National Team 2014 - Journey to Taiwan - Day 4

Well day 4 has come and gone. A busy but good day

Up probably a little too early today but that gave me time to work on some email and catch up on some things. Headed down to team breakfast around 8:30.
The food is getting predictable as I had a cheese omelet, bacon, some bread, something that looked and tasted similar to onion rings but they weren't, some "breakfast noodles" and some fabulous coffee. I must say that the coffee has been a surprise. Very good.

After breakfast we had a film session but first, I had a discussion with the girls. It was a one sided discussion about what it takes to be a national team athlete. We discussed hydration. Something we stressed all throughout training camp but I think was forgotten in the first 2 days here. Next I discussed nutrition and how we have to eat properly to fuel our bodies instead of the fries and other fried foods people have been having. As one of our senior players said once, "we are national team athletes. it is our job to eat". I explained how they must find the right foods no matter what the situation. I mentioned to them that the USA team has been here for 2 days and already were complaining about the food and that they went in search of food they wanted from home. One of our staff members heard that they were complaining and went to find junk food like McDonalds. This is typical behaviour of almost every US team I have observed at an event. I told our girls that we don't whine about things as a national team athlete, we find solutions. 
I then talked to them about watching game film. Something we are really trying to build in our culture. Not one of the girls watched film after last nights game. They spent their time chatting with friends and family back home. I then explained what a senior team athlete does and how much film they watch. I think the message got through to them.

After this "discussion" we watched film and discussed our strategy for today's game. 

We had a quick lunch at 11:30. Predictable again. Small bowl of soup, spoon full of rice, spoon full of pasta and you can't beat good old fried chicken lump. 

We hit the bus at 12:45 thinking it would take a while to get to the gym. Very little traffic today so we arrived at 1:15. I thought it was quite early but the girls were able to get some shots up to prepare. As the game started we played with good energy. We were executing fairly well and playing decent defense early and took the lead. Throughout the first quarter were doing a lot of good things. We struggled a bit during the second quarter but managed to play well enough to hold a 43-34 lead at the half.
The second half saw us struggle a little in the 3rd quarter and the game tightened up a bit. They outscored us in the third but we were hanging on to a 57-51 lead at the break. The 4th quarter was a different story. We battled hard, made good adjustments and forced their non 3 pt shooters to take shots. We rebounded hard, made some timely shots and were phenomenal on D for longer stretches. We held them to 7 in the 4th and won 79-58. A really good feeling to win that one. Something about looking up to the scoreboard and seeing Canada on the winning side. What a great feeling of pride.

After the game I was off to the media centre where I was asked some different questions but it was fun. A really nice touch for the athletes to go to this. The table has a nice backdrop, our team name is up front and the media is sitting in front of us with TV Cameras and voice recorders. A great way for the girls to practice their media skills. 

On the way home the girls were quite happy and singing out loud which was great. Nice to hear a happy bus. Plus you always have to enjoy the victories when you can. 

Once we arrived home I got changed into shorts (coaching in long pants in Taipei in August is for the birds) and went down to dinner. Guess what. More cream chowder and fried chicken lump. I also tried a little beef ghoulash and some rice. Finished off with some of the best ice cream in the world :)
I even convinced Karly Roser to try some and she liked it. By the way, Hi Mrs. Roser, I heard you were along for the journey. Welcome :)

After dinner, the life of the coach continued. Off to watch film. It's what we do. We watched for about and hour and then came back to our room. We made some of the game plan for tomorrow but before bed I will watch again and tidy up a few things. Always lots more to do to prepare but whenever you have a group of young ladies who are so nice and work hard and listen so well it makes it a little easier to do.

So off I go to some more film. Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling tomorrow. A bigger challenge for sure but we can accomplish it. If we keep working hard and improving I will be pleased. Lots of potential in this group and I am happy to try and help them reach it.

Until tomorrow........