Forty girls from the England U19 National Academy programme are currently on a tour to the USA in preparation for the 2018 U20 European Championships next month and next year’s 2019 Under 19 World Championships in Canada. Each day, members of the squad will be tracking their experiences on tour.

USA Tour Day 1

All the girls arrived at Heathrow airport ready and raring to go.

After a slight delay we successfully made it onto the plane and 8 hours later arrived in Washington where we met our bus driver Mr H.

The girls quickly got settled in to their rooms at the Georgetown Inn for an early night preparing for a busy day ahead.

USA Tour Day 2: By Kelly, Izzy, Fi and Isla

Slightly jet-lagged, our team enjoyed a delightful, refreshing breakfast provided by our hotel: the Georgetown Inn.

We were then ready to take on our first training session to mesh as a team and prepare for the week.

Despite the heat and humidity, we worked hard in offensive and defensive sessions.

Our team was then let loose in Georgetown to find food and explore the area, some eating at venues where they had never eaten before!

With full tummies, we embarked on our journey to Annapolis High School for our first matches against Chesapeake Club Lacrosse.

The A team were up first and, with a strong second half, pulled out a score of 8 all.

The Bs were up next, and played hard, finishing with a score of 6 all.

After the matches, we enjoyed pizza and refreshments with the CC Lax girls, mingling and bonding with their team.

Finally, it was time for the journey back to our hotel on a bus full of girls whose tiredness was well earned- ready to crawl into bed in order to recharge for the next day.