Gliders in Germany 2

18 May 2012

Today was quite a simple day. A Gliders day always starts off with hydration testing which basically involves peeing a tiny bit into a small jar and then having our physio MW test it and giving us a score. More than 15 usually means your dehydrated. A score of zero means your peeing water and are over hydrated. I had a pretty good score (under 5!) which is unusual for me. I am usually very dehydrated in the mornings but my body clock wasn't in German time last night so when I woke up and was having trouble getting back to sleep, I was drinking more water.

The rest of the day consisted of a buffet breakfast, then an on court training session, then lunch (fresh tomato, mozzarella, and basil pizza), then a pool session, then treatment/massage, then a team meeting watching heaps of video footage of ze Germans, and then an official dinner with all the teams.

Mmmm pizza.

Mini buffet tables! So cute!

At this tournament the womens teams are Germany, Netherlands, USA and Australia. The mens teams are Germany, Japan, GB and USA. It has been a while since the Gliders have had to play USA so it will be interesting to see how we go. But first up (tomorrow) we play Germany. We have played Germany numerous times over the last few years so we have a lot of scouting notes about the team in general and the individual players. We have won games against them and we have also lost games against them. But because I am completely biased and have faith in my team - I am sure we will come away with a "W".

19 May 2012

Hydration: 21
Today we played both Germany and Netherlands. I'm not really going to write too much because we have a REALLY early morning and will be at the stadium all day. Long story short: we lost both games. Jet lag? Being a little rusty? I'm sure there are plenty of excuses but when it comes down to the nitty gritty of basketball - the ball didn't go in the hole enough times.

I sit here watching a lightning storm on the German horizon (not too spectacular - just flashes) while also reading other Gliders get fraped by their room mates. Before writing this I had my psoas / hip flexor's stretched so now it's time for bed.

- 102 days til the London Paralympics!

Gliders in Germany

16 May 2012

Left Perth at 3.30ish pm. Nearly forgot to pick up my duty free Clinique because the airport employee took us through a secret doorway which bypassed the duty free pickup zone. Fellow Glider SV reminded me so had the airport employee run upstairs to grab my moisterizer. Thanks SV!

5 or so hours later we were in Singapore airport waiting for the eastern states Gliders to arrive. 11ish pm we were on our plane to Frankfurt, Germany! I slept for a bit then woke up for dinner (some sort of curry). Then slept til breakfast (some kind of egg that held it's shape). Then read my book until touch down.

17 May 2012

My first stamp in my new Nott passport!!

Waited in an airport chair for a very long time as the ground staff tried to find our day chairs. They had brought up our basketball chairs and sent our day chairs off to baggage claim, so it took a while for them to swap them around.

DG, KG, CC, SC and myself went on a bit of an adventure because we followed the wrong 'baggage claim this way' sign and ended up in the wrong terminal. DG and I were going to go one way but we saw the other three going the other way so we followed (hinesight, doh!). We went past the point of no return (past passport control) so we had to take the airtrain to the right terminal where the rest of the Gliders were waiting for us. They were still waiting for the bus to arrive so we didn't feel too bad!

Short bus trip to the Radisson Hotel, Frankfurt. Turns out that I am the luckest Glider (in my opinion but I am biased!). I have a room to myself with a double bed. AC has her own room as well but has a single bed (which makes it ideal for the physio table, therefore, is now the treatment/massage room). All the other Gliders have roomies and single beds each.

Not as messy as it will probably be in a few days

Double bed - a luxury when on a Gliders trip

I had a bit of time for a quick shower and then had a breakfast buffet with the girls. We dragged this out for a fair bit before finally leaving to go for a recovery swim in the pool which is on the top floor (level 18) with the glass slanted roof. We had a small amount of 'own time' before having a compulsory wander around the block to keep us active.

Our hotel

We then watched some video footage in small groups to scout ze Germans before having some down time before dinner. In the down time I started to feel a bit down and tired but then hubby logged online which perked me back up. Its always great to be able to chat with him. In the past I have gone on away trips where internet access is hard to come by and chatting with our loved ones back home becomes hard. The Gliders aways get a bit excited when we find out there is free wifi where we are staying. Its a bit sad though when we chat via fb/twitter instead of in their room a short push/walk down the hall.

For dinner we walked to a Thai restaurant. I had a penang curry and it was fantastic! Conversations were hiarious as the Gliders became over tired. Turkey basters - what!? If you have ever watched Offspring (channel 10) you might have a clue what we might have chatted about.

I am now back in my room sipping on my Gaterade bottle filled with water and Shotz so tomorrow mornings pee test gets a good hydration testing. #athleteproblems (oh wait, this isn't Twitter..).

Apologies for any spelling or gramatical errors. I'll fix them later! Bed time!

- 104/103 days til London Paralympics! (depending on what time zone your in).

Basketball, Education and Life

BASKETBALL
Wednesday 16 May 2012 will see 3 Perth based Gliders flying out of Perth to go to Germany and then to Manchester a few days later. The Gliders will be competing in a tournament in Frankfurt, followed by a tournament in Manchester.

I love Germany! One of the nicest countries I have visited (been there three times now). Friendly people and cute little cake/pastry shops. I haven't been to Frankfurt before though, so I am looking forward to the new experience. Not looking forward to the weather while the Gliders are away though:

Taken from Google.com

So I won't be wondering around in my Lulu tanks this trip :( Swifly tech and manifesto long steeve tops might be seen though!

I will try write about any Gliders adventures on here to keep you up to date.

EDUCATION
My uni exam is on the 4th of June (we arrive back in Australia on the 29th of May) so I might try be a good student and take my uni text book away with me. For the Manchester tournament I have a room to myself so I will (hopefully!) get a decent amount of spare time to myself. Though knowing me and the way I tend to study - I will be catching up on the unit chapter readings over the few days before the exam. Unfortunately those few days before the exam is actually a WNWBL round in Perth.

Can't wait for the semester to be over!

LIFE
Make sure you read Flash and Thunder's blog as well and then follow the links to donate (even if it is just $5). Lee and Dean are in training mode for Tough Mudder and all the money they raise goes straight to Wheelchair Sports WA.

My guy wears Lulu too :)

I will be plugging Flash and Thunder numerous times because I fully support what they are doing. I'm so proud of them both! I had a dream last night that they reached $1000. Help make my dream come true! (and yes, I agree - it is a weird thing to dream about!)

- 110 days to go til Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Paralympics!

2012

I haven't written one of these since 2010! I have recently been inspired to start it up again so I have changed the layout and colours for a whole new look to go with my new name.
New name?? Yes, a new name! I married by beautiful husband on January 29, 2012:

We went to Koh Samui, Thailand for our honeymoon where we did ALOT of relaxing by the pool (when we weren't doing various adventures around the island).

Elephant Trek

Quad bike safari

Jetskiing

Swimming

I am currently in training mode for the 2012 London Paralympics. At the last Glider's camps we had various information sessions from various APC representatives so the whole Paralympic preparation is starting to hit home. Not long to go!

I am only studying my last year of my Bachelor of Legal Studies and Bachelor of Criminology double degree. If all goes well with my assignments and exams I will be finally graduating!! My first year of uni was 2005 so I have been a uni student for a LONG time and I can't wait to be a graduate! Will I be doing a post-grad course? Hell no!

Before I sign off I want you all to meet someone special. He is just over 1 year of age:

'Taj' - our beautiful black labrador

Balance for 2010

Holy crap its twenty ten!!

Here is a bit of a written montage of what has happend since I last blogged:

• The Western Stars came 2nd for the 2nd year in a row. I received MVP for 1 pointers and a spot in the All Star 5 for the first time. *beaming!*
  


• The Wheelcats came 1st for the 4th year in a row. Making us the first team in NWBL history to do so.



• The Gliders played Japan four times in Melbourne during the Rollers Qualification tournament in Melbourne. We won 3 of 4 games. That one game being a hospitable lose apparently. The Gliders also had their 20 year reunion.



• The Wheelcats won team of the year at the WSWA Sports Awards and I was nominated for Athlete of the Year but was second to Justin Eveson. When your up against the number 1 basketballer in the world, your never going to win :) But still, I got a warm fuzzy when my name was called out as a nominee.



• Lee and I had our first 6 month anniversary.
  
• Donna Percy + Co wants me to work next year which is great since originally it was only meant to be a 6 month contract (which started March 2009!)


• I passed both my units for uni (had to wait ages for results due to action by teachers not releasing results).


• Saw Avatar in 3D on christmas eve. BEST movie of 2009/2010 in my opinion. Sam Worthington, fellow Perthie, your amazing and you played disabled really well! Kudos to you and the guy who plays Artie in Glee for increasing disability awareness. Not too sure about the legs to the side thing though, but still, your transfers were spot on and even your legs looked disabled :P


• I had my first Nott christmas and loved it :)



• Spent New Years in Melbourne for the 3rd year in a row. Loved it loved it loved it! Thank you Dori and Kat :)

So here I am in 2010. World Cup year. I can't believe how quick time has gone. It is kind of scary!

The Gliders have been sent their schedule for the year and its PACKED full of stuff. 2 training camps at the AIS and 5 international tournaments (one of which is being held in Melbourne). Add to all that another season of WNWBL and NWBL and thats a whole lot of basketball.

So this year is a year of finding balance. I'm pretty sure I said something like that for 2009 but I'm pretty sure I failed miserably with it. If only there were more days in the week I might have done better. But there isn't. Basketball and uni affected work. Work and uni affected basketball. Work and basketball affected uni. Basketball, uni and work affected the amount of time I had to myself, which affected my diet, which affected my energy levels, which effected my basketball, uni and work. So you can see why I am going to try again this year.

My first training camp is in 9 days and I am looking forward to seeing the girls again. The last time we were together was in November for those games against Japan in Melbourne. That would be the last time I had a good scrimmage with a size 6 ball. Everything I've done since then was size 7. But I plan on having a good few shoot arounds between now and camp to get me used to the size 6 again. And by 'plan' I mean I hope to. Quality might have to be my friend, not quantity. Gone are the days when I do nothing but basketball (like in 2008 where I deferred uni and had no job).

Uni starts late Feb and I will be doing another 2 units - Criminal Behaviour and Sentencing and Penology. Until then I will be working as many days as possible. When Uni starts back up I will go back to 3 days of work a week. If I had a choice in the matter I would have all my uni on the one day so I can have one day off a week to catch up on any training or uni assessment I need to. But more than likely the lectures for the units will be on different days.

Anyway, in sum: 2010 will be about balance. And landscaping. :)