National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 24

Day 24 and first phase is over 

Sleep in day today. Didn't have breakfast until 1030 am. Of course I couldn't sleep in. Up by 8 am. Got up and grabbed a shower then I watched some more film and surfed the web a bit.


Breakfast was the standard with no changes. Still very good.


After breakfast we had a video session to review Turkey and then we basically had a half hour to get ready for game.


We arrived at the gym and we had some extra time to wait. I went to the court and there were 2 young ball boys there that have been helping throughout the tournament. Out comes the coins and it ended up with a euro coin turning into a toonie which I gave to one of the boys. The smile on their faces was phenomenal. Throughout the game and after they kept looking over at the bench and smiling. Once again, a little sleight of hand and the smile on a kids face was worth it.



Game started and we were playing pretty well. Still struggled to score but the offence and defense were better than last night. After half we got a little flat and then managed to turn up the heat on defense. This sparked us and we opened a bit of a lead. They switched to zone defense and I thought we might get rattled. Took us a few possessions but we came together and hot some key shots to extend the lead. It tightened up a bit down the stretch but we held on for a 5 point win.

Great way to finish the first phase. Played much better and improved along the way. We played this trip without 7 of our top 15 players. Basically a lot of inexperienced young players including an 18 year old post player and a 17 year old, grade 11 point guard. I would say that we did alright.

We 
returned home from the game and went to lunch at 330. A little late for lunch but it was worth the wait.

 Salmon, schnitzel, rice, salads and potatoes. Quite tasty. I had some chicken and potatoes with a small piece of salmon. They also had these phenomenal small stuffed peppers in oil. Awesome. 

Quick turnaround after this one as both us and Turkey had to leave again at 4:45 to make it back for the end of the game between France and Spain and the closing ceremonies. When we arrived, France was beating Spain 40-14. YIKES. When it was all said and done, it was an awesome ending in a WILD environment with France pulling out a single digit win.


 The girls went out on the court and got a nice little trophy and some momentos from the committee. It was a nice little ceremony.

We ended up arriving back at the hotel between 7:30 and 8pm and they were ready to feed us again. Salads, lasagna, ravioli, quiche and some yummy desserts. I took a small bit of each as I was still pretty full from earlier. 

After dinner we had a bit of time to come back to our room and pack for home. I spent some time doing that and then we had a coaches meeting at 8:30. We were going to review some things but for about an hour and a half the coaches, manager and physiotherapist sat around and laughed our asses off. They drank a bottle of wine after the first purchase which was a beer and coke (small bottles) that cost roughly $14 Canadian. Yikes. Some of the girls on our team and some girls from Spain got together and played some very loud ping pong and our manager went and found bread and different cheeses to go with the wine. Some of the cheeses were quite strong but a nice touch to the end of our laugh fest. Eventually around 10:30 the coaches exited the loud area to go and make a few notes about the players to give them something to take away and work on for the next few weeks.

So here it is about 11:35pm as I sit and reflect on this first phase.

What did I think of the countries we visited?

Czech Republic – a new country for me. The people were extremely friendly and the food was great. Prague was BEAUTIFUL and I would have loved to spend more time exploring. Mark it in my book to come back.

Serbia – having been in Belgrade before I knew what to expect. The Serbian people are absolutely fantastic. They are so kind and friendly. They go out of their way to make things work for their guests. I knew the food would be a small step down. Not bad by any means just a small decline.

France – having heard so many times how French people are rude I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I can say is that stereotype was blown away this week. The people were incredible. So warm and welcoming. They made it a memorable part of the trip. The food was PHENOMENAL which I had heard before.

To all of the countries I would say Dekuji, Hvalla and Merci.

So what about my own learning. I am constantly trying to learn more and more about this game…or what some may call an obsession. I have learned that my strengths are definitely higher in certain areas and I need A LOT of work in other areas. I know that I absolutely love this level of basketball and I love the skills that are needed to succeed at this level. I have learned a number of things that can make me a better assistant in the future and I have learned a lot that can make me better as a head coach. I have learned that the coaches I am working with are WORLD CLASS and shouldn’t take a back seat to anyone.

It has been an awesome experience to say the least. From the challenges of the games to the emotions that stir in me when I stand and hear the national anthem before a game. I have soaked up every minute and have enjoyed it to the MAX.

Next on the horizon for me is about a week away when I leave again to coach my own team at this level and head to the FISU games in Russia. I can take all of these lessons and try to make them work plus learn new ones with that team. It will be another learning experience.

So tomorrow is an early wakeup. 6:30 breakfast and a 7AM departure for the airport. We depart at around 11am and then will land at around 1pm in Toronto. I have to wait until 7:55pm when I fly to Sydney. That will be about a 20-22 hour travel day but I am used to it by now. I can say that I have loved my international travels but as John Allan Cameron once sang, “one thing I know, wherever I go, my heart’s in Cape Breton, it will always be so”. Looking forward to getting home

So to anyone else who joined along, I hope you enjoyed it a bit. To mom, it has been another wild ride and fun to share it with you. I will have lots of pics and stories when I get home.

See you tomorrow…………

National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 23

Day 23 Complete

Morning came early after a late night. 8 am breakfast with lots of same stuff with some nice little muffins added in today. A little cooler today in France which is a nice break.



After breakfast we had practice at 930. Tried to review some of our offensive stuff. That is what hurt us the most last night. We also walked through some of the things Spain would try later in the day.



Returned home from practice and the girls went to a 30 min pre hab session. I worked on some film clips for the project I am working on.

At 1130 we headed to our video session to show the girls some clips on Spain.   Finished the session and headed to lunch right away. Fish, pork, potatoes and pasta. Nice salad including a tuna potato salad that was very tasty. Also had some very nice phyllo pastry things stuffed with a nice melted cheese. Dessert had a number of things. I tried a sliver of a cherry tart with a custardy cheese cake kind of filling. They also has something that resembled creme brûlée but without the caramel flavour. Very tasty.



After lunch I was very tired but skipped a nap. I sat on the little patio we have and did some film work on the project and then almost finished the edit for our turkey game tomorrow. 



We left for the game at 3pm and shared the bus with the Spanish team. It was hot during the 15 minute ride.



One of the nice things before the warmup was when they were introducing our team. Each of our players was paired up with a young girl from the area mini basketball league. When our girls name was called they ran out together holding hands. A very cute moment.



I thought we had a good warmup and we had a good start. We were running our offence much better and our defense was pretty good. We still struggled to score at times and we turned it over too much. We still ended up leading by 1 at half

. Just when I thought we turned it over too much, here came the second half. Spain switched to a zone defense and we absolutely shit the bed. In total for the game we turned it over 35 times. Beyond frustrating. We played timid and lost by 6. I can't seem to fathom why we would turn it over this much at this level. Baffling but I guess we will continue to focus on the process.  The biggest thing we need to learn from tonight is how to play against a very veteran team. Spain outsmarted us at both ends.

We had to wait about 30 minutes for the bus after the game and then shared it with Spain again. As you might imagine I was not necessarily the happiest or most talkative person on the bus.

When we arrived back at the hotel I went to my room and put some shorts on then went back down to have supper. We ate again in the outside tent. There were sprinkles of rain starting and the skies were darkened. In a few minutes we learned why. The skies absolutely opened up. Torrential (and I mean LOUD, bouncing off the pavement, absolutely pouring down TORRENTIAL) rain poured down and a nasty thunder and lightning storm hit us. It was fun just watching the rain pound the parking lot. Gave me something to think about other than the 35 turnovers.

Supper was good however. Fresh cream of broccoli soup to start. Pasta, green beans and chicken skewers. I passed on the rice and fish. Also a bunch of salad options. Of course, the bread is always FANTASTIC. Dessert was filled with options. I tried a little of 2 of them. First was a lemon cheesecake with a ginger spice base and a raspberry sauce. Very nice. Topped it off with yellow watermelon. Didn’t realize that existed but it was really really yummy. A nice cup of coffee to send me away and I was enjoying it.

Now I basically have an evening off. The video for Turkey is complete and there is no other film to watch. I will probably watch some film for my project in a bit. We also have a coaches wine and cheese at around 10:30. Of course, if I can connect with a coach from another country, I AM IN.

Tomorrow we have breakfast at 10:30 and then we watch film. Our game is at 1:30. There is talk that we may get back to Paris tomorrow evening so I am crossing my fingers.

I will finalize the first phase tomorrow with some overall observations of each country and the experience I have had. I will also throw in some of the things I have learned. Sound like a really interesting read filled with piles of BS. LOL

Until then………

National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 22

Day 22 has come to an end.

Woke up in a hot box of a room. Temperature is high here and the hotel does not have air conditioning. We do have a window that opens but we are on the non-wind side of the hotel. Made for an uncomfortable sleep.

Breakfast was at 9 this morning and nothing new and exciting. Granola, Yogurt, Bread, meat and cheese. Coffee was better today.

We had a video session at 10:30 today to review what France may do tonight. After the session we had a short break and I worked on some more film. We then left 11:50 for our 12:15 shootaround. We were a little sloppy at the shootaround but we managed to get through some details and try to prep for tonight.

After we returned we went straight to our dinner which was hosted in an outside dining area in a big tent here at the hotel. Not a bad little spot. Dinner was pasta, salmon, broccoli and curried chicken plus all kinds of salad stuff. I tried a coconut flan for dessert which is like coconut cream pie but more solid. It tasted phenomenal. They also gave us some crème caramel. Nice end to the meal.

After lunch I came back to my room and worked on a few different video projects. Working on finding clips of world class skills in games from around the world that we can use with our younger players. That ate up a lot of time and then it was time for supper again.

Supper was at 430 and it was almost exactly like dinner. Maybe one different choice. 

That was disappointing as the food has been so good here.

We left at 5 and got a drive to the gym to watch Spain play turkey. The girls stayed behind and would come later.
 Spain and Turkey was an interesting game. Not pretty and Spain outplayed them in the 2nd half as
 they won by 20.



We were up at 8 pm. Came out playing ok. Working hard but struggling to knock down shots. Our defense was very good in the first half as we held the #2 country in the world to 19 points. Shitty part was we only scored 17. It was a grind.

 After half we came out ready to go. We got some good looks and couldn't knock them down. I thought it would get better but then out offence became Senators Corner in the 30's. Total depression. We absolutely could not buy a basket. France would hit an easy shot then a tough shot then an easy one then a tough one. Our defense was starting to struggle but we held that part together for the most part. Eventually they held the lead and we lost 55-35. An Absolutely horrific offensive output. 

I was very pissed at the end of the game but I bit my tongue in my role as an assistant. It is absolutely absurd in my mind that people don't know the offence and we struggle this much after 3.5 weeks. 
Oh well tomorrow we have another chance vs Spain to get better

.

Came back after the game and had our snack that was ready for us. Fruit, bread, salad and dessert. After that I came back to my room to prepare video on Spain. That was almost 11pm. Here I am now, the video is done. The scouting diagrams are done and it is just after 1AM. We have an 8AM breakfast and a 9:30 shoot around. A long day ahead and I must get rest. Spain tomorrow at 4:30.

Until tomorrow……

National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 21

Day 21 is over.

Started with early morning breakfast. Pretty standard with nothing new. Their bread however is FANTASTIC. There is one type of bread that I have toasted each morning and it is phenomenal. Also, their coffee is good but strong.

After breakfast we headed out to practice #1 and it wasn't too bad. Lots of skill work and some competition. Trying to improve as much as we can before we get back to games.

Came back from practice and I had about an hour to work on some stuff for my next Canada Basketball job which starts about a week after I get back. Lots to do.

Lunch was at 12:30 and it was scalloped potatoes, veggies, fish and beef. The desserts were UNBELIEVABLE. The chocolate stuff is really good here and everything made with fruit is fresh. So the chocolate raspberry cake today was great.

After practice I had a number of hours to get some work done. Lots of video to do and lots of work for the next team. Got it all done in the sweltering heat. No air conditioning in this room and it was close to 30 degrees today. Tonight it is just as hot and no breeze at all outside. Not fun to sleep.

We headed out to practice again at 3:35 and practiced from 4-5:30. Lots more accomplished and we competed a lot. Worked on some specific things for the game vs. France. When we arrived back at the hotel I had just enough time to answer some emails before supper. Supper at 7 consisted of all kinds of salad stuff, lots of fruit, carrots, potatoes, beef skewers, paella and cream of mushroom soup. A nice supper.

After supper I watched video with one of the players for about an hour then came back to my room afterward and did some more video and email. Had a quick meeting with Denise and then the coaches headed down for a drink and to chat. A relaxing yet hot end to a day. I don't think they believe in air conditioning.

Tomorrow we get back to what we came from. We play the #2 team in the world in France. A TOUGH test. No video but live stats will be available at http://www.ffbb.com/. Not sure the time difference but we play at 8pm here. We then play Spain on Saturday and Turkey on Sunday. Lots of work to be done but we are improving all the time.

So now i am off to bed. I will have more to write tomorrow.

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

National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 20

Day 20 is in the books. Not much to report today so it will be a brief post.

Up at 7:30 for breakfast with nothing really new except for a really tasty granny smith apple yogurt. Tasty. We had practice at 8:30 so we headed out at 8am. Practice was OK. lots of skill work to try and get better. Afterwards we came home and I did a bit of email work and some video work and then did some laundry in the bathtub. Used to it after so many international trips.

Lunch was at 1pm and it was good. Pasta, veggies, chicken, lots of salads. Only nice addition was a chocolate mint type of square that was made out of mousse. Very nice tasting. We had a few hours before our 2nd practice so I did a bit of video work and then went to sleep for about an hour. Woke up in time to get ready for practice.

2nd practice was at 4pm and it was fairly competitive but lacked attention to detail. Hopefully the girls do better tomorrow. We came back to supper which was veggies, pasta, beef skewers and lots of salad stuff. Food is very fresh and tasty here and the breads are great.

After supper I watched some video with one of the girls for about an hour to try and help her gain a better understanding of what she should be doing on the floor. I came back to my room for about 30 minutes or so and then went to a coaches chat with Denise from Canada Basketball who arrived today. We talked for about 45 minutes and then I came back to my room and did a bit of work.

Now I am off to bed with a 6:30AM wakeup.

National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 19

Day 19 is tout finis and what a full day it was. 

Up this morning early for breakfast. Cereal with yogurt, fruit, meat, cheese (lots of different ones) and all kinds of breads. I had some toast that was made with a different bread and may be the best toast ever. Oh and did I mention chocolate croissants - rich, delicious chocolate croissants. Yummy. A really nice cup of coffee as well

After lunch we gave the girls a video assignment during a quick meeting and sent them off to do it. The coaches met in this neat little nook with wicker furniture and a view to the gardens and courtyard. Very nice. We talked about what our plan would be for the week and then about today's practice. At 11:30 the girls had a pre-hab session which we did outside on the grass because it was so nice outside. 

After the session we had a little but of time off before lunch and we decided to meet with Miranda who has joined is for this part of the tour after just completing her pro season in turkey. This took us up to 12:45 which gave us 15 minutes before lunch. Not a lot of free time some days on these trips. I went back to my room to check on Dipesh. He got some kind of stomach bug and slept through the night and all day today til supper time. He was still asleep so I went to lunch. 

Lunch was pasta with a tomato sauce, broccoli and chicken. Lots of salad and breads and a knockout dessert section. Three types of flan ( I chose fresh raspberry), fresh strawberries, fruit salad and angel good cake with a chocolate mousse for topping. I skipped the cake and used the mousse to dip some strawberries in. Giddy up. 

After lunch we had a film session and meeting at 130. The girls were presenting the findings from their assignment and we reviewed some team stuff. By the time we knew it, it was 3:30. We were leaving for the gym at 4 pm. I checked on Dip and he was still sleeping so I headed to the bus. Practice was about 15 minutes away in a very neat facility. We worked on cleaning up some details and the practice was very good and competitive. We still have lots of work to do as we play 3 of the top teams in the world without 2 of our best players. The goal is to show progress each time out so hopefully we can get better every day. 

We got back after practice and headed straight for supper. Pasta with meat sauce, mushroom soup, salads and salmon. All very good. 

At supper we found out that Canada basketball had arranged a bus tour of Paris for the team. Awesome news. We took a quick minute to get dressed and then headed in to the city. 

My impressions on Paris? How many times can I say WOW in one night. We saw it all. The seine river. Cathedral of notre dame (hunchback wasn't home). Champs d'elysses. Arc de Triomphe. The Louvre (which is absolutely giFRIGGINgantic and of course the Eiffel Tower. We didn't get out of the bus at many places but we did at the Eiffel Tower. I was in awe. Absolute awe. And the bus driver made sure we were there as the light show was starting. Awesome. He warned us when we left the bus to leave money on the bus or be very careful due to pick pockets. We all made it safe and sound though and continued on. We saw so many wonderful buildings and statues I can't begin to list them all. 

The architecture is absolutely impressive. Everything is so clean and well manicured. We didn't take the highway straight to the sights either. The bus weaved its' way through all the little streets and we saw so many unbelievable buildings and statues. About a million little cafes on cobblestone streets. It would take over a month and a small fortune and I still don't think you could see all of Paris. It was so beautiful.

Needless to say I was impressed with what I saw. Absolutely loved it.



PICTURE TAKEN MINUTES BEFORE 10 PM







So tomorrow we have an early wakeup. 7:30 breakfast and 8am departure for practice. 8:30-10Am practice. It is now about 12:15 so I must head off to bed. 





An awesome day in France.



Until tomorrow........

National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 18

Day 18. Is it really day 18. I think I lost track of time. A long day of travel so here is how it went down.

Some of the players and coaches got up early and went downtown Belgrade to tour around. I opted to stay in bed a little longer as I had seen Belgrade before. I headed up to breakfast a little after 9 and I was the only one from our team around. Breakfast was more of the same. meats, cheeses, bread, lasagna, rice, eggs and pizza rolls. yep pizza rolls. Interesting. I met a nice man from San Francisco and his mother from Reno, Nevada. I had a great chat with them for a little while and then I headed back to my room. I got dressed and headed next door to the grocery store. Picked up some treats to take home as I had to use up some of the Serbian Dinars I had left.

Bus was leaving at 11:30 so I headed down and we packed up the bus for the ride to the airport. Flights were on time and we got to Frankfurt smoothly. 1.5 hour flight. Had about a 15 minute walk when we got there and boarded pretty quickly for our next flight. What an awesome time in Germany LOL. We had a little bit of a bumpy ride to France but it was only 50 minutes. Landed in Paris and were able to get our bags relatively smoothly. We got to our bus and the driver and his buddy weren't the nicest. Some things you have to deal with. Well 2 of our staff were delayed inside and the driver decided to leave. He left the guy from the French Basketball Federation and our 2 staff behind. He stopped up the road and then he called the guy and sounded like he was arguing with him. We waited for about 25 minutes on the side of the road and then went back and got them. Adventure #1 in France is complete. We then drove for about 30 minutes to the south suburbs of Paris in a community called Evry. Very nice but certainly a little isolated.

The hotel and the grounds are outstanding. The rooms are way better than Serbia and the food for supper was fantastic. A fantastic creamy minestrone type soup, BEAUTIFUL bread, pasta, phenomenal chicken and then some incredibly sweet cantaloupe for dessert. Hard to tell I enjoyed the meal. The hardest part about the meal was afterwards when we were sitting there, bright as can be outside, looked at my watch and it was 9:50pm. Didn't get "dark" dark til about 10:30.

After supper Shawnee went to bed but Lisa and I decided to stay downstairs and enjoy a coffee. VERY strong but with enough sugar it became good. We enjoyed a conversation and a coffee along with the hotel dog. Yes the hotel has a dog. An old Bull Terrier type dog that is wobbly but friendly as can be. She greets the guests and walks around like she owns the place. Pretty awesome.

Tomorrow we have a 9:30 breakfast, a meeting, a pre-hab session, lunch, a video session then practice. A full day. I am going to try and find a few minutes to explore around the grounds a bit. It looks awesome.

So a short blog post today but I need to head off to bed. Been a long day.

Until tomorrow........

National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 17

Day 17 is in the books. Last full day in Serbia.

Started with an early breakfast with some more interesting breakfast choices. Regular breads, meats and cheeses, hot dogs, eggs, polenta, rice with veggies and lots of different "lettucey" dishes. The surprise was lasagna. yep Lasagna for breakfast and it was TASTY!!

After breakfast we had a nice relaxing walk to the gym for a shoot around. We did a little shooting and reviewed some things and then I took the the girls through some of Italy's plays. Lisa talked about how we would defend them. The girls then did a 20 minute pre-hab workout. A nice relaxing walk back to hotel and then we were scheduled for a video session. We watched the video and then we went to lunch.

Lunch was a beautiful (and I mean frickin fantastic) tomato soup with onion, carrot and rice. PHENOMENAL. Add a salad and some pasta with beef and a beefy sauce and we were good to go.

Right after lunch I watched film with one of the post players on things she could do to improve. One of the strengths of this new software program we are using is the ability to really pinpoint things so I am enjoying working with it.

After the video session I went back to my room to relax. Had about 2.5 hours to departure for the game. I did some work then watched some TV shows I had on my laptop. After a little time with that I decided that, even though we are not in Spain, a siesta was in order. A nice power nap for 40 minutes hit the spot. Got showered up after the nap and decided to head next door to that little grocery store next to the hotel. Hoping to get some little cookies and chocolate to take back to Canada. Everything is SO CHEAP here. One of the staff members bought a tall can of beer for 84 cents Canadian. A 500ml pop is about 75 cents. Unfortunately for me I forgot it was Sunday and the grocery store closed at 2pm on Sunday. Maybe tomorrow morning before we leave.

Headed to game at 4:20. We had a good pre-game meeting and a good warm up. As the announcer was introducing the starting lineups the lights went out. Deja Vu perhaps. In 2009 in the University Games we were in the same gym. We were beating Turkey and playing well then just before half the lights went out. After that the wheels came off and Turkey pounded us. Could this be a bad omen??
We came out playing well and it seemed as though Italy was frustrated with us. We were missing 2 big pieces of our lineup and another girl played little off the bench as she was sick all morning in bed. We battled hard and got a little lead. We fell asleep a little bit and didn't do what we were supposed to do defensively. Italy came back a little bit and we were in a tight game. Up 2 after first quarter. The game got sluggish in the 2nd quarter as both teams struggled to score but our defense really turned up. Half time was 23-20 for us. We made some adjustments and came out playing better defense and offense. We built a small lead at 38-30 to end the third quarter. We hit a free throw to go up 9 to start the 4th quarter. Uh oh could this be the lights going out trick again??? Within 3 minutes we called timeout with the game tied at 40. They were hitting shots and our offense was out of sync. 5 minutes left in the game and we were down 8. From up 9 to down 8. Major swing in the game. Time to fold up the tents and go home I guess. LOL. But the reason this program made the Olympics and has succeeded is because of the toughness and heart that goes with being Canadian. Plain and simple we battled our asses off the rest of the way. We made crucial stops, came up with huge hustle plays and outworked them to steal a 52-50 win. A great strategical battle and nice to come up with a win.

After the game we headed home to have dinner and then we had to get back to the gym for closing ceremonies. Dinner started with a nice plate of meat, cheese and potato salad. Very nice prosciutto. Followed with a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers then chicken and rice. The chicken was a little rough.

Headed back to they gym and arrived at halftime of the Montenegro-Serbia game. We were hoping for Serbia because if they won we would be tied in record and win the tournament because we defeated them. All I can say is that the 2nd half of that game was one of the most phenomenal games I have ever witnessed. Great strategy, great plays and VERY VERY physical. In the end Montenegro won by 2 so we finished 2nd in the tourney. The girls accepted a very nice trophy after the game.

Walking back to the hotel we got caught in a downpour. It wasn't cold out so the rain wasn't cool. I didn't hustle out of the rain. In fact I took my time, got soaked and thought to myself "walking in a rainstorm in Serbia, this is awesome!!!" Weird but I really appreciate all of these opportunities. I bought a beverage from a street vendor on the way and the coaches all sat around and chatted until just about midnight. So here I am typing this blog.

Tomorrow we are on our own time. Some of the staff are taking a cab downtown to see the city. Having been here and seen it or "seent it" as we would say at home, I am passing on that. I will get up, have breakfast, drop over to the grocery store and pick up a few treats for home. We leave at 11:45 for the airport and then fly to Paris at 1:55pm. We will have 3 days there to rest and prepare for our toughest challenges. The teams we will face are big time teams. A nice test for us. Hopefully I can win "lucky loonie" like I did when we arrived. A tradition for years in the program, whenever we land you can throw a loonie in the pot and if your bag comes out first you win the pot. 2nd place gets your loonie back. I got a nice little 15 dollar prize.

So what can I say about the Serbian experience part 2. It was great. Food was nice, basketball was very good and the people are tremendously friendly. A good 3 days. To the organizers, our hotel staff and the people here I would say Hvalla. As I did in 2009 when I left Serbia, I will say to Mom who follows the blog every day, Volim Te

Until Paris.........

National Team 2013 - Phase 1 - Day 16

Day 16 is complete. 5th game complete. Sitting here listening to the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". Might be all that could be said about our game today but I will elaborate.

Started with an early breakfast. International breakfasts always seem to throw you a curveball now and again. Today was no exception. Still had eggs, cheeses, meats, mixed veggies, sausage but also a few curves. A wonderful Spinach and cheese phyllo pastry. Fried cheese and deep fried polenta were an interesting twist. Follow that up with potato salad that was heavy on the mayo and rice salad (almost exactly like potato salad with veggies and meat). Last curveball coming across the plate. One I never thought I would see. Deep fried cucumbers. A very interesting breakfast choice. I must say that the food has been pretty good here and the people at the restaurant are very accommodating and very friendly.

After breakfast we had a shootaround practice at 10AM which was a very relaxed practice going through some things to expect tonight. After practice we walked back and I had about an hour to pick out a few defensive clips from last night that weren't so good. Lunch was at 12:30. A nice veggie soup to start with coleslaw to follow. Then we had cheesy potatoes, veggies and chicken schnitzel. Quite good. They also brought is cherry danish to bring to our meeting right after lunch.
We watched some video and the first bad sign of the day. The players looked tired and one seemed to be drifting off to sleep during the session.

We left the session and had a few hours before we left for the game. I finished up our scouting report video for Italy for tomorrow. I also put my head on the pillow and woke up 45 minutes later. A nice refreshing nap. Up in time to get a shower and get ready to head to the game.

Game started at 5:30. We never really showed up. Tried in spots but Montenegro is a veteran team. Very physical and very smart. They dominated us defensively and we couldn't seem to get enough stops to start a run of our own. We ended up losing very badly, 75-46. We just couldn't score. We were without a key piece as Natalie Achonwa is hurt and was scheduled to head back to summer school after this part of the trip. The other bad part for us is that our best player, Kim Smith, leaves tomorrow as she has to be home for an important meeting. We will be without 2 of our top players when we go to France. We only play 3 of the top teams in the world there. YIKES.

We walked home after the game and headed to dinner. It was a nice rice dish for starters then a vinegary salad. Tomatoes and lettuce. Very very tasty. Then they gave us a large "beefsteak" or basically an XXXL Hamburger with potatoes that were just like tater tots but better. A banana for breakfast and we were done.

The coaches met for about an hour to review the Italy video and plan our attack for tomorrow. There is not a lot that can be done without a lot of practice at this point but we will try and clean things up. Our breakfast is 8am and shootaround is 9am. An early morning is coming so now I must go.

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