Semi finals!

September 6th 
I am very excited as I am writing this. Why? Because the Aussie Gliders are through to the grand final!!!

Today we had to play against the USA girls in our semi final. It was a battle! What I kept in my head the entire game was how I felt after losing to them in the semi at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. I did not want to feel like that again. It was even at half time, then we had a fantastic run on them in the third (they only scored 2 points to our 12) but then we had a shocker of a forth quarter. We only scored 2 points but we kept them to 11. We won by 1 point!!

I have to apologise for celebrating early. I heard a buzzer go off, saw the missed shot, turned to look at my bench, heard the crowd roar and saw people on our bench jump up with happy faces. For some reason all those things in my mind equaled the end of the game with a win to us. My brain was in a semi-final fuzz. It wasn't until after I had already pushed to my bench when I realised we actually still had 1.9 seconds to go. Our possession. 1 point up. We just needed to catch the ball and hold onto it. SC caught it, she held it. The real end game buzzer went off and we were the winners! Time for the happy tears!!

The US girls have been the masters of come backs at this tournament. In their games against China and Canada they were able to come back from being behind to winning the game. Their focus has been amazing, they nailed several clutch shots and their full court press nearly had us!

With all that said, it doesn't matter if we win by a point or 20 - winning is winning. Australia won the semi! I am going to play in a Paralympic grand final. There is nothing more sweet than that. Hold on, what am I talking about!? Winning gold at a Paralympics will be the sweetest thing ever!

The Gliders are all smiles, and "booyeah!!" now, but we still have one more important job to do. So tonight we will be trying very hard to calm down in order to get a good nights sleep so it is all business tomorrow. We have played the Germans numerous times over the past few years. Each time we play them we have played like it is the Paralympic gold medal game. We have beat them prior to this tournament. We can do this!!

Thank you to all the support we are getting here in London and back home in Australia. We will need it tomorrow. It's going to be a great battle! May the best team win! Go Gliders!

Best luck to the Netherlands and the USA who will be playing off for the bronze tomorrow.

For a great photo and a write up about both semi final games - go to the official London 2012 website :-)

Quarter finals!

September 4th
Today was our cross over game against the Mexican's. We were really strong right from the start which earned me a rest for 3/4 of the game. Our bench played an amazing game - not only keeping solid pressure on the Mexicans but also adding to the lead. Our team of 12 women is definitely 12 deep. 12 strong, admirable women who know how to play bloody awesome defence (which flows into a bloody awesome offence!).

Hubby Lee was part of half time entertainment - getting interviewed on court side. Unfortunately I couldnt see it in the change rooms backstage!

Our win against the Mexicans (62 to 37) means we are going into the semi finals! After the game I was pulled to the side by media (which is always kinda cool) and blabbered on about braiding hair when asked if we have a pre-game routine. My braided hair and ribbons make up for all the ugly faces I make on court :-)

The APC media crew have done it again! What would I spend my last $10 on? I'm not very good at spontaneous answers especially with a camera in my face so my answer is a bit weird. There are heaps of decent meals for under $10! What was I thinking?

After dinner we watched an emotional game between the GB and German girls. The GB girls worked their butts off and their country would be extremely proud of them despite them going down to the Germans in the final quarter. We also watched the USA v Canada game. The winner of course being the team we will play in the semi's. This game was also a very intense game to watch. So close right til the end but it was the USA girls who were the victors.

The reality at the Paralympics is that there can only be 1 gold medal team, with two other teams winning silver and bronze. There are many more quality teams in the world. We can all beat each other. Womens wheelchair basketball is that good!!

September 5th
Today was another rest day. Breakfast, getting my photo on a stamp, lunch, meeting, training session, recovery, dinner, and lastly, re-dyed my pinky purple bit in my hair :-) Bring on USA tomorrow!!

Preliminary games.

September 1st
Today we played against Canada. It was such a great game to play. We are able to match up really well against them and on court both teams played really well. Unfortunately we lost by 7. A few of our roll arounds rolled out and a few of Canada's roll arounds rolled in.

Our first loss at the Paralympics didn't sadden the Gliders, we still had smiles on our faces after the game. Losing that game didn't lessen our chances of playing for a gold medal. We still have a few games up our sleeve before anything like that can happen. But it's not going to!

September 2nd
Today was a very long day for us!! Firstly, we had a mid-morning shoot around at the training venue in Hackney and for the second time we missed Adam Hills going into the Athlete Village! We missed him in Beijing as well but he left us a handwritten note. This time round he gave us some serious kudos in the following APC media video:

Secondly, my afternoon nap was interrupted by water coming through a downlight due to a burst pipe in an upper level, therefore several Mr Fix It's were coming in and out of my room and it felt weird being in my bed while they put holes in the roof to drain the water out. I was really pleased by how efficient the APC and the maintenance men worked in order of getting this fixed.

Lastly, our game against the Netherlands didn't start until 9.15pm! Prior to the game I was telling people it is going to be a very tough game. We haven't beat this team in about 4 years but the Glider's never go into a game thinking they are going to lose. If you think that before a game then you have already lost and the outcome will more than likely be the same. We knew who the threats were and what defence we had to run to try stop them from scoring. We also had a few tricks up our sleeve in order to get not only a good shot but the best shot.

 

We frickin' won!! We had a great shooting percentage and we did exactly what we were told to do by our offensive and defensive coaching staff. The Gliders were so happy after that game. Not just because we have given us a better chance of finishing on top of the ladder, but because we finally beat a team that we have had trouble beating for the past few years!

I say better chance of finishing on top of the ladder because despite the fact that we have finished all our games, there is still one more day of preliminaries that the other countries in our pool have to play. It isn't until tomorrow night until we know for sure where we are on the ladder in our pool and who we will cross over with the next day.

I loved the big round of applause the Gliders got as we wandered out into the common area outside the stadium. All our supporters in the one area so we get some valuable family time after the game.

September 3rd
Today we had off. No training! No games! A much needed rest for the Gliders. Today we watched some of the womens games on tv and at the stadium (what a come back by the US!). I then watched the aussie boys play and then had a decent amount of time with family which included a yummy dinner at the Westfield's TGI Fridays (how good are the ribs!).

Tonight we were officially told that we have finished on top of our pool ladder! And that we will be playing Mexico at 1pm tomorrow in the cross overs. GO GLIDERS!!

Thoughts and hugs to the Tesch family. The Gliders are with you! xx

Let the games begin!

August 30th
Today we had training in the morning at a place in Hackney. We didn't go too hard because we have a game later in the day but we had a great shooting session.

As a bit of inspiration prior to our first game, we got to watch an absolutely awesome video made by fellow Glider Kathleen. She did an amazing job on the video - none of us in London were expecting anything quite like it. So much effort was put into it and it was a tear jerker! Happy tears!

We played our first game against Brazil and it was tough! We haven't played against them in a very long time so we had basically no idea how they play their offence and how they will play their defence. So we kinda had to wing it. But we are tough and slogged our way through the game to come away with a 2 point win! Phew!! The end score was 52 to 50.

August 31st
Today we played against the GB team. Playing against the home favourite was amazing. The stadium was packed and there was massive roars everytime they scored or when the court announcer mentioned them. It was kinda cool to hear the majority of the crowd sing the GB national anthem. If it was us playing in Australia and I was listening to the entire stadium singing, it would be a tear jerker for sure! We had our pocket of yellow in the corner and we are glad we were able to put on a good show for our supporters at the game and those watching on tv back at the stadium or back in Australia.

I had alot of fun playing this game, I got 6 points and got a couple rebounds which is always nice as a low pointer. I was rested for the last half of the game and and enjoyed watching the Gliders finish the game with great intensity.

We won 51 to 24.

Game photos by Lee Nott

London (cont.)

August 28th
This morning we had the Australian team welcoming function. Lots of acrobats, singing, and dancing. There was also speeches, the playing of our national athem and the exchange of gifts from our NPC and the village mayor.

Later in the day was also my first opportunity to catch up with my hubby Lee and brother in law Jon at the Westfield! Such a great moment after being away from home since August 14th.

August 29
The day we have been waiting for! The Opening Ceremony!!! We didn't have a training session today so most of the day was about preparing for the Opening. We had a team induction where we were given our Australian Paralympic pins designed by a few fellow paralympians. So beautiful!

When it was finally time to get ready, the hair got straightened and braided, the face was put on and the uniform was last to go on. The APC media crew even came to our floor for a few 'getting ready' shots and interviews.

You could feel the excitement in the air as the Australian team assembled outside headquarters (aptly named the 'Red Centre') before taking the decent stroll to the Stadium. We are so lucky it didn't start to rain like it was earlier in the day!

In Beijing the Gliders didn't do the Opening Ceremony because we had an early game the next day. But this time we have a 6.30pm game the next day so we were allowed to do the lap of honour and then go again. It's hard to put into words the feelings felt as we went through backstage and then finally onto the track when 'Australia!' was being announced in the stadium. The roar we heard meant that sooo many of our friends and family (and fans in general) where out there in the stadium. I didn't wear my glasses so I was waving to any group of people wearing yellow shirts or were waving Aussie flags :-)

The Australian team were allowed to get their cameras out after we had walked/rolled 100m after entering. I was distracted by waving to the crowd so wasn't sure how far we had pushed so who better to ask than the track athletes "have we gone past the 100m mark??". Turns out we past that mark a while ago :-)

The atmosphere was amazing. The cheers from the crowd. The dancing volunteers. The performers. The other athetes. A M A Z I N G! It was over way too soon! After doing our lap we assembled to leave the stadium again and pushed back to the athletes village for a cuppa tea before heading to our appartments to watch the rest of the ceremony. We could hear the roar when the GB team were announced where we were in the village! Sleep was needed so I didn't watch it all, but I did have the magical moment of watching the fireworks in the reflection of the windows in the apartment across from mine.

I will leave you to watch a great video by the APC media team: