So much for doing weekly training log blogs

Happy ANZAC day!

For any Non-Aussie/New Zealander's out there who don't know what ANZAC is.. Anzac Day is a national public holiday in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipolo in Turkey during World War I. Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. (and because I go to uni and have had referencing and plagerism drilled into me, I better just state that I copy-pasted that directly from old faithful Wikipedia - so for more info: click here).

So its a nice long weekend for me! No uni on Monday or Tuesday morning (because no point in holding a tute for a lecture that didn't happen). Yeay!

Not this weekend, but next weekend. As in Friday the 1st of May, its that scary time of the year again. First round of the Womens National Wheelchair Basketball League ("WNWBL"). Like last year, the first round is being held in Perth. Which is good because we don't have to travel anywhere, so can't blame travel for being tired. We also have home ground advantage, playing on the court that we train on nearly everyday and having a crowd for support.

That leads to my con for having first round a home round. So many people in the crowd that I know, to see me hit or MISS my shots, stick or totally screw up that pick, play awesomely (is that even a word?) or be completely shite. I know I'm not meant to think about it like that, in such a negative view, but I do. I hate disappointing people. I hate people seeing me fail. I hate thinking that people are probably whispering to others 'she's crap, she should have gotten that'. I tend to focus on the crap things I do in a game rather than the good things I did, even if the good things I did outway the bad.

I suppose that is why I am never satisfied with the way I play during a game. Even if we won by 20 points and I got 3 from 4 free throws and 4 from 5 field goals, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and only 1 turn-over.. It is still 1 missed free throw, 1 missed field goal, 1 too many turn-overs and I didn't help my team as much as I could have. Im never happy enough. I'm always thinking I could have been better.

The Western Stars were in the final last year (no we didn't win but hey, still the final!) so we are expected to be relatively good compared to the other teams. But we haven't played a WNWBL game since like August last year. We don't know if what we have done is good enough to beat the other teams. Have the other teams improved dramatically? Have they found a secret weapon that we aren't ready for? I hate the unknown. Sometimes its exciting. But in this case, it scares me. I HATE losing. That is what drives me to play so hard during a game. I hate losing for myself, I hate losing for my team mates, I hate losing for my coach, I hate losing for the crowd that supports me. I don't want to be a disappointment.

If our home round wasn't the first round, then we would have already played a few games and have a few results under our belt and I would have an inkling to what to expect and what to tell my crowd to expect. You can't be disappointed if you don't have high expectations, right?

I know I sound like a huge pessimistic princess right now, but hey, Im just being honest. Im probably abusing Blogger, letting it be my vent outlet, but my vents might make interesting reading. Especially for me, who can re-read this after the event. Hinesight is a wonderful thing.

Oh, and before I go, even though I just told you my thoughts about me playing in front of people I know, I do still like having our crowd the best crowd in the WNWBL. So come. There will be raffles on the Friday and Saturday night games :)

• 1st May - 6pm
• 2nd May - 2pm and 6pm
• 3rd May - 11.30am

(who we are versing is totally irrelevant). All games are being played on court 1 of the Herb Graham Rec. Centre in Mirrabooka. See WSWA website for more info.

I'll keep you posted :P

Japan 2009 cont.

Okay I know I haven't written in AGES and I apologize, but I am a huge procrastinator and after a while there was too much to have to write so I just kept putting it off. Make any sense? No, probably not. But here I am. One Sunday evening. Making a start on it. Im gunna blogg in parts to make continuity a bit easier for you to read :)

So where was I? Japan 2009.. Whoa, february was such a long time ago! (I've had to resort to reading my training diary for details of what happened. My memory sucks!)

19th Feb 2009 - Opening ceremony. Same old, same old. Teams are introduced one by one as we wheel from backstage onto the court. Then a whole HEAP of IWBF head honcho's make their speaches, welcoming us to Japan and to the Osaka Cup Friendship Games of 2009. Japanese speach then its english translation times about 6 times. Meanwhile, we are all watching the big screens above the court and wave stupidly when the camera goes on us.

(Dori, Kat and I with one of our team allocated helpers.)

We then have lunch. Sandwiches (no crust), orange juice popper (or fruit box, depending on the Australian state you live in) and a range of different and unknown things to eat.

(Sometimes the choice was rather easy to make - "neither")

We then watched the Japan vs. Canada game. Then it was time for our game against USA. Starters being Kylie, Tina, Dori (yeay!! first international game and starting!), Cobi, and myself. We won! Woo hoo! Congrats to John T. for his first international game as coach as well as first win as coach! We won by 19 points (HR Max 185, avg 136).

(Yeay for starting!)

20th Feb 2009 - Early start. Then a game against Canada. Starters: Kylie, Kat, Tina, Cobi and myself. Lost by 8 points. *sad face*

We then had lunch then had another game but against Japan. Starters: Katie, Cobi, Kylie, Kat and myself. We lost again. *sadder face*

BUT! We were still into the final. The top 3 teams all only won one game. And since we beat USA by such a high margin, we were able to get into the final.

(Coach coaching)

I was absolutely exhausted after that day. Im pretty sure I fell asleep on the couch where he held our team meeting. Early night to bed that night!

21st Feb 2009 - Final vs. Japan. Starters: Kylie, Cobi, Sarah, Bridie and myself. I was not subbed off. I played a full 40 minutes. I can't remember if thats ever happened before :P

We won! Can't remember the score. Check the Basketball Australia website if you want to know more stuff like stats and scores. But we won! Yeay! It was such an awesome way to start off 2009. New look Gliders and we are successful! I was so proud of everyone.

(2009 Osaka Cup winners - the Gliders!)

That night was the closing dinner. We played the "BINGO SHOOT!" game like we do every year. I was pleased to see the lasagne there again this year. Sooo good! There was also the usual free saki and Japanese beer, but I stuck with the whatever it was juice in the poppers/fruit boxes. I think it was orange juice. Think being the main word. I cant read Japanese yet.

(5 ways to win but still no bingo!)

Congrats to Kylie for making the All Star 5 and also to Cobi who was tournament MVP.

We then went back to our hotel and the celebrations continued. Canada and Australia mingled together, chatted, laughed, drank, ate. One by one we slowly went back to our rooms to pack and then go to bed but a few energentic individuals were able to stay up for a fair bit longer.

22nd Feb 2009 - Travel. It felt good to travel back to Australia as winners. But it also felt good to get back to the warmth that Perth was providing. It was sad though to have to say goodbye to Kat, knowing that I wouldnt see her for a couple months. Thanks Kat for my beautiful xmas present by the way! Love it!! I put it with all my other pictures of the special people in my life! (PS. I wear the UnderAmour all the time!)

(Dori, Sarah and I in front of the Japan Airlines Smile Suport counter :D )

Okay, just a note to finish off with. During the tournament in one of the games I got fouled off. I can't remember if it was the first or 2nd game that we played. I think it was the first game but not entirely sure. But anyway, there wasnt that much more time left in the 4th quarter. The girl I was defending had the ball but then lost control of it. As I was reaching to try get the ball (which was loose and near the side line) I think I chair fouled her. I felt extremely bad because due to classiication points, for me to come off meant that other Gliders had to be subbed off so we could put a different combination on court. So if your a Glider who was subbed off because of me being stupid and getting too many fouls, and if your reading then, then i'm sorry! I will try not be that stupid again..