Team Events

Bonjour! Despite my team's best efforts to help me learn French, I am far from being fluent. Learning how to pronounce the words correctly is very difficult let alone remembering them! The team has mentioned bringing in a teacher once a week to help the three foreigners learn the language, so that would be helpful. Especially when random people come up and start speaking to you in French you feel bad cutting them off saying "I only speak English!" So hopefully soon I will begin the lessons!

Below are pictures of a couple days we had as a team outside of basketball practice. The first we went to a radio station where they interviewed us all live on the air (of course with a translator) and the second place was the local mall that was just opened and they featured our team on the opening day! It was fun to get to hang with the team outside of a basketball setting. All of the girls are so nice and seem fun! So for about a week straight I kept seeing signs for a circus called Amar that was coming into town and one day in a large parking lot they set up a giant tent right near our gym! So after practice one day we all went as a team to the circus, which was interesting to say the least! Very old fashion. But entertaining at the same time. I love playing basketball with my team, but it's nice to get out and explore the town and even go to the circus! 

 Here we are as a team at the radio station for interviews! 

Next we went to the new mall, they panted our face for an introduction of the mall featuring our basketball team! It was fun to mingle with the local people despite my lack of French.

 They actually pitched a tent for the circus!

 The team inside the tent

Outside of the circus tent and just one of many acts were the elephants!

Clowns!

Looking forward to free time!

So far practices have been very tough with multiple two a days throughout the week with no days off! We've also been traveling everywhere with 2 practice games a week. One day when we only had one practice I had time to go to the nearest beach from my apartment which is only 10 mins away. I cannot wait to be able to explore more when or if we get a day off soon! The mountains are so close, and I love to hike. The coastline is also beautiful with fun restaurants and places to explore. Check out the pictures of my mini adventure below....

The beach only 10 mins away from my apartment. 

On the right is the view of the mountains I get to see everyday while driving home. I live in the middle of nowhere by the way. On the left is me in a hurry during a busy day to hang up my clothes because the apartments don't have a dryer only washer! Yea, you should see my room! Haha

Can't wait to come back and hang my hammock up between the poles.

Paris, France!

Within the week that I have been in France, I have traveled from Toulouse, to Saint Sever, to Paris, and Lyon, and back to Perpignan all for 3 different practice games! They call them "friendly matches" because it doesn't count for anything and the home team supplies all the food. After one game we even had salsa dancing in the gym and we ate with the opposing team! I love playing basketball, but I really wish I had time to stop and explore and sight see a little. Driving from place to place in our van has been fun also. The country's landscape is beautiful with mountains and hillsides and old buildings and even castles! Our driver, Andre, only got one ticket while going at least 50 km per hr over the speed limit! haha I hold on tight every time I get in the car! My teammates also definitely make funny of me for being a complete tourist with my camera always in hand, taking random pictures through the window. They've been really helpful and nice with explaining all the places to me and the inside French culture!

 On the way we drove by an area from the tour de france! 

A beautiful castle up on the hillside!!

Even though it was for the kids, I had to try! I just was watching Hunger Games in the car right before and I couldn't help it.

 On the left is a gym we played one of our practice games on. On the right...the night before the game the opposing team fed us and provided fruit bowl from heaven.

 We didn't have time to stop and take pictures, just to drive through so I quickly got a glimpse at some pretty amazing buildings. I have to go back to visit and explore more.

BEAUTIFUL!!

Above is our team van the girls call the "mini bus." We have two of them and we will be spending many hours traveling in them. Also above you see us getting pulled over! The police drive in front of you and not behind you when they pull you over and you follow them to a stop...I would have kept driving off! Haha

Bonjour! Perpignan, France

After a great summer of camps with Aspire Higher Basketball, my next adventure is playing professional basketball for Perpignan, France! Last year I played for Netanya, Israel. I've been blessed to see different parts of the world and experience different cultures. When I arrived the general manager and president of the team picked me up and they both did not speak one word of English! After 10mins of attempting sign language we discovered that google translate is the best way to go. Thank goodness for technology. Next stop was to meet the team, who luckily all spoke English and have been very nice and helpful. They have even helped me learn a little French and they said in 3 months I'll be fluent....HA! We'll see. After three days of being in France and one practice with the team we traveled to a small town about 4 hours away called Saint Sever for a practice game. I love the coaches style of play and philosophy. Always great ball movement and player movement in the offenses, and he constantly tells me to "run and gun." It's a shooter's dream! Can't wait for season to start. 

Below are a number of pictures and descriptions that give a glimpse of some of the experiences I have had so far.

                    

Picture of our home court and the team playing the first day I arrived! Unfortunately I was unable to start playing until I passed the medical test.

 On the left is cow tongue! One of many interesting things I found while grocery shopping with the general manager that doesn't speak english. He helped me to understand with different gestures..for example with this one he pointed at it, then said "moooooo," and then pointed to his tongue! No thank you! On the right is a rice and seafood dish from a restaurant in Barcelona, Spain. Being a fan of the movie Happy Feet 2, I started laughing because Will and Bill were on my plate straight from the ocean eyeballs attached and all! Yikes.

 My own little foreign car! 

 The interesting culture doesn't stop at food! For the jerseys he said I have the choice of shorts, which are more like spandex, or a skirt. Hahaha! Any suggestions?? 

We had time to walk around the small town of Saint Sever after our long car ride and before our practice game.

Perpignan is a very cute city! I haven't had time to explore but on the left is a little alley way and on the right are some mountains. The city is in between the beach and the mountains! Love the area, best of both worlds. 

I will put more pictures up the more I explore but for now....Au revoir!!

End of Challenge Camp Pics

A group photo at the end of camp! What an incredible group of girls with great potential!

And this is what you get when you say "okay now a goofy picture!"

Alicia periodically showing the official scoreboard. During this camp teams got points in a number of ways from encouragement, winning a drill, communication, leadership and more.

Group huddle at the end of camp.

And the winner is.....GREEN TEAM!! Congrats :)

Challenge Camp! The ultimate training camp...

Aspire Higher Basketball concluded the 2012 summer with the invite only Challenge Camp. Our special guests this year were the top strength and conditioning coaches for the Lady Vols, Heather Macin and Collin Schlosser who came in to do a portion of the camp. Lets just say...the campers got a little taste of what real collegiate and professional basketball training is all about. During the two days of camp, the players worked on all aspects of the game from speed, agility, and strength, to skill and leadership development. They also received a notebook of court drills to take home, important keys to nutrition, ways to set and achieve goals, and more. Challenge camp is exactly as it sounds...a challenge. With an already extremely intense environment, we added a unique twist by making everything a competition. The camp was split into three teams and each player received a bandana they must wear at all times to signify which team they were on. Players received points for not only winning a drill or game, but for encouragement, leadership, constant communication, using their teammates names, being the hardest worker during a drill and more. I was so proud of all the campers and how they pushed through each drill while going their hardest to earn points for their teammates. Working for someone or something greater than yourself will take you past what you thought your limits were, farther than you ever thought possible. The players learned that every single second of training counts, every repetition, every extra push makes a difference! The camp would not have been the same without two of the top trainers there to help teach the importance of strength and conditioning. I had a blast working with Heather, Collin, and Alicia and all the incredible players! Looking forward to next summer's camps.

Below are a few pictures from Challenge Camp!!