Blogging with Bishop and Berzins

AMES, Iowa - Former Iowa State soccer players Jordan Bishop and Elisa Berzins have continued their careers, playing professionally in the WPS and in Iceland, respectively. Both Bishop and Berzins will be providing updates about their experiences playing at the next level all summer on cyclones.com. This is the ninth installment of blogs for the summer.

Jordan Bishop:

Hey Cyclone Nation,

I hope everyone is enjoying their last couple weeks of July before August hits. I know the girls have all been preparing for good ole preseason coming up especially with 11 great freshmen coming in. I also heard how HOT it has been getting in Iowa...and I thought Texas was hot.

As for me, my parents were here last week, for 5 days which went waaaayyy too fast, but it was great to have them here. We did all the touristy stuff and had an amazing time! They are my biggest supporters and fans and I owe all my experiences to them.

As far as soccer in Boston is going, practices have been continuing for the Aztecs and the Breakers. The Aztec (Breaker Reserve team) has made it into the second round of playoff play for the Northeast division. Our last game was this past Saturday where we defeated the New York Athletic Club team 1-0 in OT. It was a hard fought game that we should have put away in regulation, but I think we were just going for a more exciting finish? 3 of our players were named onto the WPSL team including our game winning scorer, Megan, our stud keeper, Michelle, and myself. Our next game is this Thursday versus the New York Fury which is also a reserve team for the two WPS teams in New York (NY Flash and Sky Blue FC). With the depth and strength of the players on this roster, it is going to be a battle. But who doesn't love being the underdog?!

I know this is a touchy subject... but I would like to comment on how well our Women's National Team did this World Cup. Their strive for gold was admirable and I think has done wonders for this sport and the women who love to play it... Even if half the men were only interested in eye candy Hope Solo and Alex Morgan. Whatever gets ya watching fellas!

Hope yall are getting excited for the fall season!

Go Cyclones!

-J

Elisa Berzins:

Hey Guys...

Sorry for the miss last week. I've had some pretty exciting things happen the last few weeks!

To start off, all teams in Iceland are currently open for trading, which means all players are on the chopping block! Fortunately for me, I was saved and my team has decided to not only keep me, but give me a raise as well. Things have been going great and it seems as though they are happy with me as a player. Unfortunately, things didn't go as well for my former teammate, Katie Smith. She was recently cut from the team. In college, you had a whole year to prove your worthiness to the coaching staff and university. If the fall season wasn't your time to shine, you still had all spring to make up for it. Here, you have 2 months: you either do well or you are fired. It was a bit of a difficult time for Katie as well as myself. She was my closest friend out here and I'm definitely going to miss the camaraderie.

On the bright side, as I mentioned, things are going well with the team. However, with good results, other teams were impressed as well. Unbeknownst to me until yesterday, there have been several offers given to my club for my trade. I never realized how in depth this process was and am just still thankful to still be here playing and living one of my dreams. I will have to keep you posted after this week as to whether I will still be supporting black and white or moving onto a new club. It's exciting and scary all at the same time!

With all of the drama that has ensued, it was also a heart-breaker to watch the US put up such a battle and lose to Japan. Interestingly enough, all of my teammates were really rooting for the US to win and feel as though they had such great opportunities but were just unlucky on their finishes. I thought that most of the girls would be rooting for the underdogs, so I was pleasantly surprised and appreciated the support!

As for the season, we just hit the half-way mark. We are in the middle of the season, and I can't be more excited. Although I love it here and playing with the team, I definitely miss home, my family, and my friends. I especially missed not being at a teammate's wedding (Casey Bothwell) and in September will be missing another (Ann Gleason). But I was fortunate enough to have one of our own Cyclones come and visit me: Megan Kerns (a former volunteer assistant for the Cyclones). She and another friend of mine, Brandon Lee, came out for a week to see me and we were able to go hiking, horseback riding, whale watching, glacier-seeing, geyser watching, and waterfall viewing in 6 days. It was a blast, but exhausting!

I can't wait to catch you up on all of the great things that are happening here in the second half of our season. Wish us luck and talk with you all soon.

Berzins

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