This is your Captain(s) speaking...

Olivia Browne (with the rather long nick-name of LiviLivBrownes) is one of three Olivia’s in the China Stars Football team and is the most important as she’s also Captain Olivia.  Brownes plays on the left wing and is looking forward to challenging herself during the China tour, and to seeing her players get closer as a team.  She said she’s so excited for the football team in 2013!

Outside of the games, Olivia’s keen on seeing the Olympic stadia and the cultural diversity in Beijing, as well as the shopping.  Like most of us, she’s not looking forward to the pollution and (possibly) dodgy food – although I would say that anyone who likes chop suey and wontons is probably used to dodgy food by now...

As Olivia’s final piece of advice, she gave me this quote from Maria Robinson: “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” I think that sums it up nicely!

Lucy Lancashire has no nick-name, and is quite sorry about it.  In fact, it’s something she dearly wishes could be resolved on the imminent passage to China!  That and shopping of course...  

Lucy’s the skipper for the China Stars Hockey team and usually plays striker, or centre-half.  She’s looking forward to seeing her team bond as a group on this tour, and personally she’s really looking forward to experiencing the new and different culture.

She has some advice for her team: Don't be afraid to try new things and push yourself harder. Take as much advantage of this opportunity as possible.  Lucy certainly will be trying new things – even though Chicken Chow Mein is her favourite Chinese dish (and apparently one of the 10 most popular Chinese dishes), let’s hope she gets to try more challenging cuisine such as Stinky Tofu (臭豆腐) and Fried Bee Pupae (油炸蜂蛹).  Yum!

 

A Snapshot of Sally

Sally Lancashire, or Sal to some, is our Hockey Team Manager for China Stars, and has been a key person behind the scenes on the logistics committee and with the naming rights raffle.  She’s been involved with hockey since she could get her fingers wrapped around a hockey-stick so it’s fair to say she knows a bit about the sport...

Sally’s looking forward to seeing a bunch of girls get thrills and excitement during this trip, and to building new friendships with players and supporter alike.  She expects to hear lots of stories from the girls about who got the best bargains at the markets (and who got ripped off...)!!  And she expects to hear lots of gripes about the traffic – the one thing she’s not looking forward too!

We’re lucky to have Sally with us - as well as having travelled extensively throughout Asia, she was involved in HIBS previous hockey trip to Malaysia.  And like Kirsty, Sal wants to use this tour to provide a base for the St Oran’s hockey team in 2013, improving their abilities prior to this years’ college season.

Final words from Sally read like a chant:

• All give of your best.
• Support your team members.
• Enjoy this wonderful opportunity as a team.
• Yaaaaaa, we are going!