Update from Columbia

Hy there! So it's been a tough time getting wifi, seeing as there has been a hotel full of athletes all trying to get Internet at the same time. So sorry for my lack of updates! Butt we finished pool play 3-1 with our one loss being to brazil. We moved onto the semifinals and play Argentina tomorrow. With getting to the semis it means we qualify for the world qualifier in June for the olmypics where five teams go from there. So having that safety net is nice, but we want to win it all now and qualify. Next step for us is to win our semis. It's going to be a real tough game, but I have faith in our team. Other then playing, we have had a lot of down time where we have spent wondering around the hotel trying to find wifi, reading, watching tv, or sleeping. There really isn't much else you can do. But after having a hectic summer it's nice to just relax. That's all right now, and I'll try to update soon Courtnay

First win

So we got our first win last night to Mexico. We won by almost thirty, and it was a complete team effort. It was great to get the first win, and now we play brazil this afternoon. My highlight was getting pooped on by a bat... Yes a bat... It happened. We have bats flying around the gym, and normally aren't an issue... But I'm taking it as good luck! That's all for now!

Puerto Rico

So we spent 4 days in Puerto Rico and had 2 exhibition games.... we went 1-1.. with our first game being pretty ugly... but we got it out of our systems so that was probably the only positive that came from the game. The second game was MUUUCH better! Although it turned out to be a football game almost.. both teams started to take some liberties with fouling and being aggressive since the refs were letting us do that.
Needless to say, we both settled down and we came away with the victory!

Now we had to play at 8pm... got back showered, packed, and ate and by this time it was probably around 1 am for most of us! Not soo bad.. unless you have a 3:30am wake up call! Well needless to say we all got up and headed to the airport. Now we had a nice 6 am flight BACK to Ft. lauderdale.. yes back into the USA... seems silly but we didn't complain and just went about travelling. Then we flew into Bogota, Columbia and had a 6 hour lay over.. yes SIX hours!!! But we were lucky enough to get rooms at the Sheraton to relax and nap for a bit, until our last flight which was a short one into Neiva! Got in around 9pm..

Now thats a long day considering we were already in South America to begin with.. but we are here, and ready to go after getting a good night sleep!

Here are some pics from Puerto Rico:

 The gym we played in for one of our games..

 The view from my hotel room.. not to bad!

 A random Castle.. that my dad is convinced is the Bacardi castle

 A random street I passed while touring around.

 The view from a bridge towards our hotel

 The beautiful water we passed everyday, but never got to go to... 

 Some nice view of the water.. again!

 Really was a beautiful place

 Random San Juan photos...

 Another random...

The hotel had a rooftop hot tub and pool.. Yes we took advantage of it!

Well thats all I have for now, a few practices here in Columbia and then first game against Mexico on Saturday!  For those of you in Canada.. the games will be played on TSN2 on tape delay, so look at your guide to see when they are playing!!

Courtnay

Final Training camp!

Hi there!

Just a quick update on team Canada training camp! We are more then halfway through our camp, and things have been going well! Everyone is working hard, and we are trying to clean up all our systems and put our final preparations together before Columbia!

We have 3 more practices before we head off to Puerto Rico, and I could not be more excited! The more and more I think about it, I get giddy thinking about the chance to qualify for London. I am truly blessed to put on the Canadian jersey!

For those who are interested, if you want to check out NBA TV when your free, they will be airing a special on our team. You can get to know some of the team, and hear our thoughts heading into the qualifiers.

Thats it for now, hope everyone is doing well!

Courtnay

Last week home

So the last week I was at home went by soo fast! I went to NYC for Labour day weekend, with a couple friends and then met Jackie(my college roomie) in the city.

The weekend was a lot of fun! Some highlights were just going down to Time Square, and experiencing “New York”. Also going to see Sister Act on Broadway was  phenomenal!

I also got to meet up with a friend of Jackie and I, who lived in New Jersey. It is always nice seeing people you haven’t seen in a couple years! There were many photo opportunities in New York, so I wont share them all, but here are a few that are my favorites.

 Yes we got to go to Carlos Bakery (where they film cake boss)

 Jori, Cliff, and I enjoying the rooftop restaurant in NJ

 Jori and I in Central Park

 Jackie, Jori and I getting ready to enjoy the NYC night life

 Jackie and I in Time Square

Jori and I enjoying our frist trip to the big apple!

Once I got back, it was a busy two days, filled with lots and lots of laundry and packing! I was leaving on Friday to head to National Team camp, where I would be gone for a month and then once I got back I would only have two days at home before heading off to Lithuania. Needless to say my packing took longer then I thought, and I was frantically rushing around the day before I left!

One of my favorite things before I left, was being able to watch NFL opening day! I cannot tell you the last time I was able to sit down and watch a football game on an actually tv! (not streamed online at 11pm). It is the little things like this that I miss when I am away.

So now I am in Toronto, training with the national team. We are putting our last little preparation in before heading out for our Olympic Qualifiers! The team feels extremely confident in our chances, and has put in years and years of work for a chance to qualify.

We leave the 17^th to head to Puerto Rico for a couple exhibition games, and then to Columbia!!

I will be updating as best as I can while away, so you can all follow Team Canada as we qualify for London 2012!

Sidenote- we have a team blog (http://canadaball.blogspot.com) if you want to follow that as well!

Courtnay