Day 4
Well Day 4 is over and it was long and very tiring. I was up at 7 for an 8:30AM breakfast. I couldn’t sleep I guess. I got up and had a good connection to the net so I checked my email. Unfortunately this posting will be late or not until tomorrow because the crappy internet service is not good.
Breakfast was pretty much the same as every day. No surprises except for the tuna pasta salad. Another interesting choice for breakfast. After breakfast we came back to the village and found out that we would scrimmage Great Britain this afternoon at 4pm. The athletes got some treatment and relaxed a bit while the staff met about our upcoming practice. Around noon the players headed to lunch but we skipped it and finalized our plan. Linda and I then went to the mall at around 12:30 just to see what was in it. Very nice with some nice stores but VERY expensive. A lot of things are far more expensive than back home. Linda headed back to rest for a little bit before practice but I stayed and wandered around for a few minutes. I was curious to see the people and the different stores. It was an interesting place. We were leaving for practice at 1:45 and at around a little after 1 there was another thunder and lightning storm with HEAVY rain. Our third since we got here. It rained the entire way to the gym. The gym was called Basketland and there is a basketball high school there. A very nice facility and the people are very nice everywhere we go.
The practice was better than yesterday but we still need so much work. Defensively we are atrocious because we have to spend so much time working on our offense. I think with more time and effort we will improve. Enough to get into the round of the top 8. Not sure but we hope so. We will play 8 or 9 games here in 12 days so it will be interesting. After practice we scurried out the door into some beautiful sunshine and headed across town to another gym to play Great Britain.
The game was an organized scrimmage with no scoreboard and as many timeouts as you wished. We kept a running score and although we played very sloppy we managed to beat them. Our transition defense was non existent and our rebounding needs work. On the offensive end we were a bit disjointed but more game prep will help us. Kelsey scored 5 points in our scrimmage on a 3 pointer and a nice transition jump shot. The scrimmage was great for her I think because it really exposed some things she needs to prepare for.
After the scrimmage we jumped on the bus with the British team which was nice as they sat with our girls and talked the whole way home.
When we arrived back home we learned that we have another exhibition match tomorrow with Chinese Taipei. We will play them at 2pm.
So finally we headed off to supper. The coaches were starving from missing lunch. On the menu was mushroom lasagna, potato pie, chicken risotto, something I can’t pronounce and something else I can’t pronounce. I got in line and I asked the guy behind the counter to give me a little bit of each to try. I think “little bit” means load up in Serbian because when he was done I couldn’t see the plate. Didn’t finish it all but it was good. Some of the players are struggling with the food but I don’t think it’s that bad yet.
After supper we had a very short player meeting to discuss a few things and then the coaches went to have, you guessed it, another meeting. We were watching video for a while when there came a knock on our door. When I opened it the hallway lights went dark. There was this massive person in my door. She said she was a player on the Polish team and that they wanted to play us on Tuesday. Her coach sent her because she is one of the only ones who speaks English. This girl was one of the biggest I have seen maybe ever. I told the coaches we could have rented some gear and climbed her. She was a mountain. Unfortunately we can’t fit in the schedule to play them but I will see if I can squeeze her on the plane and take her back to CBU!!!
So the day was long enough but mine was not done. Deb and Linda headed off and I settled down to take care of my specialty. Breaking down video. Here comes the worst part of my day. The video equipment that Canada Basketball has does not have all the proper cords that I need to run everything. I tried everything I could think of so then Moriah, our manager, and I headed to the mall to try and find some cords. Nothing but while walking home I came up with something that should work. It will make my job a little bit harder but gotta take it in stride.
So tomorrow it is up early for an 8:30 breakfast and then a video session and then off to our scrimmage. It should be an interesting one. The game vs Tapiei will be an interesting challenge.
I hope everyone is well back across the pond
Coach
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