Serbia Day 16

Day 16

Well day 16 is in the books. Another day another same old breakfast. Up for 9 am and then back here with some time off before a 1pm meeting for some video. I figured I might do a little video and then skip off to the mall to check some things out. Turns out my last day of video would be the most frustrating. I ran into 3 more technical glitches that cost me a lot of time. In the end I basically had to go for a walk before I smashed everything in the room. I came up with a solution and then headed out for a walk. I walked around the mall a bit and picked up a few things at the grocery store.

After this I came back and relaxed until meeting time. We went over to our meeting room and I set up our camera and projector. It wasn’t working the best but then I figured out a way to hook up the camera directly to the TV. That worked really well. WE watched the first half of our previous Mozambique game and I stopped the video along the way to ask some questions. The girls were pretty quiet. They seemed kind of flat during the meeting. I guess the trip coupled with the losing has made them tired. Following the video session the coaches went to lunch but I just wasn’t hungry so I headed off to my room. I put my head down and closed my eyes for a second and before I knew it the time was 3:45 and we were leaving at 4 for our game. Time to scramble. I got ready to go and made the bus on time.

We arrived at the gym and got ready to go. Our focus was on stopping dribble penetration and taking advantage of our size. Well we were up to our old tricks. First 5 possessions of the game – 5 turnovers. Unbelievably frustrating.. Eventually we settled down and played better basketball but Mozambique hung with us. We made a little run to go ahead 21-17 after the first quarter. We controlled most of the second quarter and had a 43-36 lead going into the half. I guess we figured the game was over. WE came out flat and Mozambique went on a 13-0 run to start the half. So much for our lead. We called a timeout to adjust our attitude and make some subs. It seemed to work as we slowly got back into the game. By the end of the third quarter, Robyn Buna had shot us back into the game and we held a 61-56 lead. We pulled away in the fourth and won the game 83-65. Kelsey had 7 points today. As the game progressed today Mozambique began getting dirtier and dirtier. There were elbows flying and pinches and pushes. The 2 moves that really put it over the top were when a player for them grabbed the stomachs of two of our players and twisted them while pushing and then she was behind our post, reached between her legs and pinched her private parts. I have never seen that move until tonight. Our girls played through the contact though and maintained their composure.

Following the game we went outside and our girls were mobbed by little children from that area of the city. They were signing autographs and taking pictures. When we arrived back at the village it was time to say farewell to our 4 man security team. They were with us all week and did a great job. The girls all said goodbye and posed for pictures with them. They really looked after us and we were very thankful. An interesting moment with them was the other night when the power went out during the game. They were sitting on the other side of the gym. When the power went out, three of them were around us in seconds watching every movement around the team. IT was quite interesting to see.

Once the girls said their goodbyes it was a quick turnaround and then over to the mall for a team meal of pizza. They were more than happy to go for that after eating cafeteria food all week. Interesting pizzas to say the least. There was “Margarita Pizza” – basically mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese. There was Ham Pizza, Prosciutto and Arugula pizza and Spinach Pizza that was drenched in garlic. It was my favorite. After pizza I treated Kelsey to a gellato which is basically like ice cream but much better. It was outstanding.

Following the pizza, Deb, Linda and I went and sat in a little bar in the Holiday Inn just up the street to put together the info for our individual meetings with the girls. We will have these tomorrow and Sunday. Our final wrap up for the team.

While the trip has been somewhat disappointing from a team standpoint there is still lots left to do. Tomorrow we have meetings in the morning, a quick trip to the market and then we have the bronze and gold medal games for the Women and Men. Russia –US women, I’ll go with the US based on athleticism and pressure defense but Russia is so pretty to watch. On the men’s Russia upset the US so I believe they play Serbia. I haven’t seen Russia so I can’t make a call but I know the atmosphere will be NUTS!!!! I’ll be there with the video camera. Sunday I hope to see Jelena and explore some of the city and I want to take Kelsey to the Bohemian district where we went the other night. Monday it is off to a place that I have missed dearly. Even though I am heading back to a pile of screaming campers and 3 weeks of camp, it will be nice to be home and in our gym.

So it is now almost 1AM. Time to sign off and head to bed. An early morning awaits.

Talk to you tomorrow

Coach