National team 2014 - Journey to Taiwan - Day 6

Well Day 6 has come and gone. Another warm day in Taiwan and it has been an interesting, long day.

Started off with breakfast of an omelet, hash browns, a strip of bad chewy bacon, a nice raspberry yogurt and a custard bun. I am learning not to try the chef special for the most part. After breakfast we headed to our shooting practice. I thought it went pretty well and we were able to clean up some things for tonight's game as well as tomorrow's.

Came back from practice and went straight to our light lunch. I had a nice cream of mushroom soup, a small piece of fried fish, a small bit of beef and I went for the chef's special again. I just don't learn I guess. However this time it was a sweet potato puff with a filling. The filling was a root vegetable that I cannot pronounce properly but it wasn't bad. 

Had an hour after lunch to relax before our video session. I watched the film again to get ready. The film session was quick and went well. Seemed like the girls were focused which was good.

After the film I came back and relaxed for the 2 hours we had before departure. I watched the scout film one more time and then watched a few episodes of the best TV show on earth - COPS. Many would laugh but it is the first reality show and the only real one with no scripts or dramatic extras. COPS. Try it. You'll like it. Actually if I had to pick the best show on earth Cops is close but it doesn't touch Family Guy or Seinfeld or Switchback (where someone could actually win a case of canned peas) but that is an argument for another time. 

We headed to the game around 4:45. It takes a while to get to the gym but today there wasn't as much traffic so we were able to get there early. Along the way there were a lot of scooters out and about. There were lots of people using the parks or shopping at little markets. We stopped in traffic near a little market and I watched a man shaving bamboo stalks. He was skinning them and cutting off little pieces. Apparently they crush them and make fresh bamboo juice. Apparently good for you. One thing I could say about Taipei after all our different rides back and forth is that the city is quite clean and there are lots of park spaces and trees. They really seem to take care of the city. After meeting so many people here though I am not surprised. They are so friendly here. 

Just a small stoplight crew of scooters

So on to game time. Playing Taipei would be no easy task. They are well coached and very skilled. We came out in the first half and it was just a scoring display each way for a bit. Neither one of us could stop the other. It was a sloppy affair for most of the half and we were playing pretty poorly but managed to hold on to a 38-32 lead. We were winning and playing bad so that wasn't bad. Our third quarter was much better but we still struggled to score against their zone. We made a little bit of a spurt and got up by 10 or 12. In the end of the third they came back and pulled closer and in the 4th it was another ugly dog fight. We got up by 9 and scrapped down the stretch. Eventually we held on to win 73-70. As I said to our coaches, that game fell out of the ugly tree and never missed a branch but sometimes you need to win that way. The girls are learning how to control their emotions and play in different situations which is important to learn for their development. More importantly they are learning to win and be relentless. Down the stretch I looked in their eyes during all the timeouts and they never showed me one bit of doubt. Very pleased with how they are playing for each other. So we are now 4-0 in the tourney and our goal is to go 5-0 and come home with a trophy. Tomorrow we play the USA Select team at 3pm so hopefully we can take care of business.

After the game I had to do the media conference which is actually fun. As a number of people have told me, when I get behind a mic I am full of crap and can talk forever so I don't mind them. Once the conference was finished we went and talked as a team. Talked about the good things today and how to re-focus for tomorrow. When we left the locker room we had a pile of fans wanting to take pictures so we hung around for a few minutes. It is a neat experience for the girls and I enjoyed watching them. The bus was boisterous once again which is not a bad feeling.

Back at the hotel we went immediately to supper. More mushroom soup, "Fried British", Chicken Lump and pasta. Finished with a scoop of Creme Brûlée ice cream by Swiss Ice Cream company Movenpick. Holy Cow it is awesome. 

So off to bed now after reviewing the film. A big day tomorrow with much left to do. I will wrap up another year of the blog tomorrow.

Until then .......