LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – The U.S. Olympic Women’s Field Hockey Team arrived in London and stepped on the blue and pink Olympic pitch for the first time yesterday evening. The venue, Riverbank Arena, is located in Olympic Park, right next to the Olympic Village and where much of the action will take place beginning July 27.

The team will get four training sessions in before departing the Olympic Village for the Cotwolds, a quintessentially English town known for its outstanding natural beauty, sunsets and birdsongs.

The purpose of the rendezvous is to unwind, hang out and bond. The team made a similar trip to Breckenridge, Colorado prior to the Pan American Games. The victory in the finals against world ranked No. 1 Argentina that earned the U.S. their ticket to London was partially attributed to the weekend trip to the mountains. Rachel Dawson (Berlin, NJ) reminisced on the teams excursion last August in her blog, The Athlete Way.

“Not a single hockey stick was packed. Not a single word of the sport that had brought us together was spoken. And yet we were in great harmony. We laughed. We cooked. We carved (pumpkins that is). We learned. Ultimately, we sat. We sat together, talking, in the morning, day, and night. We enjoyed. Each others company. In the silence of the starry night, and the chaos of a crowded kitchen. We felt. Happy. Inspired. Comforted. Excited. Connected. More connected than we ever could feel through technology. We felt a real connection in nature and with each other.”

And that is exactly what the team will do in the Cotswolds. Take their mind off of field hockey and enjoy each others company. When the team returns to the Olympic Village on July 26 it is all attention on the task at hand. The U.S. expects to return to the States with a medal.

“We are not going for the experience, we are going to win,” says Head Coach Lee Bodimeade.