National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 4

Day 4. A long, tiring but productive day

Started with an early morning breakfast. Oatmeal, Omelets, Pancakes, great coffee.

Here is the strange "wander off" observation of the day. As I walked to practice today it was a little cool but not bad. I took a walk through a different path and came upon some lilac trees. Perhaps my favourite smell. There were regular lilacs like we see all the time at home, white ones and dark purple ones. I took the time to reflect for a moment and made sure to smell the lilacs. Once again, blessed to have the game I love give back so much. I literally took the time to "stop and smell the roses...or lilacs". Not a bad thing to do. Take a moment and enjoy it. Enjoy THAT moment.

Anyway, head to the gym for a 9:30 start. It actually became 10 AM because we had the girls do a short presentation on their video watching assignments. They went well and the girls had some good observations. They actually saw a lot of the stuff we were working on in practice or at least why we were working on it.

 We had Coach Handy with us on the floor today so I was excited to see what he was going to do. We had the team broken into 2 groups. Coach Handy and and Coach Harle worked out the smaller players while we worked out the "bigs" and then after 20 min we switched it up. Coach Handy was doing some good things but nothing earth shattering at first. Getting the girls through a good workout. We worked on some offensive and defensive concepts throughout the practice and then competed a little bit. It was interesting to watch as the players start to compete. At this level the best players are ULTRA competitive. Everything matters and winning rules the gym. I love that. We wrapped up around 12 and headed over for lunch. Pasta and chicken. Standard and not bad.

After lunch the girls all came back to meet with our physiologist to go over some test results and talk about what it will take to get them to the podium in 2016. While that meeting was going on I met with 2 coaches from the National U-17 team. We discussed what points of emphasis we were trying to do overall this summer and then how we would use our new video software to "tag" all of these things.

Following the meeting we had some time off to relax and get ready for practice 2. Start time was 5pm. First up was coach Handy with the group for 25 minutes. GREAT SESSION. Awesome workout, great teaching points and incredible lessons in footwork and balance. Really really good. We then did some breakdown work on offense and defense. We looked at a little bit of new offensive stuff and then played a lot of competitive 5 on 5 full court. Lots of goods and bads but it showed signs of improvement. The video will really help us teach now. As camp progresses we will get better and better. It is also interesting to watch some players rise and others fall. Interesting how confidence can change in 2 days but also how quickly lack of skills in certain areas gets exposed.

Following practice we headed to supper for a nice salmon meal. Solid. We then headed back to residence for a meeting which actually was a set up for an ice cream cake for one of the girls for their birthday. Following this meeting the coaches met for about 2 hours to discuss tomorrow's plan and to discuss players and who we may let go and who we may keep. Always some good discussions around this and for many players it is small things that make the difference. That makes it hard to cut them. After tomorrow morning we will meet with some of them and let them know their fate.

I was also able to get some more information on our tour to Europe. We leave on Saturday and head to Prague for 2 games vs the Czech National Team. Following this we fly to Belgrade, Serbia for a tourney vs. Serbia, Italy and Montenegro. Following this we travel to Paris, France. Not sure if we are staying there to play or not but we have 3 days off to rest and train and then we play a tourney with France, Spain and Turkey. Awesome basketball jammed into the trip but what a way to challenge ourselves. Some of the best teams in the world.

Tomorrow is an early start with 9:30 practice after an 8am breakfast. Coach Handy is back on the court with the players for a bit then we get going with them. The rest of the day will be off. THe girls will have a mandatory weightlifting session but the coaches will be off. We will do some video and meet with some players. In the evening Coach Harle and I are talking about taking Coach Handy out to chat about hoops. I get a twitch when I think about sitting down with an NBA assistant coach to talk hoops. For those who know me well, they will understand.

I will update you tomorrow

Until then.....