Week 1 - China

Hi to everyone back home in Australia.
 
First I want to say thank you to all that have tried to follow my progress whilst I have been away, either by email,
checking the internet or hassling Conrad.
 
The first leg of our trip was China.  We played in a 3 game series, which had us travelling to 3 different cities to play, Benxi, Angang and Fuxin.

It was a wonderful experience, as we played a very strong Chinese National team with I believe 6 players out of their Olympic team which finished fourth at Beijing.

It was an intense week as you can imagine, once we arrived at our first destination of Benxi on the 13th of May , we put our bags in our rooms and were downstairs of our motel ready to walk and stretch, trying to shake the jetlag and get rid of our fat ankles! 
 
We wandered out of the motel and faced our first challenge, not playing the National Chinese team but crossing the road.  We had to battle, cars, trains, bikes and scooters, Timmsy lead the way with experience and lead us all to safety mind you there was a quick dash to get off the road! What seemed like chaos to us was just a normal day in the life of Chinese traffic. 

We were lucky that China are on the same time zone as Australia, so there wasn’t really any dramatic adjustments that needed to be made to our sleeping habits other than we needed to catch up on some sleep after the long travel time.
 
On the 14th of May, (the next day) we had two practices which were intense and included lots of learning, as it was the first time that all of us had been together.  It is always good to get that first session out of the way because there is such a build up before you get there.  For me I had worked so hard on everything so I really wanted to make sure I did well, there are mixed emotions of nerves and excitement, but it was important to channel that energy so that I was focused on getting the little things done bit by bit rather than focused on the outcome. 

Then on the 15th of May it was finally game day, it felt like this day was a long time coming, given the hard work and focus that had been given to preparing myself for the tour.  We had our shoot around in the morning then a team meeting followed by rest and free time, whatever you need to do to be ready to play.  For me I like to rest a bit but then get up and go for a walk to wake myself up.  It has been really good getting out and walking the things that I have seen have been great.  In Benxi, I walked through a homewares area where a building was being demolished by a ball on a chain, there were big blow up arches all down the street, people waiting in their small shops for business and also a market that was filled with all different things for the handyman or handywoman.  There was a beautiful river and mountains and some small fruit stalls on the side of the road. After my walk was a snack (pregame) and then it was time to get ready for the game.

When we drove up to the gym which displayed the Olympic rings out the front, (I am guessing there were some sports hosted in Benxi last year).  There were people walking around outside the stadium and waving to us. The interesting thing though was that in the distance I saw all these Chinese people doing fitness, there were kind of like ski machines and other fitness machines spread out all over this park and there were people everywhere using them - it was really awesome to see! 

As we entered the stadium you could feel the vibe, there were already so many people in the gym and it was still an hour and a half before game time. I was really excited about playing, I felt I had done all this hard work and now it was time to put it into play. 
 
It felt like warm up went for ages, and people continued to fill the stadium, but no matter how long warm up went for I was ready to go. We were faced with a fully packed stadium, tv cameras and they believe about 6 million people watching the game at home.  Pretty awesome.   Obviously there were nerves, I mean who wouldnt have nerves when they are stepping out onto the court to represent their country?

I have to say the nerves were pumping with excitement and the thrill of being able to represent Australia Internationally was setting in, but it was important to manage those nerves and make sure that I was focused ready to go. All 12 players got to play, and we managed to win our first game, which was really great, it was Graffy's first game as Opals coach and we had a number of players whose first tour it was. 

For me I felt it was a challenge having been in similar situations in the past, I had found it tough to play against the Chinese who are quick and physical, but I felt this time I was much better prepared for it given the hard work that I had done leading up to the tour changing my body, working on speed and hitting the weights.  It is tough taking another step up to the International level, but does anything you want ever come easy?  It is more physical, quicker and you just have to find ways to get things done to win, which is what we did in the first game. 
 
Following the game came the traditional ice baths which every player dreads, no matter how good you feel after they are never something that you look forward to! 
 
The next morning, 16th of May, we were up and on our way to the next town of Angang.  As we arrived into the provence we were greeted by a number of Chinese people on the side of the motorway (toll) with banners, flowers for the Chinese team, a small band and a guy speaking through a microphone with a speaker out of his car. The welcoming committee followed us all the way to the motel where they greeted us and offered the left over flowers to some of the girls, as well as seeking autographs and photos at any opportunity.
 
We had training that day and then a few of us decided to get out of the motel and take a bit of a look around the city.  The people were really friendly and if we needed to find a specific place instead of giving us directions they would just take us there.  Even to the point where people would come up and tell us where they had seen some of the other girls in case we were looking for them.  The city seemed very alive, lots of lights, people and traffic that was for sure.  But after an hour a little bit of shopping and a numerous amount of conversations with locals it was time to head back and rest up.
 
In the morning of the 17th of May we again had the usual one hour shoot around, a team meeting and then time to do what you need to do to get ready.  I went for a walk with the doctor and we ventured into a small street market, where there was a lot of fresh produce including fish, clams, fruit and vegetables.
 
Game 2 came and we knew it was going to be tough. It is a real challenge to win 2 games in a row of a 3 game series in another country but we wouldnt be here if we thought we couldnt do it.  We all believed we were up to the challenge and we were there to win, no matter how tough it would be.  We fought hard but unfortunately a slow first half saw us trailing and just finding it hard to take the lead.  There were a lot of good challenges and runs where we almost hit the lead but we just couldnt get over the line.  We came back within 4 a number of times but just couldnt take the lead.  So it saw us head into game 3 tied 1 all.
 
After the game, we were taken for a buffet style dinner, which turned out to be a hot pot type of thing.  When we arrived and sat down there were these round things in front of where everyone sat and a whole lot of fresh raw food on the table in front of us.  The waitress lit the flame underneath the round apparatus which had some sort of soup mix above it.  When this boiled you would add whatever you wanted into the soup.  I had noodles, beef, chilli. spring onions and broccoli, although at first we were not too sure, it didnt take long for everyone to get into it and really appreciate the good food we were experiencing.  Just as we were getting full on the noodles and hot pot the waitress bought out a large lobster, with prawn balls, it was so delicious, we cleared the plate in like 2 minutes and were begging the waitresses for another, lucky they liked us because we scored another one for our table and after that we were all full and ready to head back to the motel and get some sleep.
 
Again the next morning (18th of May), saw us back on the bus and off to the new destination of Benxi.  The last stop of our Chinese tour.  Once we put our bags in our room and had some lunch, we again headed out for a team walk and stretch to get the bodies moving after a long bus ride.  We found a river which was a long enough distance from the motel so we stopped and stretched there.  Then walked back.  We were given the afternoon off training as it has been a tough few days, so we taxied into the town centre.  Again it was quite an experience taking on the challenges of the driving and crossing the roads, but we all managed to make it unharmed.  The drivers all seemed to understand each other and I dont know how they did it but what we thought was chaos they knew what was going on.  We had a look around and a few of the girls scored some Nikes for like $10 AUD, real or not real that is the question!
 
The next day  (19th of May), it was time for game 3 (the decider).  We had our game day shoot around, which is basically like a short training, it is short and sharp. When we arrived at the stadium there were outdoor courts outside the gym and lots of people playing basketball that just stopped to check out our team bus.  There were already a lot of people in the stadium and it was quite warm in there.  It was game time and we were ready to play.  We had a good start followed by a bit of a hump. With 2 mins left in the game we were about 10 points down, but in true Opals style we never gave up. We fought all the way to the end.  We were just one point down and had a sideline ball at 3/4 court, a long pass was unsuccessful but had it come off we would have won the game, to fight back and be in that situation was a real credit to the team.
 
It is a great experience being on an Opals tour of China as the Chinese love their basketball, you play in some really large arenas with large crowds. The games are televised and our team bus has a police escort.  The security is tight even to the point that the police formed two lines for us to walk between blocking the crowd from us who want autographs, photos and just high 5's.  The Chinese really love it and I think that they really do appreciate the Opals and the friendliness of all the players and staff.  After games we would sign autographs and take photos with the locals, they would even be taking photos of us when we were on the bus and trying to get our autographs out the bus windows, it was crazy in a cool way.
 
There has been plenty of opportunities for everyone to play, which has been great and I think just from this first week all of us have learnt so much individually and we have learnt a lot as a team.  I think that with the great attitudes and work ethics that all of the girls display we are going to continually grow and develop as time goes on.
 
I really want to say a huge thanks to my fitness guru Brendan Kennedy (BK) and physio Trev Laurence-Brown who have prepped me well for the tour as the body is holding up well to the challenges of a tough, fast, physical International style of game. Thanks also to my family and Conrad just for being there through the good times and the tough times.  Without the support of those around me I wouldnt be able to achieve my dreams!

The next part of the tour takes us to Europe, with the first stop being Italy for a training camp, followed by 6 games in 7 days so stay tuned for the next update.