Today was an early start with some breakfast and then a film session. Nothing flashy about the meal this morning except that I tried a few things that I know tasted different and I am not sure exactly what it was.
We took the short drive to practice after the film session. What an impressive facility. The city we are in , Jinyuan (northwest of Shanghai) is known as a basketball town. Definitely the best facility of the 3 we played in. It has about 6000 seats and the only sport played there is basketball. The locker room for us had big leather chairs for each player and a fancy desk for the coach to sit behind.
After practice we had a team meal which was good. I had a very different cream of mushroom soup than I am used to. There were also pig's feet and fish heads on the menu. Never touched them today but the rest of the food was tremendous and the service is great.
Next up was a coaches walking tour of the local area. Jinyuan is a very nice place. We were told upon arrival that the locals very rarely see westerners so we could expect some people to stare at us as we went out. WOW were they right. It was like we were celebrities. Every little shop we went into the people came to see us. We went into one little shop where the cutest little girl was with her mother who owned the store. She knew the word hello and that was pretty much it but she smiled at us the whole time. There are few things that bridge the gap between cultures like basketball and magic so away I went. I showed her a coin and made it disappear a few times and then I changed it into a Loonie which I gave to her to keep. She was impressed and was very happy to have the coin. When I left she waved goodbye and had the biggest smile in the world. Happiness on the face of a child. The things you can get for a simple dollar.
So off we went to the local "mall". Very interesting layouts here with plenty of stuff to buy. Of course as we walked people stared at us, waved at us and came out of their shops to see us. As we entered the mall, we had many onlookers. We stopped at a little booth and gathered a crowd of onlookers. We then went into the grocery store to check out some stuff. We stopped to look at something and one of the young employees knew a little English so she tried to explain things to us. Within 2 minutes there were about 4 other employees around looking at us. The people here are very very nice and they were fascinated by us. Like I said the other day, it really makes you think about what happens when "foreigners" come to our area.
So after the mall we had to meet as coaches to prepare for individual meetings. We had to have them tonight after the game. It is a policy of Canada Basketball to have exit meetings with the players to discuss areas for improvement as well as how the experience was for the players. A good idea.
Game time was set for 7:30. After losing by 45 I wasn't sure what to expect. China seemed loose in the warmup but I got the feeling they were a little too loose. We came out and battled hard. Halfway through the first quarter we were down 3. They went on a small run to finish the quarter up by 8. The biggest lead they had in the 2nd quarter was by 9 and we ended the half down by 5. We made some adjustments at half and battled them hard in the 3rd. We took the lead 3 minutes into the quarter and then it seesawed back and forth until a small run in the last 3 minutes allowed them to go up by 7. The 4th quarter was a battle and we cut into their lead and were down 4 with 39 seconds to play. We had to foul in the last 15 seconds and we ended up losing 75-69. I was really proud of the way the girls battled tonight. They gave the estimated 4000 fans a good show. It was the first game that we played really well together.
So now the experience on the court with Canada Basketball is over. It was tremendously eye opening. I have learned a LOT and figured out what I need to know to make us better at our school and what it takes to help a player reach this level. Hopefully some day I make it back to this level but you never know what will happen.
It is now a little after 1 AM as I type this and I am tired but excited to get home. It has been a long experience. Tomorrow we have to be on the bus by 5:45AM and then hit the road to Zhengzhou which will be over 2 hours. A 1.5 hour flight to Shanghai is next followed by a bus ride across the city to the International airport and then a 14 hour flight home. We did the math today for our trip tomorrow. If you factor in the bus rides, flights and waiting in airports it is approximately 26 hours of travel. Throw in a 12 hour time change for good measure. I won't know which way is up when I get home.
So now I decide whether to sleep or not. Who knows. The trip will be long and time for plenty of sleep.
Hopefully this blog has been a little entertaining and has allowed whoever is reading it to follow my travels. I will have many more stories when I get home.
Thanks for tagging along.
The final leg of the journey is underway
Coach
No comments:
Post a Comment