There are sporting idols then there are SPORTING IDOLS!

You really do appreciate the Olympic environment and what we have become a part of when you see some of the world's icons wandering around. There have been the sprinters, basketballers, past gold medallists, but for myself and Hayden Shaw we really topped it all with a simple visit to the international zone.

After jumping on the bikes to drop our laundry off, there were rumours that Roger Federer had entered the village. So a photo with this great sportsman was the top of our list. Unfortunately Hayden thought it was funny to say "here he comes, quick get the camera ready" then for it to simply be our captain strolling along with his partner Kim Noakes.

Hayden then did this several times so I eventually gave up. And when we were simply shopping for gifts in the shop Hayden again yelled out "Dave, its Federer". "Yeah whatever Shawry" and I continued to search the shelves. However as the head rose, I could not believe my eyes, there was Roger Federer.

Of course surrounded by media, athletes, volunteers taking photo after photo. So up we went, "excuse Roger, mind if we get a photo?" "For athletes, no problem" was his reply. He was very freindly, called our sport 'land hockey', and he even seemed pretty keen on taking up our invite on coming to watch us. For some this may seem like nothing, but as soon as we got back to the NZ accomodation and told everyone who we got a photo with, everyone's reaction really did show how great the man is. A true legend!

Life in the village has been ticking away, a day of training or a practice match has been the norm and then usually hanging out in Bro Town checking emails, socialising or sipping away on a cappuccino. Bro Town is the room where NZ athletes can hang out, and for me has been pretty much my home. Although I did have a complaint from my room mate about lack of time spent in our room so I may have to balance things up.

We have also continued to welcome athletes with the traditional haka. It's always great to have everyone out there performing the haka. I know media often gets stuck into the poor quality and over doing it, but for every athlete that has been welcomed and then been part of the haka welcoming new athletes, they will remember it as a highlight of their Olympics.

We even had assistant coaches Darren Smith and Greg Nicol out there welcoming the cyclists with a rousing haka. Greg is South African so struggles a little with the words but is getting pretty good with improvising the actions.

We have just come off playing the Aussies in another practice game.

Unfortunately we could not back up our solid performance against the Dutch, and lost 3-1. It was a very frustrating game for us, as yet again we showed that we can perform with any team in the world, but let ourselves down in some areas. We turned alot of ball over, and struggled to work from a solid platform. However if we can be consistent throughout this tournament we have shown that we will compete for a medal!

Although the heat was back this also meant blue sky and no pollution. After a few days of misty conditions this seems to have cleared and hopefully can stay this way through the Games.

Today we head off to the Great Wall to do the tourist thing, and have been given the day off from training. There is also the official flag raising later in the day as the countdown is nearly over.

Dave Kosoof

We continue to count down the days till our first game. Trainings and practice matches continue, and are going well although training yesterday had a sudden change in conditions.

For the first time we experienced the much talked about pollution. Blue skies in the morning and for the start of the training soon disappeared as the smog moved in.

It was crazy, everyone began coughing, and the breathing became short and sharp. For some of us we became very light headed and felt slightly sick. It could be an issue if happens again and there seems to be no explanation for the sudden change in conditions?

Hamish Carter's comment was quite amusing when I mentioned it too them, "maybe it was rush hour traffic".

It is not good, and not something we want to have to get used to so hopefully it clears up. It's ridiculous to be able to look at a red sun in the middle of the day.

The village continues to amaze us all, with more and more athletes turning up the buzz continues to rise.

Casey and myself went to drop off our laundry last night on the bikes, and then went for a little tiki tour and followed the music up to the international zone. Had a pretty cool ceremony going on but the highlight was been being talked into by this lady to coming in the hair salon.

We were a little bit hesitant and it was late at night, but once she said it was free haircuts, in we went. I let Casey go first and tried to describe to the hairdresser, who spoke very little english, that he wanted a mo-hawk. He had no idea what I meant so Casey went for the safe option.

I can't remember the last time I have been to a hairdresser so I couldnt miss out on this opportunity. I decided to get about 2cm taken off the sides, ha no one actually notices i've had a hair cut, but still a highlight.

We played Holland this morning in the first of our 3 practise matches while here. Both sides werent running at top gear but we managed to notch up our first win of the tour. And I guess not a bad result against a definite medal contender, but as mentioned it's great to know we weren't at top gear for the win either.

Gareth Brooks knocked in the first goal from a PC rebound and Hayden Shaw scored from a drag flick. Simon is recovering well from his fractured finger and should be back hitting a ball soon, James had a few stitches in his finger but will be back training tommorrow, apart from that there are no other injury concerns.

Anyway we have the afternoon off, so a trip to the pool might have to be in order.

Hope the NZ weather is improving
Dave Kosoof

Talk about a shock to the system, from the freezing wet stormy conditions of New Zealand to the 39 degree polluted heat of Hong Kong was definitely a major change for the bodies to get used to. And not only had we gone from the cold of NZ to the extremely hot conditions in Hong Kong, but as the papers mentioned we had stepped off the plane into the record high 'air pollution index' readings.

Goodbyes were tough for some, those with family and partners managed to part ways, for me it was a simple hug and good luck from my mum and I was on my way. Finally on the plane and our Olympic journey has begun. The flight being overnight meant that most took sleeping pills and crashed out till breakfast was being served. Coach Shane 'shooter' McLeod took his in the terminal before even getting on the plane, so once on was soon asleep dreaming of tactics for us in the near future. He did manage to wake for breakfast but before Darren Smith and I had finished our bowl of fruit, 'shooter' had again assumed the position and was again back to dream up some wonder tactics.

For me, I can never sleep on planes. Even being very tired, taking two sleeping pills and NOT even drinking grapefruit juice I still couldn't get into that deep sleep. Luckily there were some new movies out, so I watched Twenty One (learnt how to count cards), Semi Pro (Will Ferrell is definitely my favourite actor) and also watched Kelly Slater win the first stop of the world surf tour.

Anyway off the plane, and as we were off to pack the bus, just getting on their bus is the American basketball team. Pretty amazing to think of the value of those on their bus put together. Millions and millions of dollars sitting on that bus, Although I'm sure as they were leaving they spotted us and I can imagine LeBron James, who was sitting in the back seat, going "hey there's the NZ Black Sticks".

Off to the hotel to quickly unpack and eat and then off to the turf for an intense two hour training. The turf itself is pretty amazing. It's part of the Hong Kong Racing Club and is surrounding by sky scraper buildings and the Horse Racing Track. Training was pretty tough with the heat, and from what the papers said, the record high pollution level.

The air pollution index had reached an unprecedented 202 which eclipsed the previous record of 201 set in 2005. One elderly lady died from heat stroke with 91 people taken to hospital and a further 1334 needing emergency help. They had banned half the cars from July 20 with odd number plates allowed on one day with even numbered the next. There is talk now of banning all cars. There was one very happy quote in the paper from a taxi driver "more people will have to take taxis, it is good for us".

The hotel seems to be right in the middle of town and is nice, I've been roomed with midfielder Ben Collier, who has been the first recipient of a hair cut from team hair dresser Gareth Brooks. Asked how many hair cuts he'd average on a tour, Gareth replied "it depends on the length of the tour and where we are, but around 15" so no doubt with the heat and time away he will be a busy man. Unfortunately hair cuts take place in the recipient's room, so right now our bathroom is covered with red hair!

The next day we then headed off to Mecau for a friendly match against Great Britain. A one hour ferry ride takes us to the island of Macau, and for all, the first boat trip to a hockey game. Mecau actually is an amazing place with more casinos than Las Vegas. Lots of lights, gold window buildings and great sporting facilities. It is where the entire Great Britain Olympic Team is based after their government has pumped around one billion pounds into the Olympic Campaign.

The game was played in around 40 degrees of heat and was fairly even with GB stealing the win 2-1 with the final P.C of the game. Again record temperatures were reached, and several little injury niggles meant it was very tough work for us all.

Fatigue has really set in with the boys at the moment but i'm sure when we acclimatise we'll be fresh and well prepared. Not long till we head off to Beijing.

Until then we'll try enjoy the heat over here as I've heard the stormy weather hasn't eased back home.

Dave Kosoof

The Olympics are only getting closer day by day, but the last couple of weeks have been really tough both physically and mentally.

Practice games and trainings have at times lacked intensity. We all just want the opening game to hurry up and get underway. We've had enough of training, practicing shooting at goal, passing, receiving, set plays over and over and over again, we all just want to hear the whistle to the start of the first game against the Koreans!

Yeah I know, preparation is gonna be the key to success in Beijing, and trust me we are feeding off each other to keep the intensity throughout trainings high, but there is definitely a sense of hurry up let's get on the plane and get in to it!

There are also concerns of staying injury free over the next few weeks, as an Olympic dream can suddenly end in a matter of seconds, so although everyone is trying to keep the intensity high everyone is also trying to stay safe which means the competitive nature which is often very high within our trainings has tapered down a little.

On the topic of injuries, there are a few concerns. My fellow strikers Phil Burrows and Simon Child have been sidelined for the last few days. Phil has a slight back injury but is expected back any day, whereas Simon fractured his finger on Monday night and will, at this stage, miss most of, if not all of the preparation which is not ideal.

Our skipper Ryan Archibald is also in cotton wool and after the devastating injury he encountered prior to Athens '04 there will be no risk of losing him this time round.

We leave on Sunday, head to Hong Kong for four days which will include a couple of games against Great Britain, then into the village on August 1st. We will have more trainings and I think three practice games prior to our first match on August 11th.

The next few days for me before departing will i'm sure be tiring and maybe a little stressful trying to get things sorted. Mum arrives today to say her goodbyes (hopefully to help ease some stress, hopefully!). Work issues still need to be sorted with work replacements needing to be found.

My bags still need to be packed (let me know if you want to volunteer or this is where mum comes in handy). More goodbyes to be said, oh yeah and even a couple of quiet drinks with mates on Saturday night to celebrate my 'actual' birthday.

We have two 2 hour trainings tomorrow which will be our last training in NZ, some managed to sneak into the sauna for our last gym session yesterday but as mentioned the Olympic Village is not far away now.

Hopefully I can keep you updated while in Hong Kong. Til then, excitement levels are rising, once were on that plane we will have only one thing on our mind - MEDAL IN BEIJING!

Well it's official now, barring injuries the 32 players that will represent NZ in hockey have been named. 16 girls and 16 guys will take the field in Beijing to represent all hockey players in NZ and officially seeing my name on the list was not only a huge relief but obviously also huge excitement.

We all knew it was D-day, Monday June 30th, the day that we would know our fate. Texts were being sent to each other seeing who had found out, some already knew their fate, good and bad, but I was still awaiting the call. Rumors were floating around that from the six strikers that went on the previous tour to Europe they would be cut to only four for the Olympics, which was a change to initial plans and now meant two strikers were to be left out rather than the expected one.

So as the day went on and on I can't explain the feelings going through my mind. But I'm sure you can all imagine. Our coach was still in Europe so communication of the team announcement was always going to be difficult, which we all knew. And I guess in some ways no phone call was potentially a good thing.

And then a phone call, it was Kyle Pontifex our goal keeper. "Hey bro, an email has just come out" he said. "So am I in?" was my reply, "yeah you're in". Just like that I was going to another Olympics. The "I made it" texts went out to my mother of course and Petrea, who knew the stress and worries of waiting around for official selection. Then to pretty much everyone in my phone book followed. Mum's reply was like most mum's I guess "bout bloody time they got it right", but for me and also the words of coach Shane McLeod, selections were now out of the way, time to start playing some good hockey!

From here we are based at North Harbour to train and fine tune things before departing on July 27th. Training every day, some sessions three hours long, and with gym sessions still being the norm, we also now had to add in several functions each week which made the timetable pretty full on, day and night. Thanking associations, supporters, sponsors, friends and family are all an important part of the build up to Beijing. So although it meant some long days, we knew the thank yous were just as important as our trainings.

I also managed to throw in my birthday party last weekend which I'm sure photos will soon arise on facebook. But actually a great chance to get away from the hockey field and let the hair out, or wear some terrible outfits in some people's cases! Actually I still held it at hockey so we didn't really get away from the hockey field, and the outfits were "classy" especially guys hitting on Bevan in a dress.

The programme from here is fly to Hong Kong on July 27th, where we will be based for a few days training and games before heading into the village and getting settled in. The days are counting down and getting closer and closer very quickly, a short DVD shown to us last night of the village definitely got the excitement levels up there. For us that were part of the Athens experience memories were coming back. We just can not wait! The DVD was done in animation style however, so I'm not sure there will be bright blue sky with white clouds and birds chirping in the background as there was in the animation. But from all accounts the village looks amazing. I'm sure the Chinese will put together a fantastic event.

So anyway things are so far on track, we've now all got our Olympic gear during the week, and started wearing in the crocs. Some sizes are a wee bit off but I'm sure we'll get them sorted prior to departure.

Before I go, the hardest part that has come from selections is the close mates that missed out, for everyone's spot in the team there is always someone that has not had their dream fulfilled. We initially had 21 in our squad and had all become good mates over the years. It does dampen the excitement knowing mates have missed out but it also makes me more determined to prepare fully and then throughout the Games enjoy the occasion with the respect it deserves and compete for everyone back home.

For some we have given so much up to get here. For some back home they gave up the same. Don't take this for granted! This is the Olympics!

Nerves, excitement, confidence and pressure are some feelings that would describe the way most of us in the NZ Black Sticks squad are feeling right now.

Nerves because the final selection for the 16 players are to be named soon, excitement because the Olympics are getting closer and closer, confidence from our performances to date and the hard work that we are putting in and pressure from the expectations we have to not only to partake at the Olympic Games but to compete with the world's best.

We have just returned from a three week tour of Europe. Based mainly in Nijmegan (think this is spelt right, and pronounced like your about to spit), which is in Holland. We were accommodated at a holiday park out by the farms. And although on arrival the morale was high with lakes, bungalows, restaurant, underground night club and even a animal farm, we soon realised that three weeks here would test our patience and it sure did.

With what started out as a 10 minute walk but by the end the tour felt like a 30 minute walk to meetings, internet, dinners and the bus to trainings and games, it wasn't long before this place had a new nickname, which I can't write.

Trainings and games obviously occupied the majority of our time, with Texas Hold'em poker and facebook when the internet was working often relieving us of our boredom outside of the hockey, the poker games have been a good introduction to the team culture by coach Shane "shooter" McLeod, we play for real money and even have a diamond ring for the reigning champion to wear.

Oh and of course the Euro '08 soccer or football games started up which meant some late evenings especially when games went into extra time. Surely a soccer game is long enough in normal time with 90 mins, but then they play an extra 30 mins of extra time. But it was great to watch and see the support that a country gets behind their team.

We thought New Zealanders are passionate about the All Blacks but in Europe they take supporting your country to another level. Houses decorated in orange, shops selling everything imaginable in orange, but the most impressive thing is seeing them watch the game, they live every moment like it is their child out there playing. Emotions ran very high while we were there. Fortunately we had some Polish supporters living next to our bungalow, Poland didn't do so well, so their parties didn't last to long. Thank god.

This was a very important tour for our Olympic campaign, we played seven test matches, one game v Holland U21 and one game v local club team. And although result wise we didn't achieve great success, performance wise we were definitely around about where we needed to be. We won against Belgium, Canada and the two non test matches, but had losses to Germany x 2, Argentina, Great Britain and Spain. It was mentioned that of recent times we had only beaten Argentina in one game, but of course that one game was for a spot in the Olympics so we'll take that.

We also had a few set backs before we even left the country , with Dean Cousins and Casey Henwood having to pull out of the tour due to injury. Casey broke his finger, while Dean's loss was the biggest shock due to heart issues. Not only was this a huge loss to our defence and meant during early games several players were used to try and find a suitable replacement, it was also Dean's experience and presence off the field that was missed. It is hoped that he can be cleared for the Olympics, his chances are 50-50, and he would be a huge loss for the team.

From here it is rest and recovery for the next few days. Also get used to the cold, wet and windy weather of NZ again, having been to Malaysia during May and Europe in June I can easily say it is a little unpleasant here but at least we won't have long before we head to China. The programme for us over the next month is training based in Auckland. We will have three team hockey trainings, two gym sessions, two fitness/speed sessions, maybe a couple of individual trainings and of course a game for our club team per week. We then head off to Hong Kong on July 27th (day after my birthday) then onto Beijing and into the Olympic Village.

It's very exciting times, but we also know that we need to put in the hard work for the campaign to be a success.

Look forward to updating you after a few weeks of training are behind us and the Olympics are even closer,

Dave Kosoof