A year ago we did a photo-shoot with my friend and former Brazilian player Daniel Gregg, on the Botafogo Bay overlooking the Sugar Loaf ahead of Olympic Day. The return of rugby to the Olympic Games was fast approaching, but nothing like now, when we are celebrating Olympic Day a handful of weeks before it all happens.

A twist of fate means that we are in Olympia, not in Greece but the USA town in Seattle, on our final overseas trip ahead of the final selection for the Rio 2016. We are training with the USA and Canada teams at the Evergreen College over two days.

This is a key part of our final preparations and we came over with 13 players, but our opponents have two squads each so it means we are playing four games each day. Tiring, but satisfactory.

Rugby is rugby, a contact sport; we know that anything can happen in the build-up to the Games but you can’t think about that, you can’t keep away from contact. It is not our way.

"Olympic Day in Olympia, playing the sport I love, with my friends and preparing for the return of rugby to the Olympic Games, in my country and a very short distance from my city is more than I can ask for! "

Baby Futuro

Needless to say, we are all very focused on completing our preparation and looking forward to the squad announcement, which will be on Friday 1 July. 

Softening the blow

We’ve become close friends in the last few years so we are trying to find a way to make it a special occasion for those that are in the Olympic squad and to make it as soft as possible for those who miss out. 

It will be a dinner party for the 19 girls that have been working towards the dream of representing our country at the Deodoro Stadium from 6-8 August.

We will then have two weeks in Sao Jose dos Campos before moving to Rio for the last leg of our preparations.

Whatever happens in Dublin this weekend will influence our Olympic pool. As things stand, it is in our best interest that neither Russia or Spain qualify as that would give us a better chance of playing teams that we are capable of beating in pool play. Every team there will be fully focused, but the pressure is with the Russian and Spanish girls really as favourites.

With a place in the HSBC Women’s World Rugby Sevens Series also at stake in the Games, we will aim for that. 

The team’s goal for Rio is to beat Japan, Colombia and Kenya and get some other scalps as well. Of course, we want to win every time we take the field, but we also know and accept our limitations.

Extremely motivated

For that we have prepared very well and very hard for so long. I’ve been with the team since 2004 but we can’t look back on past achievements; we must look forward, live the day, prepare for the next training session, the next game.

There was a boom for women’s rugby in Brazil and I was fortunate to be involved at a high performance level, but I am not sure what will happen the day after the Games. Our country is facing many troubles and it might happen that sports is no longer a top priority.

I haven’t really decided what I will do after the Games. I know I want to complete my Masters degree in Big Events Management, move back with my mother for a time and take a long, and deserved, rest! Maybe travel overseas. I will always be involved with rugby, not too sure now what I will be doing as a player or when I finally retire.

I don’t want to think that far ahead. Olympic Day in Olympia, playing the sport I love, with my friends and preparing for the return of rugby to the Olympic Games, in my country and a very short distance from my city is more than I can ask for! 

I am extremely motivated and I want to be in the Olympic Games and become an Olympian.