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................