Guest Post - 2011 WPS Draft Pick, Sinnead Farrelly, Philidelphia Independence

Sinead Farrelly has been preparing for the upcoming 2011 WPS season with the Philidelphia Independence.

Farrelly was selected by the Philadelphia Independence as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2011 WPS Draft, is a member of the U-23 National Team, and played soccer for the University of Virginia.

By Sinead Farrelly

Preseason is almost over; it’s only been 5 weeks but its felt like about 5 months. Training has been really good- I’ve learned so much already in this past month or so.

The girls are so welcoming and it’s been so easy to mesh in with the team. Our schedule is pretty hectic between two-a-days and what not but we always make the best out of it.

Besides hanging out and training, we also got to go on a team tour to Philadelphia. We took a big bus, each seat accompanied with a philly soft pretzel and water. Our first stop was the famous Pat's cheesesteak for some lunch. The cheesesteaks were of course amazing, but I was full for like 8 hours afterwards. Then we headed to the art museum and took pictures of the Rocky statue as well as raced up the steps! We tried to take pictures of us jumping off the steps but the timing never ever worked out.

Next we stopped by LOVE Park before we headed to the channel 3 news building. They took us on a tour of the building and we got to go in the actual news room where they do all the reports and the weather. We got to stand in front of the green screen that most newscasters do when reading the weather and got to pretend to report the conditions for the next couple of days. We also got to meet the sportscaster and weather woman for channel 3 news, it was awesome and the people there were super nice.

For dinner we headed to a place in the Italian market for some chicken parmesan, lasagna, and spaghetti and meatballs. The food was delicious and the Italian market was really cool as well. It was nighttime so everything was closed, but it’s pretty much an outside market down an entire street where they roast food, sell items, and do fun activities. The owner of the restaurant invited us back during the second weekend of May which is the Italian market festival which will be really fun!

Other than that, we've been making our own fun in the locker room and our lounge and just getting to know each other better. Our first game of the season is this Sunday so everyone is really excited! We play Sky Blue in New Jersey and hoping to come out with a win to start the season off right.

Pretty much I’m loving life and getting to play soccer everyday and hang out with my family and friends so it’s been a dream come true.

Archive: 2/10/2011 - Q & A: Sinead Farrelly