Games before The Games

Brain power in action as U.S. players try to memorize items on the table

The U.S. team has been undertaking a series of team competitions, both on the field and off, with points being earned individually and with teams, with the highest point-earner at the end of the tournament being declared the grand champion. Today after training it was time for the crossbar game, with teams of two trying to hit the bar from the top of the penalty area. In somewhat of an upset, the defender trio of Heather Mitts and Rachel Buehler came out on top. Tonight's game was a mental test, with 43 items being placed under a towel (paper clip, spoon, hair clip, just to name a few). The towel was removed and the two-player teams had 30 seconds to memorize as many as possible before the items went back under cover, then the four minutes to write down as many as they could remember. This time, the duo of Mitts and Natasha Kai proved victorious, recalling 25 items. Yesterday, the East Coast players took on the West Coast in a game called Fact or Fiction! In this game, each player wrote down four things about herself, three of which were true and one of which was false. The game was trying to guess which one was false. An example (Note: These are culled from a number of players).

1. I have broken eight bones in my body.
2. I sang the National Anthem in front of my entire school in 6th grade.
3. I have been arrested.
4. Both my in-laws are identical twins.

The game was hard, the competition was fierce, but in the end, the East came out on top.

Lori Chalupny and Hope Solo search the mind's eye to remember items. Chalupny joked that after getting accidently punched in the head by Solo against Norway during the Olympics, her memory might be lacking.