Road to London

Thank you :)

2012-01-12T13:55:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I know I'm kind of late but Happy New Year!! :)

We are about 4 months away from the start of training camp and I spoke to some of the players and I can feel the excitement!

I have made a personal decision to stay in Toronto to train this year leading up to the Olympic Qualifiers. I am grateful for all the help I have been getting from everyone here who has sacrificed their time and services to help me get ready for the big summer ahead of us. It's a bit of a change from being overseas and I have had to make a few adjustments but I feel I made the best decision for me and I am happy with the way things have turned out.

We are all so thankful for the support we get as a team and as individuals. Without all the support we could not be the team and program we are today. We are escpecially grateful for all of you who take interest in our team and follow us on our path to greatness!

Alisha

Hello from the USA!

2012-01-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

Hey All!

Here is a little update on my life! (which has been crazyy busy but wonderful!)

I have decided to take somewhat of a non-traditional path in comparison to my teammates and instead of returning overseas I am pursuing my Masters and training in the USA! for now.. haha :)

I am doing a million things at once but somehow managing to not stress out because I am really loving everything I am doing.

Let me preface by outlining my major commitments:
1. Training
2. Full Time Masters Student (Exercise Science)
3. Graduate Assistant for the Faculty/Staff Wellness Program
4. UD Women's Basketball Head Strength and Conditioning Coach
5. Hostess and soon to be Server at Jimmy's Ladder 11 Restaurant and Bar

SO for those of you looking at that list in confusion let me explain one by one.

1. My training has been going really great..finally. When I arrived back from the university games my back was a little tight and a little sore, well I figured 4 days rest would suffice and then started back full go. Not smart! Within a couple of weeks it was getting worse so for a week or so then I took 2 days off. Then I tried to modify my workouts to "take it easy" and after a couple weeks of this I could barely walk because my back seized up so badly. At this point I woke up out of my stupidity and got on a physio program and took some time off. I worked with a physio team here in Dayton, Ohio on a slow, progressive recovery program with the goal of nipping my back issues in the butt instead of struggling through workouts all year. Success! I returned to the court in December and have been beating up on a few guys in a Men’s League! Dayton really is a magnificent set-up for me training wise with the facilities and access to people to train with.

2. I am in love with my courses and so happy to be back in school! Straight A’s my first semester! I have been thinking about doing my Doctorate at U of M (Where Krista went for her Undergrad!) after I am done. But back to the present: I am going to be a TA for the Anatomy lab course this semester and dissecting cadavers! (SERIOUSLY exciting)!

3. My Graduate Assistant Position is really great. Basically I organize all the classes and events for faculty and staff that have to do with health. We offer all sorts of classes for our faculty/staff (like yoga, pilates, spinning, body sculp, etc.) for a really cheap price (1$ per class, 20/ semester). We also offer health risk screenings that measure blood pressure and cholesterol and we do mammograms and flu shots and audiology and glaucoma screenings. I just think it is a really great program that reaches a lot of people and I love being a part of helping our campus become healthier. We also offer lectures on topics like “10 simple steps to making healthy eating more delicious” and part of my position is to teach the fac/staff strength and conditioning class and I am also picking up the fac/staff walking club this semester too!

4. This was very unexpected and crazy. To tell it quickly, the women’s team got a new strength coach this year that was not working out and the head coach asked if I could do the girls team strength and conditioning and I accepted. It is going really well and the girls are making some great improvements in the weight room.

5. So I am doing all these things but not getting paid a lot to do them. So in the meantime I am the hostess at a restaurant on weeknights!

SO as I said life is crazy but because I am enjoying everything I am doing it is great! I’ll keep everyone posted on all the excitement next semester brings!

Bye for now and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Kendel

Litho land update!

2011-12-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

So Kim started us off very nicely with an update, so I will try my best to follow it up.

After qualifiers, I was home for two days and then flew back to Lithuania to play for Vici Aistes for my second year. The first month was pretty hectic as we had road games for the first three weeks, so I was on a plane for what felt like all of October!

My team has not been doing as well as we would like, and are 1-7 in euroleague right now. For the most part we are staying positive and trying to get better everyday! Our team has no WNBA stars or real big European stars, so when you are going up against Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker, or Tina Charles on a weekly basis it is a bit difficult.

The good thing about this tough competition, is I am getting to play the best in the world, and work on my skills so when it comes to qualifiers next summer I am playing the best I can! (I cannot wait to get back with Canada, and help achieve our goals)!

Outside of basketball I have been really enjoying my friends over here in Lithuania, and glad I have had the opportunity to see more unique places in the world!

Thats all for me!

Courtnay

Happy December!

2011-12-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

Hello fans!

Kim Smith here going to give you a little update on my life since qualifiers. I choose not to go overseas right away... my body is old! It has taken me a few years to realize that I maybe can't play year round at a high level. I want to do whatever I need to do to be ready for June 25th. Speaking of playing while you are older I ran into some amazing ballers today at the gym. A team of 8 ladies all over 70 running an early Friday morning practice. It was quite a treat to watch them play a little 3 on 3, they played hard I even saw a little blood from some scratches! They placed 6th in their age group at nationals last year and are training for them again this year. They get together every Friday morning for practices. They were a pretty amazing group of women who grew up before title nine and were never afforded the privileges we have become accustomed to. They love playing the game and their enthusiasm was quite contagious.

The first month following qualifiers I stayed away from the gym. It is something I wish I would have done when I was younger but I was pretty crazy back then and my college season and summer season always seemed to overlap. I have found it gives my body a good chance to heal and getting away mentally is also a nice perk. Of course when you are pretty active taking a full month off is near impossible. I found myself stealing bikes from family and friends and going on long bike rides or taking our dog on a hike. Come mid November I couldn't wait to get back in the gym and start working on my game again.

Thanks for checking back with the blog there should be an update from all my teammates so keep hitting up the site to hear all about our individual paths to June 25th!

GO CANADA!!

215 Days until we qualify!

2011-11-23T07:23:00.000-08:00

Liz and Kim coming to you from the Olympic Excellence series in Mississauga, ON. What an amazing experience; words really can't describe but we will do our best! The Olympic Excellence series is held once a year leading up to the Olympics and it features athletes from all different sports, the health sciences team (nutritionists, doctors, physios etc) coaches and all the people who work hard for us at the Canadian Olympic Committee. Including our chef de mission Mark Tewksbury (you may remember him from his gold medal swim in Barcelona). His passion was contagious, every time he talked you wanted to head straight to the gym and start training again. So inspired that despite the 1am bed times Liz and I woke up at 6:15 to take advantage of the yoga classes and went back later in the day to get some cardio and lifting in.

It was inspiring and fascinating chatting with other athletes learning about their training routines, training environments and past experiences at the Olympics. We had a chance to hear from Jon Montgomery, Kristina, Groves, Melissa Hollingsworth, Alex Bilodeau- all successful Vancouver 2010 olympians. They chatted about the disappointments and trials they faced leading up to the games and either the heart break of losing or the euphoria of winning a medal on home soil. We also had a chance to hear from some summer Olympians who spoke of the grandeur of the summer games.

All of the Olympians who spoke touched on different ways the Olympics and competing were a part of their everyday lives. Jon Montgomery (the guy famous for drinking his beer on tv while walking through the streets of Vancouver) said “Gold medal finishes are a part of everything I do, when I go to the bathroom, hey, I am going right for the middle urinal… top of the podium baby!”

One of the most inspirational series was Ernie McCullough a 1948 Olympian who spoke of the games many years ago in London. He is 86 years young and still spoke with so much passion when reminiscing about his Olympic days. Can you believe all the Canadian athletes were crammed on a boat for 7 days and then just jumped right into Olympic competitions! We complain about 12 hour plane rides.

One of the sessions was on the layout of the Olympic village; you want to talk about motivation. We both got goose bumps when they pointed out where the basketball venue is… Right across the street from the Olympic village! We saw pictures of the rooms and exactly where the Canadian house will be.

Mark Tewksbury told us his amazing story and how he was able to get to the podium because one day he thought “Why not me? I have put in the work, why can’t I be the best?”

One of our favorite quotes from the weekend came Adam van Koeverden (the kayaker), he said “You have to act like a kid while you dream-with no limits and fear, but then bring the wisdom of an adult in how you compete-with composure and dedication”.

The last two days were spent working with the media, doing interviews, radio spots and photo shoots. We got our hair and make up done; how great would it be if you had someone to do your hair and make up every day. Not only do you look great but you are ready in about half the time.

We have to give a huge thank you to the Canadian Olympic Committee for putting on this series. There was so many people who worked hard to help get us motivated and give us a little advantage and we appreciate it.

Be sure to check back in regularly as each player will start updating once a month. Giving you all a look into their training and life as we gear up for June 25th!!

As of today, there are 238 days until the Games begin, and 215 days until our qualifier!

Bronze medal.

2011-10-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

We rebounded back from a devastating loss to play a pretty good game against Cuba. Pretty sure nobody on our team got more than a few hours of sleep that night and we knew the game would be a test of our heart and will more than anything else. We talked before the game about this being our last chance to play together in 2011. The game was fairly tight throughout but we never felt like we were going to lose. Cuba made a little run at the end of the game but we scored some buckets to kill their runs and got stops. It was great to end the tournament on a win and we were pretty excited and proud. Then we had to go back to the gym and accept our medals and those feelings of pride and excitement died pretty quickly. Watching another team celebrate felt like a slap in the face, we thought that was going to be us this year. But we are moving on and looking forward to June 25th!

We want to thank all of you so much for following along on our blog and wishing us luck throughout the tournament. We did all we could and sometimes the ball doesn't roll your way. We are going to work our butts off to all improve individually so next summer we will be even better!

We will respond to some of the comments and keep on posting throughout the next week so keep checking back in. Send in any questions if you have any.

2011-10-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

Words really can't describe the feeling we are experiencing. We invested so much time and heart and right now all we are left with is tears. We did pretty much everything we could have done to win the game, and in the end we were unlucky. It was a great game; we were down early and then re-grouped and ferociously fought back to take the lead, but again, they hit a hail mary shot and we were unlucky down the stretch with a few calls. Like everything we do with this programs, we will all learn from this and get better and keep fighting.

This loss was devastating, but the Olympic dream is not over... It will just take a little longer to get there. We have qualified for the pre-Olympic tournament June 25 where we will compete with 11 other teams and 5 will qualify to London from there. The format of that tournament will be four pools of three teams; there will be a round robin and the winner of each pool will directly qualify for the games. Then, the four second place teams will fight it out for the final spot at the games. Keep believing in us... we are going to make this happen!

For today, our focus has to shift to Cuba and beating them for the Bronze medal. Both teams are upset to not be in the finals so this will be a test of character to see who has some fight left in the tank.

2011-09-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

Can't wait for the semi's tomorrow night. We take on Argentina at 6pm local time (4 pacific 7 eastern).

Moving on!!!

2011-09-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

We are moving onto the semi's!! We out rebounded Jamaica 50-24, which was huge their offense is centered around their two low post players and our big players were giants inside tonight. We held the tournaments leading scorer to only a few points all off free throws, she was 0-15! As a team they shot only 28% from the field. Our defense really frustrated them! Great job Canada.

On the offensive end we really came out strong and pushing the ball. We had great contributions scoring from everyone. It was one of our best team efforts. We are really starting to click, you can see that all the hard work over this summer and last is paying off. We are such an unselfish team, we make the extra pass, get our teammates open, help on defense all over the court and really enjoy playing with each other.

One area we need to work on is our turnovers. We have been prone and we need to cut them down. We had 19 tonight but only 7 in the half. We can live with 14 a game but not 19. I think we came out a little over excited tonight which led to a few early turnovers. We only had two in the third quarter, and i feel like this was our best third quarter performance we have had. We normally come out a little sluggish after half, but not today.

Together as a team we have accomplished one of our goals, we have at least qualified for the pre-olympic tournament next June. We aren't stopping there though, we play Argentina in the semi's and we know it is going to be a battle of who wants it more. WE DO!!!

Lets go Canada!

Rest Day

2011-09-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

We practiced today at a local university, it is also the gym where we have had shoot arounds. We walked through Jamaica sets and did a little work on our offense. Not a whole lot of shooting as one basket appears to be crooked and the other one is far back so the lines are off (free throw line= 3 point line). We didn't actually need to shoot today as we have shoot around at the competition gym tomorrow morning before the game.

We had a new bus driver today he was straight from the fast and the furious. We always get to the gym in record time seeing as though there are around 5 cops leading the way. It is pretty sweet although not sure the local community agrees, sirens blaring through your streets 20 times a day could get old pretty fast. The drivers are never unsafe but today there were a few quick brake touches.

The rest of the day will be spent in the treatment room and our beds. A few people may brave the heat and go for a quick walk to pick up some fruits and veggies. The food at this tournament has been outstanding. The chef is pretty amazing, they even grill veggies just for us since we are not allowed the lettuce and other salad stuff.

A win tomorrow and we are guaranteed a shot at London this year or next year!!

2011-09-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

We earned our day off tomorrow. We beat Paraguay today 77-26. Defensively we got some good practice guarding penetration. All of their guards and bigs like to put the ball on the floor and we did a good job of staying home and keeping people in front of us.

Offensively we moved the ball around and had everyone contribute, 20 assists. We still had some stretches where we didn't execute as well as we could have but a great improvement from yesterday. Turnovers were still bad 16 against Paraguay is not acceptable and something we will have to work on against Jamaica.

We are right where we want to be one win away from the semis. We have a day off tomorrow and take on Jamaica Wednesday night!

Thanks for all the comments and support!

Internet sucks

2011-09-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

Alright so if we don't post for days at a time it is because internet is hard to find around these parts. The first few days were magical, you could load shows and talk on skype clearly now it is a struggle. You see all the athletes walking around computers in hand yelling into their mics.

Game today was a great defensive performance by us! If you watch us on tv just watch our defense!! Offensively we really didn't show up, there was no execution we played a little slow and were back on our heels. Tomorrow we are going to work on sweeping the ball and getting people off us so we can be better passers and more of a threat. Our defense kept us in the game for the most part except for a stretch in the 3rd when they hit some deep 3's and we didn't make any baskets.

Regroup tomorrow against Paraguay, we have the early game @ 2:30. We win the next two and we are in the semis.

2011-09-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

Courtney was shat on by a bat!!!Nice win for us tonight. We really came out aggressive on defense in the first half and it showed with the half time score being 35-9. We are a team that feeds off our defense, so with great communication, rotations, and rebounding we were able to run into our offense and get some easy scores to start the game. It was really an unselfish, exciting team effort tonight We started the game moving the ball well and hitting the open man, soon Mexico realized they needed to go into a zone to try take us out of our motion/Princeton offense. Its always a compliment when a team needs to change up their defense because they don’t know how to stop you. Mexico came out of the half fired up and with something to prove. They hit some shots and the game got a little more physical and scrappy. We showed we aren’t a team that is going to back down when people start pushing us around, but I think we also did a great job of keeping our composure. We had a very balanced game with everyone seeing playing time and putting up good numbers in the minutes they were on the court. Liz was perfect from the field scoring 7 pts, and also pulling down 4 brds. Kal was our high scorer tonight knocking down 6 of her 12 shots and scoring from everywhere on the floor for 15pts. Teresa pulled down 6 rebounds and had two nice steals to go along with her 5 pts. It was really a team effort and everyone contributed. We outrebounded Mexico 40-36, and shot 44% from 3
Oh on a side note Courtney did get shat on by a bat in the gym. We were in a timeout and a sure enough on her white warm-up top was a nice little brown bat poop. It was hilarious, she insists it means good luck. Insight to all our followers we have heard that if a bird poops on you its good luck, does the same go for bats?Now time for a leg flush with our awesome trainers, Joanie and Marcel, then off to bed to get ready for our game against Brazil tomorrow.Remember you can watch our games delayed on TSN2.Go CANADA!!!!
Internet wasn't working very well tonight. sorry for the glitches we had to post this via skype.

Game day!

2011-09-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the good luck wishes! We have been comparing our good luck messages from friends and family this morning, some pretty impressive ones! Starting to believe our families and friends are feeling more excited for the tournament to begin than we are!

We had opening ceremonies last night, it was hot! Every team was paraded around the gym with a dancer and music typical to their country. Our dancer wore a pretty gold dress and we walked out to Avril Lavigne. Apparently that is who people associate with Canada! The ceremonies were tevlevised so they finished after one hour which was nice because we were sweating in the gym. It was very well run though, the orgranizing committee had waters for us and a little snack pack with a delicious local fruit that we have not yet figured out the name for.

Off to shoot around now and game time versus Mexico 7pm local time!

GO CANADA!!!

2011-09-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

We were able to check out the gym yesterday it is an open air gym which means hydration will be pretty important for us. It was nice to get a practice in to get used to the heat and humidity. The floor has great bounce although it was a little slippery for our practice, needed a little wash. Think we were the first ones to test out the facility!

Today we were given the 8am practice time which we opted out of. At this point we are prepared and don't need to cram. Waking up at 630am doesn't make sense considering our game is not until 7pm tomorrow that and most of us are not morning people!

Everyone went outside and walked around the city. We stand out quite a bit here so there was a lot of questions and stares on the street. We didn't have anything to worry about though since we had a policeman trailing us wherever we went. The best discovery of the walk was the fresh fruit carts where we could purchase giant avocados and mangoes. After the walk a bunch of us jumped into the pool to cool off and stretch a little.

This evening we have the opening ceremonies and game day tomorrow!

Colombia

2011-09-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

Team pic at breakfast, the restaurant was open air and had great views of the city.

Travel day went well yesterday, we were given hotel rooms during our 6 hour layover in Bogota and they saved the day. We had 2.5 hours to shower, sleep and eat. The food was amazing, we were staying at a Sheraton and the hotel restaurant was a 10 with the currency exchange the food was a steal at 15$. All of this was possible because of Ann Marie and Marcel who stayed at the airport with all of our team bags. Trying to fit all of our luggage into a shuttle would have been close to impossible so they sacrificed for us, they are amazing!!

The flight from Bogota to Neiva was on a smaller prop plane the "fokker 500". When checking in every single person was over the 23 kilo limit. We would have been okay if it was 23 kilo per bag but that was the total given for your personal bag and the team bag. There was a brief discussion on which bags would be left behind if the plane was too heavy, thankfully they found a way to cram all of our bags onto the plane.

Upon arrival we were greeted by our policemen. Thats right we have personal police/body guards that stay with our team throughout the tourny. They guided us outside where about 20 school aged kids took all of our bags and loaded them onto the bus. All the while a local band was playing music. On the bus we each received a little sombrero pin as a welcoming gift. Felt a little like royalty, first impressions of Neiva are outstanding!

It was a quick drive to the hotel with the police escort clearing the roads for us. We stayed in the first hotel for one night and are about to leave to check in to the tournament hotel in the next half hour. Practice and treatments later today. So excited to be here!

2011-09-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

We bounced back against Puerto Rico tonight. Both teams started the game shooting quite well. We gave up 22 points in the first quarter but in our defense they were on fire! In the second quarter we held them to 9 points. In the third quarter the game became a typical FIBA American slug fest. The refs were not calling fouls either way so it became a game of "how much can we get away with". There will be a few nail scratch marks tomorrow morning. That is not to say we didn't get away with a foul or a hold or two of our own because we did. We almost lost our composure a few times but made big plays when we had to. At one point Allison called a time out just to tell the refs they needed to clean up the game on both ends.

It was a great final tune up as all 12 players were ready to play and competed hard tonight. Our next game will finally count! It feels like we have been building for this all summer long and we are excited to finally be going to Columbia. Although we are not super excited about our travel day to Columbia...

4am- load bags onto bus

6am- depart San Juan to Ft Lauderdale

10:30am- Connecting flight to Bogota Columbia

1:05pm- arrive Bogota

7:05- connecting flight to Neiva, Columbia

8:07pm- arrive Neiva airport and bus to hotel!!

Fun day ahead of us we will probably not post on the blog tomorrow.

Out of our system

2011-09-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

It was a rough one tonight. We started the game really flat only 19 points in the first half. Our offense was slow and methodical. We were not reading the defense and missed almost all of our shots. Defensively we lacked the pride in keeping our man in front of us. Tomorrow night we will be a much different team.

The semi positive thing is that we wound up only losing by 10 after being down 45-19 in the first half. We battled back, started showing flashes of how good we are and played like a team. It was a pretty good kick in the pants and we are happy it happened today instead of in a game that mattered.

It is quite late and we have to get to bed as we have a chance at redemption tomorrow night 8pm.

Puerto Rico!

2011-09-18T17:31:00.001-07:00

We arrived in San Juan last night around 10:30pm. There was a slight delay on the plane in Miami but thankfully it was a comfortable one. A very kind flight attendant switched our whole team out of middle seats to exit rows and aisles, much appreciated!

The hotel is situated right in the middle of old town San Juan, we can see a few large cruise ships docked right outside of our windows. It appears to be a very happening place as it took a while to drive around the block last night with all the foot and car traffic out bar hopping. Our bright red Canada basketball t-shirts fit right in with the club dresses and booty shorts.

We had a light practice at the gym today, great floor and air conditioned so no complaints from us! The rest of the afternoon we were free to explore the area, check out the shops or drop some money in the casino. The weather is amazing, extending our summer a little longer since Ontario was starting to feel a lot like fall before we left. You just have to be sure you don't get caught in the middle of a down pour which we hear happens most days.

First friendly game against Puerto Rico is tomorrow night at 8pm. Excited to play a game again!

2011-09-16T19:38:00.001-07:00

We had a great practice today, with quite a few fans! Jay Triano, Doug Smith and some more family members and friends made the drive out to Mississauga. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us! We are beyond excited to head out to Puerto Rico and eventually Colombia.

The rest of the day free we were free to do some last minute shopping and errands and of course packing. You would think we would be really good packers by now yet for some reason it is always a struggle.

We have to thank Shannon Morrison our fantastic physio who taped, treated and poked us with needles keeping us together during our training camp. We have the best support staff! Vanessa and Elaine also deserve a huge thank you for driving us around, dealing with our dirty laundry and providing us with the best snacks!

Fly out tomorrow afternoon at 2:45.

2011-09-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

After a great little day and a half break we were back on the court today. It felt like a pretty long day, we had a lighter practice in the morning followed by weights. As soon as we came down from weights the dreaded doping control officers were in the building. The lucky four were Courtnay, KD, Sho and myself (Kim). We were all pretty good even KD who normally takes a really long time was in and out quick today. I got to produce two samples, a prize for being properly hydrated (they test the gravity and it has to be above 1.005 mine was 1.004). Thankfully they capped it at two since my next one was 1.003. Jason our hydration tester from last summer would have been proud! Sho on the other hand may need to start drinking some more water. Lucky Elaine and Shannon got to wait around the extra hour for us to finish up before we headed to lunch.

We watched a little film later in the day and then went pretty hard at practice tonight. The first scrimmage was pretty good and then it turned into a hack fest. We were all fouling each other like crazy and complaining to our one ref (Allison). We will certainly be prepared for questionable refereeing when we get to Columbia. It is funny thinking way back to high school and even college days at times a practice like this would be carried off the court and cause some stupid argument... girls are the worst. So thankful that once you get older we are all able to laugh at our reactions and our fouls.

We did have to cut Janelle today. It sucks. She had a great summer and has been improving and playing well but unfourtanetly we can only take 12. We will miss Muffins for her mad skills on the court but also for all the little things she did off it. She has a great way of keeping things light and defusing a tense situation.

Our final roster:

Chelsea Aubry

Miranda Ayim

Teresa Gabriele

Kalisha Keane

Lizanne Murphy

Krista Phillips

Courtnay Pilypaitis

Kadie Riverin

Kim Smith

Alisha Tatham

Tamara Tatham

Shona Thorburn

2011-09-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

Keep your eyes open for an NBA TV Canada special featuring your favorite team! The last two days of practice the boys from NBA TV have been watching us practice and interviewing the team. We like to think we are the best team they get to work with since we fed them lunch and even offered up some amazing chocolate cupcakes when we could have hoarded and ate them all ourselves. Shout out to Liz's mom for making delicious cupcakes and driving them all the way from Montreal! It was a great way to start our day and a half off.

Training camp has flown by, we only have three more practices left before we fly off and get to play someone else! Even though it has been a short camp we are already at the point where we need a game. The refereeing has not been quite as bad this camp but we are cheating like crazy on defense. Pretty sure no team would play defense the way we are right now. The good news is that while it is not always pretty we are finding ways to score.

The hotel is very quiet now that the local girls have all gone home. Pretty sure the rest of the floor 7 hotel guests are happy, no shouting down the hallways or maneuvering around treatment tables outside of the elevators. Ontario pretty much makes up almost all of our team so the remaining 5 of us are on our own to find something entertaining to do the next day and a half. Square one mall here we come!

2011-09-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

Three practices under our belt and we are coming together. The first day and a half is always a bit frustrating to play and I am sure watch. We are not used to playing together, our offense is on crack, we move and run around like crazy turning the ball over quite a few times in between. Thankfully we have now settled in and are getting used to playing with each other after our brief break.

We did have to make a cut before we came into camp so Lee is no longer with us. We miss her sparkling personality and her tenacity on the boards. Our roster stands at 13 right now. This camp we have welcomed back KD! She is dropping dimes and about ten pounds worth of sweat each practice. She has had a long recovery and it is great to have her back on the court with us again!

Our afternoon meeting with Roger consisted of progressive muscle relaxation. It was an incredibly relaxing session. Most of us fell asleep for a small portion of it, even though it was only about 20 minutes long we all felt quiet refreshed afterwards.

With the evening off a few of the local girls are headed home to hang out with family. The rest of us are hanging out around here. We are quite close to square one mall which means we have a theater, coffee shops and shopping to eat up our free time.

We are back on tomorrow morning and evening. A reminder that all our practices are open to the public so come on out to UTM and say hello! Pretty sure the evening practice is the "fun" one to come to. A little more scrimmaging and game action to witness.

2011-09-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Ugh. Been glued to the computer and TV watching our men fight tooth and nail (sometimes literally) the last two weeks. And yesterday Panama ripped their hearts out, feel sick for the guys they needed to finish just one spot higher to advance to the next round of qualifying and they got burned. Many of us vets here on the women's team know what that feels like and wouldn't wish it upon anybody. Those guys give up so much and put everything on hold to make it happen for Canada basketball and it is too bad it won't be next summer. Their team had made such great strides from last summer, was confident they would get through to the next round. We have a bunch of great guys out there and soon enough good things will start happening to them. Proud of the way they played and represented the flag.

As for us we have been getting together informally here in Toronto, it has been really productive and great to catch up with the girls outside of camp. The pre camp excitement has gotten really high, we are going to bring lots of swag the next time you see us. Camp opens tomorrow morning!

Un-deux-trois-CANADA!

2011-09-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

Alright gang, here we are a few days before our last training camp before we leave for qualifiers. I'm sure it will rub off after a few two-a-days but I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to get back in the gym. And I know it's not just me. I don't even think our families understand sometimes how much this means to us. We've been through a bunch this summer, most of us have been dreaming about this for most of our lives. WE CANNOT WAIT for this.

A few of us were joking the other night aboot how we have to calm ourselves down sometimes from our imaginations running wild. Crazy I know, but the anticipation for these qualifiers are off the chart. It's already eclipsed Christmas eve levels of excitement, and anyone who knows me will tell you I go overboard with Christmas. Just can't wait to show everyone what we can do.

Hopefully the blog will be updated with more regularity now that we have a bunch going on. Try to do our best with it, but as you can understand a lot of our time and energy will be focused in the gym.

GO CANADA!

Mens game tonight 730pm

2011-08-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to remind everyone to tune into TSN2 tonight to watch our men play Brazil. This is their first game in the FIBA Americas tournament. They are looking for a bid to London.

GO CANADA GO!

question answered

2011-08-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

Anonymous said...

Kim, thanks for the updates. Even in last years blog, I felt embarrassed about the travel arrangments that the team is required to undertake (wearing all your clothes to make the one bag limit, etc.) Is this one of the parts of being on the national team that need to continue to improve to retain our best players? I know that former players like to talk about travel stories, and that putting up with it is a badge of honour, but I want our players to be able to concentrate on grabbing rebounds instead of grabbing their bags. You all know players on other National teams - do they travel better or differently than our SWNT? Would the Chinese be more comfortable playing/staying in Prince George for example, than we are in Beijing?

Thanks for the question, love hearing from everyone. Well where to start. I know most people are extremely envious of our lives and professions and sometimes we on the inside lose perspective about how awesome we have it. Yes it would be nice to make NBA money or travel like team USA to an event but we do have it really good. The bag thing was an issue last year because many of us left for our European clubs immediately following worlds. It is hard enough living out of one bag for a month add a whole season to that and it becomes near impossible. It would be great to go back to the day where airlines were a little more lenient on bag weight.

In terms of travel, training and time commitments yeah we do lag behind some of our competition. But like most things in business it's about money. When we travel to many of these tournaments our arrangements are made by the host organization. We don't have a lot of control over much of it. We do know that many teams travel and train under better circumstances but their federations also have more money to spend. In the past we have tried to host tournaments but we don't have the money and resources that other countries spend on their basketball.

There are many ideas floated around to maybe better our circumstances. I would like to see us try to bring in some new sponsors to work with. I would like to get more local youth teams involved with our training camps. I would love to play more games on Canadian soil. But right now we don't have enough resources and manpower to make many of these things possible.

In the meantime we have learned how to laugh at long bus rides, bag weight limits, and interesting hotels. We embrace playing on the road relishing the opportunities to become a closer and a mentally tougher team.

Checking In!

2011-08-23T15:23:00.001-07:00

Hi all!

Figured I'd give a little update from the Nations Capital! So the first few days back from China were a bit rough, but i'd like to think I adjusted pretty nicely. Only one night of being up at 3 am!

This past week has been filled with appointments, and running around for me! All the typical things you put off when being home have finally caught up with me. I had doctors, dentists, and lots of errands to take care of before I head out again.

Now I am just training and catching up with friends and family. I have a little trip to NYC planned for Labour day weekend, and of course more packing and organizing getting ready for the last training camp and my season overseas.

I am so excited to get back with the team and get to the qualifiers! This summer has been so great already, and can't wait to accomplish a life-long goal with this amazing team!

Thats all from me!

Courtnay

Travel home.

2011-08-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

We have all made it back to our "homes" safe and sound. It was a long travel day starting with a 3 hour bus ride to Beijing after our final game. Putting athletes on a bus following competition without a bathroom is cruel. We have to drink so much during these games, especially when the temperature is high. Inevitably we have to pee every half hour or more in the few hours following a game. This resulted in the bus stopping on the side of the highway and half the team popping a squat right there on the side of the road, not once but twice!! Life would be so much easier if we were boys in that situation. We arrived at the hotel around 12 and our wake up call came the next morning at 430! It was a magnificent four hours though, the hotel was great, we didn't know they had soft beds in China.

Travel was long but smooth China Eastern showed 2 movies on repeat, hoping to never fly them again!

2011-08-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

We lost the final game to China today 70-61. Playing the same team 3 times in a row is hard and the game easily gets quite chippy. We knew this going and were prepared. We out rebounded a much larger team by 4 and shot 52% from the field compared to their 42%. You may be asking how we lost and that would be at the free throw line. They went to the line 33 times and we went 9! We battled hard but that is a tough stat to overcome.

This one has to be quick we were given 30 minutes to shower and pack up. We are off to eat and then a 2 hour bus ride to Beijing. We are staying in Beijing for the night (around 11pm- 5am) and then we are starting our journey home!

We will wrap up the trip a little better when we have some time!

2011-08-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

This morning we started the day with a little sight seeing tour of the city we are in. The population here is around 400, 000, it is an old ancient city according to our guides. We visited the bell tower and the drum tower both built around the 1400s. Then we walked through a little market and saw the city gate and old city walls. It was great to get out and see a little of the history. The whole thing was being filmed… apparently they are making a documentary. We already stand out as the only non-Chinese folks around these parts so it was pretty funny to throw in a TV crew.

Practice tonight was pretty light the gym was quite warm although it looked as though they were setting up some portable air conditioning units. Perhaps they realized the ice trick didn’t really cool down the gym. Hopefully the temperature is a little cooler in there tomorrow night.

Final game to wrap up phase 2 is tomorrow night!

2011-08-12T08:46:00.001-07:00

We bounced back tonight and beat China 67-66. Not only did we win but also we closed out a close game, which is something we really struggled with last year. The game was close throughout, each team would go on a little run and the other would answer. Our bench was great tonight they came in focused and ready. Kal was a perfect 6/6 from the floor! T was driving past the taller slower bigs all night to the tune of 15 points. Krista had a monster board with 30 seconds left that forced them to foul Ree who knocked down both free throws putting us up 3. With one second left China hit a two pointer to give us the final score 67-66.

The gym was scorching tonight. Our amazing doctor Sarah and physio Marcel were busy filling up our water bottles with E-load (a recovery drink, that we think is a step above Gatorade) and fanning us down during time outs. Not sure how we would survive without those two. They will be pretty busy in the next few days as the floor we are playing on feels a lot like cement.

We got to play in front of another loud crowd; about 3000 fans packed the stadium. They had an interesting way of attempting to cool down the gym. Giant blocks of ice in front of a single fan. Can’t say you could notice but maybe the temperature would have been worse.

We just need to continue to improve everyday and end phase two on a high note. No game tomorrow but sight seeing and practice.

2011-08-11T09:42:00.001-07:00

Today was a great day in China!This is probably the first time you will hear one of us say that. We left Tunliu bright and early to fly into Beijing. Once we landed in Beijing we crammed our entire luggage into a mini bus and were on our way to the Great Wall. Words can’t really describe how amazing it was to view in person. We knew it was quite massive but to see it snaking up the middle of the mountains was pretty spectacular. We spent about an hour walking around and made it nowhere near the top but we took some great photos!

We were back in the bus for another hour and a bit before we arrived in Zhangjiakou. It is a larger city about 2 hours north of Beijing. The hotel is very nice, we have large towels to shower with, and it appears to be mold and lizard free!

This evening we had a welcoming dinner with the mayor of the city, the sponsors who paid for our trip to China and a few other important people. There were some speeches, a lot of toasting and some really great food. The servers kept on coming with the dishes fish, shrimp, fried rice, noodles, soup, mutton and a few more exotic looking creations for the brave ones. We were all quite stuffed as we made our way back to watch some film.

Film was one of those sessions where you cringe watching. We played bad. It looked even worse on film than it felt in the game but our mistakes are easily correctable and we are looking to right the ship tomorrow night.

2011-08-10T06:32:00.000-07:00

We are getting settled into our hotel here in Tunliu. The staff has been very friendly and accommodating especially with food. They ask us after meals what we like and have been trying to serve us accordingly.

We had practice yesterday at the gym, they were getting everything set up so there were a few minor distractions. Music would randomly start playing, the lights went off for a 20 minute stretch and we may have all gotten high off the fumes from new signs and posters. For those of us who have played internationally for a few years none of these things were all that uncommon.

The game tonight went great in the first half and then our defence was horrible in the second half. Maybe it was the 10-minute half time or the smokers lounge atmosphere the gym turned into. Okay we actually have no good excuses. We held them to 25 points in the first half and they scored in the 70's for the game. Can't remember the exact final score but we lost by about 15. It was a pretty disappointing game in the sense that we are a great defensive team. it is our bread and butter, so to give up unchallenged shots and be late on rotations is inexcusable. On the positive side we did manage to pull down 15 offensive rebounds. This is a huge team... they have 6'8" and numerous 6'5" girls. All of their wings are at least 6'0" quite a difference from Japan.

While we are disappointed in our performance this is a good time for us to have weakness exploited. We hit the road again tomorrow breakfast is at 6am and then we are flying into Bejing. Upon arrival in Bejing we will bus a few hours to a site somewhere. There is a rumor that we may be able to stop and see the Great Wall so fingers crossed for that.

2011-08-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

We had a long entertaining travel day yesterday. We left Japan at 7:15am and flew to Shanghai. Once we arrived in Shanghai we collected our bags and were shepherded out into the humidity. The airport was under construction and this led to some confusion about how to find the bus. We walked down a ramp where we unloaded our bags onto an escalator. With 29 bags it was a bit of a spectacle but we got through and nobody was injured. Although there was a minor encounter with a bag toppling down the escalator crashing into a very rushed man. Then we waited in line to take the elevator to the 2^nd floor. Funny thing was we could have easily accomplished all of this without leaving the cool air-conditioned airport.

We were on the bus for 45 minutes and arrived at a different airport in Shanghai. It was a massive airport, and after storing our bags we settled in for 6 hours before check in time. At check in we realized we would no longer be flying China Eastern Airlines, instead a smaller budget airline! The flight was filled with our team and about 70 kids returning from the Shanghai expo. Never have we been on a louder flight. We were thankful to have reached our final destination, after collecting our bags we went out to the bus.

There was some confusion at the bus, we were told to load our bags into the bus (passenger buses with no storage below). Apparently chose the wrong bus because the next thing you know the door is being slammed shut pushing players out of the way and Krista and Kal were locked inside for the next 2 minutes. There was a lot of shouting but all was resolved the prisoners were freed and we loaded up the other bus. We should be honored the driver really wanted to take us players in his bus! It was decorated with some red carpet and nice cushy seats.

Once on the road we reached our destination in 30 minutes, passing cars by heading straight into oncoming traffic and running red lights. Out in the country it appears as though the strongest horn wins. People got out of the way.

The hotel is in the middle of a compound; we appear to be in a poorer rural area of China. We are not sure the name of the town. The hotel is not quite what we are used to but the staff are very nice and helpful. We had 15 women who unloaded our bag and brought them up the stairs to our floor when we got in. We have beds, showers with warm water and most of the toilets flush. We think its great that the Chinese National Team travels all over China giving everyone a chance to watch them play and cheer them on.

As far as updates we will do our best. Blog sites are banned so we are emailing our updates back home so there could be some delay.

2011-08-07T02:13:00.001-07:00

We lost to Japan tonight in a hard fought game. We were down two at the half and couldn't seem to get any offence going, while they enjoyed a nice hot streak. We battled back in the fourth quarter and showed a lot of character. We were down by 15 and had a chance to tie up the game at the end.

T played amazing... she was all over the court with her steals, rebounds and quick takes to the basket. Japan had no way to stop her!

We had a great time in Japan, they have been by far the most generous host nation we have ever travelled to. I wish we had something more to give them other than the same pins for three games in row! We cleaned up with a really nice t-shirt and scarf. We highly recommend visiting Japan for pleasure we can not say enough good things about the country and people. Their players even presented Sho with a birthday cake after the game during the media interviews!

We may not update tomorrow as we are headed to China and a 15 hour travel day. We are a little bitter about the day but we are going to embrace it.

Go Canada!

2011-08-06T03:44:00.000-07:00

The arm up points to the threat of a atomic bomb and the left arm represents peace.

Konichiwa....

Checking in from Fukuoka, Japan. We played our second game today and won by 2 points.... Always feels good to pull off a win against a good team. We started a little slow and flat but got into a groove and were able to pull off a hard fought game. Chelsea started the game strong for us and when a few were struggling she came up big with some nice baskets. Miranda did a great job of hitting some big baskets for us, and made some awesome hustle plays down the stretch of the game. Props to Chelsea for getting a huge block in the game also.... Defensively we stayed strong and did a great job of communicating and playing team defense, we made some big stops when we needed them. Japan is a very scrappy, fast team, that like to push the tempo. They do a good job of punishing us when we make a mistake, so to get a quality team effort win from them shows how much we have improved since our first training camp in May.

Last night we left Nagasaki and stayed in a city outside of town. On our way out we stopped by "Ground Zero" and did some sight seeing. It was the sight of the first atomic bomb that was dropped over Japan on August 9th, 1945. We learned that the Americans didn't originally plan on dropping the bomb at that location but clouds made the first destination non visible, so Nagasaki became the target. Over 75,000 people died and close to the same amount of people injured. It is a garden like memorial with a few statues, fountain, and walkways. Originally they thought that vegetation wouldn't be able to grow for about 75 years. Really can't describe the emotion and feelings we got walking around the area. It is amazing being able to play a sport we love, represent our country and experience and see things like we did in Nagasaki.

So now after a long day we are finally settled into our third hotel, we are going to rest up for our last game against Japan tomorrow and then it is off to China.

We really can't say enough about how amazing this trip to Japan has been. They have treated us like royalty, the food has been amazing, and they are so organized. I know we are all saying it would be great to come back here again.

2011-08-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

We dropped our first game last night to Japan. We started out looking like we just got off the plane but our defense held strong so our offense had a little time to catch up. In the second quarter we took over and executed our offense really well but after half time our transition defense was not very sharp and we let them get a few easy looks. It is always feels crappy when you lose but we are a much better team from the last time we played Japan in Spain. Our offense was much faster and smoother than the first meeting. Defensively besides a single stretch in the third quarter we were pretty good.

Today we are changing hotels although we will still be in Nagasaki. En route to the new hotel we are going to stop and check out a little bit of history. We do not play today, just a practice to clean some things up.

We are all hoping that the internet is a little better at the next hotel. We have become so dependent on it as a means of communication. Trying to talk on skype with a bad connection is pretty frustrating.... you wind up only hearing about every third word. If you walked down our hallway you could hear us all yelling into the computer hoping that in some way we will make whoever is on the other side understand better. It is crazy to think that just 9 or 10 years ago we were traveling with the Canada direct phone number in our back pocket. Oh how times have changed?

Off to breakfast, then to start our day. Sionara

2011-08-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

We have arrived safe and sound. Twelve hours is a really long time to be stuck on a plane in the middle of the day with no entertainment. We read a lot of books and took a few naps. Except for Teresa who slept 9 of the 12 hours, sleep deprivation hanging over from her regular job.

By the time we finally reached Fukuoka we were dragging. When we stepped out of baggage claim there was an enthusiastic translator welcoming us with a sign. She made sure we were all herded into the same area, the airport was quite empty and our matching red t-shirts pretty much ensure we don’t get lost. However it was great to be greeted with such zeal. After making a quick bathroom stop she lifted her yellow flag high in the air and we were following the leader out to the bus!

Upon arrival we showered and crashed hard until this mornings breakfast and film. Nagasaki is beautiful. The city is so clean and the people are so polite. The weather is hot, we will be drinking a lot of e-load during practices and games. It is good preparation for us as our qualifiers will be in Neiva, Columbia which sits close to the equator.

On the way to practice we drove past a few historical sites… the peace statue park, Urakami Cathedral and the atomic bomb museum. We will get a chance to be brief tourists after our game tomorrow.

The internet at the hotel is not that great so if the posts are late we apologize. Game today against Japan.

Debate question needs answering....

2011-07-31T22:54:00.001-07:00

The last two days of practice have been rough. If you came to watch us play you could tell it was getting chippy. We started clutching and grabbing and fouling each other. Not on purpose but we know our offense and our reads and we want to win. Honestly we also know Allison is reffing.... while a great coach she would most certainly make a horrible referee. It normally happens at the end of a camp when you match up against the same people day in and day out. Good news is that we are out of here tomorrow morning!

We are about to embark on a 12 hour flight- 2 hour layover- 2 hour flight- 2+ hour bus ride. We aren't really looking forward to the flying part especially since rumor has it we will not all have our own tv's. We really have become quite spoiled travelers! It will be a first time for all of us on Eastern China airlines. Crossing our fingers it is a nice clean airline... 12 hours is a long time.

We will try to keep the updates coming throughout our trip.

Started a minor debate tonight and we need your help so to all our readers out there please comment: "Is the Disney movie The Lion King a musical?"

Beer Can Chicken with Rosemary and Thyme

2011-07-30T22:15:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

Today was our first day back after our day and a half off. We all seemed well rested. For our time off, some girls saw family while others kicked it around Abbotsford.

Megan, Janelle, Kalisha and I (KD) went to hang out at the Pinske’s resident with the best hostess ever Karin Pinske. We had an amazing time relaxing in their back yard by their massive pond. We got to see phantom the fish, humming birds fight and best of all Megan cook up an outstanding beer can chicken for us all. I thought everyone should know how to make this magnificent meal. So- here is the Pinske beer can chick recipe.

Prep time 15 minutes

Grilling time 1.25 to 1.30 hours

Rub

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary

1tsp dried thyme

½ tsp. lemon zest

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds

2tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 can (12 ounces) beer, at room temperature

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 clove garlic, crushed

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp. dried thyme

½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1. Remove and discard the neck and giblets from chick. Rub chick with oil. Season chick inside out with rub. Tuck the tips and wings behind the chicks back.

2. Pour out half of the beer. Put rosemary, garlic, lemon juice, thyme, and red pepper flakes into the beer can. Make two holes on the top of can. Plunk chick cavity over the can.

3. Put the bird on the grill on its two legs and the can, like a tripod. Grill over indirect medium heat until the juices are flowing and the internal temperature registers 170 degrees F in the breast and 180 in the thickest part of the thigh for and hour 25 to an hour 30.

4. Serve that pretty bird up. Delicious!

This makes for a great night.

Enjoy!

Day and a half off....

2011-07-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well we earned our day off today. A new drill/game was introduced to practice and it was not easy. It was a transition defense drill that felt a little more like sprints. Granted part of that was our own fault, we got excited and wanted to fast break all the time. It left the legs feeling a little bit heavy for the rest of practice.

The UFV campus was abuzz today with a BC day celebration. There was a slip and slide (home made with plastic wrap and sprinkler) and Teresa said she was ready to throw down some money for anyone who went down. Pearl was pumped to make an easy 5$. With of a few of us chanting her name she took a running start and failed miserably. The home made slip and slide did not hold up and she wound up taking the whole thing down. It was a valiant effort none the less. Hopefully Ree is still going to pay up!!

Girls are visiting with family and friends, going to the movies, and resting and recovering. We are back in action Saturday morning.

2011-07-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

Packed day!

2011-07-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

Our day was jam packed from 8am until 8pm today. We only had one practice this morning which is probably a good thing since we had a few people out with some bumps and bruises. Immediately after it was time for our lift with Chad. The movements are going to help us become more athletic and explosive. We finished lifting around 1:30 and were given 30 minutes to eat, shower and get ready for pictures. Pretty sure they didn't plan this but it is hard to look cute in 10 minutes. We took some head shots, team shots and then a few pictures by province. Ontario has apparently taken over the national team.

This evening the Smith family treated us to a meal away from the dorms. They whipped up a fantastic meal and scrumptious desserts! We have some pics we will post tomorrow of the team meal, and the airport greeting.

Ree is back!! She killed the warm up today. Okay well she only did warm up but she looked really good doing it! Will be great to have her leadership and skill back on the court for us.

Treatments and bed for us all as we have been working hard towards our Olympic goal.

Go Canada!

2011-07-25T21:44:00.000-07:00

Just a video Muffins and Pearl put together during the break to showcase the girls on the team. It came as a pleasant surprise after a film session this evening! Hope you enjoy!

-Janelle and Megan (Muffins and Pearl)

First day back.

2011-07-25T20:29:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a long travel day for a few girls with flight delays and cancellations. The good news is that everyone made it although we did have to cancel our 10pm meeting last night. The folks arriving at the Abbotsford airport were even greeted with a welcome sign and balloons courtesy of Ravens restaurant and their thoughtful manager!

All day yesterday our amazing physios Marcel and Joanie and doctor Doug were busy performing physicals. We went through a lot of strength testing and it's pretty funny to watch how upset we get if you tell us we are weak in one area. We will demand a retest! Nobody can be perfect so we all came away with areas we need to strengthen or loosen up. Our strength and conditioning guru Chad is going to personalize all of our programs so we can be at our best.

This morning despite everyone being tired we still managed to play way too fast... pretty impressive! The pace improved as practice wore on and we are back in the dorms icing up and resting for tomorrow.

Huge shout out to our Junior Women's National Team! They are 4-0 right now at the Junior World Championships in Chile. If you aren't following them, start http://chile2011.fiba.com/

Feel free to ask any questions/ comments!

2011-07-24T12:50:00.001-07:00

The long wait is finally over and we will all be reunited today. We are all traveling today to meet at UFV and our first team meeting of phase two is at 9 pm tonight. It is just a beauty of a day here in wonderful British Columbia. This past week has been really fun. Muffins aka Janelle has stayed with me all week. Our first couple of days were spent in Bellingham WA so we could scrimmage with my old team in the afternoon. We would wake up in the morning and head to the gym to shoot and lift and then go home for a bite to eat (cooked by yours truly) and then head back to play open gym. Our last night in Bellingham we went to a Karaoke bar and boy did muffins just blow the crowd away with her talent on the mic. She sang a little jingle from Ace of Base “All that she wants is another baby” and then later on in the evening sang, “I will survive”. Needless to say she was the crowd favorite. I was just too intimidated by her to make an appearance on stage that night. After that we came back to B.C where we have spent most of our days working out in the mornings and then just relaxing in the afternoons. We have been cooking some great meals together and even made a Mexican feast for my parents one night. You see Muffins and Pearl not only rap but are quite the combo in the kitchen as well.

Before Muffins got here I spent most of my time at Western in Bellingham training with a couple of guys. It has been great to play against guys because they are very challenging but they also take the time to help me with my game. I have also been nannying for my coach’s children a couple days a week. She has a 12 year old, a 9 year old and a 7 year old, so it sure kept me busy!

I am so excited to see all the girls and coaching staff today and I know this will be an amazing week of training. I love going to training camp because we get to play basketball with such a talented group of athletes. We work hard and we always have fun. Everyone just gets along so well and the jokes never seem to end.

I better go finish packing!

Until next time, keep it real babes

Pearl aka Megan

Summer Days

2011-07-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

This is Kendel Ross Checking in. This summer has been unreal busy. I actually just attended my sisters wedding last night and it was a beautiful event! She looked incredible and perfectly happy and I am so happy for her and my new brother-in-law Jason!

Other than all the events that have been buzzing about for the wedding I have been loading my schedule with many training tools. I start my mornings training clients. I actually have really been enjoying getting up and at em in the am once I got use to the daily 5:30 am wake-ups. I am a morning person and getting things done with in the morning always makes for a better day for me. Once I finish training others I head to a bootcamp I participate in every day. It is a camp set-up for elite athletes in Sarnia and I really think it has had a huge hand in improvements I have made this summer. It is just a great workout and it is so nice to be pushed by other atheletes that are at the same level.

Once I finish my AM workout I head over to my highschool where I am helping run a basketball camp from 8:30-12:30 everyday. It has been really nice teaching kids skills and helping start out on the right foot. Passing the torch so to speak from when I was the one in camp, first picking up a ball and getting the instruction.

After camp I either get in some skill work or play open gym with some guys. This was one of my favorite things to do in high school and I have loved getting back to that. Guys are just naturally so much faster and stronger that it forces you to get better when you play with them. yay!

My nights are split between a bootcamp I run, lifts and a men's league I am taking part in so I have been busy,busy,busy! I like it that way though, I get bored without something always on the go.

It has been really nice spending time at home as well. I haven't been home for this long at a time since high school and it has just been grea to connect with people I have not seen for a while again and spend some time with the family. I am now feeling ready to take on the world again heading into training camp and back to Dayton in the fall to do my masters.

I have loved that my life has been flowing nicely from one thing to another without much planning needed and I am really excited for the new challenges that heading back to Dayton will bring and also the winter of training ahead. I feel there is great things for Canada Basketball brewing and I am excited to be a part of it!

Until Next Time,

Enjoy the rest of your summers!

Kendel

Only A Few More Days!

2011-07-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

Hey yall, it's Miranda checkin in from the lil sister city of the place we're trying to get to next summer (LONDON, Ontario!)

This summer has definitely been a summer of ups and downs for me. I had an incredible opportunity to try out for the Tulsa Shock and realized my goal by making the team! It was an amazing experience while it lasted but, unfortunately, my time there was cut short when I was released about a month into the season. Although I was understandably disappointed, it turned out to be good timing to come back to Canada, train for a few weeks, and join up with the women’s national team for the 2^nd phase of competition!

Every year it feels so good to be reunited with my Canadian teammates, so I’m eager to head out to Abbotsford on Sunday so start our second training camp in preparation to travel to Japan and China. We have an awesome group of women with wonderful personalities and great skills to match. This is going to be a great summer for Canada Basketball!

ELEVATE

2011-07-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey,

This is Kadie Riv checking in from the TDOT. Things are going well over here on the east coast. I’ve had a bit more time off than the rest of the girls, trying to rehab my knee so I can be back in action for September. On top of all the training and physio, I have started to train and workout young athletes. I started up my own little business. I even have a logo (pic up top)… guess who the ball player is J? I’ve worked some camps and I have been the guest speaker for a couple of bball events as well.

I have also been taking some courses (math and French). I took both my midterms during this time off. The test center that I went to write my exams at is run by this man who goes by the name Mr. Math. He told me he is the god of math and that I was in the temple of math. So… basically I have met the god of math and I have been inside the temple of math. Not many can say that.

That’s about it from over here. I am excited to start phase two and to see everyone.

Kadie

2011-07-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

Update here from Janelle a.k.a Muffins. I am currently sitting in the Calgary airport waiting for my flight to Abbotsford. I decided to go in a week early before training camp started to train and hang out with some teammates! I will be staying with Megan a.k.a Pearl in the beautiful city of Port Coquitlam.

5 weeks off has gone by extremely fast! Most of my time off was spent training and hanging out with my family here in Calgary. All my siblings were in Calgary for the summer so it was awesome to be able to call them up and hang out. I did make it down a few times to my hometown, also known as the Corn Capital of Canada, Taber. More time will be spent in Taber during our next break, where I will be able to attend the ever so popular Taber Cornfest.

The best thing about being home is being able to see my nieces and nephew. I have one nephew, Solomon, who is almost 3, and two nieces, Avery who is 1, and Marion who is 5 months. Most days were spent playing outside, swimming, as well as going to the Calgary zoo and the Calgary Stampede. It’s so cute to hear my little nephew say, “Hey Auntie JJ, you now what? I love you”. It’s been fun to babysit and be around them!

We also went on a family vacation for 5 days to Fairmont, BC, a hot springs we have been going to every year since I was a kid. It’s hard for all of us to be in the same place at once, but the whole family made it this year! We spent most of our time swimming, going for walks, playing cards, and golfing. I am so terrible at golf but I enjoy playing and my dad says I’m getting better. He might be just trying to make me feel better!

I am so excited to get the next training camp going! It’s always fun to be reunited with all the girls after a long break! China and Japan will be great competition, and maybe I will be reunited with my long lost Japanese exchange student Shoko! You never know!

Until next time babes,

Janelle

2011-07-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos, Shona here.

Checking in from Spain where I live and play. I’m in a city in the south called Cadiz.

My weeks are busy with lots of running errands and my workouts but I do try get away to enjoy some of Spain on the weekends. Most recently I just got back from Cordoba, small little city where Salmorejo (similar to gazpacho soup) was invited. You need to try it; it’s to die for. Oh I also spent a weekend in Tarifa, southern most part of Spain, its famous for kite surfing and pretty cool that you can look out into the ocean and see Morocco. When I have more time I really want to take the boat over and explore a little of Africa. My friends who play for Great Britain came to visit me after the European Championship and we headed to Seville for a night and also Ronda. Ronda is said to be the first city where bullfighting took place. So needless to say I have been enjoying keeping and myself busy.

I would like to say that everyday I am doing my workouts on the beach…. But sadly I’m not. It’s too HOT!!! I think all the tourists would think I am nuts trying to run in that weather. My “American” football is a big hit though, people always want to try throw and catch it. Workouts have been going great, I really like our strength program, and I’m fortunate to have a friend here who rebounds for me and puts me through drills on the court.

Well it’s about siesta time (a nap after a late lunch).

Excited to get back on the court with all my teammates!

Sho

Checking in from Ottawa

2011-07-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

It’s Courtnay here, giving you an update from the nations capital! Almost a week until everyone is back in BC, and I am really excited to get back with all the girls and continue getting ready to qualify for the Olympics!

My time at home like everyone else has been amazing! Being able to see my friends and family for more then a week has been a blessing. At home I just have been training, and getting ready for the next camp. I also have been able to talk at some camps, and hopefully inspire some young athletes.

Having so much time, I took the chance to travel a bit to see some old teammates and roommates. I have been to Syracuse, Boston, Indiana, St. Louis, and Vermont. So needless to say I have been busy, but it has been worth it.

Now I am home in Ottawa for the last week, and excited to be back on the hardwood with such a great group of girls.

Courtnay

Update

2011-07-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! So it is only a week and a bit before our team gets together again for our Phase 2 of training. I know we are all excited to get back together and continue our journey to qualifying for the Olympics! Because I am away from home alot it is always great when I am home, spending time with family and friends. I am the type of person who never stays still so when I do get back home I find that I end up doing EVERYTHING and helping EVERYONE haha. Between training, hanging out with family and friends, working camps and having all types of meetings I been Miss Busy Bee :). But, its almost that time to switch gears and get back to BC and continue on this road to the Olympics!! Until next time...

Alisha

Bonjour from Montreal!

2011-07-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

This is Lizanne here giving all of our amazing supporters an update from Canada's coolest city! I spent the first part of our time home recovering from my unfortunate pedicure injury (a crazy lady sliced off a chunk of my foot while in Spain), but all seems to be good now thanks to my support crew here at home. Training has been going really well; it is always nice to get some time where you can really get in the gym on your own. The people I train with are always changing up my programs and giving me all kinds of new things to work on based on how I am moving and what needs to get better/stronger/quicker. So my training is always interesting and a lot of fun.

Montreal is a great city to be in during the summertime; there is always some kind of festival going on so the city is always full of people and there is always something to do. I have been able to catch up with a lot of friends and spend quite a bit of time with my family which has been really nice. Similar to Ontario, Montreal is also really famous for the cottage country, and I have been able to get up and spend some time at my cottage an hour north of the city. I come from a huge family; my mom is one of 8 kids (and each of her brothers and sisters have a few kids each), so the cottage is our big meeting place during the summer, so for the first time in a while I have been able to see almost everyone.

One of the highlights of my time at home was that I was able to be a part of the Montreal Community Cares Awards where they highlight the amazing work that people and groups are doing in the community. My former coach, Trevor Williams (also a former national team member), received an award for his dedication to kids in the community via his coaching and the work of his kids foundation. It was really special for me because I was asked to present his award and I was able to really thank him for the impact he has had on my life over the last 15 years. I am a product of various community groups here in Montreal and it made me really proud to show them that all of their work and support has helped me get to where we are now.

Like everyone else, I am excited for camp to get ready to beat up on all the other countries so we can get to London!

Hello from Saskatoon!

2011-07-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This is Krista Phillips, saying hi from Saskatchewan! The weather has been great here, and in between workouts i have been able to get some sun! I am enjoying working out at the University of Saskatchewan, as they have great facilities, and a gym for me to shoot in. In my spare time i have been going to movies with the family, which have included Transformers, Green Lantern, X-Men (going tonight) and Harry Potter (this weekend) My family has loved having me home, and my mom put me to work in our backyard. So far i have raked the dead grass in our lawn, built a gazebo, and skimmed our pool for leaves and bugs. It has been great being home during the summer, and getting in some good training time, as well as relaxing time :) Looking forward to camp, and getting one step closer to qualifying for the Olympics!!
Hope everyone out there is getting great weather, and enjoying the summer.
Krista

Ontario is the BEST coast

2011-07-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

G'Day Blog Followers!!
Now for all people that live in Ontario you know what I am talking about :) We have a running joke on our team Team Ontario vs. Team BC we are already super competitive people but try to tell one part of the country that the other is better and there is even more competition! I feel that Kim may have started this well maybe I was part of it as well :) Most of our training camps are held in BC or Ontario so we like to judge each other’s provinces in a score series with checks and X's. Now being from Ontario I feel like we have more going for us no we don’t have the mountains and the ocean but really Ontario has Niagara Falls and 21% of the world’s fresh water in the Great Lakes...be jealous! The only reason I bring this up is I have had the opportunity to spend some good quality time in Ontario on our time off. I do not spend much time here with our crazy schedule but i feel in the last month I have been able to experience a lot of what Ontario has to offer. When I first got home I visited Niagara on the Lake for the first time. It is mostly known for its wine but it is also famous for the Shaw Festival. My family attended My Fair Lady in the Shaw Theatre; it was very well done! The town itself is very picturesque. Pubs, patios, little shops and boutiques everywhere. On Canada Day weekend I did what most Ontarians do most weekends in the summer I headed up North. Ontario is famous for its cottage country. My friends cottage was about 20mins outside of North Bay right on the lake and we didn’t see a cloud for 3 days! It was magical! One of the most relaxing weekends I have had in a long time. Now this past weekend I went to the Toronto Zoo. I had not been to the zoo in forever! My sister packed us a picnic and we had a great day admiring all the different animals from all the different places. We did not visit the Canadian domain though it was a hot day and by the end of the day we figured we had seen all those animals in the wild at one point :) Ontario is "Yours to Discover!"
Chels

T-dot Update!

2011-07-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone it's Tamara here sending you a quick update!!

It's been quite a few weeks now since our team has been together and it kind of feels like it's all going by so fast! My first week or so I spent time resting and relaxing. It was great feeling like I could just take some time to myself.

I've also spent time hanging with friends and family. The weather has been awesome here in Toronto, so i've been to my fair share of bbq's!!! Nothing says summer like a good ol' family bbq!

Training and working camp in the afternoons has also kept me quite busy! In all , my time at home has been great, but I'm super pumped and ready to get the next phase started! Can't wait to see how much more we can improve as a team!!!

Go Canada Go!!

Update!

2011-07-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

Only 2 weeks left til everyone is back at camp in Abbotsford!!
Seems like the break has gone by fast, but I'm excited to see everyone and build on what we accomplished during the first phase of our training. Trained with Allison, Mike, Kim, Teresa and Meg today which was good :)
I have spent the time off training and catching up with friends. It's been pretty good. We've had some nice weather here recently (obviously, the BEST coast), so I've been able to do a lot of things outdoors which is nice.
I've been pretty busy as there are so many great things to do in Vancouver in the summer. I played my first full round of golf - 18 holes, which I can't say I was very good at, but had fun and have lots of room to improve! I've also fit in a few of my fave summer beach sports such as bocce and badminton. J Bek is getting into town a week early too, so it will be good to see her for a bit before camp starts and train together.
There will be an overload of updates coming up based upon disappointment laid on us for the lack of updates, so check back daily leading up to camp which starts on July 25th!

Leanne

Seize the Opportunity!

2011-07-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

Teresa here,

With a huge tournament (Olympic Qualification) only weeks away, I feel the need to remind everyone about the significance and importance of this opportunity.

As the eldest member of our team I have replayed in my mind how many Olympic opportunities I could have and or should have had, but have not experienced. This is my 14^th year on the team and this could potentially have been my 4^th Olympic games. However, things don’t always go the way you envision they might and as a result I have been to one Olympic games (Sydney 2000). Many of us have been on the team for numerous years and unfortunately have had Olympic opportunities pass us by.

This year, this team, these athletes are different! We have skill, experience, physical and mental strengths, determination, competitiveness, perseverance, chemistry, and most of all heart! This group of women deserves to experience something as special and amazing as the Olympic games. Let’s seize this opportunity to experience something we will always remember and cherish, as there are no guarantees for what the future will hold.

We deserve it! Let’s go get it!

Teresa

Updates

2011-06-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Kim Smith here, trying to be first on the team with a post. Where to begin. It took forever and a day to get back home from Europe. Literally and figuratively. I think we had a pretty productive Euro camp. Anyone who saw us play there knows we are on the right track. We installed a new offense last summer. It was a difficult adjustment last summer, we struggled at times, but now we look pretty good with it. More comfortable I guess. Overall I think we spent almost a month over there. Got a bit accomplished. It was good in that we now know where we stand against some of Europe's best. Our team has a lot of really big goals right now.

Had our good-byes in Toronto before everyone went their own direction. I was able to catch game 7 of the Stanley Cup. For everyone out there- I am a born and raised proud BC girl and I love my Canucks. It was difficult with time changes and practice/games to watch much of it live, but on our downtime I was scouring the internet for Cup updates. This one was really hard to take though. Mainly for two reasons. One I was disappointed to see rioters in the streets get most of the post game press. Seriously even as a professional athlete, it is just a game. Of all the things to take to the streets about and tear up my city, these people choose a hockey game. Not cool. And what happens when people from all over turn on their tvs and see. Dumb riots. And two, my fiance is from New England and a Bruins fan. we normally don't have any heated matchups and we both root for each others teams. Lets just say he's being a snot about it. He even tried to take me to their victory parade. Totally not cool.

Anyways took a week off to let the body catch up. Started training again this week. I see the NBA draft is this week. It's weird. I love watching it, I think it's great but the entire time I think about my WNBA draft experience and how difficult it was. It's been a while now (2006) but I was lucky enough to be invited to attend. Even though I had my coaches, friends and some family there it was one of the most nerve racking days of my life. I look back and laugh now, but I was a wreck the entire time. It all turned out well. I was even a first round pick with one of my Canadian teammates but I can't begin to tell you how much deodorant I went through that week.

Next camp is a few weeks away back out in BC. We will try and get all the girls to post during the break. Keep checking in. For those slackers who do not post there will be some form of public humiliation so get on it! If any readers have any good ideas of what that should be please let me know, we will record it and post it!

Coming home!

2011-06-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

We lost to Russia today. We started the game really slow it was 22-9 in the first quarter. We were a little timid against their size, hesitating on shots worried that we would be blocked. We snapped out of it and played better the second period. In the third and fourth we battled back and went on some big runs. At the end of the game we hit a three and forced a turnover. Not too shabby since we have not worked on pressing at all. With ten seconds left we tried to run an out of bounds play and tweak it a little for a 3 pointer but it didn't quite work out. We fouled at the end trying to get the rebound and wound up losing by five. We have to clean up our starts and put together 40 minutes of good basketball. We have gained a lot of confidence over here competing against some of the best teams in the world. We can't wait for September!

Now we have 6 weeks to get better individually before we get back together. We are all so excited to go home and hang out with family and friends. We have been in Europe for a long time and while we had a blast there is nothing quite like home. We meet up again in Abbotsford, BC on the 24th of July.

First win of the summer!!

2011-06-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

We got our first win this summer and it feels good! We beat Belarus tonight, they finished fourth at last years World Championships.

We battled defensively our "bigs" did a great job fronting and boxing out their post players. We tied them on the boards 32-32. An improvement after being out rebounded last night by France.

Offensively we still need to be more consistent, we have stretches were we fail to execute the little things. A month into our training together we are happy with where we are at.

One final game tomorrow against Russia.

2011-06-11T05:38:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from our game last night and one of our core session from Thursday.

OT heart breaker......

2011-06-10T15:25:00.000-07:00

We lost a tough one to France tonight. We took them into overtime and wound up losing by four. We started the game in slow motion on offense and they hit every shot they took. We battled back and managed to answer all of their runs until overtime.

While it is always disheartening to lose especially a close game we were happy overall. Our bench was fantastic tonight everyone came in focused and contributed. The bench is so essential in our qualifying tournaments we used to play five games in five days! Now they have added more teams so the format will change a little but it will still be a lot of games with little to no rest time. Having people bring energy and spark us is imperative for us to win gold in Columbia.

Defensively we were great except for a few mixed box outs. At the end of the game they seemed to get all the right bounces and it becomes a matter of pushing them back even more. While we will be a pretty big team in FIBA americas we are tiny over here in Europe. Tomorrow night we need to be better on the boards.

It is 1 am and time for bed! It always takes forever to relax and unwind after a late game. Thankfully Allison cancelled shoot around tomorrow and pushed breakfast back to 10am!

We are on tomorrow evening 5:30pm France time.

Beauvois, France

2011-06-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

After an early morning breakfast we were on the bus headed to the airport. The flight was rather empty and some of us managed a little sleep. Others were not as fortunate as we had a very unhappy child on our flight. Apparently he screamed most of the flight right until the moment we landed!

The bus ride to Beauvois was about an hour. Pretty sure the bus driver was a little turned around once we arrived into town since we drove past the same landmarks twice. We found the hotel and can we just say we love France. Everyone on the team has their own rooms! We all get along great but living in a hotel room with a roomie for three weeks lets just say we were all excited to spread out a little and enjoy our own space. Not only were they individual rooms but we have large beds. Most hotel rooms we stay at in Europe are single beds spaced about two feet away from your roomie. We should all sleep amazing in our queen beds tonight! Except for our manager and assistant who somehow got to be roommates this trip. Our lucky manager gets to sleep in a pull out recliner chair!

Practice tonight went well, we played 5 on 5 for most of it. Two practices tomorrow and then three games in a row.

Terminado!

2011-06-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

Spanish training camp is finished. This morning was our light practice, we put up some shots, and went through our offense. Chelsea came up with a fantastic new shooting game that was enjoyed by all.

This afternoon the chef at the restaurant had a special treat for us, paella! It was absolutely delicious and a nice break from our routine of pasta, sauce and a protein. Not sure if it was the paella or what but our whole team crashed hard this afternoon. Even those who normally skip siesta were out for at least an hour and a half!

Today it rained on and off and this afternoon there was a giant thunderstorm about 20 minutes before we left for this evenings practice. The recreation center we have been working out at was occupied so we were supposed to train at another basketball gym in Torrejon. When we got to the gym buckets were set up all around the concourse and the janitors had their mops and towels out. Obviously playing five on five on a slippery floor is rather dangerous so practice was cancelled! None of us were overly heart broken.

Tomorrow we have the day off to rest and get ready for our next trio of games.

Off to France in two days.

2011-06-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

We were finally able to sleep in this morning!! Breakfast went from 8am to 9am and we could not be happier. Nothing like an extra hour of sleep to start your day right. We spent a few hours at the gym this morning with practice, weights and then spin class. Practice went well we have some heavy legs but we pushed through and had a good scrimmage at the end.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was 2pm. All of us stuck around our rooms received treatment and rested. In Spain Sundays are reserved for window shopping, most of the grocery and clothing stores shut down. There really was not much to do if we had the energy to venture outside!

This evening the whole team wound up at the same restaurant right by our hotel. The food was great and we all enjoyed a nice meal outside of the hotel. Although a few of us had to race back to the hotel and rescue our shoes which were getting soaked on the window ledges with a sudden rainstorm.

Last day of Spain training camp is tomorrow!

2011-06-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

We had a great practice this morning, had a chance to play and compete a little bit. Best news of the day... we can't spin today because the gym is using the bikes all day! Don't get us wrong we are all for extra conditioning. Most of us took time off before this camp after our college and overseas seasons finished. However our rear ends are quite tender and are very thankful for a recovery day.

Yesterday we had the afternoon off and most of us took a chance to recover for a few hours. We all emerged from our rooms later in the day and headed out to explore Torrejon. Spanish restaurants don't open up for dinner service until around 8pm at the earliest. A few people enjoyed some tapas for dinner while others sat in the central square and drank coffee waiting until the clock struck 8 and they could eat dinner.

For the most part our days are spent practicing, eating and sleeping. We have watched a lot of movies and there is a group hooked on the show True Blood.

Time to head out for second practice!

Back in training camp

2011-06-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first day back on the court working to get better. Our second training camp is underway here in Spain. The facility we are using is a beautiful brand new gym. The court is nice the only downside is there are only two hoops so getting up shots is a little more difficult. After our second practice we also did a little spinning workout at the gym, they have all new spin bikes and they were kind enough to let us completely take over the spin class room. We will be doing either a fifteen or twenty minute spin workout at the end of each day. Getting in shape!

The post will have to end a little short we have yet to find cheap laundry facilities in town. This means we get to wash all of our practice gear by hand! With only 3 sets of practice gear and practicing twice a day we have to stay on top of it. Off to scrub....

2011-06-01T11:09:00.000-07:00

We lost a bad one against Japan two nights ago. Despite most of us playing them before and knowing their style we still started the game slow and took a while to adapt to the speed. It feels like before the ball has even gone in the basket they are fast breaking down the court. We battled back into the game and then gave up 5 consecutive three pointers.

After Japan we were given two days off. It was our first full day off since beginning training camp. Everyone headed into Madrid yesterday and saw the sights. A few people spent the night in the city where others came back and stayed at our hotel in Torrejon. We all had a fantastic time and are feeling rejuvenated and ready to begin our 6 day training camp here in Spain.

2011-05-30T04:33:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delayed response but internet went out in our rooms and that meant sitting on the lobby floor to call family and friends. We have moved to a new hotel and thus far the internet is working well!

We have two games under our belts thus far this summer. Both were losses but we are much improved from last summer.

Against Cuba we started very slow. We were stagnant on offense and lacked any sort of flow in transition that resulted in us being down fourteen points early. We kept battling and whittled the lead down to six, it went back to fifteen and we eventually got it to within three. We had a few chances at the end of the game but lacked execution down the stretch. Defensively we were great, we kept them off the offensive glass. We gave up a little too much middle penetration but all things that we will improve upon with more games.

Last night we played Spain. Spain finished third at last years world championships, they are a great offensive team. We started the game well had a bit of a lead and wound up going down to the wire with them. The ball rolled around the rim a few times and just wouldn't seem to drop for us. While it is never fun to lose we are taking solace in the fact that we are only two weeks into our summer training. The only games that matter come at the end of September.

Final game in Spain this afternoon!

2011-05-28T01:53:00.000-07:00

We are slowly recovering from our jet lag. Since we arrived in Spain we have had two practices, both of which were not very good. We can attribute that to the jet lag, there is nothing like running around after flying. A few girls have taken taxis and explored the towns nearest us. Other than that there has been a lot of time spent getting treatment and relaxing.

We square off against Cuba tonight in our first game of 2011. We had a chance to watch them play Spain last night. We need to control the defensive glass and limit our turnovers!

Espana

2011-05-25T09:46:00.001-07:00

After a LONG travel day/s we have arrived in Spain. Our day started off with a 5:15am ride to the Vancouver airport. Two of the vans took a more scenic route and had the chance to experience lower mainland rush hour at its finest. Guess that is why we leave 4 hours before our flight, despite the wrong turn we were all checked in with a few hours to spare!

Once we landed in Toronto we had another four hours to kill. Lots of the girls met up with family and friends who drove out to enjoy a lovely airport meal. After that it was off to Paris. The flight was pretty empty so most of us had a row to ourselves.

In Paris we cleared customs and had two hours to grab some food and hang out before our final leg on to Madrid.

After getting our bags we boarded a bus with Cuba and an hour and a half ride later we were finally able to shower and lay down in a bed! In an attempt to master jet lag we showered and then met downstairs for a long walk. The walk was followed by dinner and the whole team appeared to hit the wall around our second dinner course. Early to bed tonight!

Our hotel is not really close to any towns, cities or shops. We are sort of in the middle of a really nice neighborhood. With practice from 4-6 tomorrow night we will have a little more time tomorrow to check out our surroundings.

2011-05-22T16:15:00.000-07:00

Training camp is almost in the books!! Last night we made a few cuts and some girls headed home this morning. It is always a tough day when you have to say goodbye to friends and old teammates. However we are excited about how well we are playing together after only 7 days.

Below is a 12 player roster for our games in Spain and France.

Chelsea Aubry

Janelle Bekkering

Leanne Evans

Kalisha Keane

Lizanne Murphy

Krista Phillips

Courtnay Pilypaitis

Michelle Plouffe

Kim Smith

Alisha Tatham

Tamara Tatham

Shona Thorburn

We scrimmaged some boys this morning, it was great to play against someone else! We still need to talk more on defense and our final quarter we turned the ball over too much but overall we were happy.

Tonight is a light walk through of some new plays and getting up some shots.

2011-05-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

We had a great Friday! Practice this morning consisted of some light shooting and walking through our first out of bounds and sideline play.

This evening was fantastic. We shot a little and then got to play 5 on 5 the rest of the practice!

Enjoy the interview of our three youngest camp members!

2011-05-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

Today was a hump day. With sore bodies and a nasty cold running through the team it felt harder than it probably was. The good news is that we survived and are resting up for tomorrow. Our meeting with Roger today was magnificent he brought in a magician and we all got to laugh and let loose a little bit.

Tomorrow we are going light in the morning. Putting in an out of bounds play and getting up some shots. Then in the evening we can go hard and compete!

Day 2

2011-05-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

Second day is in the books. Practice went well this morning we are still trying to get everyone on the same page with our offense and defense but it is coming together. We have flashes of greatness!

After practice we went straight to the Abbotsford Rec center to lift. We kind of took over the place. Nineteen athletes, six coaches, and a manager filming it all! Pretty large entourage we roll with. We have a new strength and conditioning coach to add to our support staff, Chad Benson. He is implementing a whole new system. We spent the hour learning a new set of lifting vocabulary. The whole session was filmed so that when we are on our breaks over the summer we can review the correct form for all the lifts.

This evening we don't practice but have a little film to watch and a meeting with our sports psych Roger.

Downtime is filled with treatments, naps, and a little reading or tv watching.

To answer the questions from the last post, Kelsey Adrian is attending summer school and will not be able to join us this year.

Our coaching and support staff:

Head coach- Allison

Assistant coaches- Fabian, Lisa and Mike

Physio- Joan, Marcel

Sports psych- Roger

Strength and conditioning- Chad

Manager- Liv

Not exactly sure how to spell all their last names and it is time for treatment so I hope first names are good enough!!

We are back!!

2011-05-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

After seven months apart we have been reunited in Abbotsford, BC. We have a great mix of returning players and some new faces to the senior squad. This is a very short training camp here in Abby, only 8 days. On May 24th we leave to play a few games in Spain and France.

This morning after what most athletes would deem an early wake up call (730 breakfast) we got on the court for a little testing. Thankfully the dreaded beep test was not one of them! After testing we walked through our offense a little so the newcomers could start to pick some of it up.

This evening we will hit the court for a regular practice. Pretty positive it will be some ugly basketball. The first day back is always filled with nerves and excitement. Then you throw in a new offense for some people and trying to figure out how to play together again.

All of our practices are open and we love meeting fellow ballers and fans in general so be sure to stop by the University of the Fraser Valley. Although you may want to give us tonight to work out a few kinks! For daily practice times and schedules check out Allison's twitter feed http://twitter.com/#!/AllisonMcNeill

Here is a list of the athletes in camp.

Chelsea Aubry
Janelle Bekkering
Leanne Evans
Teresa Gabriele
Kelsey Hodgson
Kalisha Keane
Diana Lee
Lizanne Murphy
Krista Phillips
Courtnay Pilypaitis
Megan Pinske
Katherine Plouffe
Michelle Plouffe
Kadie Riverin
Kendel Ross
Kim Smith
Alisha Tatham
Tamara Tatham
Shona Thorburn

Baltic League Champions

2011-04-11T01:09:00.000-07:00

Vici Aistes- Baltic League Champs :)

Hi all!

I figured its time for another update from Lithuania! Things have been going well here, and I am enjoying myself! Our season is almost over and its almost time for me to get back to Canada!

This past weekend our team played in the Baltic League Final Four. The league is for countries around the Baltic Sea (Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia,and Estonia). Our semi-final game we played another Lithuanian team, and in the finals we played a very strong Russian team. We ended up beating the Russian team by 13 in the finals to win the Championship!

As a team this was one of our goals, so it was nice to accomplish it! We have the rest of Lithuanian playoffs to finish now, and hopefully get another championship!

I have had a great time here in Lithuania, but I am so excited to get back with the great group of girls we have with Canada, and start training to qualify for the Olympics!

Courtnay

I love March!!

2011-03-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

I am not a morning person, never have been although I have matured in the sense that I will not bite your head off if you cross my path before 10. However the past 3 days my alarm has been going off early so I can get all my workouts in at the gym before the twelve o'clock games begin.

I think the NCAA tournament is one of the greatest sporting events. I park myself in front of the TV, remote in hand flicking around finding the best games.

Kim Smith here updating you all on what has been going on with me the last few months. I had to leave my team in Spain after Christmas because of injuries. I was pretty bummed. I really liked my team and enjoyed playing in the Spanish league. However this a huge summer for us and I want to be healthy and rested!

I have been bumming around visiting family and friends. Last week I was in Toronto and got to catch up with KD. It was great to see her again and I am looking forward to hitting the court with her this summer! I also spent a generous amount of time with our amazing physio Joaner. She found a way to squeeze me into her busy schedule and my body is so very thankful!

Good luck to Janelle and Nat big games tonight!

The Perfect Season

2011-03-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

I just wanted to give a BIG shout out to the Greenwood College High School Jr. Boys Basketball team on their perfect season! They went 10-0 for the season and won the CISAA basketball championship this past weekend. They worked extremely hard and deserved this championship more than any other team in the league.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the boys for their hard work and dedication to the team this season. They practiced hard and improved every day. I would also like to give a special thanks to our head coach Elanna Robson. This wouldn't have been possible without her! Congratulations team!

OLYMPIC MEMORIES

2011-02-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

This blog entry was inspired while I was lying on the couch watching t.v., completely drugged up, the day after I got my wisdom teeth pulled.

First off, I should say that earlier this week I put my back out. I was working, doing the bread thing at 4:00am in the morning. I guess I wasn’t quite warmed up yet, I was just straightening out the bread racks, hadn’t even got to lifting bread trays and putting out bread yet. I managed to finish working that morning (with the help of my mom) and went straight to physio. The physiotherapist told me that my L4 was rotated, and my L3 and L5 were both a little out of place, as well as having deep muscle spasms. Once he managed to get my muscle spasms under control with some stim., he manipulated my back and put me back in line. I saw him again two days later and he did some more manipulation and traction on me (I thought that might make me taller, but no such luck). I go back to see him on Monday, and I am not allowed to workout until then. So, it’s been six days since the back injury, and I am still a bit stiff, but the back is doing much better.

Well, the back injury was perfect timing because I couldn’t workout this weekend anyways after having my wisdom teeth pulled. The surgery went well. I only look a little like a chipmunk…just a little!!! So you must be wondering how I was inspired to write a blog entry after putting out my back and having my wisdom teeth pulled?

Well, with all this lying around on the couch, this morning I was able to watch an inspiring and motivating segment on the 1 year anniversary of the Vancouver Olympics. This piece was centred around the amazing triumphs, tragedies, and obstacles that athletes endured throughout the games.

There were many examples of the athlete’s stories that brought Vancouver, British Columbia, and the entire nation together. It all started with Alexandre Bilodeau winning Canada’s first ever, gold medal in moguls on Canadian soil. He put the nation at ease, taking pressure off many other athletes, getting that first Canadian gold medal.

Joannie Rochette, figure skater, took to the ice to compete just hours after hearing about the tragic death of her mother. Joannie captured the hearts and souls of all Canadians, with an enormously gusty performance. She inspired a nation, showing her strength, character and courage through an extremely difficult time.

John Montgomery, won a gold medal in the skeleton for Canada. While walking through Whistler village, going to a routine celebratory interview, a random fan on the street handed him a pitcher of beer. With a smile and not a second of hesitation, in true Canadian fashion, he accepted the beer and took a swig. This moment showed how the spirit of the Olympics brought athletes and Canadian supporters together, sharing a passion of true national pride.

And how could every Canadian not feel a sense of pride when Sydney Crosby scored the game-winning goal to give the Canadian Men’s Hockey Team the last medal of the 2010 Olympic Games. This moment was symbolic of a Canadian pride and spirit that was embraced by all throughout the Olympic Games.

With the passing of the One Year Anniversary of the Vancouver Olympics, and our upcoming Olympic Qualification Tournament this summer, I couldn’t help but think and ponder what OUR STORY is going to be. How are we going to write OUR STORY? The obstacles and successes that each of these athletes experienced during the 2010 Olympics are memories that they will never forget. Their stories, as ours, are shaped through hard work, dedication, tears, laughter, motivation and perseverance. It is up to us to determine how OUR STORY unfolds!

Greetings From Germany:)

2011-01-27T07:34:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

It's Tamara here updating from Germany! I have been here for about 3 and a half weeks now and I've had no problems getting things on track. I went back to the old club that I played for my first season in Germany, the Halle Lions. So it took me no longer than a couple days to feel right at home! The team has made a lot of changes and is completely different. The girls are all new and a handful of them are girls that have moved up from the younger team...so our team is super young. I am actually one of the older players on the team and that is a first for me over here in europe!

We have 5 foreigners..... 3 Americans, 1 Slovakian, and 1 Canadian. One of the Americans has a German passport. So it's kind of nice for our team to play her as a German player because the new rule in the league states that there has to be at least 2 German players on the floor throughout the game.

We ended up winning our first 2 games back from the break and our team is looking like we are showing some great potential. We look like we can pull off some huge upsets for the remainder of the season, and even playoffs.....and I love being the underdog:) Our first true test will be this weekend, as we take on the defending champions of the league! I'm pumped up, and after a couple great wins the ladies have gained some real confidence going into the game!!!

It feels great to be back in that competitive mode and I am training hard to get my team as well as myself, to where we need to be!!

So wish me luck!

GO Canada GO

An English Christmas

2010-12-24T03:18:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I am currently writing you from a flat in England. The last time I posted I was a week away from going to England but no worries I haven't been here since. Mike and I had such an amazing time on our Thanksgiving England trip we decided to come back for a longer period of time over Christmas. We have been here since the 20th and are staying until the 1st of January. A lot has happened since my last post. Our first trip to England was a bumpy one. I had a couple of days off right over American Thanksgiving so Mike and I planned this quick two-day trip to England to have some delicious food and wonderful company for the American holiday. The day before we were suppose to leave we recieved a phone call stating that we would not be able to fly out on the scheduled day because (of course) all of Portugal was on strike just for that day. After some bantering back and forth with a woman that had a pretty thick portuguese accent it was official we could not get out of Portugal until the day after cutting our trip of only two days down to less than 24 hours. After some debate over whether spending more time travelling than actually being in England was worth it we decided to still go. We were definitly glad we did. Mike's old family friend (Gwen) who is attending school in England made some amazing food and she invited 12 of her school mates for dinner who were all really awesome people. It was really refreshing to eat familiar food and have lengthy conversations in English. We had such an amazing time we decided to return for longer over Christmas and bring my American teammate, Kia.

Although Gwen went home for Christmas she is letting us stay in her flat while she is gone and we are really getting a chance to discover England. We are in Eastbourne which is on the sea and is home to the "seven sisters" a coastline of cliffs that is beautiful. We have already run along the coast 3 times and plan on doing an intense hill workout on them today! Other than that we plan on exploring some of the many pubs for Mike's birthday and trying some of the famed fish and chips. We are also going to tackle making Christmas dinner on our own. A pretty big task, we have bought the turkey and all the ingredients for stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccolli bake, cheessy potato casserole and of course apple crisp. Just because we wont be home for Christmas doesn't mean we can't eat like we are there! Plus we definitly aren't missing out on cold weather and snow. It took us 13 hours just to get here due to closed airports because of snow delays.

After Christmas we are heading to London for a day to see the sights and then on to Manchester where I have a bunch of family! Richard, one of my cousins, is going to take us to Whales and Liverpool to see mountains and cassles and also to some old country to show us where my grandparents grew up and to meet a bunch of great aunts and uncles and cousins that I have never met. This is something I have always wanted to do so I am glad I am getting the opportunity with my Fiance and good new friend Kia in tow. We top off this trip with an incredible New Years Eve in Manchester with my family before the noon flight home out of Manchester International New Years Day.

It is definitly going to be difficult spending Christmas away from home, it already has been as I miss my family very very much. However, skype is a beautiful thing and I will be skyping in on our famed Ross Christmas eve party tonight and I am okay knowing I in somewhat of an English dream.

As for the basketball, our team is seriously improving which is refreshing. We had a four game winning streak which is big for us. It brought us to 5-5 before we had to play the two top teams in the league again right before Christmas. The upside is we only lost to the top team in the league by one point so we know we can compete for a top spot. One of the best parts for me was when we played the team who has the player that I am fighting with for top scorer in the league. She is a post from Syracuse in her sixth year over seas and she is very veryy strong. I outscored her 23-19 and took over leading scorer in the league just in time for Christmas Holidays. :) A nice little present to myself. haha. Us Canadians are definitly competitive. Congrats to Courtnay, checked up on the big games you had! Nice work! I am glad to hear about everyone's success! Go Canada Go!

I think I have procratinated on running the seven sister long enough though so Merry Christmas to all and enjoy the time with your families! Never take it for granted, it means more than you know!

Kendel

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-19T12:55:00.001-08:00

So its that time of the year that all of us athletes playing overseas get to go home for the holidays! (those in university, get a small break as well). I know as it is my first year playing professional, I am VERY excited to go home and see my friends and family for a bit. For most of us it has been 4 months since we have been home!

Some are luckier then others, and are home already.. *cough* Chelsea *cough*. Although I haven't been able to keep up with everyone, and how they are doing with their teams, I know everyone has had some great moments. All the university players are doing well for their teams (Nat being named Big East Rookie of the week). I know Chelsea, Kim, and Liz have all had big games for their teams, and are winning on top of that!

My team here in Lithuania has surprised some teams and ourselves a bit and we are 3-5 in Euroleague with wins over the top two teams in our group. We won our last 2 games heading into the break, so spirits are high over here. I personally have got to play a lot more of late, and feel like I am getting better (of course playing against WNBA stars every game helps )!

In the spirit of the Holidays I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays, and hope you all get to enjoy some great food and even better company!

I added this photo, to show I am still representing this great country over here, with my great Olympic mittens :)

Courtnay

First Injection!!

2010-12-01T16:13:00.000-08:00

Hello Basketball Fans!!
It's Teresa taking a turn to update the blog.

Going into World Championships I was not 100% healthy...and returning home from Worlds I am even further from healthy. As we all know and have experienced, unfortunately injury is part of sport. After 15 months of seeing doctors and physios, and getting various tests and treatments, we have finally discovered that I have micro tears in my heel as well as thickening of my plantar fascia. I will start the dextrose (sugar) injections this week. I am not going to lie, I am a little nervous about this whole process. The thought of getting an injection anywhere, let alone the hell, isn't all that appealing to me.

I will keep you posted on how these injections are going. Wish me luck, Teresa.

Ciao from Italy

2010-11-29T09:05:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, Krista Phillips here updating you from the tiny town of Umbertide, Italy. I have been here for a month and a half now, and am finally feeling settled in. It was quite an adjustment as i was whirl winded through everything as they showed me the town, began teaching me the team plays, and tried to help me drive a standard car. I am happy to report i know my way around quite well, have finally learned all the plays, and decided not to drive standard quite yet. One thing at a time. I live alone in a 2 bedroom apartment, and have come to enjoy it quite a bit. As of yesterday my team has become the number 1 team in our 1A division in Italy with our win last night, and are currently undefeated as well as the team to beat right now. We are also the #1 ranked team in defence, and we are pretty proud of that as well. The girls on the team are really great and we all get along very well, which has been a contributing factor to our great performance. Everyone from home is asking if i have been learning italian, and i have to say that it is coming very slowly. I know the simple words and question phrases, but i have found in more cases than not most people know enough english to understand what i am asking! :) The food is great! But i am trying to stay away from the pizza and pasta. A difficult feat considering that is all they eat here!

Well that is all for now!! We play the italian cup champions from last year this coming sunday, so wish me luck!

Hey From Portugal

2010-11-17T08:33:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone,

This is Kendel. I am number 6 in our team picture above! I have now been in Portugal for about a month and a half and things are going great. It is my first professional basketball experience and I feel like I lucked out a bit. I have heard some horror stories but I have been really well taken care of, thus far anyways. I have my own apartment that I am living in with my Fiance who is staying in Portugal with me. He is looking at signing a professional running contract and has an 8K race this sunday that is somewhat of a try-out. The coach of the team he wants to run for will be there and if all goes well it looks like I wont be the only one making money doing the sport I love.

As for me, basketball has been treating me well, my team is young and can be frustrating at times but they are a great group of girls and I like them a lot. We have had some tough competition, playing against all the top teams of the league first but have come out with some good wins and we continue to get better. I am loving that I am getting the opportunity to really work on my game. I am spending a lot of time with the ball in my hands and having to find new ways to score all the time.

Other than that I have had some opportunity to travel. I have hit up places like Madeira Island with the team and I am just a ferry ride away from Lisbon. The team and my apartment are actually just outside a small city named Barreiro and it is very cool navigating our way around a little village. Mike and I are official Mini-Preco club card holders (This is where we get out groceries) so I would say we are getting along just fine. Mike and I are going to London, England to spend American thanksgiving with friends next week. We are definitly very excited about that. I will not be going home for Christmas this year so the company and being with people on a holiday will be nice, even if it isn't a Canadian one.

Overall, I am happy and healthy in Portugal and look forward to my next 5-6 months here. I'll be keeping you posted! Have a great week!

Kendel

Greetings from the island.

2010-10-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hello Canada basketball fans, Kim Smith here checking in from Ibiza, Spain. Ibiza is a small island just off the eastern coast of Spain. It is gorgeous, beautiful sandy white beaches and crystal clear water. I think it is making me a little soft though because the other day I was complaining of the "cold weather" it had dropped to 19C.

I have been re united with my fellow Canadian and proud former Ute Shona Thorburn. It is always nice to know someone when you are overseas and even better when it is a good friend that you enjoy playing with. Our team is in the first division Spanish league and thus far we are 3-3. We are undefeated at home, just have to get things clicking on the road!

While my countdown to Christmas is on (49 days) I am getting used to the Spanish way of life. Waking up before 930 is unheard of, and everyday there is siesta from 2-5. My family always makes fun of my sleeping schedule and here I found a whole country that believes in the power of 10-12 hours a day! The only downside is that we eat dinner really late.... normally don't start cooking until 10:30.

My spanish is coming along, I can understand almost everything that my coach says on the court. Off the court is still a work in progress, I will be looking into some lessons later on this week.

Happy Halloween!!!

Courtnay from Lithuania

2010-10-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hi to all the Canada Ball fans!

Just a little update on how I am doing. I am in Lithuania (by Poland, Latvia, and Belarus), playing for VICI Kaunas in the Euro league. This is my first experience as a pro athlete so I have had my ups and downs, but I have settled into a nice routine here and enjoying my time.

Our team recently just played our first Euro league game against the defending champions Spartak, and we won on a buzzer beater layup! This game was one of the better games I have been a part of, and was a huge win for our team and Lithuania in general. For those who might not know, Lithuania takes their basketball VERY seriously.. its the equivalent to hockey in Canada.

So season is well under way with our Lithuanian league games and Euro league games, so lots of basketball being played which is the most important thing! I am working hard, as I know all the other girls are doing to get better for next summer to qualify for the Olympics!

Until my next update,

Courtnay

Jordan from New Mexico

2010-10-27T19:35:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!
I am back to work in Albuquerque. Got back from Worlds and pretty much right to work. The team is getting ready for another exciting season, which means I am gonna be really busy here soon. Our new facility is just about finished. Its been a 60 million dollar facelift on the infamous Pit. It's beautiful though. We start playing in about two weeks. It should be an interesting season, we have a lot of young players. But I am looking foward to a good year. I am pretty positive about life right now and the wonderful possibilities. I have a new roommate and we both work out together, which make things nice. Its nice to have someone around to cook and hang out with. I am still rehabing some injuries from this summer, so hopefully those will get better soon so I can get back to training hard. I am excited about getting a bunch of my old college teammates together for a four on four league here in Albuquerque. We will be playing in a coed league with all women. Should be fun! I do however miss my Canadian teammates already. We had an amazing summer together and made some great memories. Now we are all looking forward to next summer and the Olympic Qualifiers. Hope everyone is doing well!
Until later,
Jordan

2010-10-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

Alright Canada basketball fans we have to apologize. We failed to post the last few days at worlds. The bitter taste of defeat after Greece and Brazil hit us hard.

Overall we gave it our best effort, leaving everything on the court but we can't help but feel we should have done better. For outsiders the fact that we made it out of the "pool of death" was a surprise but we went in believing we would advance. To suffer close loss after close loss can certainly discourage you but we are proud of the way we battled. The experience will only make us stronger, nine out of the twelve girls on our team had never been to a World Championship before.

The day after our last game we were already splitting up. We are now spread out all over the world training and getting ready for next summers Olympic qualifier!

2010-09-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

We lost a heartbreaker to France last night. With four seconds left they hit a game winning lay up. While the game's final outcome would not have changed the fact that we will be playing out 9-12 place, it still stings. On a positive note we did take last year's European champion down to the wire. CB fans we are so close to breaking through!

We were up at 530 this morning to board a charter plane with all the other teams at our hotel. Imagine 6 teams plus support staff crammed into one plane, lets just say the landing was not very smooth. We are now in Karlovy- Vary. It is a beautiful spa town and we are headed out right now to explore!

Early game tomorrow morning against Brazil. GO CANADA!

2010-09-28T12:04:00.000-07:00

Tough loss today to Greece. Not much to say we played great defense, shutting down their top two scorers. However we could not put the ball in the hoop, we had lay ups that kept rolling around and popping out. It is frustrating knowing that we are better than we have performed but we still have a few more chances to show our stuff. We play France tomorrow evening.

GO CANADA!

Round 2

2010-09-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

The first rainy day here in Ostrava fell on our day off. We spent most of the day laying around on our hotel beds. We watched some movies, played cards and caught up on our laundry. Laundry is incredibly expensive so we have been hand washing all of our t-shirts and practice gear. It is hard on the hands, all the wringing and washing gets tiring. Thankfully our uniforms and game gear get done by the hotel so we can wait till all our t-shirts and practice gear pile up.

We did get to escape the hotel last night. Wayne Parrish our CEO treated us to a dinner out! We went into the city centre and ate a delicious meal. Nice to be away from the monotony of the food here and switch our menu up a little! Thanks Wayne!

First game of the second round tonight against the USA. A big emphasis tonight is going to be on rebounding. If we want to have more success in this tournament we need to find a way to push people back and get boards. Tonight will be a good test against a great rebounding team.

GO CANADA!

2010-09-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

A tough loss today to Belarus. For the first time this tournament we started strong but made some silly turnovers in the first half. Our defense was pretty good but offensively we played slow and had trouble putting the ball in the basket. Every time we cut the lead it felt like we would give up a big play. We were out rebounded tonight by quite a bit, it is always deflating when you play great D and give up an offensive board.

While it is pretty discouraging we are moving on to the next round and have 6 more games to play! We know we are better than what we played tonight and we are thankful/ proud to be moving on!

First win!

2010-09-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

pictures courtesy of Fiba.com

We beat China today! We got down early in the game but battled back with some tough defense and great contributions on offense. We were pretty excited as you can tell by the pictures.

We are already over our excitement and accomplishment and are on to the next game against Belarus. We have a later game tomorrow, it gives a good chance to rest and recover so we will be fully prepared for our battle tomorrow evening!

Game 2

2010-09-24T01:39:00.000-07:00

We watched some film and we are ready to battle with China! We just want to thank you all for your comments and encouragement.

GO CANADA!

2010-09-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

A tough loss to Australia today. We had a very bad start, we were down in the first quarter 15-2. We fought back and brought the game close but wound up losing by quite a bit.

We are encouraged with the way we played defense against their bigs, it was a good warm up game as China will be just as tall tomorrow. Offensively we just need to string together a full game of execution and we will be good.

The best thing about tournaments like the worlds is that we get a chance to play again tomorrow afternoon. No time to dwell on the loss, we are onto the next one!