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There are no guarantees
Sue Merz, 29, was a key member of the first U.S. Olympic women's hockey team, which won a gold medal at the 1998 Games in Nagano. The Greenwich, Conn., native first joined the U.S. national team at age 18 and played hockey at the University of New Hampshire. Now the defenseman wants a second Olympic gold medal. Check out Merz's diary as she trains for Salt Lake City. August 20, 2001 In my last few journal entries, I have made reference to the date of Aug. 13, and the importance of it in my life as a hockey player. The reason for all my training this summer (and of the last 3 1/2 years) has been focused on the week of Aug. 13, and now this week has come. If I haven't already mentioned it, this week (10 days, actually) is our tryout for the 2002 Olympic team. People have asked me what it's like to be involved in such a tryout, especially since I've already gone to one Olympics. I think they feel that since I've been there once, this will be a piece of cake for me.
Well, now that seven days of this tryout have passed, I can easily say that nothing could be farther from the truth. Forty-five women are here in Lake Placid, N.Y. Ages ranging from 16 to 30, all in the best shape of their lives, trying to make a spot on the 25-person roster of the pre-Olympic tour team. And I can honestly say that there are no guarantees. I know that I can only speak for myself, but I can confidently say many veteran players feel the new kids knocking on the door. No matter who you are, there's no spot reserved for anyone. People like Cammi Granato, Karyn Bye and Sara DeCosta say this is probably the toughest tryout they've ever been involved in. And that's a credit to the growth of this sport since the last Olympics. We got together last Monday night, and began training on Tuesday morning. There were two high-paced workouts Tuesday, and then the games began Wednesday evening. The 45 women were divided on the first day into Team White and Team Blue and from Aug. 15-22 five games were scheduled. I'm a member of the Blue Team and so far we have played three of the five games. No. 4 is tonight. The teams are divided equally in terms of number of veterans and newcomers on each team. However, Team Blue has yet to win its first game. Am I stressed out yet? This has been a tough tryout for me (as I'm sure it's been for everyone). I'm trying to do things in these games that I know the coach is expecting from me, things we discussed in our one-on-one meeting at the testing camp in June. But at the same time, I want to continue being the solid defenseman that I have grown to be over the last few years. It's funny because no matter what, you second-guess everything you do at a tryout like this. I'll lay awake at night, thinking about all the mistakes I made in the game that night or about the things I could have done. And I'm one of the veterans. I can only image what the newcomers are dealing with! Who knows, maybe they have it better. They have nothing to lose while many of us feel exactly the opposite. Two more games, that's all we've got left to prove ourselves. Wednesday night after the final game Coach Smith will announce the 25-man roster. Hopefully Team Blue can get out of this slump and win one. That'll help my cause, that's for sure. -- Sue
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