September 21st, 2014 | Uncategorized
On Saturday, Ashley and I were asked to play some basketball against the Irish National Team while they had two hard days of training at the University of Ulster. We geared up with the Anderstonstown Tigers, a local club team, and gave the National Team a good scrimmage against new players they haven’t seen. This gave them time to work on their plays and philosophies against people other than their own players. It was interesting to compare the style of play to that in America. Basketball is basketball, but it is played slightly different here. In college I played a 4/5, so am well versed in the post. I find here that most of the players are not traditional centers and don’t rely heavily on post moves, as many girls in the states would. They rather are more exterior players that are extremely in shape and always push the ball. This was just a one-hour impression of one team, but I look forward to getting into shape so the Elk’s can fast break constantly and get easy transition points.
For us it was just awesome to get on the court and to play against some good competition. For me it was nice to run and play. Considering we have our first preseason tournament for the Ulster Elks in Carlow next weekend, I was happy to get some game time. One practice on Monday and then we are thrown into three games on Saturday against some fellow scholars. Nicole from Galway, Jen from Dublin, and Jess from Carlow are all entered in the tournament. I’m excited to see the Elk’s potential for the season and of course catch up and see what the other scholar’s team are shaping up to be.
