National Team 2014 - Journey to Taiwan - Final Day

Well day 7 is over and where do I begin.

How about the usual....Breakfast. Had an omelet this morning with some hash browns. Also had some noodles today which were quite good but they only serve them with breakfast. Also I went back at the chef special again but this time it was a good 50-50 call. Pork type meatball type things with a curry flavour - GOOD. Pork something wrapped in something orange with something orangish in the middle. No other words to describe it - BAD. To the rescue, a custard bun.

After breakfast we had a film session which went well as we prepped for the USA. A little bit of rest for a while and then off to our light lunch. Mushroom soup, small bit of beef and pasta, edamame (which were great) and then for punishment, back to the chef special. Lightly shaved chicken this time. Not bad but not great. 

We headed quickly to our room afterward to get ready for the game as departure was 1pm. We were at the gym early and got to get a lot of shots up to prepare. I thought we had a pretty good feeling prior to the game. We started playing fairly flat defensively and that was a bad sign. Shots started to miss more often than not and we were struggling. Then the wind was taken out of our sails. Our big time spark plug Adut Bulgak went down with a knee injury. We were deflated. We limped through the rest of the half like she limped off the floor. Luckily for us, it was like her injury. It looked worse than it was. 

We went into the half down by 2. I simply told the girls the adjustments we had to make without getting too angry. When I returned to the bench I gathered them in and told them I wasn't going to yell at them to motivate them. They were national team athletes. I then challenged them for one more "dig down". 20 last minutes of relentless. I then told them to think about a team building activity we had completed about energy and flicking a switch. Told them relentless was pushing hard for one more sprint or crashing the glass for one more rebound, doing the extra effort things that get us one more stop. I certainly didn't want to end with a loss to the USA Select team and I was pretty sure the girls didn't want to either. 

Well the next 20 minutes were fun to watch. Bing, bang, boom - up 5 then up 10. Hustle plays and extra passes - up 15 then up 20. Unselfish basketball all the way and we coasted to a 24 point win and the Jones Cup championship. A tremendous feeling. We had worked so hard in training camp and battled so hard in the games and we were finally rewarded. Just an unbelievably proud feeling. Once again I was whisked away to the press room where I was asked about the experience and how it felt to win. I told them how great everything was here and how great the competition. A great experience for our girls.

Needless to say the bus ride back to the hotel was rocking and boy did it sound good. The girls were singing and laughing and having a blast.

Once we arrived at the hotel we headed for dinner. Pasta with cream sauce - Good. Grilled chicken - very good. Potato salad - good. Chicken lump - average LOL. and a little bit of celebratory ice cream - Awesome. We had to get our food quickly because we had to have 2 meetings with the twins as they had to fly home tonight. The meetings went well and then we scrambled back to our room to get dressed for the closing ceremonies. We got back on the bus and drove back to they gym. Another 30 minute drive. Lots of time on the bus this week. As we drove we asked our guide Allison some questions about Taipei and the startling answer was that many people work in Taipei for around $4 an hour in many jobs. Things cost less here but some people make a lot less too. Interesting. 

When we arrived we watched the finish of the Taipei-Korea game which was exciting. Some fans were coming by and taking pics with the athletes. To my left I notice 2 girls standing there and they are approximately 11 or 12 years old. Well here I go again. I take out a coin from Taiwan and I ask one girl to hold out her hand. Of course it changes into a loonie and she is astonished. Then is disappears and reappears and disappears and reappears. She is smiling like she just won the lottery. She looked at me and nodded her head in approval. I always find some child who can't speak English in these countries and then I let magic take over. As I have said before, so fun to see the joy on the face of a child from just a little bit of sleight of hand.

So the game ended and we headed onto the court for the ceremony. Very quick and then lots and lots of pictures. Great to see the girls get the trophy and celebrate with their medals. We then hurried them as best we could to get to the night market. We would have 1.5 hours there. The market itself was impressive. Stalls everywhere. Down every little alley and everything was there. The first thing you notice is the heat and humidity and then the smells hit you. Quite an impressive array of smelly things. I wasn't having a whole lot of success finding things and we tried negotiating at a few places but they wouldn't give us the price we wanted. We walked in and out of stores and kiosks and stalls and weren't coming up with much. We came along one row that turned into all food places. That was an interesting bombardment of the senses. Some smells just turn your stomach and then you see the fried chicken feet, the crispy fried full squid and things like that. not too yummy in my book. 

It was almost 11:30 and Jeff, Michele and I were headed back but we all wanted to see if we could get Beats Headphones or fake ones for a cheap price. We bartered back and forth with this guy and he eventually sold us 7 pair for around $38 each. They are fake as a $3 bill but look identical and sound pretty good. I just wanted to say that I bought them at the market in Taiwan. We then scurried along to head back to the bus and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Archie Neil and his cousin Terrence running down an alley way but that is a STORY for another time :)

Back on the bus and sweating we headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow we have meetings beginning at 11 with the players then we depart the hotel at 2:30 to go to the airport. We fly at 6:40 tomorrow night and arrive at 8:40pm in Toronto. A 14 hour flight that lands 2 hours later than it left. Always fun and I haven't even begun to pack. Save that for tomorrow I guess.

So where do I start to wrap this up. It has been an incredible experience for me. I learned so much during training camp and I loved how hard the girls worked. Once we got here to Taiwan things were great. The food has been OK. The hotel is awesome. The competition was phenomenal and the people were so incredibly friendly here. Maybe the only thing I truly disliked was the stifling heat. Too much for me :)   Taipei is a clean city and has a feeling of safety everywhere you go. It has just been a beautiful time here. 

My last few years as coach with the national program have seen some struggles. Maybe we didn't have the right type of players and sometimes had some staff issues. This year the staff has been phenomenal and the players have been outstanding. It has finally felt like a legit national team as these ladies are potential 2020 Olympians. I am incredibly proud to represent my country and coach with this program as you could probably tell if you followed along on this journey. 

It is almost 2AM here so I need to get off and get some sleep. I thought about not writing this blog this year. Just wondered if it was worth it but for the last 7 years I have typed every night to share all of my experiences with my mom and take her around the world with me. It really didn't matter if everyone else read it. I just wanted her to get the chance to experience the world.  But all those years in the background was another inspiration for me who quietly cheered and wanted to see me succeed. My step-dad has taught me more about being a man and a father than he will ever know. Now that he is facing his toughest opponent I want him to know how thankful I am for him coming on this ride with me too. 

So for those who kept plugging along through the endless amount of drivel, thanks for reading. To the best parents I could ever ask for, I will see you soon

GO CANADA GO

Until next time...........