Monday, July 27

Good morning! It's Monday--the day that I will repeat :) so I suppose I better make good use of my first time around with no worries because I will have a second chance for the whole day :).

I miss my parents. Playing 11 games of basketball is brutal. My rents can (or at least I make them lol) put up with me and all my post games "AHHH"s. Without them my anger management skills have to be on super high. We played an Arizona team yesterday and if we didn't beat them we were going to have to play another THREE games after already playing three. So we really wanted to win, but so did they. So the coach put one big girl on me to try and smother me to death. Her little arm bar never left my stomach the whole game except for times when I personally removed it. If she would have been a little more human about it I might not have gotten so ticked but when she's doing it with no heart--I was getting pretty mad. And those who know what game I am referring to when I about blew my top, let's put that at a level 10 and I would say for sure yesterday I was at about an 8.5. The only reason it is the much lower is because the rest of the team was human, and the one girl's substitute was as well. That other game back in the day--nobody was.

Anyway...so we ended up losing to an Aussie team for the championship game 42-25. We tied them up at 21 all I believe but then we just couldn't stop them. They were hitting everything, including some big threes. I have never been so physically exhausted in my life. Thankfully the place was as cold as it was or I gaurentee (spelling?) over half the US players would have been on the verge of passing out. As it was, by that last game I was starting to lose it big time. The crazy thing was the Aussie teams could have played all day. Not necessarily good basketball but they could run all day and chuck up shots. It was nuts. On the championship team, The Blitz, there was a little Asian that had to be around 12 or 13. Then there best player in my opinion was only 16. She said she plays basketball with a variety of teams every single day. Wow.

After the boys' game ended (Minnesota took home the gold over an Aussie team) they did an awards presentation for the medals. That was fine, but all of us were about to die and could have practically cared less. But we made it through.

On a side note, I can't say I have been particularly impressed with...down here. I did fall asleep yesterday with my head on a table and woke up to meet Lily. She was cool, a lady that did holistic counseling (Mom, what is that??). She had three kids that were cool and a partner that was a nice guy from Chicago. I liked them. But it was funny, they asked me if I liked it here and by that point, after around nine games, my answer was more like, "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....it's okay...........". Ugh, no I don't really like it, at least where we are, but I did like them. I have to admit it was really hard playing in this tournament and not losing all morals and civility out on the court. I have always played and hope to continue to always play foremost with class. That effort can be helped immensely by good reffing and made much harder by bad reffing. The refs here were as my new Aussie Chicago friend put it, "shocking", and I would have to agree whole-heartedly. On the other hand, I can't imagine what the weekend must have been like for them, getting chewed out all the time. One lady ref was askign us our ages and then she goes, "Really?? I'm only 15!" What?!?! Poor girl. My point of all of this though is that after our last game when we were watching the boys an Aussie lady comes up to me and told me, "You have played a really good tournament. I have loved watching you, and I have especially noticed your sportsmanship and your attitude on the court. You help girls up and you never played dirty. Good job." That was probably the best words I had heard all week. Just a friendly reminder to all athletes, people notice.

Finally we got back "home" and were able to take showers and dress up for the banquet downstairs. Each athlete was given a participation medal and then there was All-Tournament team selected. I made it and so did my friend and Texas teammate, Camber. Then they also selected an All-Tournament MVP and I was also awarded that. That was a pretty neat feeling :).

Then it was up to the room where I did three loads of laundry :) and packed my bags. And for once all week, I was actually up until curfew, which last night was midnight. Now I am up and about, and going to grab some breakfast. Our plane leaves around 2 P.M. for Sydney, then an hour layover, and then it's off to HAWAII!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to get back to the States! (Not necessarily home just yet, just the States lol.)

I better wrap this up! Over and out!