National Team 2013 - Phase 3 - Day 4 in Brazil

Well Day 4 has come and gone. A long but successful day.

Breakfast was pretty much the same with no changes. I figure it will be the same tomorrow before we leave LOL.

After breakfast we had a short break and I read some more clinic notes. At 10AM we had a film session and showed the girls what Brazil liked to do and talked about their players. After the session we had about an hour to get ready.

I laid down for about 2 minutes and almost fell asleep so I got up and surfed the net for a bit to stay awake. I then got ready to go for the game and headed to the bus for 11:45. Our game was at 1pm and we arrived with a few minutes left in the Argentina-Puerto Rico game which Argentina won. I had a feeling it was going to be a good game for us but had no idea how it would actually turn out. It was 40 minutes of incredibly intense basketball. Perhaps the most physical game I have been involved in. It was back and forth and certainly not a well executed, "pretty to watch" kind of game for the regular fan. For me on the bench though it was a court side seat to a chess match. Both coaches making moves and countering moves. It was awesome. The lead changed hands a lot and then down the stretch we held on for the 56-53 win to finish 3-0 and claim the tournament. The defense was outstanding but the offense was not so sharp. Just a great, great battle to watch. Brazil is a team that they need to beat to win the Tournament of the Americas in September which will qualify them for the world championships next year in Turkey.

After the game we came back and lunch was waiting on us. WE had beef, potatoes, broccoli, rice and veal parmigiana. Very nice.

Following lunch we had nothing planned. I spent about 3 hours doing work and getting some video clips from our video coordinator. It was nice to just sit back and relax. Time to reflect. I watched a NASTY thunder and lightning storm roll in. It hammered us with rain for a about 25 minutes and then died out. It was cool because I heard a clap of thunder, went to the window and literally watched the storm roll over the hill and down into the little valley we are in. At around 7 we started to have some quick meetings with players. We wanted to get some done tonight so we have less for tomorrow. At 8pm we headed down for a late supper. On the menu was fish, beef, potatoes and more rice. However for dessert we had an awesome coconut dish. Kind of tasted like coconut cream filling but it was much more firm. Very very tasty.

I cam back to my room for a few minutes and then the entire staff met in Lisa's room for a few drinks and lots of stories and laughs. A good time for sure.

Now I sit here getting ready to finish my last blog of the summer perhaps. I have been asked to go to the qualifier in Mexico in September however I don't think I will be able to go. We have breakfast on or own and then we start meetings at 9. We have a light lunch at 11 before we leave at 11:30AM. We will take the 3-4 hour ride back to Sao Paulo and then our flight leaves at 8PM. We land in Toronto at 5:35AM on Tuesday and I connect to Sydney at 8AM arriving in Sydney at 11:25.

So reflections on the whole summer. This has been the busiest ever for me with Canada Basketball. Not complaining and it is nice to be wanted. I did miss home and family a lot but as I have often said, basketball didn't choose me, I chose it. It has rewarded me incredibly and this summer has been rewarding in a lot of ways and not so in others.

If I had to rank my favorite place of the summer I would have to say the Czech Republic. It was so pretty and I would love to go back. Seeing the Eiffel tower in Paris was another highlight. There were positives of each place so I really can't complain that much.

As far as food goes, I really can't complain about any of the places but I would have to rank France as the best with Russia the best in variety because of all of the different stuff set up for the games.

On the floor I learned a tremendous amount. Shawnee and Lisa are phenomenal here with senior and I learned a bunch from my staff in Russia. While the experience with one staff member was the shits in Russia I did enjoy the others and learned from them. I cannot put into words how much different the highest level is and I feel challenged every day as a coach when I am here. However, I did learn that I can probably hold my own at most levels. I don't want that to sound arrogant but the investments I have made seem to have paid off.

One thing I can say about my time with the national team is that the communication has not been the best within the program so I really have no idea if they will want me back next year and on the other side of the coin I am not sure where I will be then and whether or not I will want to be back.

I couldn't help but think of my own team during this trip and can honestly say that I am a little excited which I haven't felt in a number of years. I feel that is tied directly to the changes I have made with regard to the players. I was sick of dealing with shit heads and have cleaned them out. In the future if anyone wants to act as a bonehead they will be shown the door. I think I will enjoy this new group. I don't feel we will win a lot but we will work harder and be easier to teach. They are all good young ladies. I also have numerous ideas about how I want to get involved in the community and how I want to help basketball in Cape Breton. I think I have so much more to give back. I just hope some of my ideas come to fruition. My biggest challenge now in the next 10-12 days is to get as much rest as I can. I need to recharge my batteries and get ready for the grind of the season.

So to tie it all together, I remember being in grade 7. An announcement was made to the class that there would be an instructional recreation league for basketball and I signed up. I remember the patience of Mr. Richards who taught us. Something caught me that year. A bug, an obsession, something. I remember reading every basketball magazine I could find, studying the information, watching on TV and trying to emulate my favorite players. I remember reading Basketball Digest and memorizing the rosters. I think if you asked me about any player in the 80's and what school he went to, I could still tell you. I remember the excitement of getting new Boston Celtics gear that Mom would order from the States. I was hooked. I would play and shoot for hours and hours. While my buddies were drinking in high school, I was playing basketball. Running from things I didn't want to associate myself with I suppose. Did I become a bit of a social outcast? Yep. Still am. LOL I wasn't the popular kid and kind of shy. Often didn't know how to speak around people but I always had the ball. She would anger me, frustrate me and often I wanted to quit but the next day I would look over and there she would be. Waiting patiently and never questioning me so off I went again chasing my dreams that never came to be. At least not the way I saw them at that point.

Then my focus changed. I taught somebody something and could see them improve. I thought playing had me but this was worse. It became an obsession. From a childhood activity to a life changer. How did I know what would happen next. I embarked on a career that would take me on so many twists and turns and meet so many different people and see so many different places. I would learn one thing and then want to learn another and the obsession drove me. I had to learn everything I could and then learn more. This is why I have over 700 coaching DVD's.  Looking back, I volunteered to help with a team when I was in Grade 12. That makes 23 years. That is a lot of roads travelled, bus trips, air miles, tears, cheers and stories. I don't think I will ever shake this bug so hopefully a lot more of these to come.

At this point of my career I am beginning to think of the legacy I want to leave behind. It is an interesting thought process. What I would like people to say when I am all done is that I loved the game and helped people get better on and off the court. As I said earlier this summer, I went from Sterling Road, a little kid with big dreams, to the streets of China, Japan, Montenegro, Spain, Belgium, France, Serbia, Czech Republic, Russia, Brazil, Cuba and most of the Canada and the United States. When I sit back and look at it I sometimes get overwhelmed. As a young coach I was told that I would never make it and would never be as good as I want to be. I guess that is the Cape Breton mentality but hopefully I have proven a lot of people wrong.  I wouldn't trade it for the world and I can say I love the game....on most days :)   It has given me almost everything in my life and I could never repay it.

PHEW...that was a rant but I guess reflection brings that upon me. So now I will finish all of this as it is just about midnight. It wasn't as long or as colorful as other trips but thanks for tagging along Mom. This has been a wild ride over the years and I am glad that you have shared it with me. You are my strength on those tough days and my number 1 fan. To any others, if you are not asleep yet, you may go now.

Until next time.....................

National Team 2013 - Phase 3 - Day 3 in Brazil

Day 3 in Brazil is over.

Today started with an early wake up after a long night watching film. Wake up was at 6:50AM for a 7:30 breakfast. 

Breakfast was the exact same as yesterday except they added some bacon which was quite a bit smaller than what we get in Canada and it was way more salty.

After breakfast we hopped on the bus to head to our shoot around. It was mostly shooting and then we showed them a few things that Puerto Rico likes to do on offense. To tell you how comfortable it was in the gym, I could see my breath the whole time. Not good.

On the drive over and back I was looking at the living arrangements here and how close people live to each other. They seem to take great pride in keeping their yard clean regardless of how small it is. I also noticed the streets. There is almost no garbage anywhere on the streets. The streets seem dirty with dirt but not litter. However, I noticed a bunch of people trying to clean the road/sidewalk in front of their place.

The streets seem less crowded in the day here and today that may have been due to the fact it is the weekend. Last night we had a taxi arranged to take the coaches back to the hotel after the game. Along the way, the city showed its’ life. There were a lot of cars on the streets and a lot of people around. There was one public park/square that had a PILE of people milling about. We even saw two young female entrepreneurs “peddling their wares” on a street corner.

Overall the city seems to be nice or at least the parts we have seen. It seems to sit in a bit of a valley and there is lots of green vegetation even though the temperatures are cooler. On the way to the gym this morning I noted the different birds and trees that lined the streets. There even looked to be a pomegranate tree in someone’s yard which was neat.

After we returned from the practice we had about an hour off and then had a video session. The girls had an assignment to do with the video and then we showed them the info for Puerto Rico. We discussed the fact that we have to be better and more precise on offense tonight. Hopefully we get a better effort.

Lunch was immediately following the session. We had rice and beans to start and then some tortellini, chicken and beef. The beef is much better than the chicken so I lean more towards that for the meals. Finished it all off with a nice crème brulee and dinner was over.

We had about an hour off this afternoon before leaving so I relaxed here and got some work done. Sent some emails and did some reading. I have used a lot of down time these phases to read clinic notes and try to get new ideas. I enjoy that a lot but never seem to make time for myself when I am at home. Something I have to change. Need to manage my time better.

We headed off to the gym at 2:45 with a nice breeze blowing but it was a lot warmer than this morning. I had a good feeling in the warm up. Thought we may smash them. What came next though was possibly the most physical game of basketball I have ever been involved in. Players getting injured all over the place and bodies flying everywhere. One of our girls even got taken to the hospital after the game as a precaution. It was like a UFC bout. I was told about how physical the south American game is but never thought I would see some of the stuff I have seen in just a few games.

Back to the game though. We were much better offensively but playing soft defensively at first and they were hitting EVERY shot. Other than the first few minutes, we led the whole way but it was tight at a few points. Down the stretch our conditioning took over and we won 69-54. We did a lot of things better but must be really sharp to beat Brazil tomorrow. They have always been a world power and they are the team we have to get by to qualify for world championships and Olympics. I can't wait to play them.

One neat thing from the game was the lead referee. He reffed 2 of our games in Russia a month ago and here he was reffing us in Brazil. I thought that was neat. The small world of basketball.

After the game, the coaches stayed again to watch the first half of the next game and then we headed for home. Supper was ready when we arrived. nice soup, beef, fish and pasta. I decided to try the fish and I was not disappointed. Very tasty. Had some more creme brulee for dessert and we were done.

Afterwards, we waited a bit for our video guy to get back with the film of Brazil. The coaches had a meeting for about an hour and discussed a number of things and then I came back to watch film. Got everything ready from my end and now it is almost time for bed. 

One more game in Brazil and one more night here. We head home on Monday. 

Tomorrow will be my last blog of the summer so I will try to run down some of the highs and lows, likes and dislikes and lessons learned along the way. It has been a different ride full of learning opportunities. So I am sure you will pace back and forth tomorrow waiting for these words of enlightenment....or have an ordinary day and use this to fall asleep. Either way, we will "see" you again tomorrow.

Until then.............

National Team 2013 - Phase 3 - Day 2 in Brazil

Talking about day 2 on day 3.........

Day started with an early wake up. Earlier than I wanted. Woke up before 7 after having a bad dream. Got up and read some email and the newspapers online.



I went down to breakfast just before 8. We are in the small restaurant in the hotel. Nice little place. Lots of selections including lots of meats and cheeses. Typical selections. There were some nice, creamy scrambled eggs and some cooked meat. It tasted kind of like bacon but looked like pepperoni.

There are different kinds of breads and cereal including these warmed buns that at first seemed doughy but actually had melted cheese in them.  Quite nice.
There were different juices but we stayed away from them as we are not sure about the water that is in them. I had not 1, Not 2 but 3 cups of coffee. They were yummy. Not a mild roast but a great coffee.



After breakfast we had a shoot around to get ready for practice. On the way I got to see more of the city in daylight. Last night we saw some guys playing soccer on a small field made of sand. That would be tough but it probably is what makes them better. There are soccer fields all over the place. Hard to see why they are an international power.



Shoot around went very well. Lots of energy and good execution. Still cold in the gym though.

After shoot around we had a meeting and showed the players film. This lasted about 20 minutes and we then went to lunch.



Lunch was fantastic. Nice chicken soup, beans , rice, different salads, shepherds pie and fish. Quite tasty. Throw in a passion fruit custard (which was phenomenal) and that was a solid meal.



After lunch I came back to my room and had basically 4 hours to myself. I spent the better part of it planning for the coming season and then I grabbed a shower before game time. Bus departure was 4:45 for our 6 pm game.


We got to our game and the gym was actually warmer. Still cool but warmer than the night before. There wasn't much crowd for our game which was good for them because we played sloppy. We got a very ugly win. Argentina battled hard but we were just better than they were. We didn't do things well though which gives us something to work on for today. We won 65-55 but it could have been 80-55 if we played well. Turned the ball over too many times and took some interesting shots. In my new stats package on my ipad i calculated that 34% of our offensive possessions were turnovers. Not good. Today we play Puerto Rico who play very similarly to Argentina. It will be an interesting game.

After the game last night we came back and had our coaches meeting while we ate. We are all frustrated with the performance but have picked areas to focus on today. Our dinner was quite good. I tried the broccoli soup which was tasty but different. Then had some scalloped potatoes,black beans ( a staple at almost every meal), some chicken and what the server told us was a kind of beef. Tasty but interesting. Finished it up with a chocolate tart for dessert which was very good. 

Following dinner I had to wait for the film of Puerto Rico. I got it around 11:30 and had to watch it all before this morning so that is why I didn't update last night. I pulled an old fashioned late night video session and crashed in bed around 2AM. Almost 7:30 AM now and I have to get moving to breakfast. I will update more later today.

Until then ......

National Team 2013 - Phase 3 - Day 1 in Brazil

Greetings from São Paulo



Prior to leaving last night we went out for a nice staff dinner. Tidied up a few last minute details and we were off to the airport to get ready for a 10 hour flight. Before the flight I stopped in one of the stores me bought Shawnee and Lisa a couple of books on success as a way to say thanks for letting me join this ride this summer. It has been a great learning experience to say the least.



The flight was at 11:40 pm so my goal was to sleep most of the way. Once we got airborne they served us a pretty bad meal and then I heard something I had only heard on TV before. The flight attendant asked if there was a doctor on board. Luckily including our team doctor and another, the two took care of a situation quickly. Apparently a woman was having a serious asthma attack. After this, everything went smooth. I slept for about 7 hours. Woke up as they were serving a light breakfast.

 

The approach into São Paulo was a cloudy and wet one. Rain and fog as we came in so I didn't get to see much on the flight in. After we got our bags we had to wait a little bit before we could head out. What we thought would be a 2 hour bus ride to São Carlos is really 4. Our team leader had to track down a few cases of water to have for the drive. 



So I type this as we drive. So far the city looks like an industrial city and we were greeted shortly after we left the airport with a familiar face....Walmart. They're everywhere. 
Lots of palm trees around and so far have seen almost a dozen Volkswagen vans. Something you don't see much of at home. 

The bus ride will continue for a few more hours until São Carlos and then we have practice at 7. I will update later tonight

So here I am in Sao Carlos. A neat little city of approximately 200,000 people. The drive took us about 4 hours and we stopped halfway at a big rest stop. We all got coffee and hot drinks as the bus was cool. There were also toasted ham and cheese sandwiches which were OK. I had slept most of the way on the bus so the coffee was a nice wake up. A harsh, bitter type of coffee that I couldn't even rescue with sweetener. It was funny to watch though when our video analyst, who hasn't travelled much internationally, tasted his coffee and said it was weird, almost too salty. Looked at the sugar packets he used...yep SALT. Needless to say he got another one. 

Along the drive we got to see the countryside. Long, rolling hills. Quite green and you could see it was a lot of farmland. People were out working in the fields along the way and every once in a while a village would pop up with houses jammed very close together and often built into the side of a hill. Very interesting landscape. I am anticipating what the rest of the area will look like. 

When we arrived here it was cool outside. I forgot that it was winter here ..late winter. People were all bundled up in big jackets and toques. I didn't mind it but I guess for this place it is cold. We immediately had to go to our snack/lunch which was meats and cheeses and bread. I made a sandwich and then headed to a coaches meeting. This meeting ended at 6 and we were leaving for practice at 6:30. I went to my room and grabbed a quick shower which felt incredible. Jumped back on the bus and headed to practice. Of course because it is winter, it is dark here at 6:30. Yucky. 

Practice was held in an open air facility which means there are openings along the side of the building and there are heavy tarp like gates at different spots. The gym was very cold but the girls managed to have a very good practice. 

We came back and immediately had our supper. Some kind of beef in gravy, a very nice tortellini, chicken, rice and potato & pasta salads. A nice meal. I exited fairly quickly afterwards as I just wanted to have some relax time. So here I am finishing up this blog.

We have a long day tomorrow and then we play Argentina at 6pm. The following day we play at 4pm and then Sunday we play at 1pm. We stay here on Sunday night and then drive back to Sao Paulo on Monday. Flight leaves in the night heading back to Canada. A whirlwind tour of Brazil. I will try and keep up to date as the days go on.

Until tomorrow.....

National Team 2013 - Phase 3 - Pre-Departure for Brazil

Well here it is the last day in Canada of the last phase of my National team involvement for this year.

We spent the last week or so in Edmonton doing training. The practices were good and the facilities were incredible. The accommodations were great. Having never been to Edmonton I can say that I enjoyed it. We got an afternoon off and went to the West Edmonton Mall which was impressive to say the least. The Mayflower mall doesn't have an aquarium, water park, theme park, skating rink and all the other stuff it has. Impressive. We flew to Toronto last night, had a nice dinner then a quick meeting and off to bed. I had a little trouble sleeping but eventually crashed after 1:30am
On the basketball side, I learned a ton in just a week here. lots of new stuff plus we had a number of different coaches around.

This morning we had a practice which was OK and then we were able to go to the Nike Employee store through the Nike Rep with Canada Basketball. Very grateful for the opportunity to get in there plus we had a very nice credit we could use.

So now we are scrambling to get ready to go. The laundry is done and the packing is underway. I am pretty much set. We will go out to dinner here soon and then head to the airport around 8 or 8:30. We have an 11:40pm departure and then a 10 hour and 15 minute flight to Sao Paulo Brazil. We arrive at around 11AM Thursday morning. We then have an approximate 2 hour bus ride to Sao Carlos, Brazil which is where we play. Our games start on Friday vs Argentina then Saturday vs Puerto Rico and Sunday vs Brazil. We fly home on Monday. It will be a very quick trip. I think the games will be a great test for the world championship qualifier that the girls will be going to in Mexico in September.

This is going to be an interesting trip for me. Having been to many places, I have never been to Brazil or even South America. People say it is a beautiful place. I guess we will wait and judge that later. I am a little excited to see a new country but not over the top excited. There is always a job to be done and long plane rides so it is business as usual. I have loved the travel and games this year but I have missed some things and I am actually looking forward to getting home and taking a number of days off to do absolutely nothing. Hopefully get a few minutes to recharge the batteries before our season starts up.

Well I must finish last minute things. I will post again after we arrive in Sao Carlos. Hopefully we have no internet issues and I can keep things updated.

Until then .......

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 13 in Russia

Well Day 13 is in the books. It was an incredibly frustrating day which turned into a more magical evening.

Started off with a 6:15 wake up on my alarm clock. Got a quick shower and headed over to breakfast. Total change up thrown at me this morning. The eggs didn't look good and the bacon didn't either. Had a meat "thing" that was called a "cutlet for gourmet" ( a spicy meatballish thing), a small piece of turkey schnitzel, potatoes, pork and cheese pancakes (last chance tomorrow for these tiny bits of culinary heaven).  Sounds like lunch but that is what was on the menu today. Breakfast is getting a tad "old" in the village. 

Afterwards I came back to the dorm to get ready for the game and I had a good feeling about the game. We got to the gym and the girls seemed to feel good and we came out flying. We built a double digit lead but struggled to keep it and only led by a little at half. The second half we just couldn't score and stopped guarding hard. It was a back and forth affair the rest of the way. In the last minute the game was tied and they had the ball. They called timeout. I told the girls what I thought they would run and I put our best defender on their best scorer. Told the girls exactly how to defend the action. They came out and were running exactly what I told the team. Their best player started cutting off two screens and our girl didn't move at first and then got caught up in the screens. Wide open 3 point shot. Of course it goes in and they are up 3. We called time out and got a very good look at a shot that missed and had to foul. They hit the shots and won by 5. I was downright PISSED. Angry, frustrated. Crushed would be the better word. I discussed it a bit with the girls in the locker room and then had to cut it short and get them out of the locker room. I was too angry to even chat really. I tried to put on the "good face" but it was a struggle. The tournament ended and we were 1-5. In my eyes, an absolute failure. 

I learned a ton from the coaching experience. A lot of things I would do differently and a lot that were out of my control. Some of the things out of my control brought me GREAT frustration and made the experience more of a negative than a positive. I was not able to enjoy the game environments the way I should have been able to. Not sure if I will have a say any time in the future nor do I know if I will be involved in the future. That is yet to be determined. 

Needless to say I was somewhat angry still when we returned. I tried to send some emails and surf the web but nothing could take away what was in my head. I tried going for a little walk and that seemed to work a bit. I then decided to have some mid afternoon lunch. Not Great. The pasta was good with carbonara sauce. Had a few meatballs with it and then grabbed a McDonald's burger. I haven't had any since I have been here and wanted to try one to see what it was like. I went with the Royal with Cheese and laughed as I ordered it. One of my all time favorite movies is Pulp Fiction and there is a great scene where Samuel L. Jackson discussed McDonald's in Amsterdam. He says because they have the metric system, the quarter pounder with cheese is called a Royal with Cheese. Funny.

After lunch I went back and had a decision to make. Do I stay pissed off and stay home or go and watch the men's game vs. Russia. I opted to go to the men's game and was glad I did. Even though our men struggled form opening tip to final buzzer it was fun to watch and the Russian team was VERY GOOD. Lots of neat things they did in the game.

After the game the girls waited outside for the bus back to the village. The coaches and our physiotherapist decided to walk down the street to check out a steakhouse. When we got there we decided it was too early to eat yet so we headed to the pedestrian mall which leads towards the Kazan Kremlin. 

The temperature was warm but not unbearable. Just the slightest of breezes, almost a whisper of wind. Such an incredible evening to be walking. There were people EVERYWHERE and there are hundreds of little shops, cafes and restaurants along this outdoor mall. We stopped to listen to different music, poked our head in a few stores and had some fun just people watching. We decided to find a restaurant and we asked a volunteer who was walking along the street. She didn't know. We turned around and found four volunteers walking towards us. 3 girls and a happy looking chap. He was a little heftier so I told Coach Speedy that if anyone knows a good restaurant, he would. I know this from experience. He mentioned a name and the girls all shook their head and agreed then said "Let's go". 

They walked us back up the street to this restaurant that we walked right past without even seeing it. They said is was highly recommended so we went in. The atmosphere was PHENOMENAL in there. Lots of people relaxing and the decor was perfect. Lots of dark wood with dark tables and high back chairs. Looked like a great place to relax. We checked the menu and it looked great. 

We got seated and thanked the young people that brought us there.  

The level of service in this Russian restaurant was nothing in comparison to Canada. They gave us menus and then it took about 20 minutes to take a drink order. They certainly weren't in a rush to get it done. Then it took even longer to order the food and then longer to get it. It didn't matter to us as it was a great chance to chat and enjoy some stories. We ordered an appetizer for a few of us. I chose a  bowl of goulash. All I can say is it was a UFC Fight of flavours. Unbelievable. The meat was tender. The veggies were awesome and the broth was as close to perfect as possible. Great start to the meal. We also ordered fries for the table. Two small plates arrived and if they didn't go across the street to McDonald's to get them then I am shocked. They tasted and looked exactly the same. For my main course I chose a "pork BBQ". It said BBQ pork with veggies and herbs. The plate was relatively small and I wouldn't call it the biggest portions but for what it lacked in size it made up for 1000 times in flavour. The tomatoes and cucumber were phenomenal. There was a neat little loaf of bread that came with it which was great. There as also a small mound of pickled sliced onions. WOW they were good and then the next WOW came when I tried the pork. 5 small portions of pork but PACKED with flavour and very tender. Yum yum. Just when I thought it wouldn't get any better, Patrice got us crepes with fruit inside and ice cream. The crepe had banana, kiwi and apple inside with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle and caramel sauce drizzled over it. Grand Slam. Over the fence. Clear the bases. Game winning meal. Then the bill came and we were in shock. 5 of us had regular drinks, appetizers, entrees, dessert then a bottle of wine and 2 shots of vodka. Taxes included - $115 Canadian. Thank you Canada Basketball. We could never have eaten that meal in Canada for that low of a price.

After our meal we walked along the street again toward the Kazan Kremlin. We were told we must see it at night with the lights on. When we came around the corner I was wowed. It is impressive to say the least. It was the perfect ending to what I call a magical night. We walked just down from the Kremlin and got on good old city bus #47 and took the 20 minute ride back to the village.

Here it is 12:30AM and we have less than 24 hours here. Tomorrow we have breakfast and then we are taking the team to the Kremlin and shopping for a few hours. After that we have wrap up meetings and then get ready to go. We leave the village tomorrow at midnight for a 3:45AM flight to Istanbul. We get there around 6:30AM and then we have about a 5 or 6 hour wait and fly to Toronto. From there I have another long wait and fly to Cape Breton with a landing scheduled for about 1:35M I believe. A long long day of traveling.

So what can I say to wrap up the games. On the basketball side I have learned a lot and hopefully can make adjustments in the future. Off the court, the experience has been pretty good. The city is very nice. The people of Kazan are beyond friendly, the food has been good enough and the women in Russia are beautiful. :)
I am amazed at how 20,000 volunteers can seamlessly work together to make an event like this work. It is my second time at the FISU games and I was impressed each time. To the people of Kazan and all the people involved in organizing the event I would say Spaseebah.

To those who followed along, once again, hope it helped you sleep. To my biggest fan, we have conquered another country Mom. I will have lots of pics and stories to tell. I will see you on Wednesday/early Thursday morning.

Until the next phase..............

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 12 in Russia

Day 12 is in the books. Slept in this morning til almost 9AM. Relaxing sleep.

Got up, reviewed the scouting video and then went to breakfast. Now here is an interesting breakfast. Turkey schnitzel, pork and veggies, "steak" which is really an oval meatball, potatoes and cheese pancakes. It was good though.

I came back afterwards and finished planning our practice and the scouting report. I then decided to go for a walk in the village. I went over to the supermarket in the village and looked around. Bought some gum and some garden veggie chips to try. They have some interesting things there. Salmon and crab potato chips don't appeal to me. I ran into the US head coach there and we chatted for a bit. A nice lady. 

I then walked up to the souvenir store to look for something but they didn't have it. I also checked out some of the activity areas I hadn't seen before. They have some great spots set up for the athletes with big screen TV's, lounge areas and a games "bubble" with XBox, foosball and table hockey, ping pong, etc. I walked back to the room and decided to finish watching a movie I had started. The garden veggie chips weren't bad. The movie ended and it was just after 3. We had to leave at 4 for practice. 

Practice was an hour long and it was a weird one. The girls were giddy and lacked focus so we got through things quickly and then headed out. Not wasting a lot of time. 

Came back to the village and had our video session at 8. Of course, a few minutes in, another emergency alarm exited the building. People leave the bathroom doors open when they shower and the steam sets off the alarms. Happened a bunch since we have been here. Lasted about 2 minutes and we were back in. Video took about a half hour and the girls seemed to have a much better focus. 

I went to supper with Jeff afterwards. Supper was a bit sketchy tonight. Some potato balls, a mushroom dumpling and some pasta. It tasted OK but a little sketchy. Jeff and I had a great chat afterwards which was nice. As competitors in the AUS we don't get to see this side often and we have learned a lot about each other.

Came back after supper and I have been hammering away at emails ever since. I don't have the ability of some coaches to take vacation and relax. I need to recruit right until September every year. It is something I absolutely despise about working at CBU and I suspect it will be what ends my career there. 

Tomorrow we have a 6:15 wake up call to get ready for our game. Breakfast at 7AM and then bus leaves just after 8 for a 10AM start. Last game vs. Hungary. Should be an interesting match. I hope we have enough in the tank to pull it out. I will fill it all in tomorrow and perhaps some thoughts on other things.

Until then..........

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 11 in Russia

Day 11 is over. Woke up early and watched film of Sweden. We had a film session for 9AM. Took the team through the film and then went to breakfast. Bacon, some scrambled eggs, cheese pancakes. Pretty simple.

Went back to my room afterwards to get ready for the game. I was trying as much as I could to get myself up for the game but nothing was working. For the first time in a while I didn't feel it. I focused in on specific details and was OK when we got to the gym. We came out playing very well. Probably better then any game. We were dominating them. We slipped a little but held a 12 point lead at half. We talked about the things we needed to do to keep ahead but that didn't seem to matter. As has been the pattern, we shit the bed in the second half and they easily took the lead and held it for most of the half. We got the ball  back down 1 with less than 10 seconds. We got fouled and it was bonus. 2 shots to win the game. We made 1 to go to overtime. Once again, we couldn't sustain anything in overtime and had a 3 at the buzzer to win but it missed and we lost. A really tough loss to swallow.

Came back to the room and slept right away for an hour. I got up around 4pm and went over to eat. Had a small piece beef, a few baby potatoes, a spoonful of curry chicken and a cabbage dumpling. Not much in the mood for eating. I have been watching film ever since.

We have tomorrow off with practice at 5pm and we play the next day at 10AM vs Hungary. They have a good team so another battle awaits.

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 10 in Russia

Day started with an early breakfast. 630 am to be exact. Went over by myself and had an interesting array of food. Cheese pancakes again of course, some grilled potatoes, bacon, a chicken patty and a beef kabob (interesting flavour and texture). Once again I opted out of the duck for breakfast.



Came back after breakfast and finalized my practice plan as we had practice at 9am. I thought it was a good prep workout and the girls were in good spirits.


Came back and went straight to a film session. Showed them what we should expect and then showed them what I thought we could do to be successful.



A little while after the film session I went over to have lunch. 
I had a (very bad) sausage, potato, some pasta and something called brisket but not like any brisket I have ever had before. It was kind of like a small circle pork chop with a piece of grilled eggplant and some cheese melted on top. Very different

. 

Returned home and sent some emails  then grabbed a nap. A very good sleep. Got ready after that and headed to the game.

 I knew we were in trouble and would have a battle on our hands. They are very good and when you add up their international experience they have 24 years to our 12. That is a huge gap. They jumped on us early but we came back and battled. They held a 10 point lead at half. We were missing shots everywhere and our execution was poor. Part of that was them and a lot of it was us. Nothing seemed to work.

We tried to make adjustments at half but they extended the lead and were almost to the point of total blowout but we rallied a bit and cut the lead down. It finished at 12 points and our thoughts of a medal were dashed.
 I never really expected a medal or to be in the top 8 for that matter so I guess anything from here is nice. Would like to get a win at some point after the first one. Oh well, I am counting down the days to get out of here right now. The kids have been very good and a nice challenge but there is a dynamic on the bench that disgusts me and I need to get away from it. Has made the trip very unenjoyable. 

Tomorrow we have Sweden who will be very tough to beat. They are quite good. We will have our hands full again. After that we have a day off then we play on the 15th. We have the 16th off and we fly home that night. I will update after the game tomorrow

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 9 in Russia

Day 9 is coming to a close. A day off but not really a day off. 

We were supposed to practice at 9AM but I cancelled that so the girls could rest. They put everything they had into our comeback last night and we were tired. Sleep in for them with breakfast scheduled for 10AM. I slept until almost 8. Woo hoo. I rolled over and tried to snooze until about 8:30. It was relaxing but no sleep. Got up, grabbed a shower and went to breakfast. 

A mix today. Some scrambled eggs, cheese pancakes, a curd patty or something, a chicken type of patty thing, small potato cake and a meat ball thingy. I really have no idea what some of the things are. I  had to skip the braised duck with almonds that was at one station. That wouldn't be a yummy breakfast choice. Grabbed a coffee and was on my way back to the dorm. Got back a little after 11 and Patrice our therapist was just arriving back from a walk in the city. He suggested we get the girls out of the village for about an hour or so. I mulled it over and decided to go for it. The girls were very appreciative. We jumped on the public bus and headed downtown to a mall where he had found a Nike and Adidas store. The public transport was an interesting ride and it was all free because we are with the games. So many different people and different stops. Well worth the ride. When we got to the mall it looked like an office building but inside was a mall and the Nike and Adidas stores were nice. There were also some other cool shops. I got some neat things so I was pleased. 

The ride back was just as interesting. Along the way we made a stop and 2 older women got on and sat beside our girls. The Russian grandmother looking ladies are called Babushkas and these weren't too far away from that. They tried talking to the girls in Russian and our girls responded in English and they were laughing away and nobody understood each other. finally a young (and may I add Stunningly beautiful) lady interrupted and she was an interpreter for the games. She explained that the women wanted to know why we weren't on a special bus for the games and why we were on this one. We said that we just wanted to experience the Russian people and a bit of their culture. They seemed to be happy with that. I found 2 Canada buttons in my bag and gave each one a button. One of the junior babushkas pinned it on her dress right away. It was neat and she was smiling from ear to ear. 
What a great ride it was the whole way. I am glad that Patrice took us there. 

We arrived back to the village and I went back to my room. Skipped lunch to work on the video and prep work for tomorrow. After about 2 hours I decided to go over and get a bite to eat. Another hodge podge. A piece of pork (dry and bland), a turkey skewer (imagine flakes of turkey compressed on a skewer), some potatoes, a few dumplings and I was pretty much disappointed with that outing. Stomached what I could and headed back to the dorm. Did a little more work and we had meetings planned with each girl. Short and sweet just to touch base and see how they were doing. Gave them some things to work on for the next 3 games.

After the meetings we had a quick video session to show the girls some clips of our good things and some of what Australia did. We then met as coaches to discuss the game tomorrow. After some good discussion (and some very frustrating) we ended it and I came up here to do some more video work. Now the video is complete and all is left is to tidy up some notes for practice tomorrow.

We practice at 9AM with breakfast at 7AM. Video session when we return to give them specific technical details and then we will break until our team meal before we depart. Game is at 6 and we have a LARGE mountain to climb. If we get on our heels we are in big trouble. We have to out work them in every aspect and really play well to beat them. They are big, quick and VERY talented but I love the challenge and I feel if we "show up" we could be fine. 

So now I must head off to prep the details for tomorrow. Sleep may not have much time on its' side tonight, we will see.

Until tomorrow..............

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 8 in Russia

Day 8 has come and gone. Last day of preliminary pool play here in Kazan.

Started with an early wake up and then breakfast. Today it was "omelet" with bacon inside (not good at all), meat rolls, fried potatoes and a potato cake like a fish cake. Also tried curd pudding. Not sure what to expect but it had cocoa in it and other mystery pieces. It was phenomenal. Cup of coffee to go and back to the room.

Before practice we had arranged with our attache to get a big bottle of Pepsi as a birthday present for one of our coaches who loves it. The village is totally Coke. She arranged it plus a birthday cake. We presented him with it on the bus and he was happy. We even managed to sneak it back in to the village when we returned.  We had to leave at 10:55 for our noon practice. Practice was OK. We covered some things and did a little shooting. Felt OK about our prep. 

We then came back to the village and we got prepped for our video session. We showed them a lot of stuff on Taipei and discussed how we would guard them. I thought we were well prepared for the game. 

It was about 3:30 when I decided to head over for lunch. Baked potato (not great), pork and veggies in some sauce with cheese on top. Almost like lasagna but not quite. A cabbage roll but no meat inside or rice, just veggies. Quite good actually.A piece of pork with it and lunch was done. 

After lunch I sent a few emails and then decided it was time for a siesta. Slept hard for about an hour and it felt great. Got up and got ready for the game. We got there early and watched most of the 2nd half of the Ukraine Vs Japan game. We knew we were behind the 8 ball so to speak so we cheered quietly for Japan. If they won, no matter if we won or lost, we would move to the medal round. The girls had no idea and we didn't tell them. It was a good game to watch and Ukraine took the lead in the last 2 minutes then fate shone upon us and Japan beat them. 

Now on to Taipei. We came out of the gate flying and were leading 8-2. Then the floodgates opened and we were swimming to save our lives. They were leading after the first quarter and then were up 19 at half. They hit all kinds of shots and we couldn't. They were attacking the rim and we couldn't stop them at all. Changed defenses and tried a lot of things but nothing was working. I challenged them at halftime to step up and chip away. To not give up. We came out and were playing better but still couldn't get over the hump. With 5 minutes gone in the 3rd we got down 28. One of our coaches suggested that we rest players and get some others playing time. Pardon my french but in a nice way I said "fuck that". I can't give up on this group and I wanted to see if we could battle. I called timeout, discussed some adjustments and then watched the next 15 minutes play out We battled hard and within 10 minutes had it to 15. Not quite close enough but within striking distance. Then we kept battling. We had it under 10 then a flurry of activity. We hit a few free throws and inched closer. They would hit a shot and we would hit one then in the last minute and a half we hit three 3 point shots and had it within 3. We had to foul in the last 10 seconds and they took the lead 72-67 and sealed it. We battled hard but it was too big of a hole early and we just couldn't dig out of it. 

I told the girls afterward that I was proud of their efforts and then I told them we were in the medal round. Not sure they were happy or just tired. But regardless, we play Australia on Friday at 6. A monumental task but why not battle on and see what we can do. We will be guaranteed a top 8 finish so that is a good step. 

Tomorrow we have a sleep in for the girls but not us. There is video to be done and prep work to discuss. I have opted to not have practice tomorrow. Let the girls sleep and rest. We will have meetings with each player and then a team meeting for film and strategy later. 

I know I probably missed something from today but my head is spinning right now. It is time to sleep and get rested up for film and prep tomorrow.

Until then...........

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 7 in Russia

Well day 7 is almost complete. Still gotta type this blog then it is done.

Started with another early morning breakfast. A few interesting choices. Had some eggs which they called an omelet. More of a square and the eggs had a pudding texture. Had some bacon. Saltiest bacon I ever had. It was that salty there were Deer in line behind me. Some fried potatoes, a sausage, CHEESY PANCAKES MMMMMM and an onion fritter. Hmm how best to describe it. Green onion (i think) with regular onion in some sort of a "paste" and then it is cooked like a pancake. Unique taste, unique texture, unique appearance. How do you catch a unique rabbit??? Unique up on him LOL

So after breakfast I came back to get ready for the game. It wasn't far away today so less time to get there. I felt very good about our game plan and our video. The prep was done. We started the game executing well but we could not buy a basket. Meanwhile they jumped out to a 13-3 lead. From there on out it was a big time struggle. We battled hard but harder than we needed to. We managed to take a slim lead to half time but nothing was easy. We traded the lead back and forth in the 3rd and were up 5 going into the 4th. They sat in zone most of the time and we went cold. It was just the way the day was going. We struggled but hung in there. I thought we got absolutely hammered on 3 shots but the refs didn't help us but we didn't work hard enough to get those calls. They called time out with under 30 seconds left and I told our girls we needed to make 1 stop and we would have a shot to tie or win. We got the stop and then they fouled us. No bonus yet so I called time out with under 10 seconds left. There were 7.7 seconds left and I drew up a play that the girls executed perfectly. We got to the rim and got hammered. Foul. I think "great, tie it on the free throw line". Nope ref said she wasn't shooting. With no timeouts left and 3 seconds left on the baseline we ran our play and got a shot but couldn't get it to go. Lost 59-57. In those games I often think of what I could have done better but there wasn't much in this one. We just didn't win the loose balls and got out hustled. We also gave them 16 offensive rebounds. Not going to win games like that.We just had to fight and hope for anything and it didn't get done.

I was slightly pissed but at the same time I had to focus on the next step. We play Taipei tomorrow. They are GOOOD. We need to win to advance to the medal round. Hopefully we can pull it off.

Came back after the game and did some work for our 5pm practice. I then scrambled over to lunch. I met Michele, Chantal and Denise there. I grabbed some stuff and chatted with Denise. Pretty standard actually. Some chicken meat loaf or something like that, some potatoes and pasta with mystery sauce with mystery meat. It was actually pretty good. While we were sitting there it started to rain and then POUR. Absolutely POUR. The meal hall started to flood and they closed a section. In 25 minutes, there was 3 inches of water on the road way and it was running like a river.

I walked back in the rain and it wasn't cold so I enjoyed it a little. Been a while since I walked in the rain. Got back and scrambled to get dry and changed for practice. We went to a gym close by and did some shooting and worked on some things for tomorrow. Afterward we came back and prepared for our video session. We watched only clips from our game today. A few bad but mostly good. Tried to give the girls some energy after a tough defeat. I also asked them to come up with the problems we were facing. Once they identified the problems I asked them to write down their personal solution. The coaches would review with them later.

After the session we discussed some strategy for Taipei tomorrow and then went to dinner. Had a great discussion at dinner as well. Dinner was a hodge podge for me. A small piece of pork, a potato and mushroom dumpling, turkey "something" (kind of like a meatball with turkey, rice and something) and pasta with mystery sauce again. It is kind of like a cream sauce but not quite a cream sauce with a different taste and mystery "bits" floating around. The meal hall was packed tonight. I am sure a full day of competition was part of it but the other is because I believe it is Ramadan. The Muslim holiday where they cannot eat from sunrise to sunset. Very busy.

Afterwards I came back and met with some of the players to discuss their assignment and here I am. I am disappointed with my day but still understand that we got outworked on a lot of things. I could point fingers and make excuses but I am not going to. Time to go to work and try to figure out tomorrow's game. A tough challenge ahead but one we can get done perhaps if we play smart and not turn the ball over.

But now I am getting tired. I need to sleep. Gonna try and sleep in tomorrow as breakfast isn't until 10AM. Might not get to sleep that late though. Probably wake up at 6.

Until tomorrow.....

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 6 in Russia

Day 6 is over. Game Day!!!!

Morning started with an early breakfast. Earlier than normal. 6:45 to be exact. Eggs, bacon, cheese,  bun with meat and those yummy cheese pancakes

Finished that and went back to get ready for the game and enjoy the air conditioning. The humidity is pretty high here today.

We departed the village at 8 am for the game as the gym is 40 minutes away. Along the way we passed through some nice countryside and some industrial area. Some of it wasn't so nice and I couldn't help but think that these people were probably battling in everyday life and wouldn't care one bit about our game. Here we were on a nice bus coming from a nice village going to a nice gym. A moment to stop and think about things for sure.

We arrived in a nice little village and the gym was phenomenal. It looked like the floor was brand new for the games. The people here are exceptionally friendly as well.

As the girls were warming up I had a good feeling About their energy. However I knew our keys to the game would be how we could take away their 3 point shots and not let them get easy fast break baskets.
We started out very well and the offense was clicking and our defense was high energy. After 1 quarter we led 18-6. We had an even better 2nd quarter offensively and took a 42-20 lead to the locker room. We didn't slow down after half and opened up a 63-32 lead after 3. Lots of subs and playing time for everyone in the 4th and we coasted to a 76-48 win.

The girls felt great after the game and they deserved it. So far, they are such a pleasant group to coach. They do what is asked and work hard. They have tried to make every adjustment I ask for.

Tomorrow we have a large task. And by large I mean large. The Ukraine has some huge ladies and most of the team is close to 6 feet if they are not bigger. They are talented as well. They struggled against Taipei and lost but Taipei is skilled, QUICK and can shoot it. Today we had to take away 3 points shots and tomorrow we have to take away the basket. Total change in philosophy.

We had stayed to watch the game and the girls went back on the bus. During the game a heavy rain started to fall. You could tell it was going to rain. It started getting louder and heavier and became a distraction in the gym. I went to the entrance and it was one of the hardest rains ever and then a security person came in with a handful of hail the size of peas or a little bigger. It was nasty. Afterwards however the humidity broke and there was a nice cool breeze. 

So after the game we get into a cab that was assigned to us. The driver was very friendly but had no idea where we were going. Jeff made a call to Alina, our attache, back in Kazan. She spoke to him and we were off. Well to say the ride was interesting would be the understatement of the century. Bill Lynch would stand up and salute this guy and any theme park would sell out his ride. I knew what it would be like to drive home with an F1 race car driver. We were speeding, and I mean speeding, through the busiest traffic, weaving in and out of cars. More than once I heard a "HOLY FUCK" out of the back seat. I tried to stay pretty calm until we were almost sandwiched between 2 buses. He just sped in between and honked the horn. If there was 10 inches on either side I would be surprised. I may have dropped an F bomb myself and the driver just laughed. We eventually made it back in one piece.

So now the tricky part of the FISU games. We play at 10AM and practice at 5pm for tomorrows game. We got back to the village at 3pm. Enough for me to change, watch some film clips of the Ukraine and plan practice. Out the door at 3:50 for the bus to practice. Hectic and no chance to eat but that is what happens. Tomorrow will be the same type of day. 

We had a light but good practice and worked on some things for tomorrow. Hopefully we can translate that all into the game. We will have our hands full but if we battle we will be OK.

Got back from the practice just around 7pm and I had just enough time to review some film clips for the video session we were having at 8pm. Got it done in time and had a good video session with the team. They got to see the Ukraine and then watched some of the good offense from us today. They felt good afterwards. I have showed them a bunch of "critical" video or things they had to learn in the last few weeks. With this being a 17 day road trip I have made sure the last little bit have been all positive. they need to feel good about their progress. 

After the film session I went to the clothing room for team Canada and they gave me two pair of shorts that may fit after there was a bit of a screw up with sizes.
I then walked over to the meal hall with Denise and Michele. 

Lots of different choices today. I went with a piece of pork that was spicy, a chicken patty which was good, a chicken skewer and some sauerkraut and mushroom dumplings. Actually very very yummy. 

Came back and now i am settling in and will maybe relax before bed for a minute. Draw up the final game plan first though. I am excited about tomorrow's challenge so we will see how things go.

Another early start with a pre-7am breakfast and an 8am departure for the game so make that a 1AM Atlantic time departure and a 3AM Atlantic time.

Until Tomorrow...... 

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 5 in Russia

Day 5 is over. Long day.

Started with an early breakfast which included some scrambled eggs, a little bacon, a potato patty, a meat type of thing..best i can describe it is it was like a small football "meatball" which was seasoned but a tad greasy. I added in 3 of the little cheese pancakes today. They are awesome. Cup of coffee to go finished it off.

Our film session was at 11 and it lasted an hour. I took them through some things and showed them some stuff we need to work on. We had to leave for practice at around 1:45 so I skipped lunch.

We practiced hard from 3-4 pm and it wasn't bad. Still a long way to go and we have some players who are still struggling to pick up concepts so that is making it a bit difficult. For the most part though the girls are really working hard and trying to improve every time out.

After practice we returned to the village and I did some work for about an hour and then went to supper. Had potato like a fish cake, scalloped potatoes but it was a small stack of them done in some sauce. The stack was about as round as a coke bottle and about 3 inches high. I had a meat/potato filled bun and a small sausage which were good. But tonight I grabbed a tiny bit of a bunch of things so I tried the citrus rice with pumpkin (imagine rice that is congealed together in a pudding with a strong orange taste with a pumpkin aftertaste and bits of pumpkin and other mystery "shreds" inside it).. Not the best. Lastly I tried some kind of fish patty. I had no idea what it was. I asked what it was and that is the wrong thing to do here. Since they struggle to understand you, they just throw it on your plate. Well I took one bite of it and I instantly almost puked. It was completely disgusting and it took me a while to get the shit taste out of my mouth. One of the worst things ever.

After supper Jeff and I walked down to the big souvenir shop and I picked up some things. Walked back home and got ready for the men's game. We left our dorm at 7:30 to catch the bus at 7:40. Our men were playing Sweden at 8:30. At 8:35 when the bus hadn't arrived, I had enough and walked back to my dorm. I don't think I will be wasting much time with the transportation system here.

Anyway that was the day. Games start tomorrow and in ways I am looking forward to it and others I am not. One thing has crept up here that has made this trip almost painful. I guess that is what happens when I don't have certain decisions within the program. It is important in every organization that you learn what your role is but MOST importantly is how to communicate to people within it. Some just don't get it and won't ever get it.

Regardless, the countdown is on for me now. 10 days and I am back on a plane and quite possibly a free summer the rest of the way.

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 4 in Russia

Well Day 4 has come and gone. An eventful day to say the least.

Up for an early breakfast and didn't wander off path too much. Eggs, some nice bacon, those PHENOMENAL Cheese pancakes again and some potatoes like hash browns. After breakfast Jeff and I had to attend a technical meeting which started at 10. Our bus was leaving at 11:10 so I stayed until 10:30 and then headed to the dorm. Today was the day we needed to provide our official roster and those details.

We had arranged for a scrimmage at 12 noon with the USA. I thought it was going to be a very daunting task. We got to  the gym and the girls had to warm up in the hallway. The US Men had an hour and they were in the gym. Our men were following us at 1pm.
Just before our game I got to briefly meet one of the US coaches Frank Martin who is very good and then I had the opportunity to meet and speak with Coach John Beilein from the US team. I have followed him over the years and I love how he coaches and what he does. It was really neat to meet him. Of course I asked him if we could sit down at some point to chat and he said sure. He gave me his email address and I emailed him to arrange a time. Hopefully we can make it work. I would love to pick his brain. I am going to try and do that with other coaches as well.

So back to the game. The US is fairly big and quite athletic but not the most athletic team I have ever seen them bring. We start the game and our girls are fired up. We are playing well and while we are making a few mistakes on defense, our offense was putting on a clinic. We were leading and then it was back and forth throughout the whole first quarter. The US men stayed and watched and it was neat to see the reactions of their coaches when we did some of the offensive stuff we did. We were down 3 just before the break and they hit a 3 to go up 6. We cut it to 4 in the 2nd and battled back and forth but they hit a few threes and got some fast break hoops and went up 12 at half. I was pretty pleased with how we were doing. One of the things that caught us was when they went to zone defense but we are slowly getting better at it.
In the third we struggled with their defense and we tried to hang with them. Midway through they broke open the game with a few 3's and some easy fast break points. They ended up leading by 17 I believe and that is all we could play due to time constraints.
The thing that probably hurt us most of all is lack of depth. They have so many athletes in the US to pick from and we are here with 11 players. They make subs and the players coming in are just as good as the ones they are replacing. When we sub we take a dip. It is just how it is for now so we will keep pushing along. I was really pleased with the growth we displayed today and with how hard the girls played.

After we came back to the village I got changed and then waited a bit for lunch. There were some other reasons that I needed some time to cool myself off. Lunch was good with potatoes that looked like barley but they were tiny. Kind of like rice potato. I had to try the potato patty that was like a fishcake, a small chicken fillet type thing, a bun and one slice of roast beef. A nice lunch

After this Jeff and I went to the Sports Info Centre to submit some stuff then we went to the highly overpriced souvenir shop. We bought a few things and then we went in search of the other one in the village. We didn't find but apparently we were close. We will try again another time.

Came back after that and relaxed here in my room. Did some laundry and sent some emails. Tonight was the opening ceremonies for the games. I chose not to go. I wanted to watch the video of our scrimmage plus the bus was leaving at 7:00 and then you had to stand around until 9:30 for the start. Then they said you wouldn't get home until 1:30. It is not 12:20AM and nobody is here. Apparently it was going to be a great show and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was going to be there but that whole scene is not my thing. Maybe someday if it is an Olympics I will go.

Myself and Patrice (our therapist) stayed behind. He has been to 6 of these games and the Olympics so he has seen it all. Perhaps I should have gone to see it and say I experienced it but I really want to focus on doing my job here. I spent the evening watching the game film and editing it. I enjoyed it quite a bit. bizarre I know but I enjoyed it.

I took a break to go to the meal hall and there were still quite a few people here who did not go to the ceremony. I had a nice relaxing meal by myself. Time to think and figure some stuff out. I had some very nice roasted potatoes, a slice of chicken breast, a slice of pork belly and some pasta with hunter sauce again. The hunter was better today.

I cam back and finished the video and now it is ready to go for tomorrow morning at 11. Time to get better and show them what we need to do to improve. I love the video sessions and I know almost every player hates them but they are part of the game. We have practice at 3pm tomorrow so lots to get ready for. The next day is the big stage. The games count. We know nothing about Japan's team and they know nothing of ours. What I do know is that they will probably be very fast, run like crazy and shoot it from anywhere. Tough to stop but they have to stop us too. I can't wait for the challenge.

Until tomorrow

National Team 2013 - Phase 2 - Day 3 in Russia

Well Day 3 is in the books. A nice warm day with a bit of a breeze but still warm.

Woke up to an early morning breakfast and a day full or surprises. Breakfast was not bad with a few different selections. A meat and potato bun, some potato balls like hash browns, bacon that was cooked very floppy, scrambled eggs with peas mixed in ( an interesting but tasty choice), a meat roll/ball/oval which was nice and then a very interesting choice. Cheese pancakes. They were about 1/2 inch thick and about as round as the top of a Ragu Pasta sauce bottle. One bite and I was done. They were made with curds and they tasted EXACTLY like Curds Buns we have at Easter time. I could have eaten 25 of them but I went with 3. Holy cow were they good. It is actually quite interesting to see and taste lots of the different foods here. Growing up we heard mom talk about the foods her mom cooked and then we would have the traditional foods Mom made. I can actually see them here in front of me or at least stuff that is exactly like what she made or talked about. I find that very cool as our grandmother would have come to Canada about 100 years ago and these things came with her. Really neat.

So after breakfast we were trying to find out if we were going to scrimmage vs. Brazil. They arrived yesterday and we had made previous arrangements to play. So we come back to get ready and we are told that they looked at a wrong schedule and were gone to practice at their original time. Oh well, we are used to that in these type of events where you are trying to organize scrimmages before the actual games. So we decide to go to our practice as scheduled for 1pm to work on some things. Just before we left we get a call that Brazil is finished their practice and are one their way to meet us at the gym to play for an hour. The girls were excited to get another game instead of practice.

We get to the gym and our men are practicing before us. They were gracious enough to let the coaches watch practice. I love watching practices especially when they are run by former NBA coach Jay Triano. I picked up some good things from him in the 30 min we watched. About 15 minutes before our practice we get a call that Brazil is too tired and will not be coming. Oh well, lucky I planned practice I guess. We practiced hard for an hour and I pushed them harder than usual. We needed a little wake up call and it was provided. The girls adjusted eventually and worked hard and I think we made progress.

We headed back to the village, or "willage" as the locals call it, and arrived for a late lunch. Headed to the meal hall. It seemed as though there was lots of food but limited choices. Lots of bizarre combinations and then lots of duck and lamb. I am not a duck fan but I do like lamb just wasn't feeling it today. I opted for a few potatoes, a small patty like beef substance, and bow tie pasta with "hunter sauce". I am not sure what exactly hunter sauce is but I assume whatever the hunter caught went into the sauce. It actually wasn't too bad.

We left there after 4pm and headed back to the dorm and the girls got ready to go to a Team Canada reception downtown. I stayed behind to work on our meeting for tonight. I prepped a bunch of things and then Jeff and I walked over to the International Building to see if the gift shop was open. "Closed", poop :(
Came back and had an 8:30 meeting scheduled. The girls made it back at 8:45 so luckily there was nobody using the film room. I took them through an exercise where we identified the potential distractions and which ones were in our control. I then talked with them about what focus is and how to work on maintaining your focus to avoid distraction. I also took them through an identification of a mistake response and how to build the proper one for each individual. I think the session was very valuable even if only 1 or 2 people got the message.

After that we headed over to the meal hall for a late dinner. Before we leave though I get the chance to meet Coach Triano who coaches our men (former head coach of the Raptors and now an asst coach with Portland) It was an honour to meet him and I told Jeff afterwards that in situations like this I start to twitch. I want to ask a million questions about how to defend certain situations or how to execute a certain skill. I can't shake this game from my veins LOL

Some interesting choices again for supper. Went with rice first although I have to learn what small amount means is in Russian. The girl heaped the rice and big chunks of beef in a red sauce on my plate. I only wanted a third of what she put on the plate. I also grabbed a few potatoes and a chicken skewer. Not bad overall and the rice turned out to be good. Didn't eat it all though. Afterwards we were sitting there chatting and we watched a bunch of teams going into a stand up cooler where they stored yogurt and they were coming out with what looked like yogurt tubes. One of the coaches wondered what they were so I said there was only one way to find out. I go over and they are labelled as curd bars. Well when in Russia I guess...so I open it and it is covered in chocolate. I bite into and I think I almost lost my mind. Picture a bar about half the size of a mars bar. Curds but like a paste almost exactly like cheesecake but tasted better with a rich caramel sauce in the middle and covered in rich chocolate and then chilled but not frozen. Needless to say I will stop by there again. WOW they were good.

After the meal we headed back to our dorm and here I am typing at 12:10 pm. A long full day. Tomorrow is the "day off" before opening ceremonies and the gyms and buses are shut down but apparently we were still able to work our way into a gym for a scrimmage at noon. If there are no changes, we play the gold medal favourite USA at noon in a scrimmage. Get my helmet on for that one. Actually I can't wait to let our girls get tested vs. them. It will be a fantastic test and a great practice opportunity for us. We then have a full day off and begin playing on the 8th.

July 8th - vs Japan
July 9th - vs Ukraine
July 10 - vs Chinese Taipei
July 11 - Day off
July 12 - Game - opponent determined by how we finish
July 13 - Game - opponent determined by how we finish
July 14 - Day Off
July 15 - Final game
July 16 Day Off
July 17 Fly Home to Canada
July 18 Arrive at 1:35AM.....Capers Mini Basketball Camp at 9AM WOOOOHOOOO

So now I am off to bed. Another long day perhaps coming tomorrow and then we prep for the real stuff. I know I probably missed a few things but I will add some more tomorrow perhaps. Now it is bedtime.

I did see a Kerfuffle by the tennis centre behind our dorm. People were in an uproar and I thought I could see Archie Neil and Terrence running away...no doubt Molly McLaughlin was in the middle of it.


Until tomorrow..............