Basketball - Mirror Sport - Mirror.co.uk

Checking In

2009-07-08T18:24:43Z

First, I would like to say 'sorry' for not keeping you guys updated. I've been real busy, tired and the weather has been crazy that it knocked out our power so I have not had net for a few days.

We won today we played TaiPai, but lost to the Czech and Poland.

Only have four days left in Serbia for the World University Games - I can't wait to go home!

We have a day off so just going to stay in bed and relax...

Love,
Z

Greaja Britania anyone?

2009-07-08T13:23:25Z

We lost. I'm sad. That is all.

Okay, not really, but that is the feeling that pretty much overwhelmed our team. When we played Czech Republic we definitely deserved to win the game; we played with so much intensity and passion that it was pretty much a done deal. That is until Czech decided to shoot their arses off and we went into overtime.

I do not know if it was fatigue or just the fact that they were hitting each and every shot that they [literally] threw up. So annoying because losing that game meant we could not go to the semi finals. I was so upset that I didn't put the pin they gave us on my pin holder - bitter, definitely...though, honestly, you will probably find it on there later.

]]> So then that night, we ended up mingling with the USA woman's team. I can already hear the shouts of traitor through the computer and I can already see the eyes of fury as I embrace the enemy; but, it wasn't bad, they are actually a nice team - urgh, I still shudder when I admit that. Yes, I said it, USgay are not bad, and in fact they are actually a pretty sweet team. Oh dear, I will probably be stopped at passport control when I return back to London, but yes, they are cool. So cool, in fact, that Azania, Cristal, Mairi and I spent half the night dancing and rapping with them outside our temporary houses.

Danielle Robinson, Tiffany Hayes, Ta'Shia Phillips, Alexis Gray-Lawson and Ashley Houts showed a side to them that I thought never existed. It was fun. So fun in fact that we went to support the USgay (yes, it's still in my system) Men's team when they played Serbia/Serbija. It was exciting and also pretty terrifying - I feared my life for the first time ever - hmmm, I wonder why they are so hated.

So then, we played Poland, or Polska as they advertise on their jerseys - wait, before I get to the game, why is it Polska and not Poland? Why is it Serbija and not Serbia? Does Great Britain simply need to step our name game up and be Greaja Britania or something....joking!

Okay, back to the Poland game. It was one of those extremely frustrating games where, we should have won even though we didn't deserve to win and the ending result was, we didn't win. We started the game with the energy of a dead sloth and did not start the game with the Great Britain power that we have shown throughout the tournament. We were up by two by half time, but it was inevitable that Poland was going to make a comeback, and they did. We can blame nothing and nobody but ourselves - and it is a team promise that it will never happen again; a team Brownie promise in fact.

So we play the Chinese Taipei later on tonight, a game that if we win, we are still on the way to battling for fifth/sixth place.

I'll let you know how it goes

zai jian - I'm just showing how bilingual I am, that means 'bye bye' in Mandarin.

Yemi

Tough Loss Today

2009-07-06T14:58:31Z

Hello Everyone,

Not much to say other than we lost in overtime. We could not finish it up and lost by 6 points. I had 18 points and 18 rebounds. It was a big loss for us because now we get dropped down to the bottom group and can't get any higher than 5th place.

Sorry I did not give you a full run down - I'm very tired and am going to sleep the day away.

Love,
Z

How do you say 'pins' in Bulgarian?

2009-07-04T17:17:59Z

So apart from a fire in the building next door to ours, a hilarious incident with an empty ice bath, a vast amount of ferocious wind and a helpless gymnast and being hunted down by a footballer in the desperate search for hair grease, nothing exciting has happened; oh, well, we beat France and now we advance to the top eight - that's all!!

Our game against France yesterday was the type of game where the possibility of us winning was strongly in our favour and therefore we were able to attempt and fine tune the things that may be setting our team backwards instead of forward.

Yes, we won, by twenty odd points, but we also won the battle of out-rebounding, out-working and out-hustling our opponents. It was a game that we could not take fore granted. France had nothing to lose and came out with the determination of hungry mosquitoes in search of juicy foreigners (no pun/joke/sarcasm intended), nobody was going to stand in their way...well, apart from, well, us of course; but we have the hard earned battle bruises to show that they didn't take the loss lying down.

]]> Today we had practice where even finer tuning took place and then we were able to explore the depths of Serbia with free time at our grasps. With this wonderful free time, I found out a few things. A) Without constant, regular and non-cutting out Internet service, we actually don't know what to do with ourselves. B) Well, that is about it really, technology rules the world. I have read two books in probably two days and I am currently on my third (a new reading record for myself).

In fact is has become a bit of a hustle between Jennifer Leedham and I to read books swiftly and exchange them a.s.a.r (as soon as read). I have completed one crossword puzzle with Lucy Power (our fantastical Team Manager) and Azania Stewart (my fantastical roommate). I have painted my toenails and considered painting my fingernails and I believe the whole team has plucked every bit of loose eyebrow that they can find. Also, as a great team bonding experience, we have all thought of new strategic and brilliant ways of sneaking food out of the canteen when the desert is particularly delicious (muffins are our personal favourite).

However, apart from collecting pins from the cosmic amount of countries scattered around the place (and by the way, I am winning with thirty pins and counting - HA, eat THAT Cristal Turner), I have realised that we solely rely on technology to help us fill the large void of entertainment that we normally fill with: television, Internet, mobiles and so on and so forth. Something has to be done. I'm not entirely sure what it should be as of yet, but I am thinking along the lines of a massive conga line to show unity of all sports and all countries? What do you think?

Anyway, I am on the way to knowing how to say, "Have you got any pins?" in probably every language possible - I'm just wondering if I would get a technical or ejected from a game if I started shouting "Pins?" loudly on the court in Ukrainian, Japanese or Greek to confuse whoever we were playing.

We shall see, we shall see.

Toodles

Yemi

Like 'oh. my. god'

2009-07-02T14:39:45Z

Six days being in Serbia, with its beautiful weather, delicious and nutritious meals and friendly mosquitoes - okay so sarcasm may not be the best way forward, but you know how it is. Today was our second official game, yesterday against Serbia and today against USgay; I mean USA.

It is pretty clear that we are the underdogs of the competition; in fact, somebody made a snide little remark that us winning against anyone would be like Serbia beating Great Britain at rugby; well, looks like Serbia may just beat us then because yesterday, a well earned win against Serbia placed us in a different light.

Being down by twelve at half time, with our USA rivals watching, many people thought it would be over; we proved them, like, sooooooo wrong (can you imagine me saying that in an American accent)? To cut the story short, we won - they didn't give us the game, they didn't foul out nor did they have ten injured players, we won; fair and square. We took that game from them with hard work, perseverance and a great team bond we have developed.

]]> Today's competition was clearly a different ball game. After France took a pretty embarrassing defeat to the USA by eighty-five points, yes, eighty-five points, we knew that our under dog status would return.

I mean, duh, the USA are like, so the favourites to win this competition (American accent again please); but we were going to do whatever it took to gain the respect that we deserved. It took strategy, constant physical contact and many bruises to show that we were going to fight until the end - and we did!

The loss (yeah, unfortunately, we did loose), was a good loss. We came out of the game with the feeling of a win in our hearts and the respect of not only the USA entourage, but everybody that viewed the game. We moved forward, and to be honest, that's all we really want - Coach was really excited, and that's another thing we wanted (hard man to please that Aussie is).

Anyway, one more game against France tomorrow; winning this game will place us in the top eight and though we may not beat them by eighty-five like USgay did - I mean USA, gosh my typos are just dreadful - it will be another game of improvement, excitement and enjoyment.

Ciao for now

Yemi

We Played Well...

2009-07-02T13:16:15Z

HEY EVERYONE....

Well, today we played the USA/mini dream team, which was fun, but we lost by 30. We played well, kept fighting till the very end. (Head Coach Maher) Tom was very proud of us. This game we very difficult to get ready for because we knew they were very good after killing France the day before by 85, so we knew we just had to play our game and get better as a team.

I think we did well, showing that we were not push-overs, playing for the respect, which I know we gained.

So, just hanging out now with Yemi, killing some time before we go to the Serbia-France game to watch France, who we play tomorrow in the last game of this pool group - so it is a MUST win for us so we can advance to the winning pool.

LOVE,
Z
xox

Great start to World University Games for GB - yay us!

2009-07-01T16:39:35Z

Hello everyone!

SOME GREAT NEWS!

We won our first game! We were down by 12 at half and played like rubbish in the first, but in the second half we came out fighting.

We won 76-67 over Serbia - the host country - so a great comeback and win for us.

SO, we have USA tomorrow at 1:30 pm and we will see how that goes.

All the teams are here now so it's getting very busy at dinner and around the Village.

Love,
Z
xoxo

Boris Johnson not built for basketball

2009-07-01T15:17:54Z

Now here's a mismatched pair if ever you saw one... Boris Johnson needs a bigger step than Nicolas Sarkozy to put him on a level with GB basketball star Dan Clark - 6ft 11ins in his socks.

The Mayor of London met up with Dan to launch the London Warm Up weekend which will see three Olympic sports - basketball, triathlon and modern pentathlon.

And with the capital already roasting in the sun, BoJo looked longingly at the basketball vest - which he nicknamed "the armpit nuzzler" - as a solution for passengers overheating in the Tube.

London's Warm-Up weekend is 14-16 August. Basketball tournament Game On At The O2 will see the GB Basketball team hosting Poland, Turkey and Israel in a four nations basketball series. Click here to book tickets - mention the Daily Mirror when booking online and you could win a prize.

Also featuring are the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship London in Hyde Park and the Modern Pentathlon World Championships which take place in Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

Things are heating up

2009-06-22T11:39:45Z

Being in Croatia is like getting on the fast train to hell - not as in the place is awful; but the heat is pretty unbearable. I don't believe that breathing could cause one to sweat as it has with our team, even blinking causes mass amounts of sweat to drip from our bodies (how lady like). We've played three games and the progress of our team in all three has been vivid. The first two games was an adjustment to the European style of basketball; with most of us playing in the States, it has been a slight reality check; basketball may be one sport but the variety of playing styles is forever increasing. The third game, however, showed how well we are able to listen and adapt; we didn't let the Croatians win come easy.

This trip has also been a great opportunity to be coached our head coach for the senior women's team. It has been simply wonderful to be able to see what his coaching style is like and also, to see what he expects from us individually and collectively.

Now, back to Manchester for a few more days of camp and the announcement of who has made the WUG team. I don't think I have looked so forward to rain in my life.

Au revoir

Yemi

Meet Steve Leven

2009-05-12T15:01:40Z

Hi everybody my name is Steve Leven, I'm a professional basketball player and also represent Great Britain.

I have just finished my season in Holland where we lost in the second round of the playoffs to Amsterdam, who made the final 8 of the euro challange this season, so are pretty decent.

With me in Holland is my fiance and my two and a half month old son. We will see the cities around Bergen op Zoom before we go, including Antwerp and Amsterdam, so it should be fun to unwind a little bit.

That brings me to the off-season, Im looking foward to spending some quality with my family and get some quality work done to prepare for GB this summer.

This summer is a big summer for me on a personal level also, I have my mother coming over in July to see my baby boy,and for my engagement party in July as well as hopefully catching some of Game On at The O2 arena.

So it will be a big summer for me as I am also a free agent this summer and that in itself is stressful as I need to try and find a new club.

i hope you have enjoyed a little glimpse into what's going on with me at the moment!