Breen ready to take on the world
July 1st, 2009 (St. John's) Memorial soccer star Laura Breen
played in her first game of the 2009 FISU Games in Belgrade, Serbia
today as part of the Canadian entry of the top women’s
university soccer players in the country. The team had a setback,
losing to the host Serbians by a score of 2-1. Despite the loss,
the team remains positive about their chances of winning. The
tournament is Breen’s second FISU Games. She travelled to
Bangkok, Thailand in August 2007 where Canada finished in tenth
place.
Prior to the tournament Breen discussed what is was like to wear
the Canada jersey, the outlook for her team, and the challenges of
travelling internationally for competition.
Breen is comfortable in the red and white from her time as a
Sea~Hawk but donning a Canada jersey in international competition
is one of her personal highlights. Breen said, “Representing
Canada is such an honour. Every time I wear the Canadian jersey
it's such a privilege.” Breen, a native of St. John’s,
had an outstanding year in 2008 with the Sea~Hawks. The striker led
the AUS in scoring with nine goals. Her play earned her the
conference MVP award, in addition to a place on the first all-star
team. For the first time in her four year varsity career Breen was
named a first team All-Canadian. She has previously been named a
second team All-Canadian twice (2005 and 2006). For her efforts she
was named the winner of the Butler Trophy for Memorial’s
female athlete of the year.
As a veteran of the 2007 team Breen knows that in a short
tournament format a team’s ability to gel is essential to
winning games. She commented. “From my first experience at
the FISU games I have learned that it's very hard to accomplish
anything without being a team. Because we have such a short
timeframe to train together for the Games we really need to become
a team quickly and just playing as individuals is not good
enough.”
The demand of international travel presents a major challenge for
the athletes. In 2007 the time difference in Thailand was 10.5
hours, which should provide Breen with valuable experience when
adjusting to the 4.5 hour time difference in Serbia. This year the
team also arrived a week prior to the competition to participate in
a pre-tournament camp.
Commenting on the demands of travel and the conditions in Serbia
Breen said, “...it's still really hard adjusting. That's why
our week-long camp is so important on so many levels. We need to
get to know each other, learn each other’s playing styles,
adjust to the food, and adjust to the time difference. But the
hardest part, for me personally, is the weather.” The average
temperature for Serbia in July is over thirty degrees Celsius.
Breen knows that this will be a challenge, “The temperature
adjustment is going to be very difficult and I definitely struggled
with it in Thailand two years ago.”
The team is travelling to Serbia with the goal of winning the
tournament. The roster will have a lot of new faces, as Breen is
one of only three returning players on the Team Canada roster. To
overcome the weather conditions and jet lag the coaches have
preached conditioning as a key component of their training. In the
training period each player was required to send in bi-weekly
training logs and complete a fitness test every three weeks and
send in their results. Breen feels that fitness will help the team
to win the close games.
For now Breen is focusing exclusively on her FISU games experience,
but she is also looking forward to coming home and finishing up her
club season with the EPR Kirby/The Dock before beginning her final
season as a Sea~Hawk in September. She is excited at the
possibilities for the varsity season and feels her FISU experience
will help her start the university season in top shape. She said,
“I think that this tournament is definitely going to help me
with my last year of eligibility as I have never trained so hard in
the offseason before, so I should be in top shape. Playing at an
international level will definitely benefit me”.
The Sea~Hawks will have one of the top teams in the AUS and have
their eyes fixed on winning Memorial’s first AUS
women’s soccer championship.
Follow Breen and her teammate’s performance at the
team’s website. A video recap
of the Serbia game can be found on our facebook page.
About the FISU Games
The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that
takes place every two years, and is second only to the Olympic
Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The
Universiade is open to competitors between the ages of 17 and 28 in
the year of the Games who are full-time students at a
post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have
graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding
the event.