National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 15

Day 15 is over and we now have been in 3 different countries in the last 12 hours.

We got up this morning to a standard breakfast. Meats and cheese, scrambled eggs, cereal and very floppy bacon. Not so standard Rice was included.

After breakfast I did a little bit of last minute packing and headed to the lobby. We were schedule to head to the airport at 10:30. We got everything loaded on the bus and the manager wanted a pic with the coaches so we took one. He treated us great for the time we were there.

We headed to the airport and it took a bit of time checking in but we finally got through and were ready to go. Flight was scheduled for just after 1. We headed to the gate and had a few minutes to relax before we boarded. As we boarded the flight they gave each of us a nice German chocolate bar which was very good. The flight was just over an hour and we landed in Munich.

Our connection was about an hour so we passed through customs and hustled to the gate. We checked through the ticket counter and had to board a bus. While we were waiting one of the girls asked me to keep teaching her how to make a coin disappear. So I show a few things to her and a gentlemen behind her takes an interest. I told her that she needed maybe a smaller coin to work with and he reaches into his wallet and gives her a 2 Euro coin. I don't think it was smaller but he now wanted to see. So here we are sitting on a bus waiting to drive out to a plane in Munich Germany. As I have done before, break out the coins. I start making them disappear, reappear, change into other coins. Needless to say the girls were having fun but it was fun to watch this gentleman (who I learned was from Switzerland) and the others around us smiling and enjoying the reactions. Fun.

So the next flight was a little longer and not many bumps. Interesting though was when they handed out little cakes to people on the plane. There were 2 children directly behind me and the mom was diagonally behind me. She spoke perfect English and so did the boys. She asked the waitress if there were any nuts or tree nuts in the cake. The flight attendant (in broken English) said she was absolutely positive there were not. Of course there were no markings on the package but I took a look quickly and could see that the cake was filled with almonds and some other nuts inside and on top. I mentioned this to the woman right away. She took the cake away from the flight attendant (who was handing it to her son) and gave it to the person in front of her. I asked if her son was allergic to nuts in the air or was it contact or ingestion. She said only ingestion causes his severe reaction. Sometimes it pays to know these things in life.

We landed in Serbia with no problems and had a bus and police escort waiting for us. The police escort was fun and the memories of being here in 2008 for the FISU Games came flooding back. I remembered all of the stuff from back then. We arrived at the hotel and the service was great. The hotel is a little older but nice. We had dinner scheduled for 6:20 so we headed up to the 18th floor restaurant. Started with an appetizer of pasta in cream sauce with sausage, then a cabbage and tomato salad (welcome back LOL) and then they brought grilled chicken and potatoes. Very very good and the servers were very friendly. During the meal a Massive rain shower and thunder and lightning arrived. Lasted for about 20 minutes. We had the gym booked for 7pm for a light bit of shooting and a pre-hab workout. We hopped on the bus to head to the "15 minute walk" gymnasium. We all laughed as the bus stopped about 3 stop lights away. As I walked up the hill it all came flooding back to me. Been here before. Same gym we were in in 2008.

After our workout we walked back to the hotel. Less than 10 minutes probably. A really nice evening and the rain had cooled down the hot humid weather from the afternoon. We headed to a meeting room and discussed a video project the girls had to work on. We also discussed the plan for the next few days. We play Serbia tomorrow at 8pm, then we play Italy and Montenegro on Saturday and Sunday. Fly to Paris on Monday. In and Out trip.

After this meeting I had another meeting with a player to watch film and help her see some things she can improve on. Finally our last meeting of the day. The coaches met to discuss some things to get ready for tomorrow. I will take the scouting duties for our second 2 opponents. We don't have much on Serbia but we will have much more on the other 2 teams. I love this part. Trying to beat 2 international coaches and trying to get into their heads. Fun stuff.

So now it is just after midnight in Serbia. Just after 7 at home. We have a 9am breakfast tomorrow and then a busy day. I must get off to bed now.

Until tomorrow night..........