Ireland’s World Cup stars are beating the jet lag by training at all hours since their arrival in Australia.
Vera Pauw has initiated a “jet lag protocol” in their Brisbane base - which has seen the Girls in Green do workouts according to their Irish bodyclocks, with a gradual session-by-session movement towards Aussie time.
“We have a jet-lag protocol in training,” Pauw explained. “We started at 11 in the middle of our night, then 12, then 2, now at 4 and then tomorrow at 6.
“And that is to be active at the moment your body actually wants to sleep. So that you stay awake the moment that your body is in day-time.
“And there are also light glasses but the doctor showed there is no evidence and we want to just keep things simple.
“We use the daylight as our guide, we go out of the hotel a lot, we have a lot of free time to be out and with our families and friends to get the sunshine in their eyes.”
Jet lag is just another obstacle for Pauw’s players to hurdle ahead of their maiden World Cup campaign.
“This is why we are here, the jet lag is part of it,” said the Ireland boss. “You don’t have to be. You can be sitting at home with the feet on the couch watching a movie.
“Playing elite sport is a choice and that is comfortable at times and uncomfortable at times. We just need to get over it.”
Pauw wants her players to “be comfortable with the uncomfortable” as they prepare for group games against co-hosts Australia, Canada and Nigeria.
“We say always that we need to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, you’ve heard players saying that. But now it is really uncomfortable,” she said.
“Now we really need to fight and be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Everything now is a lot.
“But that is why we keep things simple, the same as we’ve always done, we don’t make many changes in how we approach things.
“We don’t suddenly do different things. We do it the way we do it because that is us, and that works and we’re not going to make major changes.
“It will help us to feel more comfortable with the uncomfortable.”
It’s not all hard work, though, with players getting time to see family members and friends who have made the trip Down Under.
And Pauw also manages to switch off, with her husband, former coach Bert van Lingen travelling to Brisbane to support the Girls in Green.
“I’m so happy that my husband and a major friend are here,” said Pauw.
“They travelled in the evening and I’ve been able to have a few coffees with them which is very relaxing and nice for me.”
There was good news on Wednesday when Katie McCabe took part in training, ending any lingering fears over the ankle injury she sustained against France.
“There are no worries at all,” said Pauw, who added that there were no injury concerns, with the opener against Australia taking place on July 20 in Sydney.
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