Grand finals and closing ceremony!

September 7th
Well it was certainly hard to go to sleep last night even though I was in bed at a decent time. My heart was still racing from that nights game! The win was sooooo close it makes you get a sick feeling in the tummy. I tried doing the breathing techniques learnt earlier in the year (out dirty air, in clear air..) but it wasn't working. I was too excited!!

Today we had a light training session where we got done what we needed to then left for an afternoon of rest. I've never had to prepare for a Paralympic gold medal match before so pretty much winged it as far as pre-game prep was concerned. I had a little nanna nap and then got ready (which includes braiding of hair and the tying of green and gold ribbons). Every game I have been reading on the bus to the game but this time I was reading on the bus and in the change rooms before the game because I wanted to finish the third Hunger Games book (what a great trilogy!!).

Good luck card from our brother team the Rollers

It was a surreal feeling when lining up before going out on court knowing this was a gold medal game - the highest possible game a wheelchair basketballer could play. As soon as the game started it was an intense battle. The germans are amazing shooters and lead most of the game. They also played a good defense and were able to keep one of our shooting threats to zero points. They were the better shooting team on the day and unfortunately for us, made shots are what count when deciding a winner! Towards the end of the forth quarter the Gliders were told those horrible words: "play it out".

Had a message written on my wrist but should have written it in a thicker, darker pen!

 

 

The devastation I felt from losing was there inside me but I fought to keep it inside. So when the buzzer sounded and I smiled and kept on smiling: I just won a silver medal. I am a silver Paralympic medalist.

After the game it was such a rush to get ready for the medal ceremony. No time for anything except line up and put your ceremony jacket and pants on. It was great lining up on the silver line which happend to be across from where the Aussie supporters where seated in the crowd. Time seemed to go by quickly because it wasn't long before I was bowing my head to receive my medal (it's so heavy!) and then listening to the German national anthem before pushing off back to our change rooms. Once there we had a few debriefs and a special guest appearance by gold medalist (and fellow Glider!) Liesl Tesch. We were then allowed to go see our family and friends in the common area.

The crowd of green and gold outside of Starbucks has been a great way to finish of a game. But this time the cheer was that much bigger because we were rolling towards them with silver medals around our neck. I guess now is as good as time as ever to say a big thank you to my husband Lee and my brother in law Jon for making the sacrifices needed in order to support me in London. Having someone to run up to and hug made this Paralympics so much more special to me.

"Hi Dad"

I should also mention that the support on Twitter and Facebook has been amazing. On Twitter you realise you actually have fans, which for me is a weird concept. I am just Clare Nott from Perth, Australia but here I am with followers I don't know who are writing me with their messages of support. The daily hero messages are also an amazing mix of friends, family and fans. Facebook has been great - so many notifications of likes, comments and wall posts. I can't remember social media being this big 4 years ago :-)

So to anyone who has tweeted me, sent me a hero message, or wrote to me on facebook - THANK YOU! I really appreciated being able to read your messages while being away. Your support is amazing.

To the Gliders, we have all worked so hard these last four years. We have come along as a team in leaps and bounds. I know it is hard to have ended this journey on a loss, but we can be proud to be silver medalists. It is a step up better than Beijing and we have Rio to look forward to!

Anyway, back to the 7th of September - that night was pretty crazy. We didn't get back to the athlete village til after midnight and we still had to eat, and get change for some celebrations in Westfield.

The first place we go after arriving back in the village after our game

September 8th
Today was the first proper sleep in in a very long time. My number of hours slept was still significantly low though! Today was a big day though because the Aussie mens basketball team played in the gold medal game against Canada. I had my first London train experience and it wasn't too bad. The stations I got on and got off at were accessible which always makes a train experience a pleasant experience.

I watched the USA beat the GB boys in the bronze medal game. I then watched an amazing game of basketball in the Australia v Canada game. The quality of athleticism was so high. It was such a close game for the majority of it but in the end the Aussie boys weren't able to maintain the golden glory they have had since 2008.

USA v GB for bronze

Canada v Australia for gold

Silver medalists

That night was another late night :-)

September 9th
Another sleep in! Today was the last day of competition and the last day of the Paralympics. I can't believe how quickly it has come and gone! The APC have wrapped up the Paralympics in this great video:

Today I had the honour of watching the Aussie wheelchair rugby team (the Steelers) win gold in their grand final. It was also my first international wheelchair rugby game to watch so I am glad that it was a golden experience! Unfortunately I didn't stay for the medal ceremony because I needed to try get a nap in before having to get ready for the closing ceremony.

I napped as much as possible and had a short amount of time to get ready. I managed to get ready on time with about 15 minutes spare but the line to the lift was long and whenever it opened it was already full. So I bounced down 4 flights of stairs, with only one minor incidence of my chair wanting to go quicker than I did.

Waiting to go in was a big different than the opening ceremony because this time the athletes went in before the ceremony officially started. So we basically wandered in and found a spot to sit. It started off a bit slow but once all the fire dances and Coldplay started it was fantastic. We didn't have a program so we weren't quite sure what the symbolism of everything was, but it was great to watch. My dad who watched it on tv said it was a bit like Mad Max and thinking back now there is definitely a industrial, rough metal 'dad, we're dead meat!' feel to all the machines that the performers drove around the stadium.

Coldplay - they played most of the ceremony

Rihanna

Jay Z

ParalympicTV have the whole ceremony on youtube. If you missed it and have a spare 2.5 hours then you can watch it!

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