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Football Ferns midfielder Betsy Hassett writes from Switzerland to let us know how training is going ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

It was most definitely worth the long journey to be able to play and train in such a stunning country; Switzerland. After about a three hour bus ride from Geneva airport to Anzere, we head straight off on a light run where we are about 1400 meters above sea level.

Running through the trees, single file on a bush track with mind-blowing views after a 30-hour journey, is an extraordinary feeling.

There is nothing better than waking up in a cozy ski lodge in the Swiss Alps. It feels like a dream walking out onto the balcony and seeing beautiful mountains in every direction. After a yummy vegetable soup and a lovely long sleep, we wake up the next day geared up in our brand new Nike training strip. We have a full on day with two training sessions and two meetings to prepare ourselves for our first game against Wales the next day. Training at a field 10 minutes away from our lodge means training in amongst the Alps and training in altitude. Training in altitude is not easy, especially after almost two days of travel. After a few sprints everyone was puffing and panting as the thin air takes a bit of getting use to. Balls were flying all over the place and of course this was due to the altitude, changing the trajectory of the ball at the last second. It’s also hard not to get caught standing still in the middle of a training drill admiring the snowy top mountains surrounding the field. Nevertheless, both training sessions were fill of fun and laughter as playing in this sort of environment is something special that you do not get to experience very often. Although it is more tiring playing in altitude, it is only making us fitter for the World Cup in Germany where we will be playing in normal elevation again.

So here we are, the Football Ferns, enjoying for two weeks, training, playing, and perfecting our performance in an unbelievable location with awesome, hot weather that we couldn’t dream any better of.