I have been traveling with the French National Team while training with Boris Diaw to prepare him for the upcoming Suns season.

Since my last blog, we left Maribor, Slovenia and had “pool play” games in Alicante, Spain. These games would decide the seeding for Madrid. France was in the bracket with Italy, Poland, and Slovenia. The top three teams would move on to play in Madrid. After three days of practices, the French team matched up with Poland in game one. Boris had a solid game scoring 10 points, seven rebounds, and four assists and France defeated Poland by eight points. Tony Parker and Tariq Kirksay also contributed big in the win. The buzz around the gym was directed more at Tony’s wife, Eva Longoria, who joined us in Alicante for a few days.

France then matched up with Italy in the second game. Italy has a tough team including NBA players Andrea Bargnani (Toronto) and recently drafted Marco Belinelli (Golden St). It was also great to see Massimo Bulleri, who was a 2006 Summer League player for Phoenix. Tony Parker once again had a huge game, scoring 36 points for France and lead the team to a close 69-62 victory. Boris had a quiet game stat-wise, but had probably the two biggest plays of the first round. In the third quarter, Boris got a rebound and took the ball coast to coast for a tomahawk dunk - jumping from outside the dotted line in the lane - over Bargnani. The arena went berserk and even the Italian fans cheered. The second play was a great defensive stop with France leading by two points with under two minutes left in the game. Belinelli had what seemed to be a clear path to the basket and went up for an easy dunk. Boris then came from the weak side, cleanly blocked his dunk, pinned the ball against the backboard and started a fast break in which France scored. It was great to see such intensity out of our guy! The Suns players and staff will be happy to hear that I got my fill of the Italian chant to the White Stripes song “Seven Nation Army” in the process!

With France sitting at 2-0 they had qualified already for Madrid, but being the one or two seed was still on the line in Game 3 vs. Slovenia. France beat them twice in the last few weeks and had an eight-point lead at halftime. The second half started with Rasho Nesterovic (Toronto) getting his second intentional foul (much easier to pick up in International play than in the NBA) and was ejected from the game. It gave France four free throws and the ball on the side which resulted in a 14-point lead. It was all downhill from there as Slovenia fought back with Matjaz Smodis leading the way. Smodis looks more like Brian Urlacher than a basketball player, but was scoring from inside and out. With France down two with 1.2 seconds left, Tony Parker had a chance to tie the game with two free throws. He made the first and missed the second for a one-point loss. Why Tony cant miss shots like that in the Western Conference playoffs, I don’t know!

That brings me to the point that many Suns fans may ask me…how can you cheer for Suns rivals Tony Parker and Ronny Turiaf? I told them that I could root them on through the FIBA Europe Championships. They are both great people to be around and they have made me feel at home here with the team. But c’mon, all bets are off come October 1! Plus, I have picked up a few choice French sayings to shout when Tony is taking a corner 3 in front of the Suns bench next year!

Alicante is a great resort town located right on the beach. I spent a few afternoons on the beach (clothing optional) and saw a good part of the town by walking around and taking the bus to and from the arena. I went on a morning run every day with a few of the staff and along the way I would scout out stores or restaurants that I wanted to check out later. The hotel also had a great workout facility, so Boris and I could get some work done between games and practices. Our best workout may have been a night swim in the Mediterranean Sea when a few of the players and I swam to the farthest buoy and back. It was pretty crazy at night fighting the waves, but I was assured there had been no recent shark attacks.

All of the meals were provided for us buffet-style at the hotel but I got out for dinner on my own a few nights. We did have one night where most of the staff went out for drinks because we had the next day off. I led them to a Irish Pub that I had seen in town. That’s right…I (American) led the staff (French) to a bar (Irish) for some pints in Spain. That’s how I roll. We later took in more of the “local” Spanish scene on the way home. There are so many cafes to just relax at along the beach and in the streets. It was a great time.

We left Alicante after the last game vs. Slovenia. All three teams that made Madrid flew on the same plane…France, Italy, and Slovenia. We arrived at 5 a.m., checked into the hotel, and then slept until lunch. We had a late evening practice to get the bodies moving again and found out the pairings. France plays Germany and Dirk Nowitzki on Saturday. So many conference rivals here to deal with! I have made friends with the local Policia if I happen to run into Robert Horry. More later from Madrid. Go, Suns, Go.

PS: Congrats to Coach D’Antoni, Amare, and LB for having such a good outing in Vegas.

]]>Fri, 07 Sep 07 16:27:00 UThttp://suns.marqui.com/blog/suns01_08280701.aspx

Boris Diaw is traveling with the French National Basketball Team (NBAE Photos)

My only job while here is to attend to our own player, Boris Diaw.  While Boris has done great work to get in shape physically over the summer and has received the proper medical insurance to play for France, it is my job to get him through the rigorous three-week tournament while maintaining and improving upon his physical fitness level.  We all want him to come back in top shape when the Suns start training camp in October.

I left Phoenix on August 22^nd and traveled to Paris via Philadelphia.  About 13 hours later (22 hours with the time change), I landed in Paris.  Unfortunately it was very cloudy and I didn’t get to see anything out of the airplane window.  After retrieving my luggage, I took a train to another terminal and met the team.  I met the team’s GM, coaching staff, training staff, equipment manager, public relations director, and players.  I was familiar with some of the team - Tony Parker (Spurs), Ronny Turiaf (Lakers) and Yakhouba Diawara (Nuggets) - as well as a few others that I had seen through pre-draft workouts.  The team and staff was somewhat hesitant to accept me, as expected, because they are preparing for Olympic qualification and visitors are usually not invited into practices, team meals, therapy sessions, or sitting on their bench during games, etc.  Luckily, Mike Elliott, the Suns Assistant Athletic Trainer was with the team for a few weeks prior to me and they hopefully understood that we are just looking after Boris’ health.  Over the last few days they have really warmed up to me and my attempt at speaking French.  The staff has been helpful in explaining most things to me, albeit a few minutes after everyone has finished laughing!  One of the players, Frederick Weis, has been especially helpful in teaching me phrases that I can’t repeat on this website!  Thanks, buddy!  Thankfully, I have Boris around to check with before I make a fool of myself.  Seriously though, the French Federation led by Patrick Beesley has taken tremendous care of me.  Once I arrived in Paris, they booked all my travel and hotels, I eat every meal with the team, and I am included on all the team schedules.  I couldn’t have asked for a smoother trip or access to working with Boris.

To back-up a little, we flew from Paris to Ljanljana, Slovenia (about a two hour flight), then bussed to Maribor (another two hours).  We checked into a hotel at the base of a ski slope.  The area is much like Vail or Steamboat Springs, CO.  We practice and play at an arena, the Dvorana Tabor, which is in the town.  We practiced the next few days, two times per day, then had our first game vs. Slovenia (led by Rasho Nesterovic of the Toronto Raptors).  France beat them 90-87 in a close game.  Tony Parker and Florent Pietras played well and Boris was very steady with 11 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.  The crowd was great, complete with drums, fog horns, buzzers, and chants.  It was a tough battle with a few scuffles and questionable refereeing.  Both teams were actually staying at the same hotel and we scrimmaged them without fans the next night, which France won by 20 points behind strong play by Ronny Turiaf and Sedrick Ferchaud.

Personally, I enjoyed Maribor.  I have gone on a few jogs into town and back (about five miles) and met some of the staff for a 7 a.m.. hike to the top of the mountain.  It took about one hour, 15 minutes to get to the top and about 40 minutes to get down.  I’d say it rates right up there with Camelback Mountain.  I took a trip into town to take pictures and site-see but it was Sunday so there weren’t a lot of shops open.  It was very relaxing though!   There was some sort of mountain bike race over the weekend at the ski area so there were a lot of people, music, etc.  It was fun to watch.

Well, off to Alicante, on the east coast of Spain for the next eight days.  It is supposed to have great beaches and night-life and is very close to Ibiza.  I mean… I’m here working, so if I get some time off, I will let you know!

Au Revoir!
Adios!
Good-bye!
Word.

I am on the “Sports Medicine Staff” which also consists of Head Athletic Trainer Aaron Nelson, Assistant Athletic Trainer Mike Elliott, as well as Mike Clark and Tyler Wallace of the National Academy of Sports Medicine. I was an Assistant Athletic Trainer with the Denver Nuggets from 1998-2004, and have been the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach as well as Assistant Athletic Trainer here with the Suns starting my third season.

My role today was to take body fat measurements and weights for all the players. While we have been checking players’ weights at various times over the past two weeks, this was the first time that I have recorded body fats for the upcoming season. Both are used for a barometer for how the players spent their summer, as well as showing them areas for improvement during camp and preseason. After I was able to complete that, I assisted Clark and Wallace with goniometer and movement assessments. Basically I just bothered them while they tried to work! We have a great staff and we are also good friends outside the arena. For some reason, we all live in Chandler and can be found hanging out all the time at the local restaurants, bars, and each others houses. Did I mention the bars? Tyler is actually watching my house and taking care of my newly installed pool at the house. It better not be green when I get home T-Dub!!

The other guy in our “crew” is Jay Gaspar. He is the Head Equipment Manager and all-around great guy. He is usually my seating partner on the plane when it is crowded, as he is tonight. We have basically just been watching movies after downing a nice steak for dinner. We get so spoiled on our chartered flights that you don’t really appreciate it until you jump on a commercial flight after the season! We also saw the Northern Lights, as pointed out by Laurel D’Antoni.

I have been watching a documentary on the plane called Fire on the Track about Steve Prefontaine, the legendary runner from Oregon, who at one time held every American record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters during the early 1970’s. My second movie was Running Brave, a story about Billy Mills who won the 1964 Olympic 10,000 meter race. I once met Mr. Mills during my time as a runner at Colorado State. He was a great man, who sat and told a few of us some unbelievable running and life stories over lunch. I also brought the first season of Entourage, the first two seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, and Derailed.

We just landed for a fuel stop in Goose Bay, Newfoundland. It is dark and I see no geese! That John Denver’s full of %$#@ man!