The Wait Is Over

Bonding With The Breakers

Following practice on Wednesday, all Boston Breakers players were told to bring a change of clothes on Thursday, because the team would be going on a bonding excursion after training.

Devin Schiller (to Abby Dahlkemper): What is this "bonding excursion" we're doing today?

Abby Dahlkemper: I don't know.

Julie King: You'll like it, I guarantee you.

Steph Labbe: Are you ready to PAAAAAARRRR-TAAAAAAAYYYYYYY?!?!

Abby: Steph, you must know what's going on if you're THAT hyped about this afternoon.

Steph: Yep! Done a lot of these with John and the Canadian National Team. We'd always do them at the start of a cycle since we would tend to have a number of new faces in camp, or if we would be gathering after significant time apart.

Kristen Parry: Is it anything like what we might have done with our college teams?

Steph: Could be. I know coaches that have taken their teams to water parks, or to amusement parks, or mall-wandering. Ours were more about participation in things that you might not be too skilled at.

Kayla Duran: Oh boy....should I be scared?

Steph: No, because most of us will be pretty inept.

Yael Averbuch (assistant coach): Are we ready to go, ladies?

Morgan Andrews: Ready as can be, Yael.

The Breakers load the charter bus for the trip to Kings Bowl America in Back Bay for bowling and karaoke.

John Herdman: Welcome to a developing Breakers tradition, bowling and karaoke. I got the idea for these kind of outings from Mike McCarthy, former coach of the Green Bay Packers. He would give his team a full day off during the early part of training camp to "bond", because he felt if his players could laugh at themselves and with one another, it created a better team dynamic and greater locker room cohesion. We did these with the Canadian National Team in order to integrate new players with the veterans and bring everyone to the same level. I chose these two activities because people THINK they're good at them, but few actually are, and because it's a good thing to fail at something you try really hard to do well. Four to a lane, three games, then onto the pizza and karaoke.

The team and staff (20 players, Herdman, Averbuch, communications director Ryan Wood, and general manager Lee Billiard) split up over six lanes. First game winners were Alyssha Chapman, Libby Stout, Steph Labbe, Kyah Simon (on loan from Perth Glory of the W-League), Megan Oyster, and Yael Averbuch. Averbuch and Chapman would end up winning the three-game series on their lanes, with Julie King, Midge Purce, Sam Mewis, and Devin Schiller being the other first-place finishers.

***

John: "Solos first, then group pieces. Lee, Ryan, and myself will go first, then hand the mic over to you."

Here is the list of songs for the solos:

John: "Mack the Knife"

Lee: "Fantasy"

Ryan: "Viva La Vida"

Julie: "I'm The Very Model of a Modern Major General"

Morgan: "Dust In The Wind"

Abby: "Only Wanna Be With You"

Steph: "Titanium"

Sam: "Chapel of Love"

Jessie: "Call Me Maybe"

Megan: "Living On A Prayer"

Kyah: "Down Under"

Devin: "Wake Me Up"

Alyssha: "Let It Go"

Midge: "Get Lucky"

Libby: "Hello"

Kayla: "Firework"

Rose: "Party in the U.S.A."

Kristen: "American Pie"

Emilie Haavi: "Take On Me"

Caitlyn DiSarcina: "M.T.A."

Brittany Palla: "Hallelujah"

Machaela George: "Home"

Jenni Santacaterina: "Desert Rose"

Yael Averbuch wraps up the solos with "Annie's Song", but not before giving a short introduction. "The song I am doing, it was the first one Aaron and I danced to as husband and wife. I sang it a couple of years later at Morgan Brian and Kelley O'Hara's wedding. What the two of them have experienced so far this week, I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, all because they fell in love with each other. I dedicate this to them."

You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Come let me love you
Come love me again

You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

There were very few dry eyes in the house following that. John tells the team to take a few minutes to use the restroom or wander around before the group pieces take place.

During the break, John's wife Clare and Yael's husband Aaron arrived and joined their spouses. Once the players returned, the fun started again.

Steph, Sam, Yael: "Big Girls Don't Cry"

John, Aaron, Lee, Ryan, Abby: "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You"

Julie, Morgan, Midge, Kayla, Machaela: "It's Raining Men"

Jessie, Rose, Clare, Megan, Jenni, Caitlyn: "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"

Things wrap up and the team loads back on the bus for the return trip to Allston.