they kept it out. We almost got a penalty goal called for us, but the refs changed their minds, giving us an equal puck because both teams were gloving. We have another really close drive but time was called before we quite got to the goal.

Tied at 1-1, we then went into overtime. That meant we had another two halves, each five minutes with a one minute half time. 

Again they came out and smashed the puck into our half of the pool right off of the strike. There were some really close calls but we got it to the wall. In a sudden show of force they drove, putting all but one of their six players in a tight group. We tried, but couldn’t quite clear the puck out around the oncoming wall and they scored. Halftime and we were down one. 

We hit hard off the strike and after two minutes, Kim got the puck into the goal. We were tied again with just three minutes left. No more goals were scored, so we went into sudden death overtime. The first goal scored would win the game. It would go on as long as needed and the game clock was set to 99 minutes.

We went out hard again, putting everything we have left into these last few minutes. After forty minutes of high intensity hockey we were tired but could not show it. This was one of the most important games and we had gotten this far.  We had all been working for hours, months, years, just to win this game. 

We broke it off the wall, getting up the middle onto the lip of the goal, but . Elsa received an uncalled head shot but kept playing, kicking furiously. 

The Colombians swarmed up the middle putting all the people they had on the bottom. Desperately we tried to break it out, tried to get around them, but they kept it in the middle and finally got it into our goal. We had lost. 
It hurt. We had done done everything that we could, but the Colombians had taken advantage of all our little mistakes. It was an epic game that I know I will never forget.

Needless to say, we were very tired after our game. We got out and cheered on the masters men in their last game of the tournament. They played a really good game against Australia, and won, taking fifth place.

We didn’t have enough time to head home before our 5:40 pm game later that day so we found a cozy spot in the grass for a rest and some non-chlorinated air. It seemed like no time at all before we were up again and warming up for the game against France. 

Versus France:
We went out hard but we definitely felt the affects of our last game.  We managed to put in a penalty shot (even though Tyera didn’t know what was going on). Final score was 3-1, with France winning the game. It was not what we hoped for, but it is what it is.  We left everything in our game against Colombia.

Exhausted, we headed home, then went out for a well earned dinner and ice cream. We had one more game left for 7th or 8th place versus Canada, and we were going to win it.

You can re-watch the epic battle versus Colombia here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azT0YnmXvak

If you enjoyed watching the high quality (free) live streaming, consider donating to the Gofundme here to help cover the costs associated with providing this service.  

Today we had a fairly early start, leaving our apartment at 6:20 am to head to the pool. 

This was our first playoff game, and it was against Netherlands. First goal was scored by Tyera after a beautiful drive and a shot toward the goal with 8:45 left in the first half. BAM was there to seal it. 

We ended the first half with a series of disadvantage pucks directly in front of our goal.  It was quite scary, but we managed to clear the puck each time. We ended the first half up 1 to 0.

Our second goal was scored with 11 minutes left in the second half by Tyera. She sprinted at the goal and threw a monstrous flick past two defenders. The puck landed in the trough without a problem. 

The third goal was scored by Kim with a drive up the end wall with 8 minutes left in the second half.

With about 3 minutes left in the game, there was a penalty shot called for the USA. Tyera and Kim lined up to take it. The Netherland's defender had a beautiful attack, knocking down the initial shot and almost successfully defending it. She tried to swim the puck through Kim and Tyera, but Tyera was able to dispossess her and shoot the puck easily into the goal. 

With about 2 minutes left in the game, Netherlands capitalized on an advantage puck in front of our goal. One of their players was able to shoot a huge flick over one of our player's back into the goal.  

The game finished with a USA win with a final score of 4 to 1. We are now guaranteed a spot in the top eight. Tomorrow we play Colombia at 11:50 am EST, and we'll be black in court 1. If we win this game, we will be playing for a medal. 

After our Netherlands game, we spent the afternoon cheering on the other three USA teams. The elite men are guaranteed a spot in the top eight, and they are playing New Zealand tomorrow at 8:30 am EST. The master's men play tomorrow at 12:40 pm EST for 5th place versus Australia. The master's women play tomorrow at 1:30 pm EST against Argentina for 5th place.

If you would like to watch our Colombia game, the video will be live streamed here: ​www.youtube.com/watch?v=azT0YnmXvak

This afternoon we played Australia again for our last round robin game. This was a seeded round robin game, so the 3rd and 4th seeds played each other. Whoever won this game would be seeded third going into the playoffs. Previously we tied Australia with a score of 3-3.

The game was incredibly even and the first half ended 0-0. The first goal was scored by Australia in the second half with 9 minutes left in the game. The play continued to go back and forth the remainder of the game. Ianna was sent to the penalty box, and Australia had two subbing fouls that resulted in penalties. But we were unable to finish the goals, and the game ended with Australia up 1 to 0. 
 
Tomorrow morning we play game #204 versus Netherlands at 8:30 am EST, and we will be black. 

The game will be live streaming on YouTube here:  www.youtube.com/channel/UCnOBvfJcIdm9QeKn7zdECNA/featured 

Today we had our first double header of the tournament.  We had an early game against France and then this afternoon we played Germany.

There were a lot of calls made in the first game.  More of them were called against France.  We executed some of our plan fairly well, but other pieces we could have done better.  We spent a lot time grinding the puck up the wall, even the commentators said it looked more like a men's game than a women's! France received more penalties than we did, but they did a great job preventing us from scoring while they were down a player or two (from penalties).
Highlights of the game against France:

• France scored the first goal (a penalty goal) against us at about 3:30 left in the first half.  
• USA put our first goal in at 4 minutes into the second half (by Tyera Eulberg).
• France put in their second goal with 7 minutes left into the second half.
• Jen scored the second USA goal with 4 minutes left in the game.
• France scored their third goal with 2:30 left in the game. 
• We tried hard to get it back in their end, and France even had players in the penalty box, but they did a great job shutting down our drives to hold onto the victory.

We ended the game with France winning 3-2.

We had to shake the loss of the first game off since we had another game in the afternoon against Germany.  We went home, ate lunch and reviewed the video between games.  We returned to the pool refreshed and with a plan and some things to work on for our final game.

We went into this game hoping to win, so we also had some skills we planned to work on.  Germany played a great game.  We played in their half of the pool for the majority of the first half, but Germany did a great job keeping the puck out of the goal for more than half of the first half!

Highlights of the game against Germany:

• Bryna took a 2 minute penalty for an obstruction foul.
• We finally scored our first goal at about 6:30 in, by a beautiful drive and a pass by Tyera to herself, and then did a great swim into the goal up the end wall.
• Second goal was called a penalty goal, but would have been put in by Elsa.  It was called a penalty goal because of gloving by Germany.
• The third goal was scored after an off the wall and passed out to Katrina who passed it back into the wall to Monica who put the puck into the goal.
• The 4th goal was a beautiful cut up the middle to the goal by Kristin.
• The 5th goal was after successful penalty shot by a big flick from Tyera into the goal with Kim as the support.
• The 6th goal was scored by Monica after a drive swing across by Katrina who did a move to get the puck under the defenders to Monica who had a nice swim into the goal.
• The last 3 minutes of the game got a little crazy.  Monica was sent to the penalty box for gloving for 2 minutes with 2:30 left in the game.  Then Bryna was sent to the penalty box for 2 minutes for stick infringement with only :45 seconds left in the game.  We were able to run out the clock and keep the score at 6-0.  

We had a fun game against Germany and thought the German ladies were playing very well!  Keep up the good work ladies!

Tomorrow we play at 2:04 pm against Australia (again).  Game # 140 in pool 2.

Here is the YouTube link to the live stream: www.youtube.com/channel/UCnOBvfJcIdm9QeKn7zdECNA/featured