What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Hi all!

So as many of you know... we lost our semi-finals last night by 2 against Argentina. This could have been one of the most disappointing games i've been in a LONG time!

Normally I wont complain about the ref situation, but we felt like the outcome would have been different if the ref was aware of the situation at the end of the game. Needless to say it didn't work out that way, and we lost. Like the title of my post says... what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Our entire team was upset, anger, and frustrated after the game. It is always tough to lose, but when you feel like you deserved to win.. its even tougher.

With that said, we play in the third place game tonight, and were looking to bounce back and finish strong. I absolutely love this team, and know that next summer we will qualify for the Olympics in the world qualifier!

My team-mates have worked so incredibly hard to earn this, and we know it will come for us.

Thats all for now,

Courtnay 

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

Summer 2011

Wow! So this blog update is WAAAAY past due! I apologize for not blogging this summer! I have been busy, and then when I did get some time off I wanted to spend it with friends and family.

This will be a long one, as I have a lot to recap so bare with me if you can!

So without further a due…. I Give you my summer travels!

First trip: Spain and France!

So with the Canadian team we went to Spain and France to play 6 games, against some of the best European teams. We went 1-5, but all our games were close and for it being our first games together in a year it went well! My highlight of the trip was getting to spend a day in Madrid! I have fallen in love with Spain, and would love to play there for a year or two.  France was nice too, but we spent a little amount of time there and did not get to see the city we were in.

In Madrid some of the girls went on a GPS go kart tour of the city, and I went with my roomie Krista, and got completely lost!! Everything we tried kept bringing us back to a dead end, so we ended up driving around in a little go kart on the main streets of Madrid trying to find our way back out! Needless to say we still got to see some stuff, and have a story to tell!

 Not of me.. but this was the go kart we drove around in!

 Getting some instructions from coach in one of our games

On the court, after a huddle

A couple of the girls explore Segovia, Spain

Had to pose for a photo with them! :)

1^st Break: So after this we had 6 weeks off! I was shocked that we had this much time off, but I was soo happy to finally be home for more then a week! I spent the majority of time at home, working out and catching up with friends and family. I could never tell you how much this meant to me! I also planned a couple trips as I went to Syracuse for some shopping, and then went to Vermont, Indiana, St. Louis, and Boston to visit friends.

This break was crazy! I got to see a former enemy (Carlee Cassidy, who played at UMBC) we are now friends. Funny how things change when the competition is taken out of it. I got to see most of the UVM girls, and the freshman… it is still weird to walk into Patrick Gym and know I wont ever be playing there again. 

I got to see my old room-mate Meghan, who I had not seen in two years! It was so great to see her as I have kept in touch and finally got to hang out with her.  Highlight of that trip was being able to go see the Hoosiers gym. ANYONE who likes basketball knows this movie, and being able to see the gym where it was filmed was amazing.. Yes I bought a Jimmy Chitwood shirt :)

I saw Sarah Madey in Boston, who I played with for two years and we spent an amazing weekend together at the beach and just hanging out. Also watching the newest Chronicles of Narnia movie!

Lastly, I visited Amanda (my team-mate in Lithuania) in St. Louis to celebrate her birthday! I had a blast with her and loved getting to meet/see all the places she had talked about. Now next summer Amanda is coming to visit Ottawa (hint hint)

 Hoosiers Gym in Indiana

 Meghan and I in the locker room

 Out for a little sundae treat

 Had to go to the Cardinals Stadium...

 At the Arch.. of course we had to have our jumping photo

 Yes.. I went up in the Arch.. this was the view :)

At the St.Louis zoo.. who knew it was legit?

Second Trip: Japan and China!

So I was back at it with Japan and China trips with Canada basketball. We went 1-2 against both Japan and China, but again all the games being close and competitive. These games I really saw a difference in our team, you could see the hard work we’ve been putting in coming together. Japan was a very neat country, and we stayed in Nagasaki, and got to see ground zero where the US dropped the bomb years ago. It was so neat to see the monuments, and how the city has rebuilt itself.

China was a bit different, it was a little dirtier, and there was the constant layer of smog in the air. Also we had what we would call one or two star hotels to stay in. At least we had a roof over our heads and a bed (even if it was like sleeping on concrete). I also got to experience the crazy drivers in China.. it’s really is organized chaos…. Honking everywhere, passing cars with oncoming traffic, and not obeying red lights… it was scary to begin with, but we got use to it, or you just looked down when driving.

The highlight of the trip was for sure going to see the Great wall of China! Man is it big!! I am so lucky I get to see all these famous monuments, and wonders of the world! I was taken a back from the Great Wall! We didn’t even walk a lot of it since we had practice later that day, but it was a great experience.

 Our view from our hotel in Japan

 Before one of our games in Japan, they had such good crowds

 The great wall... The picture does not do it justice

 A couple of us posing for a pic!

 Another team photo

 After we had walked up part of the way

Before a game in Japan.

 Organize chaos in the streets of China

The team on our sightseeing day in China

2^nd break: So now I have 3 weeks off at home, and I have been busy getting everything ready to go back to Lithuania (as I go right after the Olympic qualifiers). Also back to see my friends and family again, which I always nice! J I have a trip to NYC planned with Jori and to meet up with Jackie, so that is very exciting. Other then that I have been at home relaxing and working out. Nothing too crazy for me this trip!

 My two best friends and I back together!

 Having a feast of a BBQ :) Little things like this I miss when im away

 Playing Cranium with friends.. 

 Jori and I enjoying Ottawa night life 

Evan and I posing for a pic.

Well If you are still reading this blog! Good for you!! I know its long, but I tried to put in lots of photos to help with the reading!

I will be blogging more often.. not daily like some people have requested (not naming names), but I promise it will be much more frequent from now on!

Courtnay