Donna and Okiima on Sports Week talk Team USA

A Gold Medal Journey

When 45 of the top football players from all around the United States were selected to play on the first ever USA Football Women’s National Team, none could have anticipated the magic of what was about to unfold. The creation of a special place in history and a leaving mark that will stand from this point forward brings us a story of love, passion and ultimate team success.

One by one we gathered in Round Rock Texas for the beginning of training camp on a hot summer day in June. All-Stars and various names you have heard of or played against gathering to participate in the event of a lifetime. A few teammates and a few foes… who knows where this all will lead.

We’ve all worked hard and done what was necessary for us to arrive at this point together. Some of us have played for 10 years, others just a few, but we were all selected for the role we would play and the kind of impact our attitude would have on the team. Indeed, we all love the game of football and raised thousands of dollars to be here. We’ve earned it and are going to accept everything the opportunity will allow.

Training camp was tough and put the team and mission into focus quickly. The perfectly structured days from breakfast to bed included: early breakfast, meetings, morning practice, lunch, afternoon practice, dinner, film and study periods and a team favorite “success” period in which the “onion” was unveiled. The heat during practice was intense and forced us into frequent water and fruit breaks. The pace and energy of the coaching staff kept things moving as with a force of nature. It was clear by the personnel packages that the coaches spent prudent time creating a threatening, multi-attack offense and fast swarming defense. All we needed to do was buy into the system, accept our role then learn and execute our responsibilities. Simple enough, yet are 45 women going to put their ego aside and become One Team and buy into One Mission?

Might seem like a difficult task to get 45 women to agree to anything, but the coaches employed a technique that drew us together and formed the heart of our One TEAM – it was the Onion. Different positions filled the center of the onion each night and the entire team found a different role in the onion to play as the center changed. Coach Mac took us through a visualization series that prepared us for the entire world championship experience. We journeyed to Sweden, heard the sound of the cleats… click, clack, click, clack on the concrete as we entered the stadium to play our first game, smelled, tasted and felt many moments as we journeyed through our Gold Medal, history making trip. We felt the emotions, prepared our victory speech and stood tall on the victory stand with our medal around our neck and the National Anthem playing in the background. All this we did before we ever set foot in Sweden. It was our destiny to fulfill and we did our part to create the experience along the way.

On the fifth day, we packed up our gear and headed to Stockholm. The intense days and emotional impact of the journey we embarked on together gave us the sense that if this was all we had of our experience, it would be worth it! It was true, but little did we know that this feeling would pale in comparison to the emotions we were still to feel and the experience of bonding yet to come.

Sweden was a beautiful change of pace. Temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s reminded me of a nice spring day compared to the heat of Texas, and created perfect conditions for Women’s World Championship Tournament.

A couple of hours after our touchdown in Sweden we got our first practice in and some of the jet lag out. Our accommodations at the Zinkensdam Hotel are cozy, to say the least and our time allotted for sight seeing is limited. We are here for one mission… to bring home the Gold!

We prepared with film sessions and practice each day. The word on some of our opponents came in - Sweden,Finland and Austria are young teams with several players under the age of 18. Germany is a large/heavy team with a quarterback that has been playing football in their league for over 20 years. Canada is fast and consists of IWFL players and members of the Canadian flag football national team. The US team, well we are the fastest, strongest and most aggressive players in the world and we are here to prove it!

Our first match against Austria could not come fast enough. We had prepared ourselves for this moment and we were not to be denied. Wide receiver Adrienne Smith scored the first historic points in IFAF Women's World Championship history with a 52-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Sami Grisafe, and the rest is history as we cruised to a 63-0 victory.

Finland was a tougher opponent on Film and we spent time preparing for a very fundamentally sound team. One of my Divas teammates plays for the Finish team which adds a level of anticipation and excitement to our matchup. Team USA coaches did an amazing job of breaking down our opponents and preparing us for anything that would come our way. Our pre-snap recognition was good, and with one game under our belt we were feeling really comfortable with both our defense and offensive execution. Finland moved the ball on Team USA, but their only touchdown was called back for offensive pass interference and they were not able to score again and keep up with the high powered offensive attack of the United States. The final margin of victory for the United States was 72-0. Two down… one to go!

Canada, our final opponent, made it the Gold Medal round by defeating Sweden and Germany. They boasted that they had heart and the US team was just a bunch of all-stars. Nothing like a little fire under the pot to get us going… we thought we had bonded before, but this just added a new level of needing and wanting to connect, just to prove them wrong! We didn’t need any more fuel, but we took it and ran all the way to Gold with a 66-0 shut out over Canada.

Yes other teams had fast running backs, yes they completed some nice looking plays and ran the ball hard, but we were superior in every aspect of the game and in the end it was the unrelenting spirit of Team USA, not to be denied, that set the tone and finished off each team in absolute dominating fashion. It was 45 individuals becoming One Team, having One Mission and accomplishing it! We found love, or more accurately embraced and accepted love… love of our country and for the world, love for those we play against that allow our dream of playing football to be possible and most of all a deep love for each other for experiencing all of it together, as no one else ever will. For this experience we are forever grateful and to those who served beside us, the bond will forever be a special link to our moment in history, our moment of release, recognition and embracing our greatness, our moment together where We became ONE!

How fitting that the greatest experience of my sports career, and maybe even in my entire life, is that of experiencing Oneness. It was our motto: One Team, One Mission! We DID It. We FELT It! Loving each other as our self and working as one. It is a small but savory taste of the higher spiritual principle that we are all connected through One Source and are here to remember and experience that Oneness.

We are each a unique way the Creator expresses and experiences life within and through us. Life provides ample opportunity for us to observe, practice and experience this truth until we remember who we are and where we came from. Team USA was just one such experience. We will draw unto us and experience our Oneness in many ways until we fully embrace and accept this as the Truth of our Being, and choose to experience it as our preferred and dominant state. I’ve had a glimpse and seek more opportunity for continued expression of this thought.

I can offer my greatest understanding and experience to you, but you can only experience life for yourself. This is my wish… that you experience Oneness, that you love another as yourself and you see yourself as an extension of an unconditional love that never ends and includes everyone and everything in its extension, and you set a common goal that through unity, cooperation and joint effort you experience the best in each other and that life has to offer. I wish everyone a GOLD MEDAL experience of LIFE!

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