DWNT 2012 Day 21

The final day in Belgium. Final full day in Europe. Gone. Over. Canada is directly in front of me now.

I look back and I wonder where the time went. It seems as though yesterday was the start of training camp and here we are weeks later with the trip almost over. Time has flown by.

This day started with our typical breakfast at 9:00. After breakfast the coaches headed out to the terrace to discuss and evaluate players. We need this to have our final meetings. We spent the next 2.5 hours talking and evaluating players and the overall experience. We also have to evaluate the process. So there is a lot of time today in meetings. By the time we were finished with the players and the program, we looked up and it was 12:30. Lunch time. I went in and skipped the fish but had a few potatoes and broccoli. There was a fantastic dessert though. Some kind of custard with something mixed in and they also had rice pudding. Fantastic.

After lunch we had a video session at 1:30. as difficult as it was to do, I gave this video session to Chantal. She doesn't have a lot of experience with chopping video the way I do so it was a good experience for her. She did a great job with it. We discussed some adjustments and headed out to get ready for the 2:30 departure for our 4:30 game. We got on the bus and it is us and Belgium with all of our staff members, it's hot outside and the bus driver says the AC is busted. DAMN. Well it was boiling in there and the heat put me to sleep almost right away. I woke up as we are pulling into the gym. Nice little catnap to get ready.

The gym is out in a beautiful little village and it is a fantastic little gym. We get in and the girls seemed a little flat. We addressed that quickly and tried to energize them for the warmup. We get to game time and we start playing with lots of energy. We are out working them and taking care of all the details we discussed. They are taking contested shots and missing them. We are the most patient we have been and are starting to score easier. We build a small lead and at the quarter break I encourage them to keep pushing and pressuring the ball. We get after them even tougher and force them to score just 4 points in the 2nd quarter. We are up 17 at half and could have been up over 20. Refs were a little tight on the travel calls so we were sitting at 17.
At half time we discuss a few things and I tell them not to protect the lead but to play harder. We come out a little tentative but manage to hold on for a while. We are still up after 3 quarters. In the 4th we are up 14. One of our girls drives to the rim and gets clobbered. No whistle. On the next play, they hit a 3 to cut it to 11. On the way back down one of my assistants takes a technical foul. I wasn't pleased about it. They hit the 2 free throws and then score when they get the ball back. All of the sudden our lead went from 14 to 7. That changed the complexion of the game. It was tight the rest of the way. We battled back and forth. In the last minute we went to the free throw line twice. Both times we hit 1 of 2 shots. Not enough to pad the lead. In between this, they hit a 3. We are up 2 and get fouled so we hit the first one to go up 58-55. We miss the 2nd one and they scramble down the floor and get a shot that looked good when it left her hands. Luckily it missed off the left side of the rim and the buzzer sounds for a 58-55 victory. Nice way to finish the trip and it felt great to get a win at the international level.

I guess I have made another accomplishment. Head coach of a national team and a win. WOOHOO

We take the hot box ride back to the hotel and I snooze a little bit more LOL. When we arrive, Supper is ready. Chicken skewers, potatoes and rice with curry sauce. YUMMY. As a treat the hotel brings out little chocolate "lava cakes". Baked fresh with real chocolate and whipped cream. GIDDDDDDYYYY UP. This chef just pulled the move of the week. Great finish.

After dinner the girls had a half hour meeting with Denise to discuss the future of the program and what is coming up in the next 4 years. That lasted until 9 and then we had our personal meetings. We went from 9 - 11:30 and then we had to call it a night. We have some other meetings we will cover tomorrow at the airport before we go. A few more things to wrap up before we go.

So this whole experience:
I can honestly say I really didn't know what to expect on this trip. I was a little apprehensive going into training camp and upon reflection, I would change some of the things I did but that is what this experience is all about - Development. For them and me. I wish we had more in our "toolbox" to help the kids with. Our offense needed work and it wasn't ideal for what we experienced. The defensive side needed more time as well but figuring out the balance is part of the mastery at this level.
 The trip was a little eye opening for me and allowed me to evaluate what I need to do to become more prepared for this level. Overall it was a great experience. I really enjoyed the staff. I really enjoyed the players. It was great. I will take many notes and hopefully get another shot to try and do a better job.

It is now 12:15AM and we have to be at breakfast at 7:30 and on the bus at 8. Wakeup at 6:50. That is 1:50AM Cape Breton time. With all of my travel I will arrive just after midnight on Monday in Cape Breton. That is just short of 24 hours of travel. One of the joys of international basketball but I wouldn't trade it. I thank the game again for allowing me to experience the world of basketball and the world in general. So to all of you that have followed, thanks for joining. I hope this blog allowed you to see what we go through on trips like this and allowed you to experience things through my eyes. As I said before, this blog was started 5 years ago to allow my mom to follow me on my journeys around this world. I know she enjoyed it and I hope anyone else who has read it has enjoyed it as well. I must get going now as I have to pack my bags.

Dovidjenja to Montenegro and Au Revoir to Belgium. See you at the airport tomorrow Mom.

Thanks for following.

PS - I swear that I saw Archie Neil, Terrence and Molly McLaughlin here in Belgium. Those rascals are probably getting into big trouble.