Going into my first game as a WIT Viking on the 8th of September, I had no idea what to expect. How would my teammates and I get along in an actual game? Am I going to live up to the expectations of being the first American to play in Waterford in over 10 years? Will the differences in rules be more difficult to adapt to than I was expecting? And of course, are the refs going to be as bad as I have been warned? This was more uncertainty than I was accustomed to when going into a typical game, but I was just focused on controlling what I could control.
20 minutes into our first game, going into the locker room at halftime, we were trailing by 27 points. We had been hit in the mouth, and being one of the youngest teams in the league, in would have been very easy for us to roll over and give up. But that is not the character of our team, and more broadly all of Waterford. We stepped up our effort and focus and came firing back in the 2nd half. Going into the fourth quarter we had cut the lead to 13, and WIT Arena was buzzing. We continued our uphill battle in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately fell just short, losing 79-72.
While this game will go down as a loss in the record book, it showed me how much potential this team really has. There is no quit in this team, and it is clear how much support the entire community of Waterford is putting into our team. I am so excited to be a part of this young team, and to be a part of the rebuild of basketball in this community. I have only been in Waterford for 2 weeks, but they have already welcomed me as one of their own. This makes me that much more motivated to represent this wonderful county, and continue to impact the youth through the wonderful sport of basketball. #Victory
