Our first WIN!

We beat Portugal today 53-47!!! It was such a great feeling to finally get a win. The girls played the hardest that I have ever seen them play. They were sacrificing their bodies for loose balls, they were going to the basket stronger than I have ever seen before! It was awesome! They were finally playing like the team that came back from 20 down in Estonia and the team that beat Greece in the first test game! If we can keep playing like this I really think that we still have a chance to make some noise in this tournament.

Not very Hungary

We lost again today 47 to 63 Hungary just really outplayed us, not because they were any better or did anything special, they just wanted it more than we did. Excuse the pun but they were just Hungrier than we were. They were beating us to loose balls and just out working us. It was really frustrating for everyone. We have worked way to hard to get to this point and then lose because we are being out hustled and outworked, not outplayed.

We need to find the team that was down 20 against Estonia, we need to fight like that team again.

Let the games begin

Last night all the teams gathered in town for the Opening Ceremonies of the tournament. They had some traditional Macedonian dancing and then all the teams were announced. It was pretty cool.

We ended up losing to Greece 59-71 today. They pressed us for a majority of the game, which they had not done in either of the two test games. We just did not handle the pressure the way that we should have, we got rattled at the beginning and never really recovered. It is disappointing because we had played so well against them in Thessaloniki and we were really counting on being able to beat them and start off the tournament with a win.

But there is no time to sulk about it, we play Hungary tomorrow, which will be a tough game as well. We need to move on from today and focus on tomorrow.

The Europeans at last....

Well we are finally here, all the preparation and everything we have been doing these past 4 weeks leads up to this. There are 11 teams in the Division B tournament, split into two groups.
Great Britain
Portugal
Greece
Belgium
Hungary
Austria

Romania
Slovakia
FYR of Macedonia
Netherlands
Israel

The way it works is you play everyone in your group once and the top four teams out of each group make it to the second round. In the second round you play a quarter final cross over game with someone from the other group. From there semifinals and then a final.

The two finalists get promoted to Division A. We need to win at least 2 games to give ourselves a chance to advance.

This morning there was a technical meeting where you go over everything for the tournament. There you have to present the commissioner with all of the player’s passports, FIBA player license cards, and a list from FIBA of all of the approved players. You also present your home and away kit and shooting shirt to show that it has the FIBA Europe logo sewn onto it and is the color it should be. Once you do all of that you are cleared for competition.

We then had a practice session later that night and prepared for our game against Greece the next day. It will be a tough game after we have already played them twice in the last 4 days, but our girls know that they can be beaten. They just have to do it for a second time.

Border Patrol

Well we lost our second game to the Greek U20’s 42-49. It was a really good game and the girls played really hard, but we just could not pull it out. Greece hit two back-to-back 3 pointers that sealed the win for them.

The next day we set off for Macedonia on the bus with the Greek team. This trip ended up being a lot more interesting than intended. Just to give you a bit of back round information, Greece and Macedonia do not get a long.....at all. It's a long and complicated story, but it has to do with Macedonia stealing their name from the region of Macedonia where Thessaloniki is located.

The bus ride was going just fine until we got to the border. One of our girls is from Bermuda, which is a British colony, however apparently Bermuda is not recognized as being a part of the European Union like the Untied Kingdom. So the Macedonian border patrol did not want to let her through. They said that she needed a Visa to enter the country and that we would have to go back to Thessaloniki to get the Visa. This was going to be a big problem. So after 3 hours of debating and making phone calls, they finally let her through. The Greek staff that we were traveling with got in touch with someone from the Macedonian Federation and had them call the border. We definitely owe them for that one. So 8 hours later we finally arrived in Ohrid, Macedonia…..it was quite the day!

A Husky fan in Thessaloniki

During our morning shoot around there was a young man at the gym who had a University of Washington t-shit on. Since I am originally from Seattle, I recognized it straight away. It is definitely a t-shirt you don’t see everyday, especially not in Europe, so I had to investigate. So after shoot around I went over and spoke with him and found out that University of Washington Men’s Basketball team had come there to play his team last summer and that they had given them all t-shirts as gifts. It was pretty cool and of course I had to document this encounter…..definitely a small world.

1-0 in Greece!

We are now in Thessaloniki, Greece for two test games against the Greek U20’s team. They are also staying in the same hotel as us while we are here, and we will take a bus with them to Macedonia.

Apparently we will be taking the bus with them a lot more than we thought, as we had to ride to the game today with them in the same bus. It really was not that big of a deal, but back home you would never have that happen, it would be absolutely unheard of.

We did however get a huge win 48-38. I think we really surprised them and held our composure the entire game. Great Britain traditionally has not done well against Greece, so even though the game was just a test match and did not really count for anything, it really meant a lot for our team’s moral. I really think that they are starting to get more confidence in themselves and really starting to believe that they can achieve what they have set out to achieve. Believing is half the battle and I really think they are truly starting to believe.

Wimbledon

So after Estonia we had two more days off before heading to Greece and from Greece to Macedonia where the tournament is taking place. We again had fly out of London but this time our flight was leaving at 8:30 am which meant that we were meeting at 6 am. So all of the girls that live in the North of England needed to come down a night early and stay in a hotel next to the airport. So Kelsey, Charlotte and I decided that we would go down early so that we could try and get into Wimbledon.

So we caught the train from Manchester down to London. Then once we got down to London we had to get the tube (London’s underground transportation system) to Victoria Station where we were going to leave our luggage. This turned out to be quite the task. We had four big rolling duffle bags with our backpacks and a box. Not the easiest things to carry around. A broken escalator, and a wrong tube stop later we were finally at Wimbledon. We had to get in “The Queue” (the line) because we did not have any tickets. After two hours of queuing and 14 pounds (about $23.00 US dollars) later we were in!!!!

We did not have tickets to any of the matches, we would have had to queue again if we wanted to do that. So we just wandered around, and we even stumbled into Venus and Serena Williams playing doubles. That was pretty cool. Then we sat on Henman Hill and watched Andy Murray v Stanislas Wawrinka on the big screen. We wandered around some more and went in the Wimbledon shop. Then we decided to head back before the Murray match was over to avoid the crowds. We grabbed some dinner at a pub by the train station and watched the end of the Murray match on tv. It was a nail bitter for sure, but Murray was able to pull it out. Then it was time to head to our hotel. We were definitely knackered (tired in American) but it was well worth it. Definitely a great day!

Coming togehter in Tallinn

We played our last game in Estonia today and unfortunately lost big 47-86. Not quite sure what happened between yesterday and today, but it just was not the same team out there. Estonia came out ready to fight and we hung with them for a while but just could not keep it up. Tonight we took the girls out into town, because they had not really gotten the chance to properly see anything since we have been here.

We had a good night around the city and then we found a place to sit down a have a little team meeting. Sergio basically told the team that he felt like he had let them down during the game. I thought that it was really good for the girls, because it is not often that you get the head coach to step and say “my bad.” I thought it really showed the human side of him and that as a coaching staff we are not perfect and we still have a lot of growing to do ourselves. I think that we can leave Estonia with a positive feeling, knowing that we have really grown and come together as a team while we have been here.

A win in the Stag-do capital of Europe

So apparently Tallinn is the stag-do capital of Europe (for my Americans this means bachelor party central). There were about three different groups of them on our flight over here. Not quite sure why it is, I guess that Tallinn is known for its nightlife.

We played our second game today and WON 79-73! It was pretty cool, and a big feat for us, because it was a Senior team and not just an U20 team. The girls did so well, and really played as a team. At one point in the game we were down as much as 20 points and they scrapped their way back. It was a pretty awesome to see how hard they fought. We have got to keep building on this and not look back!

Headed to Estonia

We are now in Tallinn, Estonia for three test games against the Estonian Senior Women’s Team. Today we had to go straight from the airport to our game because it is some National Holiday in Estonia so that was the only time that we could play the game.
It became quit the adventure when we could barely fit into the mini bus that picked us up. We got dropped off at the wrong spot and had to go searching for the entrance of the gym hauling all of our stuff with us. Then once we finally got to the gym we only had about 20 minutes to warm up.
We ended up loosing 58-78 but I thought that the girls gave a really good effort. They fought through a lot of adversity today and never complained once. This was a loss that we can build from.

Goodbye Leigh!!

We are now at the end of week two of training camp which means we have to say goodbye to our amazing home here in Leigh. It has been such a great experience here we could not have asked for anything more from the sports hall and the hotel staff. Especially our boys in the kitchen, they were awesome.

We played two practice games against the Great Britain World University Games Team, who have been training with the Senior Women’s Team. It was a really good test for our girls. It went similar to the Ireland games. We played really well on the Saturday but still lost and then did not play well today, and ended up losing by about 20. We also had to narrow the team down to the 12 players that we will be taking to Estonia. The girls now have two days off and we will be getting back together in London to depart for our three test games in Estonia.

A two week pre-season and ice baths

I have decided that our training camp in Leigh is like a complete college basketball preseason all rolled into two weeks. I had no idea how difficult it was going to be to get a group of girls to gel and learn how to play together in two weeks. While at the same time introducing all the technical aspects and offensive and defensive schemes. There is no way to fit it all in with such a short time line so as a staff we have to decide the things that we have time to work on and the things we don’t.

I am so accustom to having an entire preseason to prepare, both as a player and now as a coach. Trying to squeeze it all into two weeks has definitely been a challenge. However I am sure my girls back at San Jose State would not mind preseason only being two weeks long.

Today was ice bath day.! Everyone got in a bath tube full of ice and water and had to stay in for 8-10 minutes each. This actually went over a lot better than expected.

Back to Business!

Well we are back in Leigh after our two day break, and that means back to business. By the end of this week we will have to cut the team down from 14 to 12. This does not have to be the final 12 that will go to the European Championships in Macedonia, but it needs to be the 12 that we are taking to our test games in Estonia. So this week will definitely be a lot more intense and competitive.

The girls had a hard two sessions today, and afterward decided to do some lactic acid prevention ….... or something like that. Never the less it provided me with a pretty funny picture.

End of week one

We have come to the end of our first week. It has been a hectic and busy week, but it has definitely been good. We ended up splitting the series with Ireland 1-1. We won the first game on Saturday by 6 and ended up losing by 20 on Sunday. I am not quite sure what happened to us in the second game, we just did not play very well. I am not sure if it was because they were tried or ready for the two day break or what. I just hope that it does not take away from everything that they have done this past week, because they have all come so far in just the little time they have been here.

We now have two days off and most of the girls are headed home. I am heading to the Great Britain Senior Team’s hotel in Manchester to stay there and help them out for a couple days.

Here come the Irish.....and I am not talking about Notre Dame

We are nearing the end of our first week of training camp. We have been holding two training sessions a day with some strength and conditioning in the morning. Things have gone really well and the girls are starting to gel as a team a little more. This weekend will be a good test for them as we are playing two practice games against the Ireland U20's team. They are flying in today and staying at our hotel for the weekend. It will be a good chance to play against someone other than ourselves and be able to see where we are at after the first week.

Burn Your Boats

Burn Your Boats! That is the slogan for our team this summer. I actually stole the idea from the University of Michigan Men's Basketball Team. My little sister was their student athletic trainer this past year and she told me the story of how and why they used that slogan to finish out their season. The story is told perfectly in this video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlNngcDNFS0&feature=related

The reason it really applies to our team is because no U20's team has ever qualified to advance to Division A. Right now our team is in Division B. So in order to get there, this team has to do things that they have never done to get things that they have never had. If we continue to do what all the teams have done in the past then we will get the same results that they have. So it is a truly motivating story that I hope the girls can really embrace and make their own.

Driving on the wrong side of the road

I am still trying to get my feet wet with all of my responsibilities, and one of those happens to be the laundry. Well the hotel wanted to charge us a fortune for them to do it, so I had to find another way to get the job done. I got directions to a launderette (laundromat in American) somewhere in the Leigh town center and thankfully Sergio was able to put me on his car insurance.

So I was all set to head off on my laundry adventure when I remembered that Sergio's car was a manual and I was in England. Driving in England equals sitting on the other side of the car while driving on the other side of the road. It also means roundabouts (see above diagram) which are used instead of traffic lights at a large amount of England's intersections. All of these different elements combined can be very stressful. Luckily I learned how to drive a manual within a week or two of coming over to play for the Mystics. Remembering what side of the road to drive on and what to do at a roundabout took me a little bit longer to master.

Needless to say I felt a little nervous driving in England again after I have been driving an automatic back in America for the last year, but I managed to get myself to the launderette and back, while only stalling the car once and driving on the other side of the road twice. Definitely a success in my book. Seeing as I'll be driving the laundry twice a day for the next two weeks, I am sure I will dust the rust off pretty quickly.

Day 1-Start of Training Camp

Today was the first day of Training camp, and my first chance to meet all of the girls. I know two of the girls in camp (Kelsey and Charlotte) from playing with them on the Mystics and I know a couple of the other girls from playing against them, but it was really good to get to meet them properly and put some names with faces.

We had lunch, gave out the kit and had a team meeting. Then Adidas, who is our team sponsor, came in and everyone got fitted for basketball and running shoes.

Then it was time for our first training session. The best thing about where we are staying is that the sports hall (or gym for my Americans) is literally right across the street. Very convenient.

I thought that the session went well and that we could have a pretty good team. However I have yet to know what the competition will be like, so it is hard to judge this early. But I do believe that we have the right group of people for the job.

Sorting the "kit"......

After arriving at Manchester airport I went straight to the U20's training camp location which is in Leigh...about 20 minutes outside of Manchester. From there Trudie and I had the job of sorting out the "kit". For my American friends "kit" is basically your gear and can be used to describe anything from your practice jersey/ shorts to your game jersey/shorts and pretty much anything in between. The word "jersey" in England would describe something more like a vest top....strange I know...but just go with it.

After that we traveled back to Manchester where the Great Britain Senior and World University Games Team camp is located. Trudie and I helped do the same with their kit, which proved to be quite the task as there are 26 girls in their training camp.

Then it was time for a staff dinner, that I could barely keep my eyes open at due the jet lag.

Definitely time for me to go to bed and get rested for the first day of camp! Really excited to meet all the girls tomorrow!

Reunited and it feels so good....

Manchester, England here I come! I am off to my old stopping grounds where I spent two seasons playing with the Manchester Mystics. However this time I am coming back for a different reason. I am starting a new adventure as the Assistant Coach/Team Manager for the Great Britain Under 20's National Team. I will be reunited with Sergio Lara-Bercial who was the Head Coach of the Mystics during my two seasons. It is thanks to him, that I have been offered this amazing opportunity. The two of us along with the third member of our crew, Assistant Coach Trudie Hopgood make up the staff that will be taking a group of 12 girls to the European Championships in Ohrid, Macedonia.

I am excited for the chance to learn and grow as coach, along with the challenges of making everything run as smoothly as possible.