Began with an early breakfast with some very interesting breakfast choices on the menu including beer. Guess it is common here, I am not sure. I didn't venture too far into the culinary world this morning.
We had a video session after the breakfast and the team seemed flat so that had me worried right away. We finished the video session and went to practice which was even flatter than the video session. Of course that could have been because we lost our best athlete and one of our better players to a freak escalator accident that cost her 7 stitches in the heel. She didn't play tonight and may be done for the trip. Spirits seemed down so I think that was an omen.
After lunch, which consisted of some interesting fish dishes and something called "hanging pig parts" and chicken feet, the staff headed out to explore Zhangjiagang. What an impressive city this is. Very clean and very friendly. I must say that this trip to China has opened my eyes and today was even more of an eye opener. We were stared at everywhere we went and people stopped us and snickered and pointed. I understand that the people are very nice here and that they are only doing it because we are so different than what they see on a daily basis. Like I said before, I am a giant here and people have stopped me to put their hands out across my shoulders and a number of them have pointed at my feet and snickered or they try to ask how big. It really brings a realization to me of how people must feel that come to our area and see how we react to them. Hopefully they don't feel that any looks are done out of disrespect. I certainly hope I remember how it feels to be different and that I can try and treat people a little different when I meet them especially the students around our university. I really understand some of their actions after this trip.
So back to the shopping in the afternoon. We found a pedestrian mall that was jammed with people and it was quite fun to go into all the little shops. It is almost westernized but not quite. Our manager found a neat little side street and we went into a DVD shop she found last night. Typical small DVD shop with rows and rows of DVD's for sale. However when we walked in they recognized her and welcomed here. Then they opened up the wall and led us to a backroom that had EVERYTHING in it. New movies, old movies, blueray, full seasons of TV shows, you name it they had it and very very cheap. What an interesting experience to say the least.
We made our way back to prepare for the game. We headed to the gym and it was a little less crowded that our previous game with perhaps 2500-3000 fans in the gym. It was broadcast to tens of million viewers across China though. Very cool. Once again I got a tremendous chill as I sang the national anthem when it was played. So that was the highlight of the game. Period . End of Discussion. China came out and in 3 possessions had us down 9-0 and we were reeling. They put a big old fashioned boot in our ass. Down 24 at half and lost 100-55. They were IMPRESSIVE. They move the ball well and played better defense than any of these kids have ever seen. The funny part is that 2 of the girls got really pissed after the game because the coaches and the other players didn't seem pissed off enough. They felt that we should be within 20 points of China. We are the development team. Our senior team wouldn't be within 30 of this group on a good day. China eased up at points during the game and they didn't have their 6'3" point guard who avg. about 18 points per game in the lineup. This team has been training twice a day for 6 months and we have been practicing for 2 weeks. I guess I should be more frustrated or angry according to these players but I understand what a good team looks like and they could be top 5 or maybe top 3 at the Olympics. One highlight of the night though was getting to meet Michelle Timms, the assistant coach for China. She is a world legend and one of the all time greats. She treated us very well and we had a great chat.
After the game we came back and had dinner. Whole fish, fish heads, goose, pig parts, all kinds of interesting stuff. Again, not so adventurous. Stayed relatively light and called it a night.
So tomorrow we have a bus ride of about 1.5 hours then a flight to another city and a long bus ride to Jiyuan for our last game. It will be a tiring day but we get to see more of the country so that will be fun. I am off to pack and prep the video for breakdown.
The journey continues
Coach
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