Day 7 has come and gone. Happy Canada Day. That was my first thought when I woke up. That and why I was up so early. Of course because it was game day and we had an earlier breakfast. Once again it was pretty much the same old stuff but I have to point out what a colleague sent to me in an email. I forgot to mention that everyday since we have been here we have been offered chicken hot dogs for breakfast. Not my thing so I haven’t tried that yet. An interesting choice for breakfast today was bruschetta. It was good. I also tried the chocolate milk which seemed a lot thicker than ours and taste like it had more cocoa in it.
After breakfast I came back to get ready for our game. The coaches would be going early to scout Australia and Japan. As we traveled on the bus, I was reminded why I love Canada so much. Serbia has proven to be quite a pretty country in parts and the people are very friendly. However some of the conditions they must survive are incredible. There are different gypsy villages around and other areas of poverty that really open your eyes. These people live in makeshift shacks that seem like they would blow down in a windstorm. To top it off they live in areas that look like they just built a shack in a garbage dump. It is absolute squalor. Truly saddening. While I know we complain about taxes and healthcare and things, try to think about living in absolute poverty in a country that was torn apart by civil war. One thing I have learned traveling in China last year and Serbia this year is that we are very fortunate to have what we have. So without rambling further, Happy Birthday Canada, Volime Te.
So back to the bus ride. Linda Deb and I along with a Japanese media person are the only ones on the bus with a volunteer who is supposed to guide the driver. Both of them blew right past the gym. We had been traveling for about 25 minutes when we slowed down by a gym. The Japanese media person said this was it. They argued he was wrong. Turns out he was correct. We had to make a loop and come back which cost us some time. We should have arrived before the 10AM tip off but we got there almost halfway through the first quarter but we did get to see some Serbian countryside. We watched the game and Australia blew out Japan. They look very very good. We will have our hands full with them.
Next obstacle for the day. They change the team bus departure time from 10:30 to 11AM without letting the coaches know. The girls arrived at 11:45 for a 12:30 tip off. We hustled and got ready to go. The disappointment of the day for me was that there is no national anthems played here just the FISU games anthem. However I did take a moment to just soak in how good Kelsey looked in a Canadian uniform. I was wondering what was going through her head as she got ready to taste international basketball for the first time.
So lets get to the game. Slovakia didn’t look great in the warm up but they certainly came out playing well. They are very skilled and execute well and they built a quick 13-2 lead. We were on our heels in a big way. They were running the floor hard and beating us in pretty much every way possible. We decided to make some subs and Deb called for Kelsey. I thought she looked a little nervous but when she hit the court she was fine. Down 13-2 and reeling, no worries, cue up the Kelsey Hodgson show. She burst onto the international scene spending the next minute and a half going on a 9-0 run by herself. She hit 2 threes and had a sweet “and 1” to make the score 13-11. The team had energy and we started to play. We battled hard but went through some rough spurts. We would go on runs and then stumble. Go on another run and then stumble. We were down at half but came back and tried to make runs at them. We took the lead but couldn’t sustain it. In the end we dropped a close game by a score of 85-79. In her first international game, Kelsey led us in scoring with 20 points. Our biggest problem today was lack of team play at both ends but especially the offensive end. We moved the ball really well and got easy shots and then decided it was time to go one on one. Slovakia maintained their composure the whole time and never went away from their basic offense and defense. They are well skilled and I have never seen a team use spin moves the way their players did.
So we were disappointed with the game but we have to refocus for tomorrow. We talked briefly and then jumped on the bus to return. We each were given a prepared lunch with 2 sandwiches, a piece of fruit and a chocolate bar. It was a nice lunch.
When we got back to the village I spent a few hours uploading and editing tape for tomorrow. Today was the official opening ceremonies but the coaches didn’t attend. We wanted to stay and prepare for tomorrow. Part of me wanted to see it all but most of me didn’t. Basically the athletes and staff were shuttled to the arena at 3:30 for a 6:30 start and had to stand from when they arrived until about 9pm. No thanks. We stayed and watched video and planned for tomorrow.
We get up early tomorrow for an early breakfast and then a quick video session before we depart for the gym. It will be an interesting game. Jelena has told me that her family is going to make the 1 hour drive to see us here in Belgrade for one of our first 2 games. I hope she makes it tomorrow. It will be nice to see her.
So off we go to game #2. If we lose we will probably be relegated to the bottom 8 of the tourney. A win keeps us alive but barely with Australia looming in the distance. We’ll certainly go to work and see what we can accomplish.
Once again, thanks for following
Coach
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