I had so much fun at my first tournament with the ITC Basketball team. It was a bit odd to meet my teammates for the first time a half hour before our games began, but it was also exciting to watch our team chemistry build from game to game.

I had heard a lot about the physicality of the game here, but I don’t think I was fully prepared for it. Although some of the women I was playing against may not have been trained as extensively in basketball skills as my opponents in college were, most of them are used to playing more physical sports. These are women who feel at home on a Gaelic football pitch, or play Camogie. Needless to say, I got a bit banged up. After my last game of the weekend, I messaged the above picture to my mother and asked “Can you please send me my knee pads?!”

It was great to get back out on the court in a uniform, this time representing a new school – and wearing a new number! I have been #11 on every team I’ve played on, but I will be wearing #14 this year. This seemingly small shift actually seems really important to me. I’ll always identify with #11, but I think this change represents an opportunity to redefine myself as a player, and even as a person, this year. I think that this new #14 will be someone who is more comfortable taking risks, meeting new people, studying a new subject, and being a leader.  

Victory Scholar: Lillian McCabe

Present University: IT Carlow

US League: Atlantic 10

Club/Community Partner: ITC Basketball

Alma Mater: Davidson College

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

St. Patrick’s Day was pretty fun… I was a little sick but from I still had a great time =)… One thing worth mentioning is the holiday itself.  It’s “St. Paddy” not “St. Patty”… big mistake here in Ireland and I was called out for it immediately haha.  We just don’t get it in the states I guess.

On a sad note, we lost our National League Semi-Final game ending our National League season.  But I’m still looking forward to the Varsities tournament coming up (April 12-14) which is for my NUIG school team.  All of the school bball teams in Ireland get together like a mini NCAA tourney (VERY mini).  If it will be anything like the NUIG Sports Ball I think it’ll be a GREAT time.  NUIG-Mystics won a team award this year at the NUIG sports awards that were held right before the ball.  It was a lot of fun!! Also, my friends are coming from Chicago to visit I can’t wait!!!

During my time at WIT, I have learned that it strives to give its students endless opportunities for life after college, especially in the business department. Whether you are an undergraduate student or graduate, the college is constantly bringing in various companies to give presentations about who they are and what they embody. This allows students to get a feel for what career field interests them the most and whom exactly they are applying for in terms of an internship placement or job position. Truthfully, I have learned more in-depth knowledge about companies that I haven’t even heard of before since I’ve been here at WIT, which will definitely help me with my application process as I hope to pursue a career in business in the future.

As a part of my Global Financial Information Systems masters program, I have to fulfill an internship after my finals in May for the summer or fall of 2016. Part of the reason I chose this course is because I can gain a hands-on, real life job experience with a business company instead of writing a dissertation. So this past week I attended a Work Placement Networking Business event for WIT students where Datapac, State Street, Ernest and Young, and Taxback all held informative presentations where we could also talk to the representatives and introduce ourselves afterwards.

The next following day, I signed up for my first-ever mock interview with State Street, a global financial company I applied to for an internship position. A little nervous at first, it went really, really well and delighted I signed up for it. Whether or not I get the position, only the future will know but overall the experience was fun and enlightening. For now, I am thankful to attend an academic institution that cares so much about their students’ success. Go WIT!

Victory Scholar: Jazmen Boone

Present University: Waterford IT

US League: CAA

Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats

Alma Mater: The College of William and Mary

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

I find this whole blogging thing a little difficult because I’m more of a numbers person than a person who is good with words. So this time I thought I could incorporate some numbers into my blog to make it a little more interesting (probably only for me..?)

This week Emily and I have been traveling to different primary schools and coaching the kids. We’ve had about 4 classes a day with roughly 25 children in each class. That’s 100 children we have coached per day for 5 days, so about 500 children for the week. That’s 500 kids who we have the ability to teach something to. 500 lives we have the ability to affect. 500 children who have the ability to affect our lives in some way, even if it’s just to inform us of some new irish lingo.

But I’m only talking about one week here. Last week we had 3 groups of victory scholars at 9 different schools in 3 days with roughly 3 classes of 30 kids a day. That’s another 810 children between all of us. In just 3 days!! Pretty cool if you ask me! Hopefully we’ve had the ability to affect the majority of those kids… And hopefully I didn’t make you all fall asleep with all these numbers :p #Mathlete

Victory Scholar: Meghan McGuinness

Present University: Trinity College Dublin

US League Partner: MAAC

Club/Community Partner: Meteors Ladies Basketball

Alma Mater: Niagara University

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

So it is official. I ruptured my Achilles in the semi final game of the Superleague Playoffs down in Limerick this past Saturday. It has been a very hectic couple of days in and out of the hospital, MRI’s, cast on, cast off, tears and the start of saying goodbye. I will be flying home next week to have surgery in Boston ASAP. As devastating as this has been, I have been surrounded by nothing but love and support for my Irish friends and family. Even with the circumstances they still are able to put a smile on my face. Everything happens for a reason and I just wanted to thank everyone for all of their support and kind words during this difficult time in my life. Jim and Matt even put together a little goodbye party, it will be very hard to say goodbye to them, I am not looking forward to it. 

March is Victory month for Sport Changes Life.  This means a trip to Belfast to meet up with the rest of the basketball scholars for training, coaching a camp for kids and doing some media work to promote Victory Scholarships.

I finally met our media guy Marc who turned out to be awesome.  Prior to this we only communicated via facebook so it’s always better to put a face to the name.  We all put together a couple short video clips and took a few photos that can be seen on the facebook page.  Making the video was a lot of fun but I must say being outside in the FREEZING cold was hard to move let alone play basketball haha.

In America, Mother’s Day is always on the second Sunday of May; however, the Irish have a different way of doing things. Ireland celebrated their Mother’s Day last Sunday, for all of the Irish Moms or “Superwomen”. I dedicate this blog to all of the hard working, strong, selfless, loving moms out there that sacrifice all of their time and love for their children. Without your discipline, amazing cooking, and patience with raising such rebellious children, we would all be hopeless in this world.

My Irish family here in Waterford has a very special hero and her name is Jillian Hayes. She deals with Katie and I’s laundry every weekend, cooks us delicious, homemade meals, and welcomes us into her home to watch endless basketball games and play games with her children. My Irish sister, who I get the pleasure of coaching this talented girl on my 12 and under Wildcats basketball team, wrote a lovely card for her mother on Mother’s Day and it brought me back to memories when I would make homemade cards for my mommy when I was a little girl. On the front of the card, it read:

“Happy Mother’s Day: I <3 U”

And on the back, it read:

“Number 1 Mother: Jillian Hayes…

Basketball mad

Emerdale lover

Smiley, never sad

Totally the best person ever

Motivator

Oscar worthy

Tough and strong

Hero to me

Ended of troubles

Responsible

Excellent at cooking

Very nice and kind

Everything you need to be a great person

Really just the best”

A poem beautifully written for her mom for a very special day, I was in awe. So a BIG thanks to all of the wonderful mothers out there. Especially my mommy, Jamie aka “Mama Boone” and my Irish mum Jillian Hayes. If the world truly acknowledged EVERYthing that you do then everyday would be Mother’s Day. 

Victory Scholar: Jazmen Boone

Present University: Waterford IT

US League: CAA

Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats

Alma Mater: The College of William and Mary

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

It is Week 1 of settling into my new home in Limerick and I have already been able to coach the teams that I will be helping with this year. I will be coaching for the Lakers, which is a junior boys basketball club based out of Limerick. I had my first day of coaching on Sunday and my second day is tonight.

To be honest, I was a little intimidated in the first coaching session. I had four different sessions in one day where I coached the U18 team by myself as well as the U14 team by myself and then I assisted with U12 team and the U9 team.  It was easy being an assistant coach for two of the sessions because I just followed the head coach’s lead. However, I had to put a lot of thought into the two coaching sessions I did by myself.

There is a lot that goes into a practice plan that I never really thought about. I wanted to make a practice that was fun and enjoyable but also challenging at the same time. I have had a lot of different coaches over the years and each coach had his own style of coaching so I took bits and pieces from all my previous experiences to form my own plan. I came up with some fun drills so that the players would be engaged and would enjoy being at practices and I also picked some challenging drills so the players would push themselves to get better and learn something new. I had to decide what my teaching points were going to be and how long each drill should last.

I really enjoyed having the independence to form my own practice and I am looking forward to working with the Lakers for the rest of the year. This coaching experience will be a great way to further develop my strategic planning skills, communication skills, and leadership skills. Once games start, I will have to start thinking about substitutions and rotations but right now I am just taking it one practice at a time. I can’t wait to work with the players again tonight!

Victory Scholar: Staats Battle

Present University: University of Limerick

US League: ACC

Club/Community Partner: UL Huskies

Alma Mater: North Carolina State University

Sponsored by: Team Ireland

This week might have been the busiest week that I have had since I’ve been over here in Ireland. But it wasn’t caused by coaching all my teams, it was because of my academics and National League Team (the team I personally play for). At the beginning of the week I had an International Corporate Finance Exam, which was extremely difficult (keep your fingers crossed for me!). Then later in the week I had Irish economics report due. And to finish off the week, I had two National League games (1 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday). But with all of that being said, they busy week paid off after winning both games this weekend and being named National League Southern Conference Champions!!! (Which is the first time in Titan history!) So I guess the tough beginning of the week only made the end of the week mean that much more!

Thank you for reading, check in next week where I will resume to writing about more experiences related to coaching! Take care everybody!

Another week of coaching goes by and these Wildcats are on the ball with their improved basketball skills. If I had to describe this week into one word it would be improvement, which is why it was particularly special.

For starters, one of the Wild Kittens that usually comes to the first hour session decided to take a big step and join the next age group up in the second hour session. The first hour is usually for 5-7 year olds and the second session is for 8-11 year olds. This specific young girl, who is 7 about to turn 8, moved up earlier to take her skills to the next level. Most girls refuse to move up because all of their friends is in the one group and they don’t want to leave them or because they’re too scared to move up. So seeing this young girls’ drive to take her game to the next level and make such a big girl decision is something to applaud over and I’m proud to be a spectator on such a monumental moment.

Another reason why this week was awesome is because one of the Wild Kittens, who could never even touch the rim until this week, was finally able to make a basket AND make it consistently. I was in shock watching her make basket after basket this week. Before, this same young girl used to pout and cry to me saying:

“Jazmen, I can’t do it…I can’t reach it.”

And I would respond:

“Yes you can, just keep shooting and coming to Saturday morning sessions and you will get there, I promise.”

And this week was just that. She did her 1-2-3-4 and made every shot to winning the hot seat game. I was so happy for her. There’s no better feeling than seeing growth from a player where months ago when she truly believed that she couldn’t do something to now, after many weeks of mini ball camp, she can reach the rim AND make the basket. If such improvement can happen to a 7 year old then the sky is truly the limit. So impressed with her growth, I ran to her mother afterwards to give praise about her daughter’s performance and her mother responds:

“That is awesome! She really does enjoy coming to Saturday mornings”.

Can’t wait to see what’s in store for next week!

Victory Scholar: Jazmen Boone

Present University: Waterford IT

US League: CAA

Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats

Alma Mater: The College of William and Mary

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

I’ve been feeling a little in over my head with classes  and I haven’t quite made friends yet so I either eat lunch and text my “205” friends or I walk home and eat leftovers. But today I decided to have a seat at Smokey Joe’s for some soup and soda bread between classes. I hadn’t been there long before I wound up in conversation with a woman who told me she was a spanish teacher/activist. Once I told her the field I’m pursuing she asked if I knew about the effort to privatize water, how lucky we are to have rights as women and the list of places that can’t say the same. I was nearly speechless thinking of the uphill battle I will face my entire career. But more than anything, it felt like a sign I’m doing the right thing and that’s enough to keep me afloat until everything else falls into place.

Victory Scholar: Marritta Gillcrease

Present University: NUI Galway

US League Partner: MAAC

Club/Community Partner: NUIG Mystics

Alma Mater: Rider University

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland 

This week I was fortunate enough to travel a bit! A couple of the Titans teams (u12-u14 boys and girls), parents and myself were able to go to Gothenburg, Sweden to join up with the Hogsbo Basketball club! This week the kids basketball only ate and drank basketballs as we were in a camp from 9am to 6pm at night. It was more than enough time for the kids to get a lot of techniques and training in. Also because the coaches were there after the sessions as well, it was a great time for them to get some extra help with myself or any of the other coaches. Being at the camp as a coach was great for me! I was able to pick up a couple new drills that I could bring back to Galway that I personally thought would be extremely helpful for the kids. It was great to see the kids playing and interacting with new players from a different club and country for that matter. I could see them learning from eachother, which is always great to see. I hope the Titans kids take a lot of the things they learned from the week back home to Galway and continue to build on their skills. The kids and I had a great week being in a different country!

Thank you for reading my blog, check in later to see how things are going! Take care!

Ending a season is never easy. This is the first weekend that I haven’t had a Galway Titans game in several months. It’s a strange feeling, as I’ve become programmed to playing a game every Saturday. Months’ worth of hard work and dedication to a team made me feel attached and committed to the people who went through those moments with me. Since September, we have been training and playing games trying to become the best we can possibly be.  And like any season, there were moments of struggle, and moments of triumph. While our team was very young and struggled at times, we overcame a lot. We may not have had a ton of success in the wins column; I believe there are more than one ways to define success. We were successful because the players who stuck with it maintained a strong work ethic, when it certainly could have been easier to just give up. We were successful because we got significantly better throughout the year, and many individual players got significantly better. I believe I personally was successful because I now have a group of friends that I know I can always trust and count on. This is what is great about sports. It’s more than wins and losses, it’s more than X’s and O’s, it’s more than just a game.

Ironically enough, the first friend that Boonie and I have made since arriving in Waterford, Ireland is not Irish, but Croatian. Her name is Stanka, and even though she says it is an old person’s name in Croatia and she could have pretended to be a Sarah since we wouldn’t know better, she decided to tell us the truth when we met. I’m glad she did, because Stanka is much more fun to say than Sarah (no offense to any Sarahs out there). She told me the proper way to pronounce it, with an elongated “a” sound, like this, “Staaanka.” Now just imagine that name in a Croatian accent, and you won’t be able to stop saying it all day.

Boonie and I met Stanka due to the fact that we are all three getting our Master’s degrees through the Business School at Waterford Institute of Technology. She proved to be a great friend to have, not just because of her bubbly personality or genuinely kind nature, but also because she knows how to use the bus system very well. So, when the three of us realized that we all wanted to find an exciting place to watch the All Ireland Hurling Final on Sunday, Stanka was one who suggested that we go to Kilkenny. The Kilkenny Cats would be facing Galway in the championship, so we thought there would be no better place to watch the game than in Kilkenny itself.

We took the bus to Kilkenny early on Sunday so that we could have a chance to explore a bit before the match. After just a few random turns, we stumbled on a castle—something that just doesn’t happen everyday. Kilkenny Castle, as it was called, was a magnificent work of architecture. We explored every angle of it, amazed by the grandeur of it all.

Eventually we tore ourselves away to check out the rest of Kilkenny. The streets were lined with old buildings all connected to one another, giving the town a quaint, cozy feel. Many of the buildings sported Kilkenny Cat jerseys or signs wishing the team “Good Luck” in the upcoming match. As I walked along the picturesque streets of Kilkenny, I experienced a moment of deep appreciation for the fact that I was there. I could not believe that I had gotten so lucky. To be able to come all the way from a small town in Ohio to Ireland, where I could explore an entire new world, was—and is—incredible to me. At that moment I realized just how grateful I am for this opportunity, and I silently vowed to always make the most of it.

The girls and I had gotten so caught up in our explorations that the hurling match snuck up on us. We quickly walked to a cute little pub to watch the game, where, despite the small space, the atmosphere was amazing. Kilkenny Cats fans of all ages packed into the pub, wearing black and yellow striped Kilkenny jerseys. They jeered loudly as the Cats scored and complained raucously when they felt that Galway had gotten away with a foul on one of their players. As I watched the hurling for the first time, I was confused about what exactly was a foul and what wasn’t; it is an extremely rough game! Players would push and shove each other when the ball wasn’t even in play, and multiple fights had to be broken up on the field. With such a highly charged sport, it is no wonder that when the Kilkenny Cats won, the pub erupted in cheers and the cars passing by honked endlessly outside.

All in all, my experience in Kilkenny was an unforgettable one. The best part is, it was only the first adventure of many more yet to come.

Victory Scholar: Katie Fox

Present University: Waterford IT

US League: NEC

Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats

Alma Mater: St. Francis College

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

My University team had quite the adventure on our way to Trinity for a game this Monday.  We got very lost on our way there so my teammate thought it would be a good idea to call his cousin that is from Dublin.  The cousin asked if we were near any landmarks and my teammate replied that we were near a building with a Guinness sign on it.  Of course the car bursts into laughter since almost every building/pub in Dublin has a Guinness sign on the outside!

Somehow we got to Trinity only 10 minutes late, ran half a mile to the gym and warmed up for 2 minutes before tip.  We went on to win by twenty in fast paced game in which we scored 96 points in 36 minutes (Don’t know if that is a fast paced game or defenseless game).  The most amusing part of the game was when my teammate got a technical for screaming “shot” in an opponent’s face before he released the ball!  ‘Lacking sportsmanship’ was the reason for the T the ref explained! As you can tell basketball is quite different over here but it is all part of the craic as my teammates would say!

Hey everybody, just checking in. My National League team (Mystics) had a game in Castleisland this past weekend and it was very competitive.  The last time we played this team we went up a good 20-25pts by half time and then second half gave it right back and let them come within 2pts in the 4th quarter, before we pulled away with the win.  Same thing this weekend, suprisingly. The gym was very warm like a sauna and I was loving it.  Nice n’ loose I ended up scoring 30pts that game, it felt great! =)  My Titans team had a very competitive game on Wednesday as well.  They played a team they had previously lost to by 30+ pts in the beginning of the year, and had it within 2pts at half time.  They went on to lost by 10, but it was a very good improvement looking back on the beginning of the season.  I was proud.  Also, just realized that Ireland doesn’t have any Laundromats like we do in the states.  Our washer broke in the aptartment and I am finding this out the hard way.  They have “Launderettes” where they wash and dry it for you, but it can cost around 12 euro to do that.  That will have me broke quick!  What a crazy week it has been, thanks for reading!

I remember the days and weeks following my acceptance into the Sport Changes Life program. The excitement and anticipation were unparalleled. Every time I received an email from the program I would eagerly open it to learn as much as I could about the program and about Ireland. I remember my favorite piece of mail that I received was that from former victory scholars giving advice to future victory scholars, giving advice to me. I read it several times over, learning about their advice on packing, what to expect when living in Ireland, how much it rains, and much more. Reading this made my anticipation grow even stronger, it made the experience much more real, as it seemed to be just a surreal possibility.

Today I am experiencing a reversal of roles, as it is now me who is giving advice to future scholars. As I write this document, I can’t help but remember how much I appreciated and enjoyed hearing about other people’s experience, and hope that I am able to have the same impact on the unknown future Galway scholar. It amazes me how quickly time goes. I’m glad I have a couple more months even though I know it will be gone in a flash. Then it will be time to pass on the reigns to the next class of  Victory scholars.  

Victory Scholar: Cory Starkey 

Present University: NUI Galway

US League: Patriot League 

Club/community partner: Galway Titans 

Alma Mater: Bucknell University 

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland 

Kelly and I headed into the city today to go to the mall and see some of the beautiful sights of Belfast. We were having a blast and then we stop at McDonald’s to get something to eat and the unthinkable happens! My wallet is not in my pocket, all sorts of thoughts start to go through my head, “You’re an idiot jimmy, how can you lose it again and this time in a foreign country with all your information” I could hear my mom yelling at me from across the Atlantic. But then I thought “Retrace my steps!”. We hurried to the train station and I figured I would ask the security guard to see if he found it. He looks in his stash and there it is. He was so nice and happy that I came back for it if it wasn’t for the window separating us I would have given him a hug. It’s funny to see some of the things we take for granted. Now that I found my wallet I am so happy, that one incident and my whole day changed . Life is funny like that sometimes… sometimes you have to look backwards to go forwards.

Victory Scholar: James Zuccaro

Present University: Ulster University

US League: Skyline Conference

Club/Community Partner: Ulster Elks

Alma Mater: College of Mount Saint Vincent

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland 

Never to Busy to Have Some Good “Craic”

With school taking place right now and is in full-swing, it is always good to have a bit of good “craic” every Tuesday. Caroline, Jim, and I get to play a little football (soccer) with some of the youth of the community every Tuesday just to have a bit of fun. The kids that we play with are great and often help us” the Americans” when we play with them.

In terms of basketball, we are in the home stretch of the National League season with only 3 games left!!! We are currently first in our division, but still have a long way to go in terms of us clinching the division title. Also, my Girls Junior Elks 13u and 14u teams have continued to improve every practice and game that they play. As both the Elks and Girls Junior Elks seasons are starting to come to a close, I realize I am truly blessed to play with and coach great people in the Ulster Elks basketball club; and also have some good fun while doing it!! Thanks for reading!!

Even though this experience as a coach didn’t personally happen to me, I still believe it’s worth blogging about because its just awesome to hear about stories like these. Earlier in the week, myself and another coach (who will have their real name spared, name Peter in this blog) were talking about coaching in general and about how some of our teams have been playing in games and training sessions lately. Peter was extremely excited to tell me about one of his players (Kyle-not real name) that he has been putting an little extra work in with because of the potential he has to become a great player as he gets older.

Peter went on to tell me that because Kyle is significantly taller than his peers at 13 years old, he wanted to teach him a move, that he could use whenever he had the basketball in the post (near the basket). The move that Peter taught Kyle was a simple drop-step dribble move. 

Later in the week, Kyle had a game and it was time to see if the move that Peter had shown him earlier in the week was going to be added to Kyle’s arsenal of basketball movies. To Peters surprise, Kyle used the drop step dribble move a handful of times and converted nearly all of them into points. As you would imagine, Peter was extremely proud of Kyle!

After the game, Peter, knowing that Kyle did not have a basketball hoop at his house, asks Kyle how did he work on the drop step move, outside of our one practice during the week? Kyle’s response was that he just work on it by picking a target on his wall outside his house, and kept doing the drop step dribble move then shooting at the target over and over again!

As a coach, it doesn’t get any better than that! Having a player going home and practicing what you teach them! On top of that, the ones who can improvise without actually having a basketball hoop but still be able to work on their skills! I was truly proud of Kyle as well and was even more grateful that Peter was able to share such a great experience with me. It was a no brainer that I would want to share it with all of you guys as well!

As a message to all the players who want to get better, you have ability to work on your skills anywhere! It doesn’t have to be just on a basketball court or with a basketball hoop. If your truly dedicated, you’ll improvise with what you got to work with.

Thank you and check out my blog next week! Take care!

Halfway through my very first lecture at UL, my professor stopped the class abruptly to notify us that there are several magpies outside. Given that she had stopped the entire class to direct our attention towards the windows, I thought it was going to be something relatively serious.

When I looked out the window, I was incredibly confused as to what everyone was looking at. Finally, my teacher started counting, one, two, three, four magpies! Only then did I clue in that she was talking about the birds sitting in the tree outside of our classroom. At that point I thought to myself, magpies are pretty, but nothing that I would stop class for.

Still confused, my teacher then says, “uh oh, boys, watch out, looks like you have trouble coming your way.” Only then did I understand that there was a level of superstition attached to these birds.

I did some research after class, and Magpies are associated with bringing good or bad luck depending on how many you see at any given time. There’s a rhyme that goes along with it:

One for sorrow,

Two for joy,

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy,

Five for silver,

Six for gold,

Seven for a secret,

Never to be told,

Eight for a wish,

Nine for a kiss

Ten for a bird

You must not miss.

It’s safe to say that I learned some marketing that day in class, while also getting a taste of the Irish culture, as well as its wildlife. From that point on, no magpie will go unnoticed.  

Victory Scholar: Sarah Benedetti

Present University: University of Limerick

US League: NEC

Club/Community Partner: UL Huskies

Alma Mater: St. Francis College 

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

“Your jumper is wet”

To most Americans this is a compliment when a basketball player’s jump shot is going in often because a swish looks like the splash of a rain drop. I discovered this saying is not common over here. One of my youth Elk players made a few jump shots in our game on Sunday and I gave her some positive feedback by saying her ‘jumper was wet today’. A puzzled look went across her face, and her friend interjected, “that must be why you are feeling sick, you are wearing a wet jumper outside!” See, a ‘jumper’ over here is a sweater, so while I thought I was using ordinary basketball terminology, the girls thought I was concerned they were wearing wet clothes outside.

Other than that it was a great weekend for Elks basketball! There was a tournament on Saturday for the developmental team Caroline and I coach. We finished a very strong second place and the improvement by the girls is vast. Moving the ball, ripping rebounds and communication is improving everyday and it is a rewarding thing to see.