Olivet College’s Jenna Mayle takes part in D3 Soccer Tour in Brazil

Olivet College's Jenna Mayle (Ionia) took part in the USA D-3 Soccer Tour in Brazil from May 20-29. While in Brazil, Mayle sent updates from the trip and you can read those journal entries below. You can read more about the tour by visiting this page.

Monday, May 27 - Third Day in Rio de Janiero:

Yesterday was a day for free time on Copacabana Beach and shopping in the International Market, which is an area full of street vendors. Today, we toured "Sugar Loaf," which are two mountains that you can visit by a trolley lift. After that, we went directly to Rio de Janiero's Naval Base where the Women's team played women from the Navy, some playing nationally for the upcoming 2016 Olympic team! We scored in the 1st half from a counter attack and they followed up with a good goal from the far right of the field. In the second half, they started finding their forwards more often, making it more difficult. I ended up making a late tackle in the penalty box, which led to another goal for them. They also made a 4th goal with a header from a corner kick. In the end it was 1-4, but we didn't know they were Olympic players and I was glad this team was more physical. They each gave us the jerseys they were wearing in the game! The Men's team on the other hand, won 2-0, but didn't play the Navy team.

The dinner we had was a buffett with a variety of meats, including chicken heart, a popular treat in Brazil. Tomorrow, we will visit the Christ statue and will spend most of the afternoon and night in the airport. This experience was outstanding; not only did I learn about the culture in Brazil, I met amazing teammates  from across the country that showed me how diverse USA is.

Saturday, May 25 - First Day in Rio de Janiero:

We departed in the morning for a six hour bus ride to Rio de Janiero. The roads were alongside green mountains the entire way; it was beautiful. Upon arrival, we went to a pro soccer league game between Vasco da Gama and Portuguesa. We sat in the away section that was pretty vacant, probably for the better since the crowd was rowdy. Vasco da Gama won 1-0. We are staying at Rio Othon Palace Hotel which has gorgeous rooms and a Copacabana Beach view from across one road! Tomorrow will consist of a lot of busy site-seeing and shopping.

Friday, May 24 - Third Day in Sao Paulo:

This morning we were able to rest in between breakfast and lunch. The game was at Paulistia Stadium against the Women's Paulistia team. The stadium was large and old, with villas in the background. We had most of the possession, but it ended in a 0-0 tie. The biggest difference between the styles of play are that we are more aggressive and have speed on the counter attack, while they have very good touches on the ball. Our biggest frustration is that you can barely touch them and they will fall to the ground and hold their backs, ankles, etc sometimes laughing. In the United States, it seems the referee won't call anything. After the games, we trade tshirts and jerseys and today was the first day we received jerseys back, which was cool. The Men's team lost 0-2, unfortunately.

Thursday, May 23 - Second Day in Sao Paulo:

Today did not start off great. I set an alarm on my phone which apparently was still an hour behind, so my roommate and I missed out on breakfast at the hotel and everyone was waiting on the bus for us to depart to Davino School. I guess we were still on schedule, anyway. I don't think any of us felt as welcomed as we did at Davino School. It is a prestigious school, ages k-12 that is more known for its basketball teams rather than soccer teams.

As we walked into the gym, the kids cheered so loud! The men's team played a quick 6 vs 6 game of soccer against some students and then we toured the school. In the gym, the kids swarmed us wanting pictures and autographs. When we looked at one of the classrooms, the same thing happened: kids were screaming with excitement, lined up for autographs, and wanted any sort of American souvenir available, including the socks we were wearing on our feet!

Today's game was against Guarani, a professional team. All of the teams we have been playing have girls ages between 14-17! It was on a turf field and we unfortunately could not wear cleats, which meant all of us shared tennis shoes. I actually forgot we were playing in shoes because we played so well. We had more scoring opportunities, but they had a great outside shot that resulted in a 0-1 loss for us. That game, however, we were limited to 30 minute halves. I had two big slide tackles in the 18 yard box that gave me an awful turf burn. The Men's team ended up with a 2-1 win.

It doesn't even feel like were in a foreign country. There is a grocery store similar to a Wal-Mart next to our hotel that has a lot of the same food products. The food at the restaurants is mostly meat with vegetables, nothing too bizarre yet. Our first dinner, however, was a pizza buffet where servers would come around with pizzas with toppings ranging from ham and corn to the ice cream dessert pizza!

Wednesday, May 22 - First Day in Sao Paulo:

After one practice Tuesday morning, a restless overnight flight from Orlando to Newark to Sao Paulo, and a 10 minute warm-up, we won against the Women's Jundiai team. It was a pretty even match, but we scored a goal in the second half and had a strong defensive line throughout the game, not giving Jundiai many opportunities. We played a 4, 4, 2 line-up and I played center defense beside a great defender from Wisconsin. I played the whole game, all but 15 minutes when I took myself out because of blurry vision due to dehydration. We were impressed with their ability to keep possession of the ball, but we put on high pressure and expect the following games to be more of a challenge.

The Men's team did not do as well, however, with only two substitutes. Since it is almost winter season in Brazil, the sun had set by 5:30pm during the Men's game. This didn't stop a  boys fan club from cheering on the Men's Jundiai team. It was fascinating watching them next to us in the stands, outrageously cheering on Jundiai, while showing off what English they knew with  us. They quickly became our fan club, wanting pictures next to all of the girls.

So far, the people in Brazil seem to be friendly and try to speak English with us. The villas in the mountains/hills are beautiful, but the city has a lot of trash and graffiti. I'm looking foward to two more games the next two days and hope my blisters go away soon!