Michael O'Keeffe will be representing New Zealand at the 2012 Olympic Games.
29 Days, 696 hours, 41,760 minutes until the Olympic games begin (not that I’m counting) and training is in full swing.
I’ve based myself in Wellington where the national team goalkeeping coach is based and have been working with him on a regular basis as we prepare for our first warm up match against the Japan U-23 side in Tokyo on July 11th.
Training includes 1-2 sessions on the field a day, 3 gym sessions a week and an all-important game on the weekend.
The local club I am playing for, Miramar Rangers enjoyed a 6-0 win in the Chatham Cup last weekend and have a tough away trip against Macynvale in Hastings (5 hours away) this Sunday.
Miramar is made up of largely Team Wellington players with 3 of the players selected to train with the Wellington Phoenix as part of the Welnix School of Excellence.
Training with the best Wellington and New Zealand has to offer certainly helps my preparation as we look to take on the some of the world’s best footballers.
Lastly I would just like to thank all the support I have received from friends and the Fairfield community, certainly makes waking up at 5:30am for training a lot easier!
Michael O’Keeffe
Blog Note: Michael O’Keeffe is a senior with the Stags men’s soccer team. He was recently selected to represent his home country, New Zealand, in the 2012 London Olympics. Read about that here. He will be providing Stag Tracks with a blog about his experience throughout the next month leading up to, and through the Olympic Games.